Hi, Sean’s idea of 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux makes a lot of sense. If possible, by default it could be so that in a start screen on could choose 1) Sugar 2) The other. Having installers for Android and iPad would be great, too.
Why? Bring your own device (BYOD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device) is becoming popular in schools. In this case having one pedagogically visionary OS in the children’s own devices would be great. - Teemu > On 1.3.2015, at 23.57, Sean DALY <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Samuel, > > thanks for this > > I believe Sugar has had a clear pedagogical vision from day one, but has not > had a strategy for some time. > > Outside the XO, Sugar's historical technical architecture has unfortunately > kept it out of reach from all but the most determined and tech-savvy teachers > (and journalists). Without a pancake button download and one-click installer, > the installation barrier is too high. OLPC's historical focus on the hardware > was never helpful either, and the main reason OLPC got mauled by incorrect > memes was they didn't want to accompany journalists past the unfamiliarity > barrier of the XO (hardware+software). > > In my view there are only a few ways to overcome this issue: > > * Develop 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux. I had suggested > maintaining a matrix of preconfigured (i.e. languages/keyboards, prepopulated > Journal, selection of Activities) VMs over Oracle VirtualBox, whose license > allows free distribution for nonprofit and educational purposes. Upsides were > immediate fullscreen Sugar experience without touching the configuration of > the host computer. The downsides were huge VM images and the effort required > to build and maintain the matrix. At the time I suggested we approach Oracle > for corporate sponsorship, but some community members voiced objections. > > * Arrange for Sugar to be preinstalled on low-cost, reliable machines other > than XOs. This is complex and would require a sales force (or working with a > partner's) since no OEM will make that investment without a prospect of > selling many thousands of units. As an alternative I had suggested we ride > the wave of Raspberry Pi units (five million sold in three years) by > developing an SD card for it based on Sugar on a Stick, but there was no > interest in that effort. I still believe a Sugar-branded version (case + > teacher starters kit -documentation) could have an impact. > > * Migrate to a web-based Sugar compatible with browsers on any platform. > Lionel's Sugarizer is I think a fabulous solution. > > > I've heard it suggested that marketing could do fund-raising, but donors > large and small won't want to contribute unless there is a plan. I've been > bewildered what the plan is for some time. > > Sean > > > > On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 12:36 AM, Samuel Greenfeld <[email protected]> > wrote: > Disclaimer: The following are my views, and not the views of my current or > past employers. > > About a year ago, I privately expressed concern that Sugar needed to ensure > it had long-term sponsorship and a long-term user base. > > Since then, both the historical US-based OLPC organization and Sugar Labs > have not publicly said much about their long-term plans, with OLPC also being > rather closemouthed about the present. > > Meanwhile contributors silently leave. It is hard to justify volunteering > when you don't know who will benefit besides mysterious "customers." > > Everyone seems happy to cite their past successes. No one corrects the press > when they report stale information in their favor. > > > There is no shame in being a smaller project. But we need to ask the hard > questions. With Sugar, getting users and developers for a niche platform is > a problem. With OLPC, everyone seems to love repeating the 2 or 2.5 million > number for laptops historically shipped. Rarely is it asked how many XOs > been shipped in the past year or are in active use & where. > > Sugar & OLPC need to come up with long-term strategies. While there is > nothing public I have seen stopping One Education's XO Infinity from running > Sugar, I haven't seen anything stopping it from running anything else. It is > also unclear how much One Education is willing to engage with the historical > Sugar & OLPC communities (or how much they can tell us at this time). > > > Historically there have been many philosophical questions like "Does there > need to be a physical machine?" and "Have we succeeded if every child has a > computer, but from someone else?" > > I do not believe Sugar or OLPC is down for the count. But in order to engage > One Education, governments, and other educational groups, both Sugar and the > historical OLPC structure need to have plans to transition to the future. > Otherwise these plans will be written for us. > > I suspect I know how things will end; but I wish it was not happening though > silence. > > --- > SJG > > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -------------------------------------------------- Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi +358 50 351 6796 Media Lab http://mlab.uiah.fi Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture -------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
