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Linux Win In Schools
Xaleth Nuada wrote to us about a Wired article that talks a school in Colorado choosing Linux over the traditional choices. The reason? Prohibitive costs for licensing, of course. The school's network is maintained by parental volunteers, and thanks to Linux, can be easily maintained remotely. And for what schools use computers for - primarily the Internet, it's a great solution.
Nice to see public schools moving towards a non-proprietary alternative to current software. Of course the reason for this now is budgetary concerns, but I can see a greater result--increased computer literacy.
Its been my experience (as a web development instructor with a private post-secondary school) that teens these days, despite the stereotypes, actually posess less computer literacy than geeks of my generation.
I learned DOS and UNIX on the command line. Windows and Mac will stunt your understanding of how a computer works, and make you think only of pushing around cute little icons. WIMP interfaces make people dumb. They can't understand how the computer works, so they end up relying on 'geeks' to fix their problems.
Teach programming to everyone (Thanks to GvR) and teach kids a command line in school. Make them understand the technology that they'll use every day of their lives. Let our kids develop some computer savy and brains.
Beware the Whyte Wolf.
With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels...
Most colleges use a UNIX environment (especially for CS and engineering). Putting a UNIX environment in high/elementary schools is the next step. And you know how school boards love to save money.
Solution? Linux.
It isn't very surprising to me, other than the need to have a good *NIX network administrator in your local school (seems odd, doesn't it?).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
For every one story we read abotu a school adopting Linux, theres a few hundred schools that buy Windows.
This is a fascinating story, honest, it's just buried in an avalanche of MS boxen.
This is a huge step forward for linux... but ofcourse my high school still uses macs... and not just macs... iMacs! What kind of idiot came up withthat computer? GRRRR!!!
Sorry just venting... i hate those colourful pieces of crap!
Hopefully we will install some sort of *nix by the time I'm a senior!
I got a question though: What are they going to do about taking work home? Not every kid has a copy of StarOffice or AbiWord at home...
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I remember that my high-school decided to use an all Windows "solution" because it was easier to maintain. While this might have been theoretically true at the time, within a month about fifteen of us managed to get full administrative access without even breathing hard. The nightmares resulting from a bunch teenagers with access to an entire county's grading system, scheduling, student records, employee records, etc., easily negated any "ease of use" that Windows might have provided.
Maybe we should play that point up a bit.
What about all the people in physic's , chemistry and engineering to name a few who work in a *nix enviroment. Advanced skills skill's scale down easily. Low end skills don't scale up at all.
By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more. - Albert Camus
And, even if they use more advanced things such as automatic table of contents, columns, merging, or anything else that I myself have never used, wouldn't it be better to get people to use document formats with open standards (such as XML, others?) instead of lame proprietary standards?
Is it really a sterotype if that's what she wants to do? Does everyone have to follow what you think their life should be? Isn't the point of "breaking sterotypes" just to be yourself? What if that's what she, or even he, wants?
Hell, I've love to be a stay-home dad, myself. I wouldn't mind at all. Is that not ambitious enough for you? Should I go to the top just because I could? Or should I just be happy?
Whatever makes you happy, and for some, that means a fairly mentally trivial job. That requires training, usually in MS Word and Excel. That will no longer be provided.
Your time has no value.
I am a Linux user, both at home and work, where my advocacy sometimes gets me in hot water. I think it's great that these schools are going Linux, but having "parental volunteers" maintain the network is, or can be, a recipe for disaster. Unless you get some slick Linux people in there, the AOLers and the A:\SETUPers will not be able to support it properly. Thus, it will be a classic straw-man case for Windows. Any budding MCSE geek can keep a Windows LAN limping along, and there are a lot of them.
That all being said, I think this is a great way to teach people, kids especially, how computers and networks actually WORK, instead of creating another generation of double-clickers.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
So yeah, it's happening more and more and we see a story here and there... some city government adopts Linux and now some school. That's wonderful!
Some other reader comments that it's a mystery that it took this long for that to start happening. Well, no it's not... the teachers and administrators often choose the computers and OS's. What *is* a slight mystery is why Apple failed to donate to the school... now that's a mystery... are they slipping or can they no longer afford to do that?
The best part of this is that it better assures Linux's acceptance from the ground up. Now it's in the hands of more kids. Let's face it, the younger Linux users fit the profile of that kid (played by Matthew Broderick) from "War Games." Now we should (hope) to see an increase in comfortablity with this "new OS choice." (Okay, so it's not "new" to us, but it's still going to be very new to a lot of people and isn't that part of the detractor of Linux? It's new and/or unknown?)
As for these 43 machines... I have to wonder if they are "good enough." Will the impression grow that Linux is slow to the point of being unusable? My first adventures in Linux were on my scrap computers... not powerful enough for my Windows usage... But since Linux was making a name for itself (at the time) for being able to run on my more modest hardware, I expected great things. When I didn't get great things I was very disappointed.
I hope this new direction goes smoothly for these new pioneers because these first impressions can mean a lot. Now we are starting to migrate from FUD to FACT and Linux's reputation is even more on the line than ever. The solutions to problems may ultimately be simple but if the answers aren't to be found, it often makes some situations appear impossible under Linux. It's not time to celebrate yet. I would love to see a follow-up on this story with interviews of the support crew, the faculty and the students about their reflections on the migration to Linux. It could be important information for anyone who is concerned.
I really don't understand this. What are these sites that people have trouble viewing with Linux? I mean, with Moz .9.3, Java 1.3, and Flash all running fine on my machine, what else is there? Is there some hidden internet that I'm not aware of that has amazing functionality only available to Windows users? The only web thing I have to go to Windows to do is play Age of Kings on zone.com, and I have to reboot to play the game anyway.
If it ain't broke, you need more software.
I've been using StarOffice to submit my weekly status reports to my boss. The difference is imperceptible. In fact, we recently discussed the possibility of putting Linux on our corporate workstations, just as an in-the-back-pocket concept, and we spent about two hours creating a test workstation that would do everything our users needed to do. smbmount and smbumount made attaching to the Windows NT network easy. Mapped drives, created word documents, etc. The fundamental lesson I learned from this was that no matter what was running underneath, if the user interface was kept consistent the end-user need not know the difference.
Good money decision, but really bad in the long run.
Aside from your misunderstanding of what constitutes an "education", exactly why is this bad in the long run?
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
The worst offenders are commercial sites of all places.
But if they use their Internet connection for mainly educational purposes then I cannot see them having that many issues, if any at all. In fact most sites run perfectly well (never had Flash lock me out due to it being old! Had it lock out on some werid 3D stuff though).
In fact some IE sites may just lock you out based upon the fact you're not running IE, even though Konqueror/Mozilla may well render the page correctly.
Really your issues are purely FUD and are hardly based in the real world to any large extent. Right now I am using Konqueror.
This is great that a school has done this. Hopefully more will follow, then finally the owners and designers will have to think about providing support for Linux. Support for Linux basically means good web design anyway.
StarTux
This is not a Troll, but are you all on crack? This is not a good thing. For hardly anybody. Putting Linux in a k-12 school system is not a good thing. Despite what anybody here says, Linux is not as easy to use as a Mac, or even windows. I make no bones baout this, and it may be part of the reason I love it so. Linux was designed for servers, and high end workers, not kindergarteners who have enough trouble putting their coats on, much less operating KDE. As someone who supports an elementry school's computers, software for schools often needs to be bright, simple, and colorful. You guys remeber MECC software, and Broderbund? Elementry school are places where using Print Ship can be a challenge, and the concept of "where did I save my work" or "I have to save my work?" are allmost insurmountbale. 9 times out of ten, teachers tend to be the least computer savy people you'll ever meet. And this is not necesaarily a bad thing, since they deal with very small children each and every day. Perl scripts aren't skills they need. Remember the idea here is total cost of ownership. Linux takes time to learn, time that teachers don't have to put in.
Mod point free since 2001
Not only is this a blow for Microsoft in terms of market share, but in PR as well.
Yes, it damages Microsoft's image, making them out to be a greedy Goliath. Yes, I think it's a great single instance of Linux getting some perception coup. However...
One, if you use proprietary/closed/commercial software, then you must pay for it and be licensed. If the schools are not in compliance, then they owe the software makers the money. When students see teachers cloning disks to work around "budget shortcomings," is there any wonder why kids think everything digital is free for the taking?
Two, if you choose libre/open/gratis software, that's a reasonable alternatve, but only if it serves the needs. It's not a hobby, but a job, so choose the right tools for the job and be prepared to pay for them if they're not free. Personally, I hope this just improves the free tools to where they fit the needs of the job.
Three, why are the schools strapped for cash? Because people don't want to pass school bond measures when they see it's going to affect their property taxes. Elderly people don't vote for schools, and homeowners don't vote for schools. Lotteries "give" proceeds to schools, but that just makes the legislature shortchange the schools even more.
Making Microsoft into the bully here misses the main arguments here. Microsoft chose a business model and is sticking to it. If you're going to do business with someone ethically, then you have to respect their business model. If we can't expect ethics from our schools, then we surely can't expect ethics from the next generation of graduates. Find alternatives that are functional, sustainable, and ethical, so you don't find yourself on the wrong end of the gun.
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You have it wrong. The guy said to teach without the GUI. I'll tell you a story which might change your mind...
While working on a grant at SDSU, I heard of an instructor in Maryland who found that her students who used a DOS-based PC to write english papers received better grades then did the Apple Mac counterparts. A 2 year study found that she was correct in that the DOS-based PC users used larger words, had a higher wordcount per sentance, and used more complete sentence structures. The students were enrolled in an English class because they didn't fail the entrance exam but also weren't good enough to bypass the English requirements altogether. The English department at the university didn't determine exactly what was going on but figured it was because at a DOS-prompt, you have to think about what you need to do next. In a GUI, you are prompted.
The DOS-based users has the DOS prompt staring at them and THEY had to figure out what the next step was. When they got to the wordprocessor they were already in a higer thinking mode then when ICONS lead you thru the task.
Once you're well versed and trained in the skills the computer is HELPING you with, you don't need to have such a bare-bones interface to get to what you want to do. Teach kids how to think and they will take off from there.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
It's like $30 per seat
It's like $30 per seat every two years and that is just the OS. That doesn't include the $300 student version of Office and any other applications that you usually have to pay for. Coupled with the fact that the security is swiss cheese and you have to buy additional security software, the $30 is just the hook. You end up spending ten times that just to defend your initial investment and make it workable.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.