从目前看，很有可能，教育市场是Linux抢占桌面PC市场的滩头阵地。
首先让我们看一个来自美国印第安纳州的例子，在过去的一年时间中，通过政府的公共学校升级计划，印第安纳州大约有22000学生用户从widows桌面平台迁移到了Linux平台。这件事情立刻导致微软公司联合IDC公司成立一个联合智囊小组，来到印第安那展开调查，最终他们得出结论，在印第安那州Windows仍然是标准的桌面操作系统。但是我要说的是，因为种种原因，微软公司所调查的够州的4个大区没有一个是在Linux桌面迁移计划之中。
然后在采访ACE公司的负责人的时候，他说，假如这个学校的经费足够，他们应该会选择windows。ACE公司公司是负责向印第安那州的公共学校提供计算机设备的公司。
但是孩子们是否关注这些呢？
我请我的两个孩子作了个试验。
我在一台Compaq Presario 2500上安装了Xandros 4专业版，我的11岁女儿用它在写作业，收集URL地址，听音乐，还可以使用Firefox在迪士尼的网站上玩Flash游戏。同样，我的11岁儿子也玩得非常开心。
最后他问道：“Linux和Windows有什么区别么？”
我反问道：“你看到有什么区别了么？”
他说：“没有，我没有感觉到。”
It looks like the education space could be the first, real place where Linux could grab beachhead in the desktop PC market.
Take a look at Indiana, for example.In about a year, through a public school grant program, State of Indiana education officials have moved at least 22,000 students from Windows-based desktops to Linux-based desktops. That led Microsoft to hold up a study by IDC's Government Insights unit, after it pointed IDC analysts to five public school districts in the Hoosier state that are still standardized on Windows. Those districts are staying away from broad adoption of Linux for kids' workstations for a variety of reasons including stability, availability of applications and, not insignificantly, because the grownups running IT in the school districts know Windows better than Linux.
"If the school district has money to spend on their own, most of them are buying Windows systems," John Samborski, vice president of ACE Computers of Arlington, Ill. told me last week. ACE has a contract to supply desktops to Indiana schools.
But kids obviously don't have as long of a history with Windows as the adults. What about them?
I wanted to find out for myself so I put Linux to the test with the two most demanding public school students I know -- my own kids.
I loaded Xandros Professional 4 onto an old Compaq Presario 2500 (I tried SLED 10, Ubuntu and an earlier version of Xandros, but Xandros Professional 4 did the best job of recognizing my wireless card and connecting to the Internet.) I put the notebook in front of my 11-year old daughter, bookmarked her webmail URL, set her up with a Google Docs account for her homework, and showed her how to use Pandora to play her favorite music. And then I walked away; a half-hour later I walked back and she was knee-deep into a Flash-based game on Disney.com via her Firefox browser. She looked happy. She later wrote a draft of an email on Google Docs and then sent it to me. Among other things, she wrote, "Thanks."
Later in the day, I sat my 10-year old son down in front of the laptop. I set him up the same way as his sister: webmail, Google Docs, Pandora. I left him alone for a half hour and, lo and behold, he found some video games, too. (It was a Saturday so I didn't crack down on the time wasting.)
"So Dad," he asked. "What is the difference between Linux and Windows?" I tried to explain but it was a waste of breath. "What difference do you see?" I asked back.
"Nothing, really."
Xandros Professional 4 lists for $99, versus anticipated Windows Vista pricing of $199. But Google Docs and OpenOffice are free, Firefox just works, and with Skype for Linux and sites like Meebo.com -- which offers free, web-based instant messaging on all the big services -- communication applications are free and completely available on Linux. (I'm sure there will be a point where I just get my daughter a Skype account instead of letting her tie up the home phone line talking to her friends after school.)
Teachers and school administrators will continue to opt for Windows for, among other reasons, because they know Windows and they know it works. But teachers and school administrators also have kids, and when they open up their own wallets to buy technology for them they'll begin to ask themselves what's the difference between Linux and Windows. And then their answers might sound similar to a 10-year old boy's.
原文链接：http://www.crn.com/sections/custom/custom.jhtml?articleId=196601151