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Linux in South Africa
Corel CEO Michael Cowpland, whom I'm sure many of you know as a keynote speaker from
several of the recent Linux conferences, has extended a gracious offer: Corel
WordPerfect for every computer in the school system. The kicker? Corel WordPerfect for Linux.
I'm interested in knowing what happens (and if they accept!). If you have any more info, please, submit it!
You make a good point, but not in that case of schools. Sure you have to learn a lot to administer Linux, but that's what students are supposed to be doing! The worst computer for students is one that requires no learning to master.
We possess power equilvalent of the Death Star, capable of annihilating small planets one by one..
My 7 year old writes and prints his homework on WordPerfect and then plays Asteroids and Tetris. Oh yeah, we're running Mandrake 5.3.
Folks who've not yet had their ways of thinking shaped by GUIs can take to the CLI quite well. If the schools already have Windows (MacOS, whatever) in place, then they just need a distribution that's configured for their needs (using GNOME or KDE, and with WordPerfect preinstalled) out-of-the-box. Nothing too tough about that.
But in general... People who don't expect computers to have little buttons and icons are a lot less intimidated when they don't see 'em. Just because you're living around a bunch of lusers doesn't mean everyone's that way.
windows easier to maintain that Linux?
What planet are you from?
I worked in a school, and we had Linux labs and windows labs.
The windows pee cees required constant maintenance and reinstallation of the OS.
The Linux boxes, once set up, required nothing further - I used to telnet in once in awhile to make sure no partitions had filled up, but that was about it.
I go to a high school, and the machines really have to have windows reinstalled once a week, depending on how actively the students are trying to break them. The younger kids seem to spend more time trying to break into things, but even in the labs that the older kids use there are many problems and the image still has to be copied off a server now and then. There are always at least two that are doing strange things and are unusable .
The admins in most high schools are dumb as rocks anyway, a student administered linux network would be good.
maybe the school admins wont be able to know
which end is up, but kids, man, kids are
geniuses. just give them some freedom and
support.
you also might notice that the greatest portion
of the cost of a computer system is hiring people
to run it. hardware is the next biggest cost.
software is tiny, maybe 5% at my school.
michael cowpland totally confuses me. corel suite for java,
before java was even ready. the netwinder, which was not given enough time or people to 'hit' like it was supposed to....
what the fuck, mike?
get your friends together and make it good.
us old farts dont have enough time to work on anything
good.. too busy trying to survive.
Linux is fine for my 5 and 8 yo kids. Both
can do the xdm login and run applix, netscape,
xjewel, and xbill (not thrilled about xbill)
just fine, and alt-ctl-delete to logout. No
problems.
Wife, kids, and I all have accounts.
Diald handles the network link.
IPMasq lets the both
computers access the 'net.
Downstairs machine has double-digit uptimes.
So kids will be just fine w/ Linux. Trust me.
-- cary
Yup kids can learn anything extremely fast.
I'm from Asia and my kid brother was able to play
pirated RPG SNES game from Japan when he didn't
even know japanese.
He was just moving around easily and know any
tricks the game has and I just sat there dumb founded with no idea what's going on in the game.
You figure it out!!!
"moderatel affulent"!?! I'll have you know, sir, that we in the UK are extremely affulent. We have the Queen - good old QE2 herself. Indeed, we even had a completely non-standard computer platform in our schools until recently - the Acorn Archimedes based on the ARM series of processors. But check it - everyone at University, in Business or wherever used PCs with Microserf Windiggles - result? Kids learned Acorn in schools, big noise about "teaching kids irrelevant IT skills" and now Microsef Windiggles rules our schools.
Linux needs to get into Universities and businesses - schools don't matter.
Thank you!
I'll have you know, sir, that we in the UK are extremely affluent. We have the Queen - good old QE2 herself. Indeed, we even had a completely non-standard computer platform in our schools until recently - the Acorn Archimedes based on the ARM series of processors. But check it - everyone at University, in Business or wherever used PCs with Microserf Windiggles - result? Kids learned Acorn in schools, big noise about "teaching kids irrelevant IT skills" and now Microsef Windiggles rules our schools.
Linux needs to get into Universities and businesses - schools don't matter.
Thank you!
They'll file for chapter 11 (or whatever it is in canuck land)
Well Johnny-me-lad, speaking as an ex - comprehensive school boy I know all about you grammar school kids. You may be able to configure and install a complex mail filtering system, but can you beat our school in a fight in the park at lunch time? Thought not.....
:)
vi /etc/group
iadultgames:x:500:dad mom:wq
chown root.adultgames `which xbill` `which purity`
chmod 50 `which xbill` `which purity`
gpasswd adultgames
sg adultgames
xbill
purity
"My sister used to teach biology, and you would not believe the grim picture she painted of the education system out here."
being a black nigger, I think I would....
Greenland of course...
the dictatorship that is most american highschools
needs a good kick in the ass.
opression and destruction are not education.
I always thought of DOS as being like talking to a lunatic who has lots of control over your life via a teletype.
because they already offer it at LOW cost
$35 CDN for the full suite and they have many many events where they give it away for free also in Ontario they had a unlimited use contract with the ministry of education back in the 6.1 days, don't know about that now though.
What other viable, or even semi-viable, competitors to Microsoft that still exist now can you name?
It's continued existence in 1999 despite the M$ hegemony is no trivial feat.
You're joking right?
Schoolkids did fine with computers before the widespread use of consumer GUI's.
They are the class of use user least likely to be put off by the eccentricities of Linux and have plenty of time to kill.
DOS was obscenely popular, even in the face of
faster, easier and/or GUI driven competitors including the Macintosh.
The notion that novice users or students can't deal with some other character oriented system is a historical absurdity.
Then they sell to the users that count: the corps.
When it comes to professional software tools, home & non-profit users are primarily a source of piracy. They aren't the paying customers. Although, that 'grey-market-penetration' certainly helps when it's time to sell it to the corps.
You can't squeeze blood from a turnip. You shouldn't try to begin with. At best you will only annoy people and generate negative PR.
It is far better to realize that you won't sell many WP's to JoeSixpack, just give it to him and move on. That way, you don't have to legitimize piracy by your inability to stop it.
What a nice comment. I agree.
is this really such a great idea? i mean, linux, no matter how much i like it isn't as easy to use or maintain as windows, i just don't have the experience yet... how are a bunch of schoolkids supposed to use it? i just don't think its ready for the masses yet.
If this means less money spent on software, and more on extra machines, that's a good thing.
If Corel could break the MS establishment in the U.S., it would, I think, result in far greater benefits.
What about England, Germany or Russia? Corel has made offers to Mexico. Why not Canada or Japan?
I'm just curious.
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
A properly setup Linux station is EASIER to maintain and use than a Windows95 station.
The only reason it seems more difficult to you is that it is unfamiliar. It makes sense for you to tell your neighbor "Linux will be difficult for you" because that statement ends implicitly with "...because you are used to Win95." But it doesn't make sense to say "Linux will be difficult for students" because they may not be used to Win95.
Supplying the schools of the sovereign nation of Chicago is not as impressive a publicity stunt as influencing an entire country.
Besides, anywhere in North America is likely to be stocked with bureaucrats who are in Microsoft's pocket (*cough* SLADE GORTON *cough*).
Hey, I've got an idea. How about they supply the schools of Redmond with free Linux WordPerfects?
;-)
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
>> I am NOT a halfwit...
Then don't act like one. Your post made you sound like a spoiled child, which probably was not what you intended.
Much respect for the mail filtering system (though my old job entailed similar duties for 7000 people), but you really must deliver your point with more finesse if you want it to stick.
For example,
>> you can all F**K off
is not a persuasive rebuttal to anyone's argument.
Remember that what's inside of you doesn't matter because nobody can see it.
But in general... People who don't expect computers to have little buttons and icons are a lot less intimidated when they don't see 'em.
Proven, of course, by how popular DOS once was. Not. CLIs cause fear in adults. There is no non-computer-related object which has an interface analogous to a CLI: I type pseudo-English commands and that causes stuff to happen. OTOH, there are non-computer analogies to buttons and switches. (On the GUI side, it's the mouse which has no analogy.)
The case could be made that today's kids would be less intimidated by a lone dollar sign prompt with a blinking cursor a space away.
$ _
If you think Windows is easier to maintain than Linux, then you've probably not tried to maintain many Windows machines before.
Linux tends to be slightly more difficult to configure the first time around than, say, Windows NT, but once you configure it, it's solid as a rock for as long as you want. After you've configured a few Linux boxes, it's considerably easier to configure Linux than Windows NT after you've configured a few NT boxes. At least that's my experience.
Windows NT configuration is a black art. Linux is just a collection of text files that are easily backed up and restored as you purchase new machines. I find cloning NT configurations much more difficult. For a school which sets up lots and lots of machines, I think Linux is the better choice.
I think this is a great idea.
The question being asked is how on earth can this materialize. Is it possible.
Questions:
1. There isn't enough schools with computers. (You are quite right but there is a few schools that do have computer labs most of these was paid out of funds collected by the students themselves but there is.)
2. How are they going to maintain these systems if they move over to Linux and WP. Again I can comfortably administrate a 160 computer lab with linux installed. It would be easy to get students involved to keep the labs operational (for a very small fee compared to comercial offerings.)
The problems that was mentioned so far is not really that significant and can easilly be overcome. Eg. I'm sure that labs can be shared by scholls in the same area I'm sure you can get people for cheap to help setup and maintain the lab.
The biggest problem in these schools is Linux and applications themselves.
SA schools do not use Word Processors in their labs. Very rorelly will you see this being used. The labs are normally used for something like Computers Science invariably given by someone with less than a years computer knowledge. In most cases around half the class knows more about the su bject than the teacher.
The only advantages and programs that a school in SA really needs is course ware. (Presenting multimedia courses as well as testing ). This is sorelly lacking on Linux (in anycase I have not found a project yet that is usefull).
Give me that type of software or the money to develop that type of software for linux and I will get the goverment to pay for Linux installations and maintenance of the software.
Linux is already in most institutional orginitations on Tertiary level but they arestill not in the Educational labs and until it gets there Linux would be useless to schools.
I'll gladly install Linux and Wordperfect on the school in my surrounding area. But will they be using it ?
Nick
-- "It's a sad day for American capitalism when a man can't fly a midget on a kite over Central Park" - Jim Moran
It far easier to do this sort of thing in places where computer adoption is much smaller, as a percentage. MS is well 'established' in the US, and quite a few other countries, but not South Africa. Basically, you're not fighting against 'network effects' - ie because Tom, Dick and Harry do it, you do it too.
Damn, you beat me to it. That was exactly the quote I was going to use.
I thought the QE2 was a boat!
That Corel should make the WordPerfect suite entirely free for educational use?
I remember how excited I was, sitting in the Computer Systems Lab at Thomas Jefferson and hearing that Corel would release a free "personal" version of WP. Sure, it wouldn't have some of the features. But finally there would be a word processor for the masses in the CSL (which has been UNIX based since forever). And then I read the license agreement, and lo and behold, it's not free for educational use. What a bummer.
We should start an email campaign to Corel. Who's with me?
Oh well, everyone there learnes LaTeX anyhow.
I'm finding myself pretty much pessimistic about this. My impression of Corel is that the company is driven more by an obsession with getting even with Microsoft than by a desire to make good, profitable products. This offer strikes me as more of the same.
I think they're setting up a public relations fiasco way beyond the black eye they gave to Java. As much as I enjoy Linux, it's simply not ready for this kind of use, for a couple more years.
Ideally, Corel would concentrate on making good quality Linux (and Windows and Mac) applications. In reality, they're jumping on the newest anti-MS bandwagon in the same half-assed way they did with Java. I predict that in two years they'll abandon Linux and be on to some completely new kick - Be, maybe?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Actually, the reason I said it like that is because Linux has always had a fairly big following from college students. I was trying to differentiate between that group, which has long used Linux, and the earlier schools, where it is not so prevalent.
No slight to anybody's intelligence was meant.
It looks like Corel will be taking a page from Apple's book. Get into the schools and you can work your way up. If nothing else, if people see students (grammer school students) using Linux then they will begin to realize that anybody can use it. By the time it's deployed and people start to notice, that will probably be true.
I hope that giving computer resources to schools will result in well-educated children, who may then be able to tackle the problems facing their countries.
James
No, no, I didn't mean it that way. I meant at least moderately affluent; I never thought that "moderately affluent" could be taken as a slur. For that matter, I don't think "poor" is a slur either. And the "trying to appear that way" refers to Russia. I like the Russians I know, but the country's having trouble and the government keeps pretending nothing's wrong. I worry that national pride might prevent them from taking (perceived) charity.
Last weeks Cringely details exactly how MS "buys" shelf space.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
That's a very interesting point that you make about the non-coverage of the Mexico deal. I guess it would not stroke the ego of the typical American to learn that a perceived "less educated" country is going to use a "very complex" OS in their schools. This point shoud be remembered the next time some American PHB spouts off about Linux being too complex.
I predict that the Mexicans will run gnome.:)
"The free software offered by Cowpland is the version of WordPerfect built for the Linux operating system, which is itself available for free off the Internet."
So... he's offering something for free... that was already free in the first place. Ok. Please forgive me if I'm less than enthusiastic about it all.
One problem that school systems seem to miss (at least the one I was in back in high school) is the teachers are never trained. Untrained teachers don't know how to use the computers. Ignorant teachers can't teach students how to use the computers. Computers stagnate and rot in a corner somewhere. All the technology in the world won't help if no one knows how to use it.
I fear the security risks if linux is installed by unknowledgable people. It would sit there, not being updated with any security patches whatsoever, no firewall or blocking of any kind. Just open to the world. Maybe Mr. Cowpland, in all his generosity, would help pay for training and installation?
This all seems like a publicity stunt to me. He dosen't give a rat's ass about the South African school system. He's just after more marketshare. Nothing entirely wrong about that, although he shouldn't be portrayed as such a great guy as the article suggests.
ooohh.. oops. 'scuse my misinformation.
Ah, that got your attention.
We're all mostly agreed that Linux will have long-term success, while Windows is doomed, right?
And the entire nation of Mexico is using Linux in its schools, right?
I wonder what nation will grow the next generation of quality programmers, eh? What nation will have an incredible number of highly skilled Linux hackers, eh? What nation will lead software production...
Hmmm.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Untrained teachers can be a problem. But at least having the systems available will allow motivated students to gain or improve their skills. We used to blow instructors away with what we could do.
I don't think I was ever in a computer class where the instructor knew more than I did about the subject until I hit college.
Education is 80% about what you (the student) put into it.
It's a nobrainer to offer this to SA market,
:-)
because that market is negligible
compared to US for instance.
Maybe he doesn't know that a fraction of
a percent of SA schools have computers
for students -- I'll give him the benefit
of the doubt on that.
But all South African schools with computers
will be using Linux, WordPerfect, etcetera,
in the future anyway, with so many
Linux advocates/professionals in South Africa
carrying the flag
What a great article.
I doubt any established IT news services in the states will cover the issue of Linux in South Africa, and that really pisses me off. They've ignored the Mexico deal almost completely.
I wish the popluar American media would make a bigger deal of Mexico's decision to go with Linux. A quarter of a million workstations and servers over the next few years, all running linux and in the hands of a nation on its way to some serious economic development. I see Mexico's thinking as another nail in the coffin of M$.
I guess the popular American IT media disagrees.
Think Again Pal!
The formerly 'black/coloured' high-school in Kakamas has a fully equiped computer lab. And is by no means the exception. Upington, Keimoes... the list goes on. Rural government schools have to a large extent realized the importance of giving their students an edge in IT. Also, most rural areas have excellent rate-paying records. Keimoes won a National RDP award a few years back for being a town with %100 of rates being paid. This might not seem like a big deal, but it makes governing the town a lot easier when you have the support of all the people and all the peoples.
I cannot speak for the rest of the provinces, but Northern Cape is by no means a backwater when it comes to IT. This might be explained by the fact that the average rural household probably has a lot more disposable income than the city-dwellers, who's cost of living is much higher (again, this holds true in the Northern Cape AFAIK)
Moreover, more and more big companies are throwing out old high-end 486s and low-end Pentiums. These make excellent Linux boxes. This opens up a means for even the most cash-strapped schools to get into the game.
Rgrds
Stephan
Um, Corel will probably want to sell their suite some day. Giving it to an entire country is good PR. Giving it to a city in the US will simply create a precedent they may not want to back up...
...suckling from the sweet amnion of life...
This is a great post. Microslop has a vested interest in keeping people, especially children, ignorant about computers and how powerful they can be. The only way to be good with computers is to dive in and read the instructions. You can bet that's what Mexicans will be doing.
My old high school was a mess, it has a small network of around mabye 16 win32 computers in it.
All win95 clients to a winNT 3.51 server, which, suprisingly, never really had crashes, nt 3.51 is a lot better then 4.0 if you ask me. Course thats like saying getting your head cut off is better then drowning, its true, but you don't want either!
anyway, all I and my friends ever did was keep telling the other students how to do things in windows... they had no idea, so i figure why not tell thim things in linux instead of windows since windows obviously isnt really inituvitive anyway.
Cheers to WP, its a marketing thing, but its side benefits are good for all.
"Computers will never truly be free until the last windows user is strangled with the entrails of the last mac user."
Oh, give me a break. Sure, Apple's sales have been down, but the two markets in which they've traditionally had huge penetration are the educational and graphic design markets. In the former case, that's largely because they've very aggressively marketed to schools. Corel would be well advised to take a page from that book.
Because WordPerfect is only free for indivdual use, not for educational insitutions or business use. This would be an exception.
I think the /. effect is going to kill the server. It's already slow, and the story was just posted!
/. voluntarily mirror any page it references when the server probably can't handle the load? Like this one?
Perhaps this has already been discussed, but should
Third-last paragraph sez: Cowpland stressed that it was a full-featured package, and not a scaled-down offering produced cheaply....
...So it looks like it could be the full version (parallel to the regular UNIX version - Server version perhaps?), not the downloadable "Personal Edition". There's plenty of room for interpretation from the wording of the article though. YMMV.
--The more you know, the less you know.
Are you serious? All you need (depending on the size of the school, of course) are few admins to keep things sailing, and I'd think Linux is much better than Windows for a school environment. The main reason being that you can keep the pesky little buggers away from the important stuff, thus preventing a major hosing of the system.
As for ease of use...bah! Slap a GUI on it, put the necessary icons on the panel or desktop or "start" menu, and let them have at it! Then encourage them to REALLY get to know Linux and the CLI.
Plus, with all that uptime, the kids can actually DO stuff! What a concept.
Seems like a great plan to me.
--
Okay, I got Linux installed. So where's the free beer everyone keeps talking about??
Just a stupid observation:
This seems to be a Linux story (yes, I read the story that was linked), yet it's flagged with the "Bill-the-Borg" icon.
Shouldn't this be a penquin Icon story?
My question's answered.
It's fixed now.
Oh, By the Way, I'm a Grammar School Student who uses Linux and I'm not just anyone thankyou! I just happen to be the youngest Computing Student in England - not some halfwit - Thanks.
periscope
(Jonathan C. Masters)
http://www.jonmasters.org/
My name is Jonathan Masters. I am a "Grammar School Student" but I am NOT a halfwit. In addition to being the youngest Computing Student in the UK, I have also been using Linux for over 4 years and do in fact know what I am doing. How many of you can say that you have set up a complex mail filtering system for 750 students from one mailbox, a proxy server, etc.... and not be accused of knowing something :-) So basically you can all F**K off if you're going to call "School Kids" Stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, and I'm doing the same for several Primary Schools now too!!!! + GNOME interface - Beats M$ any day!
Yet another reason to not make generalistic statements.
http://www.jonmasters.org/
Boy and Apple has been such a spectacular success over the years... best to emulate them. This is why Corel has been a second rate company for all these years.
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
With the high costs of telecommunications down here in South Africa (partly because its 3rd world country and partly because telecomms is regulated/monopolised by the government) few schools can afford to be online at this stage. Most school websites here are hosted on other commercial/sponsored servers.
...
.. Linux/Corel may already by freely available here, but it isn't so easy to get hold of. Very few people have the bandwidth required to download Linux and WP. Not that many people have CD writers either. Don't count on stores to provide this stuff either - the local computer store here USED TO sell Linux, but about a year ago Microsoft "bought" ALL their shelf space somehow, so now Linux is nowhere to be seen there. All that remains is academia, and even they've gotten very stingy lately with bandwidth and so on.
In fact, from what I can tell, only a relatively small percentage of schools here even have computers (maybe the top 5 to 15% ?), so I'm not entirely sure what they're going to install this stuff on, but it would definitely be a good idea if the government were to standardize on something right now. And since this country is so poor, it *shouldn't* be a Microsoft solution - we can't afford to get stuck in a massive upgrade cycle, constantly forking over more and more US$ to get "upgrades".
Lack of skills would also be a problem, although I'd be willing to do a bit of volunteer work myself. Nonetheless, kids are very fast learners. Teachers, on the other hand
I'm sure this is a publicity stunt, but it doesn't seem like such a bad idea either. It does need *someone* to fund training/installation, and it only seems right that Mr Cowpland considers this.
BTW
Being a Canadian company, Corel already dumps tonnes of money/software into the local education systems, especially in the Capital Region (Ottawa), where they are located. Many secondary schools (at least in my home town) are often associated with a corporate sponsor (well, that's not the term they use, but let's not mince words). Corporations are more than willing to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into school systems for infrastructure. It makes good PR, and makes up for insufficient government or regional funding. And no, we didn't have their logo tatooed onto our foreheads :) Most people weren't even aware of the sponsorship, except our new auditorium got a new name :)
South Africa was probably chosen semi-randomly. Perhaps because, as previous indicated by others, of the smaller Redmond-influence.
-- M. Slager
I know that in some American public schools, they have huge problems with troublemakers who think it's funny to install a virus, format the C: drive, etc. on the school PCs.
At least with a Unix-style system, you can configure the permissions to keep them from doing malicious things.
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
Once it is installed and properly configured, Linux can be just as easy or even easier to use than windows. Also, have you checked out the new Caldera install? I've heard it kicks Window's butt in the ease of use catagory.
Thad
The Bolachek Journals
"Excessive punctuation is the sign of a sick mind" - Terry Pratchett
HTH. HAND.
dave
I only wish they had started teaching UNIX in my middle school and high school. If we really want younger generations to become computer literate, technology fluent, and competitive why don't we teach them the REAL DEAL from the start.
Unix in the schools, Unix in the schools, Rah!
*************************************************
What is with the recent spurt of nationalism on Slashdot?? First it was: "American programmers are lazy", now it is "Mexico will kick your ass."
Anyone out there feel that all of this "nation state" stuff is outdated anyway? Screw geography, this is the internet!!
*************************************************
"Designed in the early 1990s by University of Helsinki student Linus Torvald"
Phooey on fleeting esses.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
Coming from South Africa, I wouldn't be so sure about saying there's a smaller Microsoft influence in SA. Microsoft SA is pretty big, and they do sponsor a lot of web-related things, etc. In fact, I think Microsoft SA could teach Microsoft a thing or two in terms of their public image etc. etc. Not that I'm saying they're particularly good or anything, just better.
.oO(- thelocust -)Oo. ignorant people speak of people average people speak of events great people speak of ideas.
I hate to nitpick, but there are a tiny amount of government schools that have computers. Last year I was at a government school that had a computer lab. Not big or anything, but there was one. Only problem was that there was only one computer with Linux on in the whole school! And I'm pretty sure that was one more Linux boxes than most schools!
.oO(- thelocust -)Oo. ignorant people speak of people average people speak of events great people speak of ideas.
linux in schools, however, can be all about the learning experience.
Case in point, Bennett high school in Maryland, which has a network entirely student maintained. If a student or teacher needs some service or capability, the students have to come up with solutions. For the students, it's an incredible oportuninty.
--
In many ways, Corel's current obsession with beating MS reminds me of Novell's similar obsession a few years back. And look at where Novell is now.
Pessimistic as I am, I still hope it works.
Okay, I stand corrected. There is at least one government school in South Africa that has a computer. However, I'm willing to bet that this was not one of the rural, or township schools. Maybe some of the wealthier schools might have a few computers, but they really don't account for a large segment of South Africa's education system. The majority of schools out here would consider a computer a frivolous expense. When you don't even have textbooks, WordPerfect and Linux mean nothing.
My sister used to teach biology, and you would not believe the grim picture she painted of the education system out here.
Best Regards,
Peter K.
The problem is that there is no way at all the government could afford the hardware ( even with free software ). It just makes no difference. Teachers out here are being retrenched at an alarming rate. Quite frankly, even if someone donated hardware along with the software, it would still be worthless. Most of the rural schools couldn't afford the electricity ( and often there isn't any electrictity at all ).
I think that an offer like this is not going to be received well down here. These schools don't want software. They want heating, desks, electricity, blackboards and a host of other 'basic' requirements. Why don't Corel just offer a free training program for disadvantaged communities. That way, Corel can provide some hardware with Linux and WordPerfect installed, as well as the location for the training. These communities would receive some much needed computer exposure. That would be appreciated more.
Best Regards,
Peter K.
Hang on here. I live in South Africa, and I fail to see the importance of this offer. To whom is the offer being made? According to the article, it's the South African government. I don't understand then. The schools that will receive a copy of WordPerfect are all government schools. I hate to break it to Corel, but basically not one government school has a computer. I'm serious, most of these schools ( especially the black rural ones that need the most help ) don't even have desks. This is a complete joke. All the private schools can afford WordPerfect, and the public schools can't use it. Do they think that all these schools have PC's just waiting for WordPerfect?
Peter K.
I rememeber the days when I got my hands on my first computer. It was an Apple ][e and I thought it was the greatest thing ever invented. I automatically associated this joy with the Apple logo sitting on the keyboard, and subsequently the Apple company.
It may have been costly for apple to provide the computers below retail cost to schools, but the effects of that lasted for years, and resulted in numerous sales of their computers.
The question has to be asked: will students associate the same feelings of loyalty towards an operating system as they do the hardware it is running on?
Maybe they will have familiarity with the environment, and maybe they will be familiar with clicking on icons, but will they really get to compile a kernel, and download source and compile their own applications ? Surely not in a school environment.
What is more likely to happen in a scenario like this is that the company that sells hardware to the school, will get a good reputation for the machine being stable, when in fact it is Linux that is the cause of the stability.
As Apple was wholely responsible for both the OS and the hardware, much of this got tied into the mutual benefit of Apple. This is not the case with Linux, as it is not the owner of the hardware.
I believe a more profound effect could be achieved through providing grants and technical resources in teaching students how GNU/Linux works, and what they can do with it. Do we want to educate a generation of end users of an OS, or do we want to produce a generation of people who will look at whatever they have on their PC, and then try to find innovative ways of using it to meet their needs ?
lounge around on the blue couch