[tslug] Re: IBM open standards

[Jay Belanger]

Donald J Bindner [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 On Wed, Mar 05, 2003 at 05:00:17PM -0600, Jon Beck wrote:
 So I'm curious: from your personal point of view, what do you think a
 big corporation like IBM could do to foster the adoption of open
 standards software and systems (from any source, not just IBM) in the
 higher education arena in general and at Truman specifically?

 There are two levels at which you would want to see the adoption
 of open standards.  You want Computer Services to use them, and
 you want Faculty/Students to use them.

 Among students and faculty, the largest single barrier to open
 standards is the Windows/Office combination.  If you want people
 to adopt open standards, the key is transitioning them first from
 Office and then possibly Windows.

 There is a greater opportunity to do this with students.  

And also a greater obstacle; namely, the faculty.
I get several attachments from other faculty members, often a
document in .doc format, which more often than not contains no
non-trivial formatting.  In other words, there's no reason it should
have been an attachment.  (Pointing this out to the faculty member
will get me a hard copy in my mailbox.  More doc documents in the
mail, too, of course.)
If the students get any class information through email, I would
guess that a lot of it is in doc format.  (Perhaps a student can
comment on this.)

 With students the bottom line is everything.  That can't afford
 anything.  They are younger and more adventurous than faculty, and
 more likely to try other software.  Many of them use MS Office or
 other MS software that is not legally acquired.

And they'll continue to use it, if they feel that their classes
depend on it.  (I realize that OpenOffice can do a pretty good job
with MSWord documents, but I don't think it's perfect, and I would
think a lot of students would insist on perfect copies of any class
critical materials, whether it would actually matter or not.)
Exactly how big of an obstacle this really is I can't say.  Perhaps
students don't get important documents in email in MSWord format, or
perhaps they would be happy reading them in OpenOffice.
Maybe it isn't a problem; if it is, though,  I unfortunately don't
have a solution. 

Jay

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[tslug] Re: the LUG's new name

[Jay Belanger]

Mike Goodspeed [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
...
 Second, FSCK is a gigantic in-joke.

I don't see this as any sort of a problem, as long as it stands up
well to someone not in on the joke.

 Third, despite the possible head turns at sidewalk chalk time, let's
 call a spade a spade -- people are going to read this as fuck.  Is that
 something you want yourself associated with at an academic level?  Dr.
 Beck?  Dr. Bindner?

Dr. Belanger?
No, I don't.
Even though it can be argued that it would then be misread, using this
as a replacement for the dreaded f-word is a standard thing to do, and
it has already been pointed out that this would be a way to thumb our
noses at the university.  The double meaning here, I think, is
intentional, and as someone else pointed out, is juvenile.
The (intentional?) double meaning here would get out (I don't think
it'd be too much of an in-joke for long), and given that geeks have a
juvenile enough image as it is, I don't think this would be helping
matters. 

My two cents.
Jay

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[tslug] Re: the LUG's new name

[Jay Belanger]

Ross Day [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
...
 Jay Belanger wrote:
 The (intentional?) double meaning here would get out (I don't think
 it'd be too much of an in-joke for long),

   The _Intentional_ double meaning is that it means both File System
 Checker and Free Software Club in Kirksville...  If you wish to construe
 a third meaning on to it, then it should move beyond the double
 meaning.

Fine; triple meaning.
It should be noted that I wasn't the one to bring up the third
meaning, and reasons for having the third meaning attached have also
been brought up.  I don't believe for a second that the third meaning
didn't play a role in it's suggestion.
My seven year old daughter is beyond the Tee-hee, I said a bad word
stage; I hoped we were, too.

Jay

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