At the Sugar Camp event in Paris last weekend, Caroline Meeks related to me her observations of the Sugar 'experience' in schools. Put simply (and, I hope, accurately!), she said that teachers and pupils were wowed by the simplicity and intuitive nature of the interface and system, in a way that she had not seen with mainline distributions of Linux.

She is of the opinion that mainstream Linux won't be accepted in schools as a Windows replacement, simply because it's 'more of the same'. Windows is clunky and complex, a charge that can (arguably) be leveled against the Gnome or KDE desktops. Put Microsoft Word in front of a class, and watch the hands go up as pupils get into difficulties straight away.

Sugar has the opposite effect. Responses are almost always positive, delighted.

When I pondered this, I actually agreed with her assessment.  I remembered a Year 9 ICT pilot test I was involved in a few years ago, which was spectacularly unsuccessful. Pupils were helpless when confronted with an unfamiliar desktop. The test deliberately used a different layout to Windows. Pupils did not understand concepts, they only knew ‘where to click’.

Sugar's emphasis is quite a departure from the usual desktop paradigm (http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=page&page=about_features). Collaboration is definitely a 'killer feature'. The Journal is possibly another.

I can seriously see Sugar being used comfortably (and productively) all the way up to Year 9!

And as for TEACHERS... I think they would benefit from Sugar as much as the pupils in their charge ;-)