[SLUG] Re: Scarborough Digest, Vol 191, Issue 5

[John Allsopp]

That's fantastic to hear.

Isn't the school thing weird? AFAIK, there's a long history of schools 
teaching non-standard software because they didn't have the money to buy 
what industry and business used, and possibly also because they simply 
wanted to buy software just good enough to teach the module without 
getting overcomplicated. I can't think of a real example of that, but 
I've got that impression from somewhere. You wouldn't find AutoCAD in a 
school, I don't think. The BBC, perhaps. And Gem instead of Windows.

So when kids were being taught on a BBC, schools would presumably have 
had an argument against the people who wanted them taught on standard PCs.

And then he realises: the argument's the same argument. No-one in the 
school knows how to use the alternative so they can't change. There's no 
point putting in resources to bring someone in a school up to speed on 
Linux when every parent would have to ask 'why?'

All of the preceeding barring the first line is written from a position 
of ignorance, but I did want to respond nicely. For a minute there, I 
thought we'd converted http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak

J


woz wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> I am a new subscriber to SLUG. I've been trying to get into Linux for
> about 4 years or so but I felt completed locked out of getting anywhere!
> I tried VISTA out of curiosity and although it worked fine and was
> impressive, none of my usual programs would work under it. I think now
> is a 'tempting time' for people who want a change - or perhaps dont want
> to face the prospect living under Vista forever...
> 
> With this is mind, it seems to me that a lot of friendlier information
> is now about to help get into Linux as a real everyday alternative. I
> use Fedora 7 on an AMD XP2000 chip (runs at 1.6hz); 1 gig of ram and a
> Nvidia FX2000 GPU. My system seems to fly (you will all be pleased to
> know I used the Livna driver aswell, instead of the official Nvidia driver!)
> 
> I prefer my KDE (3.5.7-21) environment (everthing seems to work better
> than the default Gnome - E.g K3Bjust works out of the box. I use Firefox
> 2 with java and flash serve as my browser, I keep in contact with my
> buddies using the aSM chat program. I try to put all my music in to OGG
> format instead of mp3. I can also play any media format I encounter. I
> use Thunderbird for all my emails - and Linux life is just dandy - I
> even starting to play with GnuPG !
> 
> All this would have been impossible for me 4 years ago - with the lack
> of Linux support that seems to be now available. Im not sure if its just
> things that are happening in my life at the moment, but its not just a
> case of 'Swapping Linux for Windows'. Its more of the ethic and
> philosophy behind Linux - choice and freedom.
> 
> Out of interest I was chatting to my partner who works at a school in
> Scarborough. I mentioned the Schools with Linux ideas put forward, and
> although she see why it would be useful, especially of cost and support,
> her criticism was 'Why teach all the kids Linux, if they are going home
> to put into practice everything on Windows' machines..... mmmmmmm'
> 
> Im still very new to Linux, but each day my knowledge is growing and
> growing, and I find I want to know more and more.
> 
> Warren