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<\/a>The arena of school management software may be where the next open-source battle is waged, with SchoolTool, an open-source program, at the forefront.\u00a0 The SchoolTool project is supported by the Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Mark Shuttleworth, the South African famous both for being the creator of the Ubuntu variety of Linux and for joining the club of multi-millionaires-turned-space-tourists.\u00a0 While SchoolTool is not the only school management program that is available for free, the SchoolTool project is the largest single collaborative effort to design an open-source school management system.<\/p>\nWith the aim of being a universal school management application, SchoolTool is not designed specifically for schools in sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 For practical reasons the project has focused its design and development efforts in Europe, North America, and elsewhere.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the project does have roots on the continent.\u00a0 The fact that Mark Shuttleworth is African is one point of connection.\u00a0 Furthermore, in terms of basic needs sub-Saharan Africais one of the few regions of the globe where there is an immediate and clear demand for such a product.\u00a0 The vast majority of schools in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia havebeen using management systems for years, with customized, legacy systems that would be costly to transition from.\u00a0 In contrast, most schools in sub-Saharan Africa still do their record-keeping the old-fashioned way: with paper and pen.<\/p>\n
But will SchoolTool succeed in Africa?\u00a0 In its current form, the answer is no.\u00a0 SchoolTool\u2019s fortunes may be representative of those of open-source as a whole, which for economic reasons should be more strongly-embraced in Africa, but in reality faces obstacles towards adoption.\u00a0 The typical reasons why Africa doesn\u2019t really \u201cdo\u201d open-source are myriad, ranging from Microsoft conspiracy theories to the constraint of internet access, to publicity issues, to piracy (In the words of a colleague, \u201cThere\u2019s already a great free photo editing program; it\u2019scalled Photoshop.\u201d).<\/p>\n
One overlooked factor may be that some open-source programs may not be meeting the needs of potential-users across the continent.<\/p>\n
SchoolTool\u2019s ability to overcome the following obstacles will dictate the project\u2019s future success or failure on the continent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Linux<\/b><\/p>\n
With technical exceptions to this rule, SchoolTool is only available in Linux.\u00a0 SchoolTool is for Linux, while the vast, vast majority of schools in Africa don\u2019t use Linux.\u00a0 Before you can use SchoolTool you need to install Linux.\u00a0 And before you can promote SchoolTool you need to promote switching to Linux, which is more a challenge and constraint in and of itself.<\/p>\n
Installation<\/b><\/p>\n
SchoolTool is installed in a few steps, but there are caveats.\u00a0 One of those steps happens to be determining what version of Linux you\u2019re using.\u00a0 Another is going to the terminal and\u2026 it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Many new users won\u2019t want to bother.<\/p>\n
The Internet<\/b><\/p>\n
Installing SchoolTool on a computer without internet access is a herculean task.\u00a0 This is an issue for schools, since most administrative computers in schools in sub-Saharan Africa aren\u2019t connected to the internet.<\/p>\n
Ease of Use<\/b><\/p>\n