[K12OSN] When Free Isn’t Free: The realities of running open source in school

Fri Mar 20 08:35:47 UTC 2009

Man, this could've been written by a Microsoft employee!  So full of 
crap masquerading as truth....

Actually, managing many UNIX/Linux machines is quite easy.  UNIX 
administrators have been doing it for over 20 years!  It's not that 
hard.  Matter of fact, I use a GNU/Linux machine to manage approximately 
300 Cisco routers and over 50 GNU/Linux boxes.  I can blow pretty much 
any change I want to all 300 routers in about two minutes.  Same for the 
GNU/Linux boxes.  And I do it all with little "batch files", to use the 
Microsoft term.

And the obvious SuSE bias was rather disgusting to me, since Novell 
became a Microsoft whore.  Debian's been a much better choice anyway 
ever since Etch, and we already know about Ubuntu LTS.  Heck, my Dad 
runs K12LTSP 5EL as a workstation and likes it.

But what struck me most about this article was that it is also a great 
treatise for *NOT* letting yourself get locked in to Microsoft in the 
first place.  Check out that section regarding "templates, training, and 
curriculum built around Microsoft Office."  Schools should build their 
curricula around *concepts*, not specific applications.  This kind of 
mentality is why my high school intern, intelligent as he is, cannot do 
long division!  Can you believe that?  This brilliant kid CANNOT DO 
STANDARD LONG DIVISION!  HE WAS NEVER TAUGHT IT!!

It's that mentality that keeps us behind in the world.

--TP
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Leo Willems wrote:
> When Free Isn’t Free: The realities of running open source in school
>
> http://www.techlearning.com/article/16504
>
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