Explore: Decide for yourself

Google around a bit:
http://www.google.com

Duck Feedback
Excerpts from students who completed 14 DUCK quizzes during the spring 2002 Biological Concepts Class at Westfield State College
http://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/presentations/mecc2002/feedback.phtml

The real cost of switching to Linux
http://www.infoworld.com/infoworld/article/03/08/29/34FElinux_1.html

Why Open Source Software/Free Software? Look at the Numbers!
http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

Linux in Higher Education: Open Source, Open Minds, Social Justice:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5071

Simple End User Linux (for Education)
A forum that is collecting resources and case-studies related to increasing the value of linux for education.
http://www.seul.org/edu/

Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon:
Microsoft Lobbies Hard Against Free Software

"At the Census Bureau, programmers used open-source software to launch a Web site for obtaining federal statistics for $47,000, bureau officials said. It would have cost $358,000 if proprietary software were used, they said."

Article available on Washingtonpost.com

Linux grows on government systems:

"The report recommended further use of open-source computing systems, on the grounds that they were less vulnerable to cyberattacks and far cheaper."

http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2002/05/30/linux/index.html

IBM signs Linux deal with Germany
BBC News story

"We are raising computer security by avoiding a monoculture, and we are lowering dependence on a single supplier," Germany's interior minister, Otto Schilly, said in a statement.

Taiwan to start national plan to push Free Software:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/6/3/55433/41738

New Study Uncovers Alarming Attitudes About Online Piracy:
http://www.bsa.org/usa/press/newsreleases//2002-05-29.1116.phtml

"The survey of 1,026 Internet users* found that nearly half have downloaded commercial software at some time, and that 81 percent of them have failed to pay for all the copies they made. In fact, 57 percent of those who have downloaded software either seldom or never pay for the copyrighted works they download, according to the study conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. Twelve percent say they have committed software piracy."

Problem of Online Software Piracy:
(Study referred to in the above story.)
http://www.bsa.org/resources/2002-05-29.11 7.pdf

The following web site has some cost estimates for using propietary software at large and small academic institutions:
http://www.jtap.ac.uk/reports/htm/jtap-029.html

The lighter side of the debate
This site humorously explains one of Linux's most serious drawbacks:

One of the great defects in Linux compared to Windows is that it is not infected by cool viruses. Viruses are obviously fun, as is made obvious by the refusal of so many Internet-connected Windows users to switch to Linux as the easiest way to make themselves virus-free. For a few days there, we hoped the new cross-platform Simile.D virus would let us Linux users in on the fun, but it turned out to be a false alarm.