I think I know the same story - the teddy bear is programmed to raise the kid as an assassin, right? Unfortunately, I can't remember title/author either:-/
OK, no M$ guff.
As an earlier post has pointed out, GUI skills are transferable, and there is a fair bit of common software (Mozilla, Open Office). In fact, using Linux makes it easier to teach *generic* user skills (instead of "MS Word shortcuts") because you can easily expose them to a range of desktop environments and allow them to find the common features.
You teach 'em on Windows XP, they will have no adaptation skillset for when they're suddenly exposed to Longhorn (or whatever cow MS drops on them when they graduate).
You pay for Windows (well, I do), so it would be nice if you actually got a quality, nonidiosyncratic (yes, I made that up) product. OSS is free, so your rate of return is infinitely superior (even if you can't get your laser printer to behave).
You're making the wrong comparison here. Mandrake 10 is bloaty, yes. However, it does assume that you have some decent hardware, and you can always make a more conservative install if you wish. I have both WinXP and MDK10.2beta on my home PC, and XP is solely there for gaming. If I want to get actual work done, I use MDK.
For low spec hardware, I would go with something like Slackware or Windows 98 (guess which is my first choice).
Sometimes you don't hae a choice. remember, most of the world is POOR. Or do you think us Africans should go back to living in mud huts and walking across the trackless bush? Most of our schools and road infrastructure are at least partially paid for through financial aid. Given a choice between a piece of crap PII and nothing, the PII will do very nicely, thank you.
This kind of thing has been put forward before, where a ground-based laser is used to boil atoms off a base-plate. Using a sail just allows for greater beam dissipation.
However, the Middle East has a really big problem with left-handers. This is mainly (I understand) ude to the fact that they eat with their right hands and wipe their arses with their left. Keep in mind that toilet paper is not that popular there and you begin to see the problem...
Sir, as a lefthander I find your declaration that right is the proper direction to be grossly insulting. Whilst I recognise that the righthanded majority feel threatened by the inherent superiority of my kind, that is no excuse for your continued use of language to denigrate us.
Whilst I agree with a lot of what you have to say, I just wanted to correct you slightly about the current infection rate in Botswana - It has actually dropped (by some fraction of a percentage) and we now have only the second highest infection rate in the world (after Swaziland). It may not sound like much, but it does show that we can roll this thing back. And those drugs are definitely helping - The government provides them free to infected citizens.
I know it's all very trendy to blame the colonial powers for all the problems in Africa (incidentally, you say that Africa is rich in natural resources when
<sarcasm> everyone knows that the colonialists left Africa a gutted corpse </sarcasm>
), but some problems Africans have made for themselves (I am one, so I'm allowed to talk).
Tribalism in Africa is unavoidable, and there is no way to put down national boundaries that wouldn't have resulted in war and genocide. And since when wasn't hatred and violence part of '/true/' humanity? That rich culture you think so well of is a contributing factor to tribal strife.
Before you can start thinking about how to get a country to move towards bettering their infrastructure, you need to root out the endemic corruption that seems to plague most African countries. A number former colonies have seen their infrastructure get worse since independence because of this.
Unfotunately, if you hooked up the chameleon to change colour accoring to computer status, the only colour it would turn is black...Mind you, there would also be some really neat audio feedback as well
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Unless, of course, you've enabled "Power on LAN" ...
The following should be able to help you:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Vorbis_Ogg_ACM .htm
I think I know the same story - the teddy bear is programmed to raise the kid as an assassin, right? Unfortunately, I can't remember title/author either :-/
OK, no M$ guff. As an earlier post has pointed out, GUI skills are transferable, and there is a fair bit of common software (Mozilla, Open Office). In fact, using Linux makes it easier to teach *generic* user skills (instead of "MS Word shortcuts") because you can easily expose them to a range of desktop environments and allow them to find the common features. You teach 'em on Windows XP, they will have no adaptation skillset for when they're suddenly exposed to Longhorn (or whatever cow MS drops on them when they graduate).
Give the kids a LiveCD :) Come on, you really think Unis will have no Linux machines 3 years from now?
You pay for Windows (well, I do), so it would be nice if you actually got a quality, nonidiosyncratic (yes, I made that up) product. OSS is free, so your rate of return is infinitely superior (even if you can't get your laser printer to behave).
You're making the wrong comparison here. Mandrake 10 is bloaty, yes. However, it does assume that you have some decent hardware, and you can always make a more conservative install if you wish. I have both WinXP and MDK10.2beta on my home PC, and XP is solely there for gaming. If I want to get actual work done, I use MDK. For low spec hardware, I would go with something like Slackware or Windows 98 (guess which is my first choice).
Sometimes you don't hae a choice. remember, most of the world is POOR. Or do you think us Africans should go back to living in mud huts and walking across the trackless bush? Most of our schools and road infrastructure are at least partially paid for through financial aid. Given a choice between a piece of crap PII and nothing, the PII will do very nicely, thank you.
Neither is Ubuntu
Don't blame Ubuntu for this. Go out and shoot a Nautilus developer instead ;-)
This kind of thing has been put forward before, where a ground-based laser is used to boil atoms off a base-plate. Using a sail just allows for greater beam dissipation.
However, the Middle East has a really big problem with left-handers. This is mainly (I understand) ude to the fact that they eat with their right hands and wipe their arses with their left. Keep in mind that toilet paper is not that popular there and you begin to see the problem...
From the article, it sounds like you're already in Hell if you work for EA
Sir, as a lefthander I find your declaration that right is the proper direction to be grossly insulting. Whilst I recognise that the righthanded majority feel threatened by the inherent superiority of my kind, that is no excuse for your continued use of language to denigrate us.
Whilst I agree with a lot of what you have to say, I just wanted to correct you slightly about the current infection rate in Botswana - It has actually dropped (by some fraction of a percentage) and we now have only the second highest infection rate in the world (after Swaziland). It may not sound like much, but it does show that we can roll this thing back. And those drugs are definitely helping - The government provides them free to infected citizens.
I know it's all very trendy to blame the colonial powers for all the problems in Africa (incidentally, you say that Africa is rich in natural resources when
), but some problems Africans have made for themselves (I am one, so I'm allowed to talk).Tribalism in Africa is unavoidable, and there is no way to put down national boundaries that wouldn't have resulted in war and genocide. And since when wasn't hatred and violence part of '/true/' humanity? That rich culture you think so well of is a contributing factor to tribal strife.
Before you can start thinking about how to get a country to move towards bettering their infrastructure, you need to root out the endemic corruption that seems to plague most African countries. A number former colonies have seen their infrastructure get worse since independence because of this.
Unfotunately, if you hooked up the chameleon to change colour accoring to computer status, the only colour it would turn is black...Mind you, there would also be some really neat audio feedback as well
Well, I know the guy, and a stronger OOS advocate you couldn't hope to meet.
Like OSS fanatics? Now, where did I put my fire blanket...