libreschool.org/content/project/_index.en.md

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---
title: The Project
type: page
slug: project
date: 2016-12-10T15:55:31+00:00
layout: project-home
---
**LibreSchool** project main goal is to support schools wishing to migrate or
create new didactic laboratories using **GNU/Linux** operative system
and **free and open source software** (FOSS).
And why this blending, **Linux** and **schools**, you ask?
Any **community** involved in FOSS is _absolutely positive_ that **knowledge
cannot exist without sharing**; so it is logic to us to let two different
worlds, which basic phylosophies are sharing and knowledge, to make contact
and fuse: open source communities and the schools.
Why should a school be interested in becoming part of our project, if we
exclude the phylosophycal/ethical motivations already explained? It would be
too simplistic to say that it would reduce ownership costs for IT, since a lot
of open source solutions are _free as in beer_, but there is more than meets
the eye. Here is a non-exhaustive list:
* **High quality**: the offered solutions are of high quality and because of
this, they are used inside scientific environments (Geneve CERN, NASA),
big companies (Google, Facebook, London Stock Exchange) and institutions
(Italian Defence Ministry). For example, in our solution you may find the
following didactic software:
* Word processor: _**LibreOffice Writer**_
* Spreadsheets: _LibreOffice Calc_
* Slides and keynotes: _LibreOffice Impress_
* Artistic drawing and photo-editing: _GIMP, Pensil, Tux Paint_
* Technical drawing: _LibreCAD, QCAD, FreeCAD_
* Flow charts and mental maps: _Dia, Freeplane, Vym_
* Vectorial graphics: _Inkscape, LibreOffice Draw_
* Maths and Geometry: _GeoGebra_
* Desktop publishing (for producing journals, brochures, flyers and a lot more): _Scribus_
* Electronics: _Fritzing_
* Didactical series for pre-scholar institutes: _GCompris_
* Astronomy: _Stellarium_
* **Security**: this has always been the strength of GNU/Linux;
* **Constant and automatic updates**: Operative system and _also installed
programs_ are constantly and automatically upgraded, once a new version is
a available, so no application becomes obsolete and insecure, as it usually
happens with the proprietary ones;
* **Freedom**: Freedom of choice and use between a large number of
softwares; this allows experiments and analysis of different software
solutions, to check and verify which one would be the best fit for
requirements and needs;
* **Lawfulness**: open source software is perfectly legal because it is _fully licensed_ by authors for sharing, study, modification and, of course, usage;
* **Old hardware re-use**: GNU/Linux is usually less resource-intensive than other proprietary operative systems; this permits to use old (not prehistoric, anyways 🙂 ) hardware and does not force to necessarily change hardware to create a new laboratory. This enables some money savings for the schools;
* **Helps family to follow didactics at home**: the same tools used at school by childrens and students can be downloaded from Internet, legally licensed and free to be used on home PCs, without imposing other expenses to the families (again, as proprietary software usually forces). Usually open source software is multiplatform (it can be used on many, if not all, operative systems, also if they are proprietary ones like Windows or macOS), so it can be used anywhere;
* **Technological updating**: as of today, a lot of laboratories in schools (at least in Italy) use the old Windows XP, which is deemed **unsupported** by Microsoft itself from April, 2014. This implies that in this OS any bugs or new security problems are not fixed nor corrected, leaving most of the laboratories and IT infrastructure **vulnerable** to newer types of attacks.
Other details on the **LibreSchool** project are described on the [training offer]({{< ref "training" >}}) page and on the [technical solution]({{< ref "features" >}}) page. Further indications on how to contribute are available at the [join]({{< ref "join" >}}) page.