Chris Bennett, a student of mine from a few semesters ago wrote to me about an interesting experiment. Chris was in my "Managing Open Source" class and had re-discovered the joys (and miseries) of open source. He had tried Redhat way back when it was still version 6.x

Fast-forward to 2006: Chris wants to attempt going through Spring semester 2007 at SF State using only open source software. He's purchased an old IBM Thinkpad and has installed Ubuntu Dapper Drake on it. He is scheduled to register for three courses for Spring 2007. He will do all his work on Ubuntu, including term papers, assignments, e-mail, IM, etc. He has asked me to be his open source "coach". I've asked him to start keeping a journal and perhaps writing some part of it as a blog.

Keep your fingers crossed and wish Chris all the best in his experiment. bennett@sfsu.edu As always, suggestions are welcome.