With the arrival of Windows 7, there is a rush to buy the new operating system from Bill Gates’ Microsoft. I know, I know. It is supposed to be pretty good this time round as compared to Windows Vista. But I still won’t jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon as I still have my trusty, and very safe if I may add, Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Switching to Ubuntu has meant that I have saved a lot of money. I save money not just from not having to pay for an operating system but also for all the applications that I need to get any work done. I don’t have to cough up a bundle or use illegal software to penny-pinch. I still get my usual Office suite for the usual computer-related office tasks. I still get to surf the Net, email, chat and tweet. I also get to do serious photo editing without having to buy Photoshop. I get to do all these legally without paying a cent and a lot less fear of virus attacks!

Today, schools should seriously consider going this route. I have written about this before but with the rise of cloud computing schools should even more seriously go the free route in their quest for ICT use in education. There are lots of free apps available to the teacher.

Schools that face serious budget constraints can go the Open Source route that I have done and turn to cloud computing and other web-based apps for teaching and learning. Even if you use a proprietary system like Windows or Apple’s Macintosh, free apps can be found to not only allow you to do the usual word processing and spreadsheet work but also more sophisticated learning platforms, the latest of which and much on people’s minds (mine too) is Google Wave. All you need is Web connectivity and that shouldn’t be a problem for you or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Cloud computing also means that schools will not have to purchase Office suites too. Sophisticated learning platforms can be had for free. All you need is just server space which is not very expensive. Give it a shot and if you really have no idea where to begin to get your free apps fixes, I recommend that you visit ZaidLearn. Zaid‘s crazy about free software and he has been most helpful in compiling them all on his blog. Take a look at it and you will find yourself all the happier from it.