[Wolves] Online petition to use Linux

[Kevanf1]

On 19/02/07, stephen welch <stephenwelch at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm with you on this one Kevanf1.  I am not even a Linux newbie yet as I
> cant even get my wireless driver to work with dual boot to Ubuntu but.....
>
> I work in schools and why would I want my money spent on something when I
> can get roughly the same for less.  Less is more.  More for education,
> crime, roads, disabled facilities at schools, special needs education, ICT
> School Techs (oops) etc, etc.
>
> I read somewhere that we have the lowest european level of students taking
> ICT at uni - that does not smell good for the future  Does that correlate
> with numbers in the UK for MS vs Linux when compared to our european
> neighbours??
>
> I also agree re open standards though as well.
>
> As with most petitions the Government will LISTEN!
>
> Stephen
>

I would like to say that I don't wish to fall out with anybody on this
issue.  The petition is flawed in its wording that I agree with.
However, for me , the very fact that there is the opportunity to give
the government a quick shake of the shoulders and make them aware fo
the possibilities has to be good.  I was possibly one of the first
people inthe country to be offered the chance of sitting the European
Computer Driving License.  That was back in the mid 1990's.  I refused
as it was completely centred on Microsoft products.  My objection at
the time was not because it was Microsoft but because it was a single
vendor set of software.  At the time Wordstar was sadly on the decline
with WordPerfect starting to look very shaky.  I mention those two
deliberately because they were the main two rivals to Microsoft Word
in probably every office up and down the country.  I should mention
that at this time I had not even heard of Linux though I had some very
slight experience of Unix System V.

You may think I have digressed in that last paragraph, sorry but it
does illustrate my feelings.  Microsoft equals computers to the vast
majority of the general public.  Ok, that's pretty much a known thing
on here I realise that.  It should not be that way though and my
feeling is that if there was stronger usage of, to start with, open
source software within government then more members of the public
would get that exposure and the knowledge that there is an
alternative.  That ECDL I mentioned above?  Well, that could be a good
start for Europe.  I mean, why don't they just rename it the European
Microsoft Computer Driving License?  It should be a generic course
that teaches the basics of the various office usage software.  Again,
if this happened then Open Office would get more exposure.  The ECDL
is a coure that is offered to a lot of government employees.... see
where I'm going with that one?

I will say that I am advocating the wholesale overthrow of Microsoft,
even though I do indeed not like their various practises within the
software industry and its treatment of its own loyal clients.  It's my
honest belief that if Microsoft had some proper competition then they
would improve, or fold of course because that's how business works.
They'll only get that competition if more open source gets a better
public exposure/uptake.


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Kevan Farmer
Linux user #373362
Staffordshire