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StarOffice 4 Kids provides a universal web-based workplace for teachers and students. Instead of maintaining single solutions locally in every school, StarOffice 4 Kids offers a network-centred solution. Administration as well as applications and documents are provided as services.
StarOffice 4 Kids is a software infrastructure. It could be used to host lectures, applications and materials. Confirming to the directive: The world is my schoolbag, StarOffice 4 Kids provides services such as object-oriented access management for fast, secure, and on demand distribution of lecture material. The students are in control of their documents and applications just as they are with the books in their schoolbags. Content and applications may be accessed via a browser. StarOffice 4 Kids offers industrial strength security and thus, secure access.
StarOffice 4 Kids offers teachers the chance to tailor applications to the needs of their particular courses and distribute them to their students to create an individual learning environment. All this is as simple as writing a document in StarOffice Writer! The software adapts to the lecture, not vice versa.
StarOffice 4 Kids is more than an educational software. Rather, it is a platform allowing for the creation and distribution of individual learning environments. Pre-configured applications – based on this infrastructure – can be easily integrated into these environments.
Adressen
Werner Roth <werner.roth@sun.com>
Joachim Baumert <baumert@upb.de>
iug.upb.de/staroffice4kids
Q: I'd like to buy StarOffice 4 Kids, what are the conditions?
A: StarOffice 4 Kids is a project not a product until now. We would like to develop it as a part of the project "Lernstatt Paderborn" in approx. 50 schools in the city of Paderborn, Germany. Fundamental building blocks of StarOffice 4 Kids are Content Management Systems and OpenOffice.org/Sun[tm] ONE Webtop. Maybe your should take a look at these products to solve your current problems. This enables you to switch to StarOffice 4 Kids when it is in product state.
Q: Could you sent me a beta version?
A: We presented StarOffice 4 Kids' prototype at CeBIT 2001. We meanwhile combine all elements into a stable version, you can check it out in a couple of weeks on OpenOffice.org. Beware it's a prototype from engineer for engineers it's not ready for ordinary people.
Q: Which platforms are supported by StarOffice 4 Kids?
A: The server run on every platform supported by OpenOffice.org or Sun[tm] ONE Webtop. The clients needs a browser with Java[tm] support. Currently our testing environment includes Solaris[tm] 8, Windows[tm] 2000 and Linux.
Q: Are you going to produce a server less version?
A: No, not at this moment. StarOffice 4 Kids is designed for education service providing (EduSP, ASP).
Q: Isn't it to hard for schools to administrate a server centric concept? They are lucky with a running Windows[tm] 2000 infrastructure.
A: StarOffice 4 Kids is a concept that perfectly fits into the service provider idea. Schools buy software as a service, that means no administration in schools anymore. A education service provider (EduSP) could be an traditional ASP, a universities computer center or a school book publisher.
So the answer is: A school can set up an StarOffice 4 Kids Server, but should not. It's better to buy the service. After a while if they feel unlucky with their EduSP or if they are bold enough they can set up their own system. StarOffice 4 Kids is open source.
And buy the way, did you ever met a school's administrator who is happy to maintain a Network infrastructure.
Q: German schools usually don't have funding for IT infrastructure. Quite often they use gift PCs maintained by voluntary teachers. Isn't a Education service provider concept a too optimistic idea?
A: More and more people of German government get an idea that voluntary maintenance and hardware from the dump is a problem. Think about global educational strategies that should be based on IT infrastructure. You can't do this with people who voluntary maintain a network.
In most cases teachers are voluntary administrators, because they need it for their own lessons. They will loose their energy if their supervisors drive them into maintenance for the complete school.
If you reached this point, time is right for StarOffice 4 Kids. The administration costs are a fractional amount comparing to school networks today. Further StarOffice 4 Kids holds applications and documents, so you get an document service as well! Everything is ready for lesson and homework.
Q: StarOffice 4 Kids is Open Source Software, how do you earn money?
A: Don't think about software as a product anymore. Think about software as a service. The service of the educational service provider (EduSP) will not be gratis. As an EduSP supports hundreds or thousands of users, he needs scalable and reliable machines, so he will buy Sun Microsystems' hardware. Schools need sustainable infrastructure, this means software has to be free (open source). This enables schools and government to switch to another EduSP or set up their own business.
Q: Okay, your software is free, but I bet tomorrow Sun demands money for it!
A: First isn't the trend for costs of your software solution a problem of all products you own? Open source software gives you the trustiest cost forecast. Sun Microsystems and every other company is allowed to sell distributions at the costs they want. Compare it with Linux you can download it for free, or buy a CD ranging from $ 10 up to $ 100.
This means StarOffice 4 Kids is free and will be for free. But what are the cost of your software solution in a year?
Q: I bought a nice Educational Windows[tm] Multimedia CD, can I use it with StarOffice 4 Kids?
A: If your education service provider (EduSP) hosts an Windows[tm] terminal server, you have a good chance to use it with StarOffice 4 Kids. "Lernstatt Paderborn" includes such a terminal system.
From a technical point of view, using such CDs is no good idea at all. Even on a homogeneous Windows[tm] infrastructure this will cause problems and a lot of costs! Mostly such CDs are designed for standalone Windows[tm] 3.1, 9x or Me computers. Not compatible with any kind of schools networks. You should try to avoid such CDs and focus on web-based learning material. Then you can mix it with your own lesson material and make your ideas work!
Q: What bandwidth is needed to work from home? Who is paying the children's online costs?
A: Don't worry about bandwidth StarOffice 4 Kids has an intelligent deployment mechanism that gives you the option to install parts of the software at home.
Students don't need to go online at home, as a server centric concept you can use StarOffice 4 Kids at every place you like. Why not using a public place with internet connection like internet cafes, public libraries or computer rooms at schools or universities. They even give students the ability to do their homework together.
Q: What kind of resources do I need per concurrent user to run an StarOffice 4 Kids server?
A: As StarOffice 4 Kids is not in a product state until now, we can't say anything about the resources you need for content management or OpenOffice.org deployment. If you are an Education Service Provider (EduSP) who runs the Sun[tm] ONE Webtop Server, you have to distinguish between users who run OpenOffice.org locally and users who use the Sun[tm] ONE Webtop server. Please refer www.sun.com/webtop/ for information about Sun[tm] ONE Webtop.
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