On Jan 2, 2006, at 5:00 PM, David Dooling wrote: > The bottom line is that what they are doing is illegal, even if > they are helping people.
I don't know exactly what arrangement ByteWorks has with MS. So, I cannot comment on the legality of what they do. I do know in the past, when ByteWorks has needed licenses they would call up MS, ask for X number of licenses, and MS was more than happy to "donate" the licenses. My guess is that MS is no longer willing (or allowed?) to do that and has offered the MAR program as an alternative. So, the choices before ByteWorks are 1) go Linux, 2) go MAR, or 3) some combination. > If they do not have the knowledge/people to support giving people > free (really free) computers, perhaps MOSLUG/CWELUG can step up. I know JT is helping WITS. If anyone else can help out either WITS or ByteWorks, please do. For example, if I picked up a machine from ByteWorks and brought it to the CWE-LUG, would people here be interested in the challenge of getting Linux on it? Nothing fancy. Just something installed so kids can connect to the net, write a report, and send an e-mail. > What better way to learn email than by signing up to this list? Sure. But I think we're talking about two different groups. The students (9-13 yo) do not know e-mail, but I don't see them benefitting much from this list. Or am I underestimating them? On the other hand the volunteers know e-mail and computers very well. Their knowledge just happens to be Windows-based. As I see it, the challenge is to find a good solutions for ByteWorks' needs using FLOSS and then teach their volunteers. One solution I proposed to ByteWorks was to stay with Windows 98, at least for now, and use OpenOffice.org and FireFox in their training. Changing from MS Office to OpenOffice.org is far less disruptive to their current operations than switching entirely to Linux. Also, that buys me/us time to figure out a Linux solution for low-end hardware and then teach them that, too. Regards, - Robert http://www.cwelug.org/downloads Help others get OpenSource software. Distribute FLOSS for Windows, Linux, *BSD, and MacOS X with BitTorrent _______________________________________________ CWE-LUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.cwelug.org/ http://www.cwelug.org/archives/ http://www.cwelug.org/mailinglist/
