Not gonna happen.
Even if Linux were the superior technical solution (and that's up for debate depending on what you want to use it for) school acquisitions are seldom based entirely on merits or costs.
From what I've seen,
what gets used seems to revolve around internal school politics
and finding something on an "approved educational product" list from an "approved school supplier." Windows is in every catalog. Linux (not being a 'product' in the traditional sense) isn't.
Which brings us to
market saturation...
As long as Windows accounts for 90.3% of the deployed desktop OS base, it would take a pretty brave administrator - and a lot of equally forward thinking parent groups - to deviate from the norm. Especially with the emphasis that's being placed on on educating "for the real world."
Which leads us to the question of
cost savings...
Well...I hate to say this, but you can just forget about that argument. It's a
non-issue.
Microsoft will never allow its license pricing to become a true deal-breaker for school systems. Microsoft is not going to relinquish mind share or lose access to impressionable young brains without putting up a fight. If cost becomes a problem, Microsoft will just continue to sweeten the pot until the school systems cave in. It's already worked in several places where governments announced a switch to FOSS software only to reverse their decision after Microsoft offered them renegotiated terms that were "too good to ignore."
And lest you think this couldn't happen, take a look at how that same tactic got used to effectively sink the FOSS/OLPC initiative. Even Nicholas Negroponte had no qualms about selling Linux down the river via a policy reversal that would have made a beltway lobbyist blush. And all in the name of "people want Microsoft software" - combined with Microsoft offering a Windows/Office bundle to the project for
three dollars! (Yes, you read that correctly - $3 USD.)
So lets not hold our breaths waiting for Linux to make a big entry into schools.
Schools will only go over to Linux when they're
told to go over to Linux by the federal government. Because without that federal 'blessing,' they would have to stick their necks out. And what school administrator is ever going to put his career on the line? Especially when there aren't any compelling technical or financial arguments for school systems to abandon the current leading OS.
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