Can you afford not to learn Linux?

I recently ran into an ordinary article in Linux Journal entitled Is Linux Worth the Effort?

The article was about K12 Schools Linux Terminal Server Project (K12LTSP) and Linux in Schools. What a K12LTSP project is about is using old computers as terminal servers connecting to one new server doing all the work.

The key observation is that most school work isn't that cpu intensive but managing the computers are human resource intensive. By having only one server to manage for say 50 clients produces a hugh win in cost and efficiency.

I've played with the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) on which the K12LTSP is founded and can report that it's not that hard to configure if you are used to Linux and that even graphics work using a Pentium One computer connecting to the server using 100mbit (728 x 1024 screen size) is as fast as if the server processor was in the client.

In the article, 250 school computers was managed by only two servers doing all work.

In the comments section of the article there were mentioning of Polish K12LTSP and a reference to another article http://polishlinux.org/linux/free-software-in-polish-schools

New eceonmy countries are free from old legacy systems and can jump to the lates systems just like new economy countries do not have to install NMT450 mobile networks but can go directly to GSM. If Linux is so much more powerfull as the article suggests and if countries like Poland go straight for Linux while we keep using old Wintel, where will we end up 10 years from now? Can we really afford no to start learning Linux today?