Linux in Schools

nemo · 08-06-2005

So I just read this article over on Slashdot about Indiana schools potentially moving to Linux in a big way, and couldn't help but post it over here. The original link is ( http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1844695,00.asp ). They're planning on using Linspire, (yeah, I know...) and apparently have a great site licensing deal.

alexander · 08-07-2005

well at least it is Linux, and maybe if people start wondering about Linux part of Linspire, we might just have more and more people joining the ranks....
Linspire looks like a little customized version of KDE, I know that they did quite a bit of work to make the desktop resemble a windows desktop. Not to say that I'd use it in a million years, I like my own custom FVWM theme (uses about the same amount of resources as fluxbox, but has a few cool features that you cant get with fluxbox), but whatever, to average Linux users, I guess it should do good for transferring from one OS to the other...

UncleAl · 08-08-2005

Apple tremendously dumped unsalable inventory into the schools, public and universities, as a charitable tax write-off and to create an Apple Culture. It was a brilliant and effective tax dodge, but it did not perceptibly inflate the Apple user base. Push come to shove, the average git cannot tell the dfference between Wincrap and a wormy apple. The box is set up and the user lives with it. I know folks who have thousands of erased files in their trash bin. "I need a bigger hard drive." Totally clueless.

Broad introduction of an OS, programming, or hardware into the schools is the cake without any frosting. It works or it blows and no amount of spin and hype can save it. That said, any layman platform that is not Unix-based is stupid. 80x86 and Windows are nightmares from the get go, both in hardware and in software. Intel cannot make a bleeding edge CPU (fast, cool, memory bandwidth, 32-bit compatible); AMD can.

Who has the lay market? Wintel! Clusters are being built with hundreds and thousands of Pentiums, Xeons, and Itaniums not with (cheaper and better!) Athlons and Opterons. Intel inside. Captialism has its failings.

I wish Linux luck - and buckets of competitors' blood.

alexander · 08-08-2005

come on linspire costs like $500 for a license for the scool, beats $200 per machine for windows no or $5000 for 100 licenses, no?

Qfwfq · 08-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleAl

I know folks who have thousands of erased files in their trash bin. "I need a bigger hard drive." Totally clueless.

Such folk are a great opportunity for a quick bit of cash. "I can put in a bigger drive for only 30 bucks!!!"

alexander · 08-09-2005

thats wrong you know, almost as bad as selling windows, geek squad and all those bad boys who just got "A+ certified" , woooo, they must know whats best for me, err, not. seriously, i was talking to one the other day at this store, i was like "is there any way i could get a computer without preinstalled windows on here, so i can install something better on it?" the guy comes back with "oh and what would you run instead windows", so i throw in "linux for example", so he goes "why would you want to run that" i mad, i go "its better, faster, less resource hungry, more efficient, open sourced, more secure, there is no viruses or spyware, i can control every aspect of it and it can do more things then you tink an operating system can", he looks at me, i look at him, he says "so why would you run linux?" i just turn around and walk out of the store at that point.... geek squad... lol... I'm not certified, because i dont beleive that certifications mean squat, and it is because of people like geek squad that i dont want to get certified....

rockytriton · 08-09-2005

great, so kids learn to use a mouse and a keyboard, but they don't learn to use software the is widely used in the real world. Sounds useless to me.

nemo · 08-09-2005

You'll notice that *nix is the underlying structure behind Mac OS X, and the protection mechanisms within Windows Vista are finally catching up to the protection schemes that have been in *nix for years.

Sadly, most computer users out there today don't know much beyond a keyboard and mouse anyway (see the syllabus for most any IT degree); for kids using Linux, if that's all they want, the experience will be very similar. However, should a student decide they want more than that, being able to see the inner workings of the operating system and dealing with things like LDAP without relying on 57 point-and-clicks will do them far more good than "I dunno, try rebooting." There is a reason those who choose to learn will suceed; perhaps providing a better path is not such a bad thing.

On the topic of the morons at Circuit City and Best Buy... I heard one of them tell a sixty-something woman who said she wanted to play games on her computer that she should not get a laptop because it wasn't "beefy enough for games" -- guess she was saved the endless agony of trying to survive multiple attack vectors in "Splinter Cell" while her machine was catching up.

The last time I was there, I was asked what I wanted to do with a computer. I told the Geek in question that I'd like to steal his identity, jack his credit cards and leave him with a criminal record in seven states. Then I asked if he could find me a deal on Inkjet cartridges.

Not all certifications are bad; I just picked up my GCIH.

IrishEyes · 08-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockytriton

great, so kids learn to use a mouse and a keyboard, but they don't learn to use software the is widely used in the real world. Sounds useless to me.

Are you being serious?
If they can learn to operate Linux, they can handle anything that Gates&Co might shove off on the rest of us.
This sounds like something that someone very scared of actually learning to do more than click buttons might say...