Dictionary.com defines “Specter” as:

1. a visible incorporeal spirit, esp. one of a terrifying nature; ghost; phantom; apparition.
2. some object or source of terror or dread

Both definitions seem appropriate for Educational Technologists and the Information Technology departments that support them.

Since its release, many of use have heard horror stories from our students who’ve purchased new computers with the Windows Vista operating system pre-installed. Many of us have had to spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to “talk” our students through special configuration, error message, security warning that scare the devil out of the average user, and problems with required software that, prior to Vista, worked without a flaw.

Do many of in the Educational Technology dread school-wide migration to Windows Vista? You bet! So it is no small surprise the see the results of a survey of over 900 IT professional conducted by King Research entitled “Windows Vista Adoption and Alternatives: A Survey of Technology Professionals.”

Their survey provided some very interesting results:

• 90% of participants have concerns about the migration to Windows Vista.
• 53% have no plans to deploy Vista at this time
• 44% of companies are considering alternatives such as Macintosh (28%), Red Hat Linux (23%), and SUSE Linux (18%).
• 67% cite virtualization* as a key enabling technology in the adoption of Vista alternatives.
• 89% reported that a single systems management interface for all types of operating systems would be beneficial. (Hey, there’s a novel idea! The desktop looks exactly the same regardless of the operating system installed.)

While participants in the survey reported interest in alternatives to Windows Vista, they also cited their greatest concerns to making such a move as:

• Difficulty in managing non-Windows operating systems (Obtaining the expertise to manage multiple operating systems, the need to purchase and learn a new set of management tools, etc.)
• User familiarity with Windows. (This is an interesting one as, from my experience, students who are first “confronted” with Windows Vista are just as confused about where everything is and how to perform the tasks they understood under WindowsXP in the new operating system.)

Now for my 2-cents worth…

There is little question that students who have purchased new computers with the Windows Vista operating system have already added to school Educational Technologists workload. It is not uncommon to be in the midst of teaching some software application in a well-outfitted WindowsXP computer lab, only to have two or three students, armed with their shiny new laptops, to bring the entire day’s lecture to a screeching halt because “Your software doesn’t work on my computer.” (Remember, it cannot possibly be a problem with the students fancy new computer with the latest operating system. Obviously it is your problem for having done such a poor job creating a course that uses antiquated and bug-ridden software).

As for the topic of alternatives; several Linux versions already exist that mimic the Windows Operating System that also have a much flatter “learning curve” than the transition from WindowXP to Windows Vista:

Linspire - Billing itself as the “Worlds Easiest Desktop Linux,” Linspire is built entirely around “the best that open source has to offer.” With a single installation one gets all the functionality that takes a traditional Windows installation of innumerable individual software applications to achieve. Simple, easy, and intuitive plug-and-play capabilities make Linspire a dream to setup and manage.

Built in to the LinspireOS is instant connectivity to their “Click and Run” software archive of over 20,000 programs, packages, and libraries; both open source and commercial.

OpenOffice is installed with the operating system by default; an office suite that rivals MicrosoftOffice and in many respects offers greater capabilities and functionality. My experience with student who choose OpenOffice is that they actually prefer it over MicrosoftOffice for the simplicity that seems to have been lost between Office2003 and Office2007. They also love the price - FREE!

LinuxXP - A relative newcomer (when compared to Linspire), the LinuxXP website touts its product with the tantalizing words “If you already have experience with Windows and want to quickly access all the advantages of a Linux desktop environment in your everyday work, Linux XP Desktop™ is the best choice for you.”

Their web site provides a wealth of information for the argument to consider alternatives to Windows Vista, including:

• “Need Internet Explorer or other Windows applications? Just install and run…”
• “Absolutely virus-free environment”
• “Support of Microsoft Office document formats.” (Presumably through the installation of OpenOffice)
• “Windows-style setup tools.”
• Lifetime updates - FREE (Compare that to the cost of upgrading “X-number” of computers to Windows Vista)
• And tons more… (Download their Linux QuickStart Guide Here)

So the point here is that there are alternatives readily available that have the potential for some tremendous cost savings for schools. Imagine being able to take the thousands(?) of dollars you will have to spend to upgrade your existing Windows infrastructure as compared to taking a serious look at the alternatives. Sure, one could argue that to do so would require the hiring of new IT Staff who know the new operating system, but here’s an idea - Why not take the money you would spend on Windows Licensing and invest it in training and new certifications for your IT Staff? Everybody wins! You get an IT Staff well-versed in multiple operating systems, and they get additional training and certification that will prove beneficial to them as they grow in the profession.

Some will argue “but our students don’t understand the other operating systems.” I’ll take that bet. It is not the students who don’t understand the new operating systems - we are the ones who don’t understand the new operating systems. (How many times have you heard a Faculty member say “I don’t want to have to learn a new _______ (insert anything here). It would suffice to say that few give students credit for their ability to grasp new technology. For example; Can you figure out the controls for a Play Station?

If I were in the “IT Food Chain” I would most definitely outfit a couple of computer labs with the alternative operating systems, then sit back and take notes. I’m willing to bet a paycheck or two that the transition would not be all that painful…

At least that’s what the voices are telling me. Sure, they may not be real, but sometimes they have some pretty good ideas.

*Virtualization

Geek Speak: “[Virtualization is] a technique for hiding the physical characteristics of computing resources from the way in which other systems, applications, or end users interact with those resources. This includes making a single physical resource (such as a server, an operating system, an application, or storage device) appear to function as multiple logical resources; or it can include making multiple physical resources (such as storage devices or servers) appear as a single logical resource.”

Plain English: Running more than one operating system on a single computer.