Re: [K12OSN] We're promoting k12LTSP (continued......)

[Brian Fahrlander <kilroy kamakiriad com>]

On Sun, 2003-04-13 at 16:38, Bert Rolston wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'll use the KISS principle here.
> 
> When a person learns to drive, are they taught to drive a particular
> make and model of car, OR operate a motor vehicle?
> 
> When we put fuel into a car do we have to buy special fuels for Honda,
> Toyota, Chrysler, Ford, or GM?
> 
> What is the difference when we are dealing with computers and software?
> 
> That's my 2c worth.

    Well, that'd be a value for the money :)  execpt they don't make
Ford Gasoline...or tires built only for Chevys.  And you don't have to
go to the Dodge school for Driving, and then spend another $2,000 to get
the latest version to stay current.

    The computer industry started in earnest.  It was all of us against
the machine.  People were making it connect to weather vanes, home alarm
systems, and later speech synthesis boxes.  In the times of the TRS-80
and Commodore, we were all working towards problem solving and such in a
fairly unfocused way.

    So when DOS came out for the IBM, things looked great.  A great
hardware manufacturer and this one thing, built from lessons of CP/M
(and just another 'single user slice' of Unix that people can afford),
development went great guns.

    Until Win95, no software maker controlled the hardware.  And when
Bill and company could go to the vendors and say "Hey, if you want to be
on our train to profits, you'll give us drivers for your hardware,
without question." that's when it all began to turn sour.

    Since then it's all been about getting money from us, not solving
problems.  Like....at all.  How many version of Word, Access, and Excel
do they need to release without adding any new features?  It's all a
scam.

    And one day, after Sun is gone (which will be a shame) and the
desktops are close enough that it comes down to a choice of:

    A.  Install it once.  Use it.  Enjoy.  Repeat

    B.  Install, pay for licensing. Struggle with bugs, repeat. 

    OpenSource represent a chance for things to go back to the old
nature of computing: all of us working to solve our own problems.

    And directly in relation to this issue at hand:

    If you learn Windows, you're stuck there.  Learning anything else is
foreign.  If you learn Linux, you can learn anything else from there. 
They're gonna GET Microsoft immersion once they get out.  

     The same goes for programming: In Linux, you tend to lean towards
ANSI C and standard programming, not proprietary development
environments.  And you'll learn HOW the things work...not how the tools
mask it for ya.  You'll know what a stack is, and why you don't crash
it...ya know?

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Fahrlander                             Linux Zealot, Conservative,
Evansville, IN                                             and Technomad
ICQ 5119262                       http://www.kamakiriad.com/aboutme.html
                                   LinPhone: brian aquila kamakiriad com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linux: it's all about choice and better software.      Live free or die.
------------------------------------------------------------------------