[dundee] OLPC Videos...niiiiiiiiiice!

Sat Jan 19 19:53:26 GMT 2008

Actually someone else regarded you as a troll. it was not me.

but if your going to come in with widely off the mark opinions,  have you
actually watch any of the video's, or done any home work on this, I did
keep asking you, so have you? honestly?

okay, it may be a laptop vs teacher debate..why can't we have both?

your attitude may be you would rather not act, than give something ago.
This can be seen as an experiment? unless you try , then why don't
we sit here in the western world, recoding our application's into the next
Microsoft buzz word technology.  Just the same regurgitation of  the same technology just with a different front end.

I'd like you to review this, and see my argument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI

so, you can act, loose some $$$$, or you can do nothing and
face the consequences..which could be dire.

I know which I prefer.

so, it may not be a linux vs microsoft scenario after all.

I flamed you (just a little), because your post seem to be an off the cuff
statement, rather than an informed choice. Watch the video's , see what you
think, get back to us. 

I'd rather seem some kind of change, rather than just say, well that's
the way it is. Nothing changes like that. Open source is about experimenting
with technology and ideas. Being a microsoft developer , you don't have
that chance, your technology is fed to you, you have no control of it's path,
if you don't like it, you can't lump it either. Only dead fish swim with the Stream,
and I feel like that every time I boot into Visual 'whatever' studio. In fact
I'd say that your a consume API's? Your a consumer, you consume Microsoft
products

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r92clMggYXA

is all about consumers... It's got some great references to Developers,Developers,Developers, and the real Developers, thier world
developing countries.

so, what your saying in a nutshell, is laptops are a bad idea, you need
to employ teachers.

Saying that, your saying the only structure that works is that teachers are
the only ones we can learn from?

I remember being at school, most of my teachers did'nt know jack, we used
to learn of each other, a few of them we're amazing teachers, but due to low
pay, they we're usually over stressed, over worked, and un-motivated.

I believe olpc will work best with mentors,  mentors are always so so much better, they don't force feed you information, you do that, you spend time
researching stuff, learning stuff, and your mentor guides you, helps you
over difficult concepts  and that's true knowledge.

Obviously younger children aren't taught this way , and not all children can 
learn this way.

Children always seems to just get it, they understand what IT probably more
than you and I. They don't see proprietary API's.  global corporations, law suits, patent law,  intellectual property, license agreements etc etc etc .

They just like making technologies do cool things.

Should we allow childern free access to information, and to learn what
they are interested in, rather than the the power that be choosing what we learn?

What it we found, after all this time, we'd be learning the wrong stuff?

But don't get me wrong, I'm not out to toast you.............

so, lets drop this now, go and get your smalltalk and python compiler,
stop selling out with all this microsoft bullshit, and get writing a few
education applications for the olpc.

If you make money from microsoft, that's fine, go and make some money
with microsoft.....

Do you think Intel/Microsoft think about education? or do they think about
money? Microsoft could supply laptops for free, but they've got to
be running XP? is XPsuited to low energy computing? of course it is'nt
but we'll do it anyway. how silly, and how stupid. Why won't microsoft
open source their operating system? Can I get hold of it for
education purposes ? no? Does any proprietary operating system
belong any where near education.. it does not!!

I'd be very wary about putting a price on everything in this world. That's
a very dangerous game to play.

The fact the you can sit there and defend technology corporations that make more profit in a hour, than the GNP of some of the countries we're talking about
really scares me.

This is a linux list,  I'm sure I'd get flamed to death if I signed up to
a microsoft lists (do such things exist) deep with the msdn website,
and said..hey .net is rubbish. I might just do it if I get bored enough.

We pay for everything now days, wouldn't it be nice if one thing was
left for free, data. Internet economics... it just wouldn't work if you put it within the framework of world economic policy? This tool that you value so highly wouldn't even exist if we're left to the  market forces of money markets.

that's a sobering thought..

now, I'll wait to be called some money hating , communist scum...

that couldn't be further from the truth.

I wish you the best of luck 'making money' with microsoft...

I just hope you understand what legacy your going to be leaving to your children.

a bit dramatic,but it really is that important.

olpc is a solutions to something  (battery acid pollution probably ;-) ) , but
at least it a start, at least I can say I'm contributing to something, that
might make a difference, rather than sitting at my desk all day, reinstalling
another windows server that has 'had  a <insert long list here> problem'

Laters,
Lee

Gary Short <gary at garyshort.org> wrote: Lee Hughes wrote:
  > that last video is very interesting, and might dispel this trolling I
> see going
> about OLPC

Lee, can I take it that remark is aimed at me? If so that is a pity. 
Trolling is where you make a post on a forum, or similiar, with which 
you do not neccessarily agree, but you know the post will cause 
controversy amongst the readers of said forum. I did no such thing. I 
posted a comment on this forum saying that I thought the OLPC scheme was 
not the best use of the money if the aim was to educate the poor of the 
developing world.

This is an assertion which I believe and not something I posted to stir 
you all up. My point is not whether or not the technology itself is good 
or bad or whether or not it should run closed source or open source 
software, I have no opinion either way, I just believe its the wrong 
tool for the job and the money could be spent in better ways to further 
the education of children in developing countries.

You obviously hold a differing opinion and that is fine, we can debate 
the points of our argument, but that does not make me a troll for 
holding my views no more than it makes you a troll for holding yours. 
Unless you define a troll as anyone who does not agree with you of 
course, in which case further debate would be pointless I fear.

> Intel/Microsoft, you've already lost, go home... kids don't want office 
> 2007,
> internet exploder, loads of viri, and constant reinstalls and updates.

Again you try to bring the debate around to Microsoft versus Linux and 
closed source versus open source. That was not the topic of my original 
post and, as I say, it is irrelevant to the point I made at the start of 
the thread. This is not a Microsoft / versus Linux debate, its a laptops 
versus teachers debate. I contend that the best way to educate people is 
to employ teachers and that is where the money should have been spent, IMHO.

-- 
Cheers,
Gary
http://www.garyshort.org

_______________________________________________
dundee GNU/Linux Users Group mailing list
dundee at lists.lug.org.uk  http://dundee.lug.org.uk
https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dundee
Chat on IRC, #tlug on dundee.lug.org.uk

---------------------------------
 Sent from Yahoo! &#45; a smarter inbox.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/dundee/attachments/20080119/b0cfcdb9/attachment-0001.html