French kids get open sauce on USB

MORE THAN 175,000 kids in the political district of greater Paris, will be given USB keys packed with open-source software.

The move, which is being backed by the Ile-de-France regional council, will give the kids a "portable office" sweetie of software including an Internet browser, an e-mail client, an instant messaging client, and audio and video player software.

Although the software is designed to show kids that there is an alternative to Microsoft Windows, all the software will run on VoleWare.

According to ZDNet, the council hopes the project will "represent for students a tool of freedom and mobility between their school, cybercafes and their home or friends' PCs."

The council said it is going to set them back about 2.6 million euros. µ