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Re: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor?An article Posted by Christopher Dawson (Allan Registos)
Today's Topics:
1. Re: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor?An
article Posted by Christopher Dawson (Allan Registos)
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:35:26 +0800
From: Allan Registos <allan.registos@...>
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-PH] [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the
poor?An article Posted by Christopher Dawson
To: "Mailing List para sa Ubuntu Pilipinas (Philippines)"
<ubuntu-ph@...>
Message-ID: <49CB3E4E.4040403@...>
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>
>
> So again, is Linux only useful in a recession or in South American
> countries trying to get as many computers into the hands of rural
> schoolchildren as they can?
>
My take:
Linux is useful when you know what to do with it. It is not about for
the poor, it is not about for those folks who wants to get rid of the MS
technology or to avoid vendor-lockin but it is a good alternative and
even superior in some areas. While Windows need to stay if you want to
run your aging ERP, gaming or a Graphic studio.
It is the technology that is "inside" Linux that we need to use it, not
that it was being provided for free. Even Hollywood Studios like
Dreamworks were using Linux.
However, Linux is indeed useful for the poor since it is free, but it
doesn't mean that Linux was somewhat designed for the poor people as per
your question. Linux is not cheap, but it was free. In a Christian
perspective, Salvation is not cheap but it's free.
"Yosif ali" Roque Morales wrote:
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *yosif* <queroph@... <mailto:queroph@...>>
> Date: Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 3:13 PM
> Subject: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor? Posted by
> Christopher Dawson
> To:
> strategic-research-institute-philippinesdiscussion-groups@...
> <mailto:strategic-research-institute-philippinesdiscussion-groups@...>
>
>
> Last week, I followed a conversation on an OpenSuse Education
> newsletter to which I subscribe. I didn?t have time to join in, but it
> did get me thinking about open source in education more broadly.
> Regular readers will know that my school district has made serious
> strides in the last couple of years, particularly as it relates to
> technology. However, those same regular readers will also know that
> the community is hurting like many other aging mill towns and that I
> frequently at least explore open source solutions as money savers.
>
> For now, most open source use is among students. All of the elementary
> schools use Open Office; we don?t have any Office licenses in place
> with the exception of a couple secretarial power users who are able to
> exploit some of the advanced features in Office 2007. Students
> throughout the district use Open Office at home, saving themselves the
> trouble of using Works if it came preinstalled on their computers or
> to avoid buying Office. I hand out CDs and USB keys to students with
> dialup access loaded with OO.org 3.
>
> An increasing number of students and teachers have turned to Linux as
> they try to eek out a bit of extra life on their computers or decide
> that they don?t like whatever version of Vista came preinstalled on
> computers they recently purchased. I?m happy, along with a couple of
> my techs, to help people get up an running with Linux. However, we
> haven?t yet rolled out Linux formally in our schools. The only time we
> had a full Linux lab was when we had absolutely no technology funding
> in my second year teaching and I let my students build a lab from old
> donated computers.
>
> Which leads me to the point of this post? If you have money in your
> district, is there any reason to use Linux? The original conversation
> I mentioned earlier was started by an IT staffer at an exclusive,
> well-funded private school. They were a Windows shop and saw no
> incentive to change. Licensing costs were a non-issue. Even we still
> largely use Windows and OS X, despite my fondness for Linux. We?ve
> been granted the funding to do so in the last couple of years and my
> primary goal has been instructional integration of computing, rather
> than worrying about training for a Linux rollout.
>
> We?re hunkering down now budget-wise for a tough couple of years.
> While we have solid technology in place, new acquisitions will be very
> carefully scrutinized for cost and benefit; there are very few pennies
> to spare. Saving $50 per computer on OS licensing just might be the
> difference between funding a project and needing to wait for 1-2 years.
>
> So again, is Linux only useful in a recession or in South American
> countries trying to get as many computers into the hands of rural
> schoolchildren as they can?
>
> Cost will certainly give people a reason to switch, but I don?t think
> a crappy economy or poverty in a developing country is the only reason
> to use Linux and open source software. I won?t even get into the
> argument of exposing kids to a variety of computing environments. I
> think the biggest reason to use Linux (aside from potential cost
> savings if you can develop some in-house *nix expertise) is simply the
> giant body of software that is freely available.
>
> The OpenSUSE Education project <http://en.opensuse.org/Education> is a
> great example. Desktop software included with this project
> <http://en.opensuse.org/Education/Applications/Desktop> ranges from
> computer science applications for kids to the R statistical
> programming interface. Server software
> <http://en.opensuse.org/Education/Applications/Server> ranges from
> OpenSIS to Joomla.
>
> Whether your school has money or not, there is incredible value in the
> open source community. Perhaps most important, though, is that word
> ?community.? We can talk all we want about global economies, but
> allowing students and staff to be part of and participate in a
> community that drives the way we use technology is an incredible
> opportunity. Keep in mind that there is plenty of open source value
> for Windows users; we don?t all have to switch to Linux to reap the
> benefits of FOSS.
>
>
>
> --
> Posted By yosif to FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION
> <http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/2009/03/is-linux-only-for-poor-posted-by.html>
> at 3/26/2009 12:11:00 A
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>
>
> --
> Yosif Roque Santos Morales
> ====================
> School Administrator
> Asian Academy of Business and Computers
> Educational Management Consultant
> Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
> Ubuntulinux user
> Linux machine # 365046.
> https://sites.google.com/a/ympn.org/memltd/Home
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