A growing number of K-12 districts are taking the open source plunge, both to cope with tight budgets and to escape proprietary vendor lock-in and expensive upgrade cycles. With the potential for cost savings and a growing number of educational applications, open source software is proving to be an effective alternative for schools willing to make the switch. Although cost concerns are moving an increasing number of schools to consider open technologies, the force that may ultimately push K-12 to a tipping point in its slowly evolving relationship with open source software is peer pressure. Dave Gynn, director of enterprise tools and frameworks at Optaros, a Boston-based consulting and systems integration firm specializing in open source software, says whether schools are at a tipping point or still approaching it, once they tip, they are likely to roll fast down the other side. (Contains 10 online resources.)