[OPLINTECH] Gates grant application - what to expect? & integrating Gates with other public computers?

[Stephen Hedges]

Phil, I don't know that there is an easy answer to your question,
because this round of Gates grants is ~very~ different from the first
round. I'm not sure anyone has any idea what to expect.

Stephen

On Wed, December 3, 2008 12:14 pm, Phil Shirley wrote:
> Could you share your experiences and/or point me to any sources of
> info
> you know of regarding my questions below?  Thanks.
>
> I have no experience with getting Gates grant computers.  We were
> contacted recently and told we met the "first level of eligibility
> for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Opportunity Online Hardware
> Grant program."  I have submitted an inventory of our public access
> computers as required for the next step, but I have no way to know
> what
> might result, and I'd really, really like to know for planning
> purposes.
>   Can anyone give me any idea?
>
> Factors that could affect what we get: We have 52 public access
> computers, and all but 5 are at least 4 years old (but we're going to
> do
> something about that soon).  We have a levy so we're not desperately
> poor (but of course we would welcome free or discounted equipment).
>
> Does anyone have any idea what I might expect, or could you share your
> experiences?
>
> I don't know what's possible in terms of how many machines they might
> offer us or what if any cost they would be.  Maybe they'll give us 52
> free computers?  Maybe they'll say we can get 5 computers at 25% off
> retail price?  Maybe it won't be worth the trouble?
>
> I'm also wondering about how these will integrate with our other
> public
> computers.  I've seen some old Gates computers at another library and
> I
> have some idea what to expect: I think that these come ready-to-go,
> just
> set the network settings if necessary and plug 'em in, with lots of MS
> software and their own "server" to manage them - so, I suppose you
> could
> put them out like this and not include them in your Windows domain,
> your
> print management / waiting list software, etc.  I also believe that
> maybe you can erase the hard drives and use the hardware in any way
> you
> want as log as it's as a public access computer, although it seems
> like
> it would be nice to have the pre-installed software (I don't know if
> you
> get the install disks for it or not?).
>
> Finally, I have no idea how long the process takes or how long it
> takes
> to get the machines - whether we might have them in 3 months or a year
> -
> and of course this is probably something that nobody can really
> predict.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give me.
>
> Phil
> --
>
> Phil Shirley
> Technology Services Coordinator
> Cuyahoga Falls Library
> Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
> 330-928-2117, ext. 109
> pshirley at CuyahogaFallsLibrary dot org
>
> --
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