1) OLPC seems to have all the funds they need right now. 2) If the project works at all they will have huge economies of scale just selling to governments. 3) It is not difficult to get a development machine, if you get involved and write a little code FIRST (using an emulator, etc.). 4) Clearly, Quanta thinks they will be able to make them at scale and make even more than OLPC demands, based on this announcement.
If you listen to the talking heads who give keynotes at ed-tech conferences and the like, you'd get the impression that teaching programming was a mistake that was made back in the 80's that we've subsequently corrected. It is baffling, really. Educational technology is still utterly dominated by people who can't program and have no interest in seeing it taught.
Funny to see this piece dredged up again. I'm the blogger Mark references in the story, Tom Hoffman, and for the past year and a half I've been managing the renewed SchoolTool development effort, after Steve Alexander created a new Zope 3 based architecture.
It is definitely tricky to manage a project with such broad and lofty goals, and we've still had our share of mis-steps and mis-directions. I have a background as a teacher and self-taught Zope hacker, so I've learned a lot of lessons about software development.
Nonetheless, a useful application is in sight. We'll have a beta this spring and serious testing in real schools in the fall of 2006. One key this time around was keeping the burn rate down and not creating specific expectations in schools and with governments that we subsequently failed to meet.
Most of the bounty cash will probably end up going to SchoolTool development. SchoolTool is a Python-based school administration application, primarily for schools in the developing world. Steve Alexander, a leading Zope developer, is currently leading the work with his team in Lithuania. The server is based on Zope 3 code and the Twisted framework. It'll feature a REST web service interface. Hopefully, this will provide a relatively simple, robust and clean platform to allow schools to manage their data with a minimum of up-front expense and administrative burden.
I was sitting with an 11th grader yesterday looking through the catalogs of some nearby technical colleges. I think the kid would be a really good sys admin for some serious hardware, but the tech schools seem to be focusing on PC stuff. The only thing I could figure out was that you'd have to start with the generic training in school and then go to Sun or IBM for more specific sysadmin training (in addition to the learning on the job track).
What path would a kid take to get into real datacenter hardware?
In this regard, the game biz is much like the music biz.
I think the game industry is becoming much more like the movie industry. It takes a genuinely big budget and a big team to make a polished "blockbuster" game, just like a blockbuster movie. A professional recording can be made of any band or performer, from hacks to virtuosos for a few tens of thousands of dollars.
I've never met a kid with "ADD" who cant pay attention to the television, or the video games, or books when they want to read them.
I have worked with kids who were too hyper (for whatever reason) to play ping-pong, for example. And I've seen studies that found that kids diagnosed with ADD are lousy at video games (whether they like them or not).
It is important to note that Chandler is primarily aimed at small organizations. It isn't designed to replace Exchange in corporations that are successfully using it. It isn't designed to help one person handle their email. It is designed to allow coordination between individuals in small organizations that don't have enough infrastructure and expertise to run a server-based system.
Microsoft just went after them because they're obstinate bastards who want to defeat the linux xbox hackers at all cost.
Microsoft also has to prove that DRM works, and they can win an arms race against pirates, if they have more control over hardware. That is, if they want to sell Palladium.
Whether or not this is a good thing for the original manufacturer should be totally irrelevant. They sold their hardware, if they lost money on it, tough.
This is exactly like GM shutting down companies that make spare parts for their cars, claiming that because the replacement parts let you go faster, that they are designed to help you break the law by exceeding the speed limit.
It looks like Kyle, the original Sorcerer developer is maintaining it again at the original url sorcerer.wox.org. I gave up on following that soap opera a while ago, but what did I miss? Is Kyle back to running his Sorcery tree?
While that changed for a few pop musicians during the 20th century, most classical instrument players have continued, as usual, to either barely stay above the starvation line, or have found a real job to supplement their meager income. There have been a few extremely rare exceptions (e.g., Pearlman) though even those folks make quite a bit less than you might think.
The people who should buy from Sun are (and i quote) markets such as corporate call centers, government and schools.
I just bought a web server for my school from Dell (I didn't have any choice) with linux preinstalled. I suppose I thought it would feel more like a Mac--like the hardware and software would feel more tightly coordinated, in comparison to all the thrown together Linux pc's I've used.
It doesn't. It works, but it doesn't feel like it was made to run Linux. From reading the mailing lists, it seems like if a Linux driver breaks in the current version of Red Hat for a given piece of hardware (like when moving to the 2.4 kernel, for example), they will still ship the server with the broken driver preinstalled. I would pay more for a server that felt more unified and solid, which I had been figuring would mean OS X servers, but perhaps Sun can fill that void.
Teachers are paid on salary. They are already overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Asking one of these teachers to fight with a relatively obscure OS, and find non-existant software to say, help to teach her kids chemistry is fucking ridiculous.
As a teacher and technology coordinator in an urban public high school, it is clear to me that classroom teachers shouldn't be asked to administer computers running any operating system. They should have terminals in their rooms which are administered from a handful of centralized servers (a la ltsp).
One possible scenario is that Palladium, etc. is adopted by businesses and schools as they upgrade hardware, but individuals resist and provide a market for non-DRM hardware (Apple, white boxes, etc). If these security schemes actually work (a big if) they will be useful to and adopted in institutions and businesses.
People generally like to use the same thing at home as at work, so it isn't clear how this will work out.
As a systems administrator at a high school, a working Pd would probably eventually make my work life easier. Anything that gives me more control over what software can be installed on the computers that I am responsible for makes my job easier.
I'm sure corporate sys admins and IT folk will feel the same way.
Of course, if it doesn't work correctly, it could be sheer hell for administrators.
But I would think big corporate clients will love it.
I'm more worried about Lyx being lost in the shuffle than Gobe or StarOffice. I would _love_ to see a more robust and user friendly Lyx that is a real alternative to _all_ word processors.
Any enthusiasm I've heard for Star/Open Office is strictly related to two things--the code is open, and it works. I haven't looked at the code, but I highly doubt that this old German code is any fun to hack on.
People who have used Gobe seem to actively like it, and one would suspect that the code is cleaner and more interesting, too. Hopefully this will increase the overall number of free software hackers working on office suites.
Sun has made a commitment to market Star to the enterprise. Star/OpenOffice can handle that for a while, but Gobe will probably become more fun and useful at least for individuals.
If a company has chosen to buy expensive proprietary applications that in turn make them dependent on Microsoft Office, then they're probably not going to be switching to free software anytime soon. Big deal. There are about six billion other potential free software users to worry about.
plone.org just linked to great little promo video by someone at the Government of Hawaii (Windows Media Format). [ low bandwidth | high bandwidth | 1.7MB.AVI ] showing the features of their new website built with Python, Zope, Zope CMF Plone skin, etc. All open source, of course.
Slashdot Mirror
1) OLPC seems to have all the funds they need right now.
2) If the project works at all they will have huge economies of scale just selling to governments.
3) It is not difficult to get a development machine, if you get involved and write a little code FIRST (using an emulator, etc.).
4) Clearly, Quanta thinks they will be able to make them at scale and make even more than OLPC demands, based on this announcement.
If you listen to the talking heads who give keynotes at ed-tech conferences and the like, you'd get the impression that teaching programming was a mistake that was made back in the 80's that we've subsequently corrected. It is baffling, really. Educational technology is still utterly dominated by people who can't program and have no interest in seeing it taught.
Funny to see this piece dredged up again. I'm the blogger Mark references in the story, Tom Hoffman, and for the past year and a half I've been managing the renewed SchoolTool development effort, after Steve Alexander created a new Zope 3 based architecture.
It is definitely tricky to manage a project with such broad and lofty goals, and we've still had our share of mis-steps and mis-directions. I have a background as a teacher and self-taught Zope hacker, so I've learned a lot of lessons about software development.
Nonetheless, a useful application is in sight. We'll have a beta this spring and serious testing in real schools in the fall of 2006. One key this time around was keeping the burn rate down and not creating specific expectations in schools and with governments that we subsequently failed to meet.
If you're interested in open source software for schools, check out http://schooltool.org./
Squeak!
Most of the bounty cash will probably end up going to SchoolTool development. SchoolTool is a Python-based school administration application, primarily for schools in the developing world. Steve Alexander, a leading Zope developer, is currently leading the work with his team in Lithuania. The server is based on Zope 3 code and the Twisted framework. It'll feature a REST web service interface. Hopefully, this will provide a relatively simple, robust and clean platform to allow schools to manage their data with a minimum of up-front expense and administrative burden.
I was sitting with an 11th grader yesterday looking through the catalogs of some nearby technical colleges. I think the kid would be a really good sys admin for some serious hardware, but the tech schools seem to be focusing on PC stuff. The only thing I could figure out was that you'd have to start with the generic training in school and then go to Sun or IBM for more specific sysadmin training (in addition to the learning on the job track).
What path would a kid take to get into real datacenter hardware?
I think the game industry is becoming much more like the movie industry. It takes a genuinely big budget and a big team to make a polished "blockbuster" game, just like a blockbuster movie. A professional recording can be made of any band or performer, from hacks to virtuosos for a few tens of thousands of dollars.
I have worked with kids who were too hyper (for whatever reason) to play ping-pong, for example. And I've seen studies that found that kids diagnosed with ADD are lousy at video games (whether they like them or not).
It is important to note that Chandler is primarily aimed at small organizations. It isn't designed to replace Exchange in corporations that are successfully using it. It isn't designed to help one person handle their email. It is designed to allow coordination between individuals in small organizations that don't have enough infrastructure and expertise to run a server-based system.
Actually, promotional expenses (including payola) are billed against the artist royalties, not the record companies and certainly not the RIAA
Microsoft also has to prove that DRM works, and they can win an arms race against pirates, if they have more control over hardware. That is, if they want to sell Palladium.
Whether or not this is a good thing for the original manufacturer should be totally irrelevant. They sold their hardware, if they lost money on it, tough.
This is exactly like GM shutting down companies that make spare parts for their cars, claiming that because the replacement parts let you go faster, that they are designed to help you break the law by exceeding the speed limit.
Nobody is forcing them to market a game console. It was their own stupid idea.
It looks like Kyle, the original Sorcerer developer is maintaining it again at the original url sorcerer.wox.org. I gave up on following that soap opera a while ago, but what did I miss? Is Kyle back to running his Sorcery tree?
Musicians in unionized orchestras do just fine.
I just bought a web server for my school from Dell (I didn't have any choice) with linux preinstalled. I suppose I thought it would feel more like a Mac--like the hardware and software would feel more tightly coordinated, in comparison to all the thrown together Linux pc's I've used.
It doesn't. It works, but it doesn't feel like it was made to run Linux. From reading the mailing lists, it seems like if a Linux driver breaks in the current version of Red Hat for a given piece of hardware (like when moving to the 2.4 kernel, for example), they will still ship the server with the broken driver preinstalled. I would pay more for a server that felt more unified and solid, which I had been figuring would mean OS X servers, but perhaps Sun can fill that void.
It is the only approach that makes any sense.
One possible scenario is that Palladium, etc. is adopted by businesses and schools as they upgrade hardware, but individuals resist and provide a market for non-DRM hardware (Apple, white boxes, etc). If these security schemes actually work (a big if) they will be useful to and adopted in institutions and businesses.
People generally like to use the same thing at home as at work, so it isn't clear how this will work out.
No, because I could sue my mechanic for breaking my car. I can't sue Microsoft for breaking my computer.
As a systems administrator at a high school, a working Pd would probably eventually make my work life easier. Anything that gives me more control over what software can be installed on the computers that I am responsible for makes my job easier.
I'm sure corporate sys admins and IT folk will feel the same way.
Of course, if it doesn't work correctly, it could be sheer hell for administrators.
But I would think big corporate clients will love it.
The government using Windows & Office is like the army buying tanks with the hood welded shut, that only fire shells made by one company.
I'm more worried about Lyx being lost in the shuffle than Gobe or StarOffice. I would _love_ to see a more robust and user friendly Lyx that is a real alternative to _all_ word processors.
Any enthusiasm I've heard for Star/Open Office is strictly related to two things--the code is open, and it works. I haven't looked at the code, but I highly doubt that this old German code is any fun to hack on.
People who have used Gobe seem to actively like it, and one would suspect that the code is cleaner and more interesting, too. Hopefully this will increase the overall number of free software hackers working on office suites.
Sun has made a commitment to market Star to the enterprise. Star/OpenOffice can handle that for a while, but Gobe will probably become more fun and useful at least for individuals.
I just use Python and ReportLab for generating reports.
plone.org just linked to great little promo video by someone at the Government of Hawaii (Windows Media Format). [ low bandwidth | high bandwidth | 1.7MB .AVI ] showing the features of their new website built with Python, Zope, Zope CMF Plone skin, etc. All open source, of course.