How to migrate your schools' lab from Windows to Linux

From ArticleWorld

Linux is proving so much more of an alternative today, that even governmental and administrative organizations decide to move away from Windows. Although we are not here to bash Windows in the usual Unix zealot way, there are obviously some reasons why people decide to make this change. Its transparent structure, the large number of packages available and its unbeatable price (i.e. free) seem to mean a lot.

The following steps apply to anyone who is willing to move a school lab from Windows to Linux. Regardless of whether you are a teacher, an administrator or a student who has the responsibility of managing your school's network, these steps are easily applicable and outline a basic migration strategy.

Steps

1. Before doing anything, evaluate what you are going to do. This is surely a great change: Linux is a different operating system and, although somewhat familiar to its future users (either having used it before, or due to the resemblance to Windows in some areas), it will not provide exactly the same experience and will require some effort to adapt. Is the effort worth it? Does your current Windows infrastructure need to be changed?
2. Think about exactly what you need to replace. Before replacing anything, make sure Linux can handle it. Just as Windows cannot handle advanced firewall and packet routing tasks or clusters, Linux is not exactly the king of accounting applications or 3D modeling. If you are not exactly proficient in a domain where you will replace the operating system, seek the advice of a specialist in that field who will be able to outline his needs. Do not try to change everything. Windows and Linux can work together happily.
3. Outline the exact needs of everyone, and then start choosing a distribution. Teachers who need computers to write documents and design diagrams will love Xandros, but students who study programming will hate its lack of development tools. A general-purpose distribution, like SuSE, Ubuntu or Fedora may prove to be excellent. Another option (if you can afford it) is to go for a commercial distribution, like those of Red Hat.
4. Explain the change to anyone. Expect a lot of questions to appear and users who do not find things too familiar to come to you for explanations. The desktop environment is usually easy to use (you can advise anyone to buy a good book, but you will have to pick the book for them), but not too obvious at times for an ex-user of Windows.
5. If it is possible, do the installation and configuration when nobody needs the computers. If you are in a rush and you are sure you can handle it, you can do it at night. If not, wait until school is off so that you do not interrupt anyone's work.
6. After everything has been set up correctly, it may prove worthwhile to seek the services of a software consulting company, who could at least provide some training for the staff.