HERE HERE ! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Xavier Gentoo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Alex Shnitman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 5:15 AM Subject: Re: Edu in linux
> On Thursday 02 January 2003 19:30, Alex Shnitman wrote: > > On Thu, 2003-01-02 at 17:57, Gilad Ben-Yossef wrote: > > > > Don't forget that not everyone in this world is meant to become a > > > > programmer. In fact, *all* the people in the modern world are mere > > > > consumers of most of the technologies and products that they use, be it > > > > computer software or canned tomato paste, and they neither know nor > > > > care about the way they're created. > > > > > > This is where you and I completly differ. I don't like the concept of > > > being a consumer and that children are being brought up to be one. This > > > is exactly the "drone" mentality I as referring to. > > > > Well, you may not like it, but you are one. There's no way that somebody > > could know everything about everything, and that's why we specialize in > > different things. You have no choice but accept that most of the > > technologies and products in this world you will never completely > > dissect and understand -- it just all got too big for one person. > > > > Objection. 95% of people don't own BMW, use Hitachi DVDs, have an iMac at home > and only drink Lipton "tea". That's because there's competition and that's > because they have something to choose from. > > Now please enlighten me what kind of choice a consumer (not us Linux geeks, > but a consumer, as in truck drivers, blond secretaries and investment > brokers) has when it comes to operating systems? And even hardware platforms? > > What we're trying to do here is compensating for this. And you're telling us > that we're drones who have no other choice but to accept things the way they > are and... "move along people, nothing to see here"? > > > The "basic understanding" you mentioned elsewhere in your e-mail is what > > makes all the difference -- it's very good to thrive to have a basic > > understanding of everything, but tweaking the source of your word > > processor is way beyond that. So the boy who specializes in music in his > > school has a computer class, and you as a teacher must give him the > > knowledge that will serve him best when he later has to use a computer > > (as a *consumer*), and not draw him into the free software argument and > > make him a showcase of your opinion at the expense of his time and > > mindshare. > > Let me summarize you the free software argument in schools for you so that you > rethink your above statement: > > 1) There's no reason why a state maintained school should waste taxpayers' > money for proprietary software when an [equally good] free alternative > exists. In fact, in a people's government (wow, a herd of pigs flying by) > there is absolutely no reason why proprietary software should be used at all. > > 2) There's no reason why a state sponsored school should be a poster boy for a > proprietary company's marketing campaign, establishing that this proprietary > company's inherently inferior software, user interface and data formats are a > de facto standard > > 3) There's no reason why a state sponsored school should encourage the > students' family to choose one particular proprietary piece of software (not > that there's many) and pay for it or, even worse, encourage piracy. > > It is not our moral duty to teach people that proprietary software, copyright, > intellectual property, privacy, communism or gaysexwithdogs is right or > wrong. It is our moral duty however to compensate for commercial propaganda > and give people enough tools and knowledge to make a reasonable judgement > themselves. What we were trying to do here is exactly that. If you don't like > it, you're welcome to not participate. > > The aforementioned boy in the music class has a right to be aware that > software is going to play a vitally important software in everyone's life > soon - it already does, in case you didn't notice. It is also his very right > to be aware that choices exist, and that he has a choice instead of someone > (in this case, the school) choosing a default standard for him. > > Unless of course *you* are comfortable that *your* kids are going to be > deprived of elementary independent thinking, that is. If you are, I suggest > you watch Total Recall 2070 to see how bright out future is going to be. > > -- > "I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why > don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem > solve itself?" > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
