Surprised, I say. I'm thinking about the XBox as the media station solution I want. If it'll run Linux, it outta run MPlayer and access my NFS shares where I put all my ripped dvd movies. If it'll run MPlayer and/or XMMS, then I've got my CD player replacement as well. Furthermore, stick an operating environment and I can even check email and browse the web and so forth.
The PC is going to be a dinosaur in the near future as computers completely permeate our society. The media box is the first step. Won't be too long (another 10-15 years maybe) before we'll be able to walk down the street and hit a public terminal to check our email.:) (That might be a stretch of my imagination, though)
This used to be funny. Then one of my friends became mentally ill, and really thinks they need to do this. Now it's not funny anymore, just very, very, sad. If one were to be exposed to the plight of the mentally ill, one wouldn't make so many jokes about it. It is depressing to see one so bright, promising, and fun spiral down.
Hey dude, need a band-aid? It looks like your heart is bleeding...
A comma doesn't belong here even though you normally pause when you're speaking this.
BTW,
This acronym probably is not proper english.
intelligent, even
A comma doesn't belong here either. Sorry.
even if you're not.
Even if you're not--what? I believe that's a dangling participle, although I could definitely be wrong here.:)
Disclaimer: I don't claim to use good english all the time. In fact, I specifically don't use good english all the time, and it's a matter of design. Neither do I demand that other people use proper english. Lead, others will follow.
Instead of re-inventing that wheel a better solution is to rework that piece of Mozilla so that on platforms with multi-user support the native support is used instead of the proprietary Mozilla-only methods.
Um, not exactly. In a few cases, a user needs to have multiple profiles of his own. It's a tree structure. Granted, the only situation I'm coming up with is a developer (web developer, moz embedder, they're all the same), but really!:) Users need profiles!
That works for the home directory, but not for redirecting %appdata% to a home directory, because windows applies the GPO for %appdata% before any drives are mapped, including the home directory.
Not entirely true. With Samba you can redirect the profile directory to have it stored within the home directory. I don't know if this is a good idea, I only know that it's possible.:)
Ok, I can agree or at least acknowledge everything that you posted in response as valid.:) Furthermore, I completely see your side of it, as far as I can tell. (Keep in mind I"m one of them zealots)
I wasn't trying to criticize you -- I do the same thing. I'm just trying to point out that the Linux cause that seems so noble to us is trivial to many other people -- and that if you objectify things by looking at something other than Linux, it really can seem trivial to us as well. Would it be great if Linux became the dominant OS? Almost certainly. Is it within the realm of the school's responsibility to detract from it's students chances because officials at that school want to contribute to that cause? I cannot agree. If you want to donate time and teach a free Linux class, you donate your own time. That's something that you can ethically give. But if you take a more practically useful set of experiences from your children, and give them a weaker set, all to contribute to your cause...that I cannot agree with. And that seems, on the face of it, to be what this administrator is doing, and what some of the other posters are supporting
Now we get to the guts of the matter. Yes, this administrator seems to be shoving GNU/Linux down his kids' throats to support a cause. He gives a bunch of reasons why he was looking at it as an alternative, but it appears that he did what I did. He switched 'cause he was pissed at Windows, then realized how wonderful an OS is. Then he shoved it down his kids' throats.:) He also works at a right-wing fundamentalist christian private school, so this isn't all that shocking to see.:)
Should the school detract from the kids' chances to support a cause? Yes and no. I say "Yes" because I don't view a deployment of GNU/LInux in a primary/secondary school as detracting from the kids' chances. But to install this stuff to support a cause? Not in a school. Politics have no business inside a school (yes, you said this before, and I conveniently set it aside, so now we come back to it). The reasons a school should adopt free software are these (in no specific order, and some can be argued, but I'll bet you'll agree with quite a few of them):
Open file formats and open standards means that the kids data (or data on the kids, such as transcripts and so forth) will not be locked in to a specific vendor.
Source availability means the school can customize the software if needed.
TCO. 'nuff said? Microsoft-funded studies to the contrary, there's plenty of other case evidence of free software having a lower TCO than Windows.
The open OS provides educational opportunities that don't exist in Windows. (As you said, this is for a small minority of students)
Adopting free software means that lower-income families that are likely to have donated computers (or computers as gifts) if they have one at all will be able to use the same software that is used in the school. Locking them in to a specific vendor's proprietary software could create an "economically oppressive" situation.
Yes, I will happily agree that no amount of money is too small to spend when it's the future of the kids. However, a school has a limited budget and has to stretch that budget as far as possible. Around here, in the seattle area, teachers are being laid off left and right all over the place. I'd hate to think that even one teacher got fired because that was the only way they could afford the extortion by a certain vendor also local to the region... Free software will *help* to address this problem, but it won't solve all of the school's financial woes. But all the little things add up.
When was the last time you used Windows? IIRC, every version since Win98 has defaulted to single clicks. I always switch it back, because I grew up with double clicks, but the option is there.
Actually, I use windows 2000 every day. Not by choice, well, by choice, but because I have to develop cross-platform, so I have to test in windows.
By default (and I leave defaults in place when testing software), to open an icon on your desktop you have to double-click it. If it's a directory, you get an explorer window. If it's an executable, then it executes. If it's just about anything else then it tries to open the application associated with the file, using, near as I can tell, a command line, much like GNU/Linux.
You can change this, but as I said before the system I use is for testing software (and developing, it has MSVC++ on it) so I leave the defaults in place since that's what 90% of users will have. I find KDE defaults much friendlier in that respect, and in others too.
So instead of Right-clicking the desktop and clicking the Settings tab (that's all there is to it in Windows),
That's not exactly all there is to it in Windows. Describing the first step and saying that's all there is to it can go two ways.:) First open a terminal. That's all there is to it!
Let's see, I make it to be a minimum of 3 clicks to change the resolution in Windows. I take it back, I just checked. There's at least two Ok dialogs to go through.
Furthermore, the *only* reason you ever have to reboot your GNU/Linux box is because you recompiled the kernel, and the next kernel should fix that bug. Restarting the x server should be all it takes, and you don't *have* to use xconfigurator. You could just "sudo service x restart" (where "x" is replaced by the name of the x server, which I don't recall exactly what it is) and type in the root password when prompted. There's an easier way than that that's not just a hack, but I don't recall it right off the top of my head. Logging in and out should od it too.
My point is, you did do it a bit more painfully then needed.:)
Also, if you use your Linux laptop frequently for presentations, why don't you install a kernel module for the projector? Then you can just put your presentation there without screwing with your monitor settings. This may not be possible, so I could be totally on crack about it.
This is one the biggest problems with Linux distros - does anyone know a distro that gets around it? If not, this should be a big priority for future releases. Dynamic display settings!
Agreed, mostly.:) I don't have a need to change display settings after setting them up originally. However, if you're using a laptop known to be frequently plugged in to any type of monitor, why don't you have an x config file for the purpose? Then, instead of having to do a bunch of *shit* to get it to work you just sudo mv/etc/xconf.projector/etc/x.conf && service x restart
My point being that if you know ahead of time that you might have to screw with these settings, *and* you know ahead of time what the settings you'll need are, it's a simple matter to have it setup, um, ahead of time. (Yes, I realize you didn't know it ahead of time this time, but now that you know, you can be better prepared for next time)
Mind you, it's going to become interesting when my two boys' new hobby becomes "root dad's box".
Ah the joys of parenthood. I remember trashing my dad's computer because it was fun, and then he gave us our own to trash and grounded us if we so much as looked at his wrong.:) By my count, I've got about 2-3 years before my daughter will start paying me back for all the trouble I caused on my dad's computer.... and then my son after that, and then my next kid (gender unknown at this time)...
i still dislike the BASIC syntax and would recommend (purely out of taste, no "real" reasons) something else to teach the foundations of OOP.
I can esthetically disagree with you.:) I like both BASIC and pascal, and have great fun with them. (Corretion: had)
I don't see any real reason not to use c++ directly to teach OOP. Or Java, for that matter. Kids aren't dumb. I taught myself C when I was 15 (14, maybe, maybe even younger, I don't remember). I taught myself BASIC when I was 6. Considering how much easier it is to learn when someone's teaching you (heh, I sense a soviet russia joke going on here), I don't see why we need a dumb-down version of OOP.
Stop assuming that people are mindless automatons that don't want a choice and start educating them about the choices they do have and let's see what happens.
Oh boy, you really got me going with that one. I didn't follow the links because I always get really pissed when I have to face the fact that people are both dumb and lazy (the second leads to the first, ref: television).
Speaking of OSs, I remember when I started using computers. To play a simple game you had to plug in the tape drive (not hard, it wasn't usually plugged in, though). Then rewind the tape. Then type "load "mygame"". Worse, you actually had to know if it was a basic program or a machine language program, 'cause you might have to add a,1 to it. Got worse when we got a floppy drive, 'cause then we had to type load "program",8 ! I don't even remember the command to format a disk. But I do remember using GEOS with a fucking joystick! And wondering what the fuck all these little pictures were, and exactly what I was supposed to do with them. Heh. I was in the process of writing a shell of my own (to add to the plethora of menu-driven shells available for the C-64) when we got an Amiga 500. I was in heaven. But what do you do when you get a GURU meditation? Turn off the machine, count to 25, pull all disks out of the drive, and turn it back on.:) How many times in an hour would you have to do this? If you didn't do it at least 3 times, you weren't *using* your computer!
Heh. Dumbed down OSs indeed. Computers are so easy to use these days by comparison....
Do the moderators read the post before modding as 1???? Come one....it's a 10.:)
I spend 15 minutes of my time educating this guy and I get a 1. Great!
Speaking of education, 1 is the default point you get for being a registered user. After you post, THEN the moderators hit it.
And i won't event talk about Visual Basic. I'll only say that while i oppose the death penalty, i still think that the person who came up with the idea to build some wierd object-oriented bastard BASIC should be shot. sorry. almost went on a rant here.
I disagree. I think that an object-oriented BASIC is a wonderful way to teach new programmers how to use OOP principals to code up a program, in the same fashion that BASIC originally taught new programmers algorithmic control, logic, and so forth. The difference, though, is that BASIC needs to evolve into a compiled language, finally, since compiling isn't nearly as painful as interpreting (it used to be the other way around).
I'll agree that VB isn't the best way to do it, only if I ever actually use it myself. I don't plan on doing that, though...
Re:More interesting story than I had expected
on
Maine School & Linux
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· Score: 1
Kinda like the so-called "Nation of Islam" schools that teach their kids to read up on their history and then have their smartest kids do just that, discover what a crock of sh*t they've been fed all these years, and walk out.
Actually, this same thing seems to be happening to Christianity in general. So much that christians are working ever harder to condition their kids, and failing in droves. I realize I live in a totally different place than I did 10 years ago, but 10 years ago I'd count 1 atheist (and I use the term loosely, since I dislike it as much as the term christian) for every 20 christians or so. Now the number is more balanced.
I ignored the fact that it was a happy god school, since minority stuff always gets adopted first by minorities.:) Just like Christianity was a cult before it was a major widespread plague, so must GNU/Linux be.
the linux labs at my university are running a two-year-old Red hat distro, and I have a colleague who can't use them because there is absolutely no obvious way to change the refresh rate the something sensible like there is on Windows.
That's because you have to edit a text file, and the file you have to edit requires su priviledges. It's in the x.conf file, I believe. Or rather, it's in the x config file, whatever it's called. Then you have to restart the x server.
Not exactly intuitive, I know. I find that editing text files is usually faster, though, than going through all the windows hoops.
Ok, I read your journal entry, and I agree with the basic software installation problem of GNU/Linux. Even on my home network, my wife (of which I'm usually proud that she has adopted GNU/Linux personally) doesn't install software because it's too hard for her, and I install it myself.
1) more people know how to fix (or at least "fix") problems that the average luser might have. (The only live people I could go to with my Linux problems were my friends here at my school [wpi.edu], who were big *nix geeks.)
Yes and no. This is arguable, since the average problems a user might have are completely different between the two OSs. For example, once a driver works in GNU/Linux, it doesn't stop working. In Windows, however, they frequently stop working when nothing has changed. I've seen this quite a bit. The Windows problem has no comparable GNU/Linux problem, therefore the average user doesn't know how to fix it.:)
I'll grant you that there exists in both OSs (in any OS for that matter) a class of problems which the average user can expect to stumble across. I think that this class is smaller in GNU/Linux, and that OS vendors should always be moving in a direction that eliminates this class of problems (MS has been successful in moving in this direction, in fact. Compare XP to win98). With that in mind, then, the only reason the average windows user has more experience or is better able to find someone who knows how to fix the problem is solely the fact that Windows is so widespread. Give GNU/Linux (or Mac) the kind of market share that Windows enjoys, and you'll find it a lot easier to get help yourself.:)
2) You don't have to know anything special to install a new program. (This is generally much better in Mac than in Windows, but both tend to be better than Linux). I don't think most users can be bothered to learn apt-get or how to compile & link source code. The problem compounds itself when an application needs libraries which must be obtained seperately. And precious few binaries exist for Linux (last I checked).
True, with exception. If you stick with the packages provided by the vendor as well as the vendor-supplied software manager (urpmi for Mandrake and RedHat, apt for debian, etc.) then you'll never have trouble. That limits the software you can run, though, and installing random RPMs from the web is not only dangerous, but frustrating as well. Furthermore,./configure, make, make install, is all pretty easy, but shouldn't need to be performed by the average user. I'm open to suggestions.:) (One of these days I'm going to work up a GUI frontend to the GNU build tools, it just can't be that hard)
3) Compatibility. I don't like it, you don't like it, but most people and most businesses still run Windows. My mother is upset when she can't run a (Windows) program a friend recommended, or when she can't open a specific version of Word docs which choke on Word 2001 (for Mac). The problem seems to compound itself with Linux, which is still rather poorly supported by larger software corporations.
Compatibility has always been, and will always be a problem. Unless the whole world magically decides to do what I think is best, and that is:
No more 3rd party OS vendors. Instead, the motherboard vendors will release the OS with the motherboard. That way, an OS will be a support service that comes with the hardware you purchased. We currently have the illusion that this is what's happening, but you know as well as I that it is not the case. When/if this happens, it will be *cheaper* for motherboard vendors to use a common codebase (like GNU/Linux) rather than developing a bunch of proprietary OSs. Furthermore, purchasing a motherboard will include chosing an OS that suits your needs best. At least, for the average user. This may introduce a level of complexity that they shouldn't have to deal with, though. In fact, it introduces a lot of complexity that I'm completely ignoring at this time. Rest assured, I'm opposed to the idea of a preinstalled OS, even in the case of system builders. I'd rather see a system sell for some price, and the vendor offer an OS-installation service for extra charge.
As far as learning & usability - we're going to need to find our way to a middle ground between the condescending tone of Windows and the steep learning curve of Linux. (In my opinion, Mac is close - it makes the simple things simple, but lets you do the harder/complex stuff as well. You can feel free to disagree.)
Last Mac OS I used was System 7, and it did succeed at being the middle ground. The only problem is the expense proprietary hardware platform. However, I think it's more likely that GNU/Linux will achieve this middle ground before Windows (I don't think Windows ever will, in fact), and it's available for the cheaper PC hardware platform. Ultimately, GNU/Linux *will* win over Microsoft, despite any naysayers to the contrary. The #1 argument naysayers have is that GNU/Linux will never achieve the same level of user abstraction that Windows has. The #1 refute of course is that GNU/Linux has progressivly achieved a greater level of user abstraction, and continues to do so. There's no reason to think it's just going to stop. So, GNU/Linux will eventually take over the desktop. We just gotta hang in there and keep up the fight, because it's a fight worth fighting, and it's a fight worth winning. (Yeah, I know, I'm a zealot:) )
The same thing with word processors. It should take more than 15 minutes for the average highschooler to adjust from Word to WordPerfect to Abiword. It's not like they're learning how to automatically generate table of contents or advanced table formatting; they're kids who are learning computers so they can write term papers...
You have introduced the all-important reason why Windows and Office should *not* be used in schools.
What happens when teachers start accepting term papers on floppy, or on CD? Will they require.doc format term papers? Wouldn't that require the student purchase a $500 license of MS Office?
Even if it's available for a discount, wouldn't it still require a student to purchase a proprietary license?
Yeah, I know, kids have to spend money somehow already. Paper, pencils, etc. The teachers will sometimes specify (use a #2 pencil, or blue or black ink *only*) but it's not the same as "Buy only MS products, because I'm too stupid to use anything else." Ok, that's a biased statement. "Buy only MS Office because I only accept.doc formatted papers." ? That's bullshit. If the education system gets that screwed, it'll be time to "Another Brick in the Wall--pr 2" them to death (yeah, I used a song title as a verb).
It makes more sense for the school to first establish a rule that only open standards and open file formats will be used, and then chose the applications that best support them. Then they'll have to use OpenOffice.org and Mozilla.:)
Amongst other things, XP keeps shifting things around on the start menu and hides stuff if you haven't used it for a while. Sue HATES that!!
Win2k does that too, and when i am forced to use it I have to disable that feature. What's wrong with static menus, eh? What the fuck is wrong with knowing where to find shit without having the OS constantly moving it around?
An educator's responsibility is to help their charges do as well as they can, not hurt them to help a revolution.
I certainly don't disagree with this, but I don't see how it applies to GNU/Linux in schools. Learning how to use a GUI is the same regardless of what kind they learn on. In my old high school they installed Macs to replace the old AMOS network they had. This didn't hurt the kids. With GNU/Linux, you also have a completely scalable educational opportunity. If the kid wants to learn just basic shit that the class offers, fine. But no matter how deeply into the innards the kid wants to go, he can, with GNU/Linux. With Windows the educator eventually has to say "Sorry, it's not possible to know that unless you work for Microsoft." Child psychology teaches us that the kid will choose the environment they want to live in based solely on what's available, and using Windows automatically limits them based on arbitrary Intellectual Property restrictions. GNU/Linux makes any computing environment available for the kids.
I'm not saying this is impossible, but I think that the schools should be the last to adapt. Schools shouldn't have a political or ideological agenda -- they should simply be on the "side of the students", sappy as that sounds. Let businesses realize the benefits and change, and the schools adjust to fit the world.
This is true, so far as it goes. However, schools are already used as a platform to condition kids to a political opinion. In my experience, using GNU/Linux as a tool to help them teach the kids about freedom would actually be contrary to what the schools already teach them. This is a subject for a different forum, though.:) (I'm willing to pursue it, though)
So they should install Linux, KWord and Open Office, and require students to alternate between the two programs? I'm kind of dubious.
With a resounding "No". The point I was trying to make is that they can easily adapt what they learn from GNU/Linux to Windows when/if they get a job that requires them to do so. The computers chosen in the school should be chosen based on a few qualifications, but the question with regards to using the skills later in life is "Will they be able to apply these skills later in life to their benefit, or will they be required to learn new skills to replace these?". The answer to that question, based on existing implementations, is that OpenOffice.org is sufficient to teach them how to use a word processor and spreadsheet. I don't know about Koffice, I don't use it.
there's a fair amount of time when the person acquires a similar skill set in the other program (say, a Microstation guru moving to AutoCAD)
This is actually the asnwer to the GIMP vs Photoshop debate.:) Fact is, an artist will naturally prefer one over the other as a basic mindset issue, but after achieving proficiency with either of them will likely find that they're both excellent tools. In your specific example you have to go to college anyway to learn how to use whatever is in the marketplace. Public schools (I realize the article is about a private school) should be more focussed on teaching the kids the concepts behind the software, because the education will be more portable when they can use their existing education (based on concepts) to learn a different implementation of those concepts. This is, of course, the reason we learn how to do long-hand division even though a calculator does it much quicker.
Mmm...I'm not saying that there isn't a sliver of value here, but there are (IMHO) far more valuable ways to do this. One day in history class on, say, the Revolutionary War or the Civil War should really teach students more about "freedom" than a whole K-12 of using Linux.
We're already getting this one day of classtime learning about freedom, and as a result we now live in a society that values safety over freedom. So I ask you, have we done all that we can? Should we do more? How about the blatant hypocrisy of teaching kids about "taxation without representation" and then paying the "Microsoft tax" so that they can learn how to use windows?
There are people who really get up in arms about how uneducated people are about their vehicle purchases, and how much they fall into marketing bullshit -- much like we complain about with MS.
This is a human problem for which I have no solution. I can only say that I too occasionally get seduced by marketing hype and I make a strong effort to learn as much about something before I commit myself.
Sure (come to think of it, nobody ever taught me to mend pants, dammit, and I remember a home ec class in there somewhere).:-) I'm just dubious that all this can be achived by using KWord instead of MS Word
As I said above, it doesn't matter much which software package is being used as long as the kid learns how to use a word processor. As long as you teach the concepts behind the software and use the software solely as a tool to teach those concepts, the kid will *always* be able to adapt their existing education to a new software package. (For the record, my mom taught me how to mend pants when I was very little. I can't sew worth a shit, but I can fix my clothes. Unique, it seems, for a grown man to be able to whip out needle and thread and stitch on buttons and close up seems, but I understand this used to be quite commonplace)
Speaking as a parent of two, with a third on the way.:)
Congrats!
Thank you!
Re:Computer lab or vocational education?
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Maine School & Linux
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Yup. Kids (and young adults) pick up new things much more quickly, like languages or interfaces. A well-designed interface or program should be easy for the average adult to learn - not just geeks and kids. Kids also have less of a problem asking adults for help. Adults don't like to feel stupid, and trying to use Linux makes most people feel stupid.
Ok, you shot down my point about the 4-year-old, so I'll mention the wife that only knows (knew) how to use IE, Word, and a smattering of other windows apps. Now she prefers GNU/LInux, and one reason she prefers it has to do with my next point...
Windows operates under the assumption that the user *is* an idiot, and it treats them accordingly. Between all the stupid "Ok" dialogs and "Are you sure?" and Clippy, Windows does an excellent job of getting across the point that "you aren't smart enough to use a computer, so I have to hold your hand like a little kid crossing the street." So the users are told constantly by the interface that they're too stupid to use this OS, and sooner or later they even believe it. Contrast to GNU/Linux, which actually does treat you with a bit of respect (most of the time, but it certainly has its moments), when people use it they feel like they know what they're doing. This can be a bad thing, I know. The point is that rather than beat up on the user, GNU/Linux builds up the user, and they get more and more willing to try different things.
It seems strange to me to talk about how a computer treats its user, but that is the guts of the matter, isn't it? Microsoft has demonstrated a superiority complex along with a driving need to rule the world, whereas Free Software developers have demonstrated a willingness to help people and make peoples' lives better both en masse and individually. The respective interfaces reflect these basic drives by the respective developers. What does an average person prefer from a friend? Someone who treats them with respect, a bit of deference, and allows them the freedom to do as they wish? Or would they rather have Bill Gates as a friend?:)
Add to this the knowledge that adults tend to be more set in their ways, and are less likely to try (or stick with) new things, in favor of what's old and comfortable... and it seems clear that Linux has to do several things before it can be adopted by the masses. One of those things is, most likely, a better (perceived) compatibility with Windows.
I can agree that there's more that GNU/Linux can do to help the masses to look upon it favorably, but IMHO, it's ready for the masses. At least, Mandrake LInux 9.0 is, I'm sure I don't want the masses to have their first experience with Gentoo. I also agree that people in general prefer not to change from their old, nasty habits. I still smoke cigarettes, for example. I'm certainly not on a high horse about not resisting change. OTOH, I have benefitted personally by adopting technology (starting with CDs, moving on to mp3s and so forth) that really benefits me in a direct, personal fashion. My own experience is that GNU/Linux benefits me in a direct, personal fashion, and it adds pleasure to my life. Windows removed pleasure from my life and replaced it with more negative emotions best left unmentioned. My own anecdotal story is hardly evidence to support a revolution, though.:)
When it comes down to it, KDE (not sure about Gnome) is easy for the average adult to learn. IN fact, in many ways it acts the way people expect it to act, ways in which windows doesn't (single-clicking vs double-clicking). The catch is, this isn't exactly true since people have learned the windows ass-backwards way already. When it comes to troubleshooting driver problems and so forth, Windows errs on the part of thinking the user is too stupid, whereas GNU/Linux errs on the part of expecting the user to know more than they do. In both cases, I find it difficult to fix driver problems. It's the same, I've found, in most of the administration tasks on each OS. But I've also found that after you get past the steep learning curve of GNU/Linux, you can fix things faster and more efficiently than you can ever achieve with Windows.
When it comes to administering a machine, whether its a home machine or a work machine, or the one you use at school, it amounts to having two choices. You can try to fix it yourself, or you can get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it. (The third choice is irrelevant, because it means offloading the problem onto someone else who will then be faced with the same two choices) Your average idiot will get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it, and it makes no difference if it's their home machine or their work machine or whatever. Your average techie (or wanna-be techie) will try to fix it themselves, and if they fail they'll look for help. In either case, someone who knows what they're doing gets involved eventually anyway. I've *never* seen your average idiot (to whom Windows is targetted) fix their broken computer by themselves. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but I've never seen it.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Get real.
Surprised, I say. I'm thinking about the XBox as the media station solution I want. If it'll run Linux, it outta run MPlayer and access my NFS shares where I put all my ripped dvd movies. If it'll run MPlayer and/or XMMS, then I've got my CD player replacement as well. Furthermore, stick an operating environment and I can even check email and browse the web and so forth.
The PC is going to be a dinosaur in the near future as computers completely permeate our society. The media box is the first step. Won't be too long (another 10-15 years maybe) before we'll be able to walk down the street and hit a public terminal to check our email. :) (That might be a stretch of my imagination, though)
we do not analise the wire to get information, we analize the electrtic current patters of on-off-on-off.
Um, I don't analize shit. er, well, I guess I do.
This used to be funny. Then one of my friends became mentally ill, and really thinks they need to do this. Now it's not funny anymore, just very, very, sad. If one were to be exposed to the plight of the mentally ill, one wouldn't make so many jokes about it. It is depressing to see one so bright, promising, and fun spiral down.
Hey dude, need a band-aid? It looks like your heart is bleeding...
Speaking proper english
Ok, you asked for it. :)
non-profit, especially
A comma doesn't belong here even though you normally pause when you're speaking this.
BTW,
This acronym probably is not proper english.
intelligent, even
A comma doesn't belong here either. Sorry.
even if you're not.
Even if you're not--what? I believe that's a dangling participle, although I could definitely be wrong here. :)
Disclaimer: I don't claim to use good english all the time. In fact, I specifically don't use good english all the time, and it's a matter of design. Neither do I demand that other people use proper english. Lead, others will follow.
I'm replying to your sig for the only reason that I've just finished watching all of the red dwarf episodes. :)
I read on this site that there was once upon a time a movie in the making.
Only one question - how did they deal with the fact that the righties outnumber the lefties 9 to 1?
Shoot the leftie.
Ok, so that doesn't help at all with the problem, but someone had to say it. :)
Instead of re-inventing that wheel a better solution is to rework that piece of Mozilla so that on platforms with multi-user support the native support is used instead of the proprietary Mozilla-only methods.
Um, not exactly. In a few cases, a user needs to have multiple profiles of his own. It's a tree structure. Granted, the only situation I'm coming up with is a developer (web developer, moz embedder, they're all the same), but really! :) Users need profiles!
That works for the home directory, but not for redirecting %appdata% to a home directory, because windows applies the GPO for %appdata% before any drives are mapped, including the home directory.
Not entirely true. With Samba you can redirect the profile directory to have it stored within the home directory. I don't know if this is a good idea, I only know that it's possible. :)
so ctrl+alt+enter is great! haha! maybe I'm addicted to phoenix now! lol, how easily I'm pleased :)
If you love that, check out what ctl+alt+backspace does in mozilla.
Ok, I can agree or at least acknowledge everything that you posted in response as valid. :) Furthermore, I completely see your side of it, as far as I can tell. (Keep in mind I"m one of them zealots)
I wasn't trying to criticize you -- I do the same thing. I'm just trying to point out that the Linux cause that seems so noble to us is trivial to many other people -- and that if you objectify things by looking at something other than Linux, it really can seem trivial to us as well. Would it be great if Linux became the dominant OS? Almost certainly. Is it within the realm of the school's responsibility to detract from it's students chances because officials at that school want to contribute to that cause? I cannot agree. If you want to donate time and teach a free Linux class, you donate your own time. That's something that you can ethically give. But if you take a more practically useful set of experiences from your children, and give them a weaker set, all to contribute to your cause...that I cannot agree with. And that seems, on the face of it, to be what this administrator is doing, and what some of the other posters are supporting
Now we get to the guts of the matter. Yes, this administrator seems to be shoving GNU/Linux down his kids' throats to support a cause. He gives a bunch of reasons why he was looking at it as an alternative, but it appears that he did what I did. He switched 'cause he was pissed at Windows, then realized how wonderful an OS is. Then he shoved it down his kids' throats. :) He also works at a right-wing fundamentalist christian private school, so this isn't all that shocking to see. :)
Should the school detract from the kids' chances to support a cause? Yes and no. I say "Yes" because I don't view a deployment of GNU/LInux in a primary/secondary school as detracting from the kids' chances. But to install this stuff to support a cause? Not in a school. Politics have no business inside a school (yes, you said this before, and I conveniently set it aside, so now we come back to it). The reasons a school should adopt free software are these (in no specific order, and some can be argued, but I'll bet you'll agree with quite a few of them):
Yes, I will happily agree that no amount of money is too small to spend when it's the future of the kids. However, a school has a limited budget and has to stretch that budget as far as possible. Around here, in the seattle area, teachers are being laid off left and right all over the place. I'd hate to think that even one teacher got fired because that was the only way they could afford the extortion by a certain vendor also local to the region... Free software will *help* to address this problem, but it won't solve all of the school's financial woes. But all the little things add up.
When was the last time you used Windows? IIRC, every version since Win98 has defaulted to single clicks. I always switch it back, because I grew up with double clicks, but the option is there.
Actually, I use windows 2000 every day. Not by choice, well, by choice, but because I have to develop cross-platform, so I have to test in windows.
By default (and I leave defaults in place when testing software), to open an icon on your desktop you have to double-click it. If it's a directory, you get an explorer window. If it's an executable, then it executes. If it's just about anything else then it tries to open the application associated with the file, using, near as I can tell, a command line, much like GNU/Linux.
You can change this, but as I said before the system I use is for testing software (and developing, it has MSVC++ on it) so I leave the defaults in place since that's what 90% of users will have. I find KDE defaults much friendlier in that respect, and in others too.
So instead of Right-clicking the desktop and clicking the Settings tab (that's all there is to it in Windows),
That's not exactly all there is to it in Windows. Describing the first step and saying that's all there is to it can go two ways. :) First open a terminal. That's all there is to it!
Let's see, I make it to be a minimum of 3 clicks to change the resolution in Windows. I take it back, I just checked. There's at least two Ok dialogs to go through.
Furthermore, the *only* reason you ever have to reboot your GNU/Linux box is because you recompiled the kernel, and the next kernel should fix that bug. Restarting the x server should be all it takes, and you don't *have* to use xconfigurator. You could just "sudo service x restart" (where "x" is replaced by the name of the x server, which I don't recall exactly what it is) and type in the root password when prompted. There's an easier way than that that's not just a hack, but I don't recall it right off the top of my head. Logging in and out should od it too.
My point is, you did do it a bit more painfully then needed. :)
Also, if you use your Linux laptop frequently for presentations, why don't you install a kernel module for the projector? Then you can just put your presentation there without screwing with your monitor settings. This may not be possible, so I could be totally on crack about it.
This is one the biggest problems with Linux distros - does anyone know a distro that gets around it? If not, this should be a big priority for future releases. Dynamic display settings!
Agreed, mostly. :) I don't have a need to change display settings after setting them up originally. However, if you're using a laptop known to be frequently plugged in to any type of monitor, why don't you have an x config file for the purpose? Then, instead of having to do a bunch of *shit* to get it to work you just sudo mv /etc/xconf.projector /etc/x.conf && service x restart
My point being that if you know ahead of time that you might have to screw with these settings, *and* you know ahead of time what the settings you'll need are, it's a simple matter to have it setup, um, ahead of time. (Yes, I realize you didn't know it ahead of time this time, but now that you know, you can be better prepared for next time)
Mind you, it's going to become interesting when my two boys' new hobby becomes "root dad's box".
Ah the joys of parenthood. I remember trashing my dad's computer because it was fun, and then he gave us our own to trash and grounded us if we so much as looked at his wrong. :) By my count, I've got about 2-3 years before my daughter will start paying me back for all the trouble I caused on my dad's computer.... and then my son after that, and then my next kid (gender unknown at this time)...
i still dislike the BASIC syntax and would recommend (purely out of taste, no "real" reasons) something else to teach the foundations of OOP.
I can esthetically disagree with you. :) I like both BASIC and pascal, and have great fun with them. (Corretion: had)
I don't see any real reason not to use c++ directly to teach OOP. Or Java, for that matter. Kids aren't dumb. I taught myself C when I was 15 (14, maybe, maybe even younger, I don't remember). I taught myself BASIC when I was 6. Considering how much easier it is to learn when someone's teaching you (heh, I sense a soviet russia joke going on here), I don't see why we need a dumb-down version of OOP.
But I'm biased. I LOVE C++.
Stop assuming that people are mindless automatons that don't want a choice and start educating them about the choices they do have and let's see what happens.
Oh boy, you really got me going with that one. I didn't follow the links because I always get really pissed when I have to face the fact that people are both dumb and lazy (the second leads to the first, ref: television).
Speaking of OSs, I remember when I started using computers. To play a simple game you had to plug in the tape drive (not hard, it wasn't usually plugged in, though). Then rewind the tape. Then type "load "mygame"". Worse, you actually had to know if it was a basic program or a machine language program, 'cause you might have to add a ,1 to it. Got worse when we got a floppy drive, 'cause then we had to type load "program",8 ! I don't even remember the command to format a disk. But I do remember using GEOS with a fucking joystick! And wondering what the fuck all these little pictures were, and exactly what I was supposed to do with them. Heh. I was in the process of writing a shell of my own (to add to the plethora of menu-driven shells available for the C-64) when we got an Amiga 500. I was in heaven. But what do you do when you get a GURU meditation? Turn off the machine, count to 25, pull all disks out of the drive, and turn it back on. :) How many times in an hour would you have to do this? If you didn't do it at least 3 times, you weren't *using* your computer!
Heh. Dumbed down OSs indeed. Computers are so easy to use these days by comparison....
Do the moderators read the post before modding as 1???? Come one....it's a 10. :)
I spend 15 minutes of my time educating this guy and I get a 1. Great!
Speaking of education, 1 is the default point you get for being a registered user. After you post, THEN the moderators hit it.
:)
And i won't event talk about Visual Basic. I'll only say that while i oppose the death penalty, i still think that the person who came up with the idea to build some wierd object-oriented bastard BASIC should be shot. sorry. almost went on a rant here.
I disagree. I think that an object-oriented BASIC is a wonderful way to teach new programmers how to use OOP principals to code up a program, in the same fashion that BASIC originally taught new programmers algorithmic control, logic, and so forth. The difference, though, is that BASIC needs to evolve into a compiled language, finally, since compiling isn't nearly as painful as interpreting (it used to be the other way around).
I'll agree that VB isn't the best way to do it, only if I ever actually use it myself. I don't plan on doing that, though...
Kinda like the so-called "Nation of Islam" schools that teach their kids to read up on their history and then have their smartest kids do just that, discover what a crock of sh*t they've been fed all these years, and walk out.
Actually, this same thing seems to be happening to Christianity in general. So much that christians are working ever harder to condition their kids, and failing in droves. I realize I live in a totally different place than I did 10 years ago, but 10 years ago I'd count 1 atheist (and I use the term loosely, since I dislike it as much as the term christian) for every 20 christians or so. Now the number is more balanced.
I ignored the fact that it was a happy god school, since minority stuff always gets adopted first by minorities. :) Just like Christianity was a cult before it was a major widespread plague, so must GNU/Linux be.
Except that I like GNU/Linux. :)
Plus, retraining the teachers will be hard. I think most teachers have this natural inability to learn computers
Actually, most teachers have this natural inability to learn. End of sentence.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And they can't teach either.
Forgive the rant, but I'm disgusted with the general state of affairs in the education system.
the linux labs at my university are running a two-year-old Red hat distro, and I have a colleague who can't use them because there is absolutely no obvious way to change the refresh rate the something sensible like there is on Windows.
That's because you have to edit a text file, and the file you have to edit requires su priviledges. It's in the x.conf file, I believe. Or rather, it's in the x config file, whatever it's called. Then you have to restart the x server.
Not exactly intuitive, I know. I find that editing text files is usually faster, though, than going through all the windows hoops.
Ok, I read your journal entry, and I agree with the basic software installation problem of GNU/Linux. Even on my home network, my wife (of which I'm usually proud that she has adopted GNU/Linux personally) doesn't install software because it's too hard for her, and I install it myself.
1) more people know how to fix (or at least "fix") problems that the average luser might have. (The only live people I could go to with my Linux problems were my friends here at my school [wpi.edu], who were big *nix geeks.)
Yes and no. This is arguable, since the average problems a user might have are completely different between the two OSs. For example, once a driver works in GNU/Linux, it doesn't stop working. In Windows, however, they frequently stop working when nothing has changed. I've seen this quite a bit. The Windows problem has no comparable GNU/Linux problem, therefore the average user doesn't know how to fix it. :)
I'll grant you that there exists in both OSs (in any OS for that matter) a class of problems which the average user can expect to stumble across. I think that this class is smaller in GNU/Linux, and that OS vendors should always be moving in a direction that eliminates this class of problems (MS has been successful in moving in this direction, in fact. Compare XP to win98). With that in mind, then, the only reason the average windows user has more experience or is better able to find someone who knows how to fix the problem is solely the fact that Windows is so widespread. Give GNU/Linux (or Mac) the kind of market share that Windows enjoys, and you'll find it a lot easier to get help yourself. :)
2) You don't have to know anything special to install a new program. (This is generally much better in Mac than in Windows, but both tend to be better than Linux). I don't think most users can be bothered to learn apt-get or how to compile & link source code. The problem compounds itself when an application needs libraries which must be obtained seperately. And precious few binaries exist for Linux (last I checked).
True, with exception. If you stick with the packages provided by the vendor as well as the vendor-supplied software manager (urpmi for Mandrake and RedHat, apt for debian, etc.) then you'll never have trouble. That limits the software you can run, though, and installing random RPMs from the web is not only dangerous, but frustrating as well. Furthermore, ./configure, make, make install, is all pretty easy, but shouldn't need to be performed by the average user. I'm open to suggestions. :) (One of these days I'm going to work up a GUI frontend to the GNU build tools, it just can't be that hard)
3) Compatibility. I don't like it, you don't like it, but most people and most businesses still run Windows. My mother is upset when she can't run a (Windows) program a friend recommended, or when she can't open a specific version of Word docs which choke on Word 2001 (for Mac). The problem seems to compound itself with Linux, which is still rather poorly supported by larger software corporations.
Compatibility has always been, and will always be a problem. Unless the whole world magically decides to do what I think is best, and that is:
No more 3rd party OS vendors. Instead, the motherboard vendors will release the OS with the motherboard. That way, an OS will be a support service that comes with the hardware you purchased. We currently have the illusion that this is what's happening, but you know as well as I that it is not the case. When/if this happens, it will be *cheaper* for motherboard vendors to use a common codebase (like GNU/Linux) rather than developing a bunch of proprietary OSs. Furthermore, purchasing a motherboard will include chosing an OS that suits your needs best. At least, for the average user. This may introduce a level of complexity that they shouldn't have to deal with, though. In fact, it introduces a lot of complexity that I'm completely ignoring at this time. Rest assured, I'm opposed to the idea of a preinstalled OS, even in the case of system builders. I'd rather see a system sell for some price, and the vendor offer an OS-installation service for extra charge.
As far as learning & usability - we're going to need to find our way to a middle ground between the condescending tone of Windows and the steep learning curve of Linux. (In my opinion, Mac is close - it makes the simple things simple, but lets you do the harder/complex stuff as well. You can feel free to disagree.)
Last Mac OS I used was System 7, and it did succeed at being the middle ground. The only problem is the expense proprietary hardware platform. However, I think it's more likely that GNU/Linux will achieve this middle ground before Windows (I don't think Windows ever will, in fact), and it's available for the cheaper PC hardware platform. Ultimately, GNU/Linux *will* win over Microsoft, despite any naysayers to the contrary. The #1 argument naysayers have is that GNU/Linux will never achieve the same level of user abstraction that Windows has. The #1 refute of course is that GNU/Linux has progressivly achieved a greater level of user abstraction, and continues to do so. There's no reason to think it's just going to stop. So, GNU/Linux will eventually take over the desktop. We just gotta hang in there and keep up the fight, because it's a fight worth fighting, and it's a fight worth winning. (Yeah, I know, I'm a zealot :) )
The same thing with word processors. It should take more than 15 minutes for the average highschooler to adjust from Word to WordPerfect to Abiword. It's not like they're learning how to automatically generate table of contents or advanced table formatting; they're kids who are learning computers so they can write term papers...
You have introduced the all-important reason why Windows and Office should *not* be used in schools.
What happens when teachers start accepting term papers on floppy, or on CD? Will they require .doc format term papers? Wouldn't that require the student purchase a $500 license of MS Office?
Even if it's available for a discount, wouldn't it still require a student to purchase a proprietary license?
Yeah, I know, kids have to spend money somehow already. Paper, pencils, etc. The teachers will sometimes specify (use a #2 pencil, or blue or black ink *only*) but it's not the same as "Buy only MS products, because I'm too stupid to use anything else." Ok, that's a biased statement. "Buy only MS Office because I only accept .doc formatted papers." ? That's bullshit. If the education system gets that screwed, it'll be time to "Another Brick in the Wall--pr 2" them to death (yeah, I used a song title as a verb).
It makes more sense for the school to first establish a rule that only open standards and open file formats will be used, and then chose the applications that best support them. Then they'll have to use OpenOffice.org and Mozilla. :)
Amongst other things, XP keeps shifting things around on the start menu and hides stuff if you haven't used it for a while. Sue HATES that!!
Win2k does that too, and when i am forced to use it I have to disable that feature. What's wrong with static menus, eh? What the fuck is wrong with knowing where to find shit without having the OS constantly moving it around?
An educator's responsibility is to help their charges do as well as they can, not hurt them to help a revolution.
I certainly don't disagree with this, but I don't see how it applies to GNU/Linux in schools. Learning how to use a GUI is the same regardless of what kind they learn on. In my old high school they installed Macs to replace the old AMOS network they had. This didn't hurt the kids. With GNU/Linux, you also have a completely scalable educational opportunity. If the kid wants to learn just basic shit that the class offers, fine. But no matter how deeply into the innards the kid wants to go, he can, with GNU/Linux. With Windows the educator eventually has to say "Sorry, it's not possible to know that unless you work for Microsoft." Child psychology teaches us that the kid will choose the environment they want to live in based solely on what's available, and using Windows automatically limits them based on arbitrary Intellectual Property restrictions. GNU/Linux makes any computing environment available for the kids.
I'm not saying this is impossible, but I think that the schools should be the last to adapt. Schools shouldn't have a political or ideological agenda -- they should simply be on the "side of the students", sappy as that sounds. Let businesses realize the benefits and change, and the schools adjust to fit the world.
This is true, so far as it goes. However, schools are already used as a platform to condition kids to a political opinion. In my experience, using GNU/Linux as a tool to help them teach the kids about freedom would actually be contrary to what the schools already teach them. This is a subject for a different forum, though. :) (I'm willing to pursue it, though)
So they should install Linux, KWord and Open Office, and require students to alternate between the two programs? I'm kind of dubious.
With a resounding "No". The point I was trying to make is that they can easily adapt what they learn from GNU/Linux to Windows when/if they get a job that requires them to do so. The computers chosen in the school should be chosen based on a few qualifications, but the question with regards to using the skills later in life is "Will they be able to apply these skills later in life to their benefit, or will they be required to learn new skills to replace these?". The answer to that question, based on existing implementations, is that OpenOffice.org is sufficient to teach them how to use a word processor and spreadsheet. I don't know about Koffice, I don't use it.
there's a fair amount of time when the person acquires a similar skill set in the other program (say, a Microstation guru moving to AutoCAD)
This is actually the asnwer to the GIMP vs Photoshop debate. :) Fact is, an artist will naturally prefer one over the other as a basic mindset issue, but after achieving proficiency with either of them will likely find that they're both excellent tools. In your specific example you have to go to college anyway to learn how to use whatever is in the marketplace. Public schools (I realize the article is about a private school) should be more focussed on teaching the kids the concepts behind the software, because the education will be more portable when they can use their existing education (based on concepts) to learn a different implementation of those concepts. This is, of course, the reason we learn how to do long-hand division even though a calculator does it much quicker.
Mmm...I'm not saying that there isn't a sliver of value here, but there are (IMHO) far more valuable ways to do this. One day in history class on, say, the Revolutionary War or the Civil War should really teach students more about "freedom" than a whole K-12 of using Linux.
We're already getting this one day of classtime learning about freedom, and as a result we now live in a society that values safety over freedom. So I ask you, have we done all that we can? Should we do more? How about the blatant hypocrisy of teaching kids about "taxation without representation" and then paying the "Microsoft tax" so that they can learn how to use windows?
There are people who really get up in arms about how uneducated people are about their vehicle purchases, and how much they fall into marketing bullshit -- much like we complain about with MS.
This is a human problem for which I have no solution. I can only say that I too occasionally get seduced by marketing hype and I make a strong effort to learn as much about something before I commit myself.
Sure (come to think of it, nobody ever taught me to mend pants, dammit, and I remember a home ec class in there somewhere). :-) I'm just dubious that all this can be achived by using KWord instead of MS Word
As I said above, it doesn't matter much which software package is being used as long as the kid learns how to use a word processor. As long as you teach the concepts behind the software and use the software solely as a tool to teach those concepts, the kid will *always* be able to adapt their existing education to a new software package. (For the record, my mom taught me how to mend pants when I was very little. I can't sew worth a shit, but I can fix my clothes. Unique, it seems, for a grown man to be able to whip out needle and thread and stitch on buttons and close up seems, but I understand this used to be quite commonplace)
Speaking as a parent of two, with a third on the way. :)
Congrats!
Thank you!
Yup. Kids (and young adults) pick up new things much more quickly, like languages or interfaces. A well-designed interface or program should be easy for the average adult to learn - not just geeks and kids. Kids also have less of a problem asking adults for help. Adults don't like to feel stupid, and trying to use Linux makes most people feel stupid.
Ok, you shot down my point about the 4-year-old, so I'll mention the wife that only knows (knew) how to use IE, Word, and a smattering of other windows apps. Now she prefers GNU/LInux, and one reason she prefers it has to do with my next point...
Windows operates under the assumption that the user *is* an idiot, and it treats them accordingly. Between all the stupid "Ok" dialogs and "Are you sure?" and Clippy, Windows does an excellent job of getting across the point that "you aren't smart enough to use a computer, so I have to hold your hand like a little kid crossing the street." So the users are told constantly by the interface that they're too stupid to use this OS, and sooner or later they even believe it. Contrast to GNU/Linux, which actually does treat you with a bit of respect (most of the time, but it certainly has its moments), when people use it they feel like they know what they're doing. This can be a bad thing, I know. The point is that rather than beat up on the user, GNU/Linux builds up the user, and they get more and more willing to try different things.
It seems strange to me to talk about how a computer treats its user, but that is the guts of the matter, isn't it? Microsoft has demonstrated a superiority complex along with a driving need to rule the world, whereas Free Software developers have demonstrated a willingness to help people and make peoples' lives better both en masse and individually. The respective interfaces reflect these basic drives by the respective developers. What does an average person prefer from a friend? Someone who treats them with respect, a bit of deference, and allows them the freedom to do as they wish? Or would they rather have Bill Gates as a friend? :)
Add to this the knowledge that adults tend to be more set in their ways, and are less likely to try (or stick with) new things, in favor of what's old and comfortable... and it seems clear that Linux has to do several things before it can be adopted by the masses. One of those things is, most likely, a better (perceived) compatibility with Windows.
I can agree that there's more that GNU/Linux can do to help the masses to look upon it favorably, but IMHO, it's ready for the masses. At least, Mandrake LInux 9.0 is, I'm sure I don't want the masses to have their first experience with Gentoo. I also agree that people in general prefer not to change from their old, nasty habits. I still smoke cigarettes, for example. I'm certainly not on a high horse about not resisting change. OTOH, I have benefitted personally by adopting technology (starting with CDs, moving on to mp3s and so forth) that really benefits me in a direct, personal fashion. My own experience is that GNU/Linux benefits me in a direct, personal fashion, and it adds pleasure to my life. Windows removed pleasure from my life and replaced it with more negative emotions best left unmentioned. My own anecdotal story is hardly evidence to support a revolution, though. :)
When it comes down to it, KDE (not sure about Gnome) is easy for the average adult to learn. IN fact, in many ways it acts the way people expect it to act, ways in which windows doesn't (single-clicking vs double-clicking). The catch is, this isn't exactly true since people have learned the windows ass-backwards way already. When it comes to troubleshooting driver problems and so forth, Windows errs on the part of thinking the user is too stupid, whereas GNU/Linux errs on the part of expecting the user to know more than they do. In both cases, I find it difficult to fix driver problems. It's the same, I've found, in most of the administration tasks on each OS. But I've also found that after you get past the steep learning curve of GNU/Linux, you can fix things faster and more efficiently than you can ever achieve with Windows.
When it comes to administering a machine, whether its a home machine or a work machine, or the one you use at school, it amounts to having two choices. You can try to fix it yourself, or you can get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it. (The third choice is irrelevant, because it means offloading the problem onto someone else who will then be faced with the same two choices) Your average idiot will get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it, and it makes no difference if it's their home machine or their work machine or whatever. Your average techie (or wanna-be techie) will try to fix it themselves, and if they fail they'll look for help. In either case, someone who knows what they're doing gets involved eventually anyway. I've *never* seen your average idiot (to whom Windows is targetted) fix their broken computer by themselves. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but I've never seen it. :)