I do try really hard not to get "religious" about Free Software. Afterall, everybody has their own motivations and requirements with computing, and I'd no more insist you use a particular set of software than I would tell you what clothes to wear. However, where computer software is used in education, I am more concerned.

From my viewpoint, proprietory software tends to limit choice: there are strong commercial incentives for proprietory software vendors to "lock their customers in" to only using their software. Microsoft are perhaps the most obvious example of this. But "lock-in" gets ugly when it happens in an educational setting. If schools feel they have few or no software choices, how can they provide an open-minded education in information technology to our children? Small wonder that software vendors always slash their prices for educational establishments. These discounts unmask the growing tendancy for IT and digital arts education to unwittingly become government-subsidised marketing initiatives for proprietory software.

An extreme interpretation? Do we teach word processing, or do we teach MS Word? Any publishing or documentation professional will tell you there is a world of difference. Do we teach web authoring, or do we teach Dreamweaver? Digital art, or Adobe PhotoShop?

But as well as the issues of free choice and quality of education, I find the issue of expense highly galling. In the last couple of years, our primary school has spent several thousands of pounds on PCs and software for a new computer suite. At the same time, many PCs they had been happily using are being abandonded because they are not powerful enough to run the latest Windows operating system and proprietory software. The school does not have much money. Much of the spend on extras like PCs comes from parents and fundraising events. But being locked in to the software means the school must buy new computers when their software vendors dictate - not when they are worn out. And as anybody computer recycling professional will tell you, there's a big difference here too.

Free Software is the way out of the upgrade madness. As long as there are old computers, there will be Free Software to run on them - because it will be worth somebody's while to write it. Free Software is also the best way for our kids to pick up truly transferable IT skills that will best equip them for an increasingly digital culture and workplace.

The story that got me writing on this occasion was this encouraging NewsForge article (A Free Education). The author tells of how he helped his school adopt a range of Free Software to keep their old Windows PCs in regular use.

So what I need to do now is get me down to my local primary, and volunteer my services. I shall report back...