Every student in the Republic of Macedonia to use Ubuntu desktops

Popular Linux Distribution To Appear On More than 180,000 Classroom Desktops Nationwide

The Republic of Macedonia Ministry of Education and Science will deploy more than 180,000 workstations running Canonical’s Edubuntu 7.04 as part of its “Computer for Every Child” project.

The Republic of Macedonia “Computer for Every Child” project is one of the largest known thin client and desktop Linux deployments ever undertaken. Half of elementary and secondary Republic of Macedonia students attend school in the morning, and half attend in the afternoon, so 180,000 workstations will allow for one classroom computing device per student for the entire Republic’s public school population. The first 7000 computers pre-installed with Ubuntu were shipped on September 4th 2007.

Ubuntu is the award-winning Linux distribution for the desktop, laptop, thin client and server which brings together the best of open source software every six months. It is free, community-developed and contains all of the necessary applications to be up and running immediately, from web browser to instant messaging. It also comes with English and Macedonian language packs.

“The Computer for Every Child initiative is the largest and most important education project undertaken in the 15-year history of the Republic of Macedonia,” said Ivo Ivanovski, Republic of Macedonia’s Minister for the Information Society. “By selecting Ubuntu as the operating system for all of our classroom virtual PCs, our education system can provide computer-based education for all school children within the limited financial and infrastructural confines that most institutions face today.”

“The Republic of Macedonia is showing tremendous vision by deciding its own destiny in choosing how its children will learn through computing – said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project. “By choosing Ubuntu which is free to modify, use and redistribute it turns students into participants in Information Technology and not simply consumers of it.

The Ubuntu operating system will run on 160,000 virtual PC terminals and 20,000 PCs (which each also support a student on the attached monitor) supplied by NComputing and procured and installed by The Haier Company, a diversified manufacturer and PC maker based in China.

The project will enable a range of innovative educational programs, including interactive web-based classes in which specialized experts teach lessons in such areas as mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics to multiple schools and classrooms around the country.

About Canonical

Canonical is the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu project and the leading provider of support services for Ubuntu deployments in the enterprise.

Ubuntu is a free, open-source platform for client, server and cloud computing. Since its launch in 2004, it has become a natural choice for users of all kinds, from Fortune 500 companies to hardware makers, content providers, software developers and individual technologists.

With developers, support staff and engineering centres all over the world, Canonical is uniquely positioned to help its partners and enterprise customers make the most of Ubuntu. Canonical is a privately held company.