For standard day to day stuff, Open Source programs for windows will be sufficient (open office, GIMP for image manipulation, Inkscape for vector drawing, Open Flash for vector animation). But the real benefits of Open Source software alternatives are reaped when we look at video editing and animation. A few packages for video editing and animation can only run on Linux. So I guess people can use windows for all the day to day stuff, and then when we have a video editing course we can have everyone boot up into Linux - but that begs the question, why re-enforce windows use at all if we are going to be spending time on linux anyway? The proposal argued for windows because its going to be the same OS people have at home, but this can also work the other way: if people are encouraged to used Linux at the Sanctuary, they can always go home and install it there. Do we want to give people fish, or do we want to teach them to fish?

Anyone interested in more information on this and other
tactics should checkout the award winning (seriously) website
WWW.GROKLAW.NET.

i forgot to mention jahshaka, the free open source non-linear video editor. has anyone here tried version 2.0? the first version was a bit lacking, but the website makes 2.0 look like a competitor to final cut! runs on linux, windows, and mac os x.

www.jahshaka.org/

an NLE comparison:
www.jahshaka.org/index.php