[Liverpool] Software freedom (problems at the University)

[Dave Love]

Sujita Purushothaman <sujita at skhot.net> writes:

> The thing is though, I would 
> expect someone from a university setting to be more helpful than "The 
> University will categorically not change its security policy to suit 
> your requirements." ,

Treated decently, they mostly are helpful, or try to be.  Anyway, the
network group's instructions, as far as I know, allow you to get
straight on the wireless network with any system that supports the
required networking stack, whether or not the web pages are
inconsistent, for instance.

> especially when it appears that the university is 
> forcing students to accept a legally binding agreement with a third 
> party to access it resources ( is that legal, btw, forcing students to 
> sign a EULA with a third party?)

That's obviously wrong, and is apparently being looked into -- is anyone
defending it?  I somewhat doubt the EULA is enforceable, but IANAL.

> "The University's current policies do 
> not allow you to connect on the terms you state" would have been better, 
> and make it sound a lot less like Mr. Ward having the final say on 
> University policy.

How do you know who does, and what the background of this is?  Whatever,
slagging off hard-pressed individuals in public, and publishing private
mail generally, is out of order.  There are obviously official channels
for raising complaints (at least a computer users' forum), and better
means of getting something sensible done than public trouble making.
For instance, it's possible to make contacts who might be able to help,
if you haven't burnt your bridges already.

> A University is first and foremost a place of learning, and therefore
> all employees should have a facilitative attitude, imho.

I'm afraid you probably misunderstand the modern university, but I'm not
a modern man.  I am trying to educate -- if not about technical issues,
which are relatively trivial -- on the basis of long experience and
scars acquired.  You're not getting an accurate picture of the Computing
Services staff, whether or not they should be any more helpful than in
any other sort of institution.

-- 
No matter what the problem is, it's always a people problem.
  -- Gerry Weinberg