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Students get Linux in class room
eweek.com — To learn more about the recently reported migration of computers in 12,500 high schools in the southern Indian state of Kerela from Windows to GNU/Linux, prompted largely by the recent visit to India of free software guru Richard M. Stallman, DesktopLinux.com contacted Stallman for further details.
3monkeys- 514 diggs
- digg it
- deviceguru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15The url of the actual article on DesktopLinux.com is:
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7058002470.html- garethevans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Thanks. Drives me mad when people post a link to a link to the actual story.
- podgey22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Strangely enough the desktoplinux article links to this digg thread for the eweek review...
I think someone at Ziff Davis is trying to generate more pageviews than they actually deserve, by posting up things like this, leading to a preview with one set of ads then onto the main one with even more ads...
Makes sense if they're being paid for impressions... They've just doubled their income for this article.
Then again, this user doesnt seem to have anything to do with them... So I might just be dreaming... But that's how I'd do it - r2d7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Personally if I wanted more impressions I'd write empty articles about linux and submit them to digg in a roundabout fashion.
This particularly insightless article could be summarised as:
- Dick doesn't know what linux they're running, because they developed their own (not sharing?)
- It wasn't difficult to convince them their students shouldn't have access to proprietry software (apparently Dick hasn't heard of industry standards like Oracle, MSSQL, Visual Studio, etc)
- Some little town on the edge of Spain is sort of doing the same thing, but very slowly.
- Dick doesn't like the way the French are selling some computers. He's all about freedom, just not theirs - benplaut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So did he bug them about it not being desktopgnulinux.com?
- ckr4282, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5THANK GOD.
- skryingbreath, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Isn't classroom one word?
- Arch, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3I be li eve you are cor rect.
- Cannon13, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10I doubt 3monkeys cares. He knows his friends of the digg-cult are going to digg it regardless of spelling or content.
- jsleno, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Dugg for the info about France that I didn't know.
Imagine if, in this country, Windows itself was considered a form of DRM. If that were the case, then circumventing it, or even REMOVING it would be a crime! I'm probably being paranoid, but then, we already have the DMCA here, so it's not that far-fetched. - billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I know this is a little off topic but look at that pic of Stallman. It looks like a mug shot.
Dude the 70's are over, I know that's your signature hippie look, but you could really use a haircut, a nice shave, and it wouldn't hurt to lose a few pounds. Maybe people will start taking you seriously again.
Be like open source and change with the times or you could also be like open source by taking the advice of others in hopes to better the spokesperson for GNU...- justinjacobs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5In the words of Patton Oswalt: "We need hippies that shave and bathe."
- BlackCow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Im suprised more high schools in the US dont use linux, mine dosent. It seems like a perfect OS for schools because its free (schools are so underfunded already) and you dont realy need any special software that only runs on windows because all it is used for is web reasearch and some text editing.
- billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9You are totally overestimating the capabilities of 90% of all school IT persons.
- Friend, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Speaking as a school IT person myself: billyboobs speaks the truth! I have some Linux capabilities but I would not be confident administering a Linux school. Many of the other techies I know also have very limited Linux knowledge.
Additionally, most of the teachers that I work with are pretty much computer illiterate; they freak out if someone switches MS Word from Print Layout view into Normal... imagine if they switched OSes. Even if it WAS more intuitive, they'd not even attempt to work with it simply because it's unfamiliar.
Of course there are exceptions to this rule, I'm sure there are some teachers out there who are Linux wizards. I only speak from personal experience. - justinjacobs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3As far as I know, I'm the only Linux user in my school. I try to spread the knowledge of, at the least, open source software when I can. Quite a few teachers I've found are comfortable with OpenOffice. So I'd imagine they'd be fine with something like Ubuntu + OpenOffice.
- billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9You are totally overestimating the capabilities of 90% of all school IT persons.
- MikeCerm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Whether or not you (or I) think that Linux is "ready for the desktop", it's definitely ready for large-scale, managed deployments in places like schools and businesses. This is one of the first of many stories like this that we'll be seeing over the next few years (especially with the Vista transition turning many people off), though it will still be a long time before Linux supplants Windows as the dominant OS, assuming it ever does.
- opusagogo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1stop the press!! news alert news alert!!!
- BluesRockGuitar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Having recently graduated from high school... most of my teachers and many of my peers can barely use windows/office. I could probably graduate college twice in the time it would take the bulk of the faculty to learn another set of applications - simpler or not. Besides, this is all assuming that the "Technology" department could learn the new software too, as I've observed some who are just as badly off as some of the more computer illiterate teachers.
I love the idea though. - WraithFX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Nothing against Linux... Since I actually use an array of Linux and Windows boxes. Seriously, did this guy have to post a picture? It's like having a fat guy sell body building equipment (Yes, he needs and wants to use it). Linux will never be sexy when a completely geeky guy talks about how great it is.
No.. I got the picture that American Inmates love that India is using Linux. :) - bladefallcon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So here's what you do then. One person (if already a tech person associated witht he school, even better) one person propose it to the school. The set up a series of short 'classes' if you will, to walk the teachers through the basics of it. How to do the things they typically need to do. Ie: Web browsing, Word Processing, Powerpoints, Spreadsheets..etc...just the basics..The, for those interested..and the tech teachers themselves...you delve a lil deeper than the basics...
Are people afraid of Linux? yes...are teachers computer illiterate sometimes? yes..But only because no one takes the time to teach them properly.. - gladguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2India is Great.....Linux India will be the next super power to bring peace to the world
- neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3FTA: "A4: I am currently in France. Here some companies sell computers whose BIOS prevents installation of anything but Windows. Customers with a certain amount of expertise may be able to get another BIOS from branches of the same companies in other countries, but ordinary users won't know how to do that."
Holy crap, how much more anti competitive can you get? - GrayOne, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Why does everyone have to push Linux so much. Have you ever thought for just a moment that most school districts-teachers-students-school IT people are perfectly happy with Windows?
You like Linux, well that is just great. I like Windows. There are tons of people that like Windows.
I am tired of seeing a Linux Zealot circle jerk everytime some poor ass 3rd world country that probably wasn't spending any money on MS licenses anyway switches to Linux to get back at the evil corporate scum bag capitalists over at Microsoft.
Can you believe Microsoft?!?!? They don't give all their code away!!!!!!1111 They also expect you to pay for using the ***** they made!!! That is sooooo not 1337!- hakrzcode, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Seems there is an obsession with circle jerks on Digg lately. There must be more and more geeks coming here. Someone did comment on the /. style of some comments.
- CircleFusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Other people are digging you down, but I would rather explain something to you, because you (like many others) have a very convoluted understanding of why people are supportive of Linux and critical of Microsoft, and why people on here cheer when there is good news about Linux.
Irresponsibility is the word that I use frequently when describing Microsoft. That is my prime complaint with the company. I don't have a problem with Microsoft charging money for their software. Free software can be great, but non-free software can be as well. In Microsoft's case, it is a mixed bag. They do have some successful software products that are quite functional and productive. They also have some software that has evidently been given less thought than was needed (Windows Security issues, IE6, etc). If the issue was only about the quality of their software, the issue would be simple. They have "good" software in general...not spectacular, but good.
In theory, Microsoft leaves room for other companies to compete with them and offer superior products. In theory.
The primary problem with Microsoft is with the decisions that they have made as a virtual-monopoly software company. Being in their position means that their actions can have a dramatic effect on all of us in the computer industry, as well as those who are business owners or in the education field. This is one major reason why they are the target of scrutiny.
In addition, while their competitiveness as a company is part of what makes them successful, that degree of competitiveness also means that they will make frequent decisions to prevent other software companies from being able to play ball with them. This hampers innovation and it reduces our options as customers, developers and the like.
With software, open competitiveness relies a lot on open standards. Standards are important for the users of the software, but the users often don't know that. I wish the businesses that buy the products would realize that there should be fair competitiveness in the software industry, not a reliance on proprietary formats. If there were focus placed on open standards, then when a company like Microsoft makes a decision with their software that negatively affects us, we can turn to better options from other companies.
The Open Document Format is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Even if Microsoft remains the software of choice for the Massachusetts government, it is still a wonderful thing that an open standard file format is now being required. They could switch away from Microsoft technology if they wanted to.
The adoption of Linux in schools is also great for the same reason. Linux is founded upon open standards. If those schools want to switch from Linux to anything else, they can. They are not tied to using proprietary technology.
I could go on, but I hope this clears up some of the misconceptions that you and others seem to be having.
- r2d7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1 .
- hakrzcode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ziff davis is on a roll with these types of posts. Complain about Microsoft's FUD campaign, and then they create one for Linux. This is not FUD, but alot of articles at desktoplinux are.
- cubiculum, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It's KERALA state, not Kerela.
- benplaut, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1wrong topic.
bury... - MasterWizard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In sitting in my Unix class right now! I go to a computer magnet school and were learning the vi editor right now. they're only two hippies in this class...
- abhishekkant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It doesn't happen everyday that a government sets itself in a way that may well turn out to be a disaster. The reason for this decision smells strongly of politics rather than development and fairness. I would really like to know whether this decision was based on any project report or finding? Why not share with the world the report if it exists?
More about it at:
http://abhishekkant.blogspot.com/2006/09/technology-myopia-in-kerala.html - thund3rstruck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Friend
Give me a break... just because people are unfirmiliar doesn't mean they're incapable. When you get a job at Hardees you have to learn to work the register... When you work at a bank you have to learn to use their management system. It's not like any of these people have administrator rights anyhow so there is no reason for them to learn anything more than using OpenOffice and logging in/out of the system/internet. Its nothing. The university is the best place for mass migration to Gnu/Linux
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