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IT's Monday 520      02 September 2002
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STUDENT LIFE BEGINS WITH LINUX
by
John Sterne
The launch last month of a marketing special interest group by the
Irish Linux Users Group (ILUG)  -  open source and marketing, it
seems, might not be mutually exclusive concepts  -  has already
sparked an interesting initiative at University College Cork.  When
the new academic year begins at UCC, every incoming student will
be offered a copy of Red Hat Linux 7.3.
ILUG member Braun Brelin proposed this promotion, when he ran a
training class for staff at the UCC computer science department.
Brelin, who is the director of technology at OpenApp, says that the
Linux offer could be extended to any or all of the other Irish
universities.
The user group is tapping into an international Red Hat programme
that aims to introduce students at all levels to the open source
style of computing.  The Linux distributor runs an 'educational
channel' to reach this audience, bundling educational software
with its operating environment and offering networked support
services to eligible applicants.  This scheme was originally designed
to suit the educational structures in the US, but is now available to
schools and universities throughout the world.
Red Hat Linux 7.3 incorporates ease of use and maintenance
features and is intended to counter objections that Linux is hard to
master on personal systems.
The Linux-for-all project at UCC could also raise the profile of Red
Hat Ireland.  Based in Cork, this operation has run shared financial
services for other Red Hat offices in Europe since 2000.  Until now
its involvement with users in Ireland has been fairly limited,
although it does sometimes refer them to other Red Hat offices in
Europe that offer consulting or technical support services.
David Owens, Red Hat's director of global logistics and production,
sees the formation of the ILUG marketing group as a reason to take
a more proactive approach.  In the last three months, he notes, his
office in Cork has received more and more calls from Irish
companies that are interested in adopting Linux and has introduced
some to Red Hat pre-sales consultants.
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Many thanks are due to Braun and David for working together on this one.
Regards
L.
--
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