On Fri, 13 Sep 2002 19:20:58 +0200 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stefan Padberg) wrote:
> Dear Ben! > > I did not understand quite good what you wanted to tell me. > > There is a special need in a school environment for: > 1. very easy installation, more easy than it will be with the future Debian > installer. > > 2. special pre-configured servers and clients as I have mentioned in my last > eMail. > > 3. special software administration tools as other members already have > mentioned (the 6-12 and the above 12 thing for instance, network > administration, internet access control by classroom) > > 4. and of course special applications which will only be used in a school > environment (like mathematical, astronomical, geographical educational > software etc.) > > What of all these is the project not supposed to do? And who then will > develop these things? > > I only know: If there is a Debian distribution not containing most of these > useful things I won't use it. > > Stefan This messages expresses one of the more difficult challenges facing the open-source movement. We need a better way to get developers connected to consumers. Stefan has stated requirements that are likely true in many places, but are not as universal as the desire for a good mail reader or mp3 player. Someday, somewhere, someone just might get inspired to write the code that will fulfill one of Stephan's requirements, and submit it to DebianEdu for inclusion. We need to ensure that these needs, these good ideas, are communicated clearly to developers who would be delighted to provide the solution. I think there is also room here for compensation. I believe that there are and always will be programs that are needed, but fail to generate enough interest to attract a viable development team. In such situations, funding -- grant money -- could be used to pay for development, while the result would be open-source. Does anyone have an example of this being done? -- Gary Dunn Open Slate Project http://openslate.sourceforge.net/ http://www.aloha.com/~knowtree/ Honolulu registered Linux user #273809 >< This tagline is umop apisdn.><
