Re: [K12OSN] is it really free?

[anthony baldwin <anthonybaldwin snet net>]

I personally know this guy:
http://www.franklins.net
or
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/01/talkingto/default.aspx
Carl Franklin, a big deal VB.net writer and Microsoft champion.
We go to the same UU church (http://www.allsouls.net).  He's a 
phenomenal musican and we jam sometimes (did you guys know I'm a guitar 
player and singer?)  My daughter plays with his. They're really nice 
folks.  Love his whole family...
(No honey, don't play with those Microsoft toadies, you might get viruses!)
Anyway, I told him at a recent shindig how I want to build a linux 
terminal server in my classroom because my children lack adequate access 
to technology, and he said that MicroShaft would give me computers and 
stuff for free.
(My school is a small rural school in an economically depressed area, so 
qualifies for some Gates Foundation stuff, likely.)
He has lotso juice in Redmond, or so he says, and I believe him.
I think he COULD get me stuff.
The only thing is, is it really free?  I highly question that, in all 
the senses of the word free that one can conjure.
And, of course, I don't want microsoft stuff in my classroom, anyway.
But I feel bad both neglecting his generous offer and neglecting to 
procure resources for my students that they badly need.
I'm having mixed feelings about this stuff. What do you think?

tony

--
Anthony Baldwin

http://www.School-Library.net
Freedom to Learn!