Hi all, Let us end that thread or at least start a new thread for "flame-wars". That is not contributing in any way to helping the poor teacher. Let us leave that thread for the purpose it was created.
Now that said let me say this much. I have the confession of having been a strong evangelist myself. I learned the hard way the problems with which. One of the most difficult project the free software community had taken was the openmoko project, which was aimed at creating open-hardware and open-software. But having seen it not accomplish the aim, and learning the problems with that model, I think of the whole issue in new light. I respect RMS for the being idealistic, for being the stalwart of free software and corner stone of the movement. Someone like him is essential to keep the movement going, to inspire all of us. But at the end of the day, both the ideologies are right, one of the need to be extremely-idealistic to inspire others (you wouldn't have the internet without some people being idealistic) and one of being pragmatic at some point to be successful at others (You wouldn't have this laptop/desktop without some people being practical). An interesting anecdote of which was the BIOS issue (BIOS firmware being non-free and proprietary), if any of you remember the same. RMS uses "semi"-laptop because there are no completely free/open source laptop (including BIOS) available on market. How many of us are ready to do something like that, does it even make sense for each of us to do that. Now "that"(freedom in software) is one of the things I care about. There are many other things that I care about, like giving basic education for kids, to inspire some of them follow research etc and many others outside education, like freedom of speech etc. Now when I draw the line towards being over idealistic in one specific directions, I have to compromise on others or not be successful in any of them. So at the end of the day, it is a personal choice. Now using the term "GNU/Linux" : I tend to use GNU/Linux whenever possible but don't try to be a word-nazi. If I feel that, the person don't know about free software, I try to inspire them to it and let them to choose. It might be a good idea to post a thread about what free software is or just point the people to a good link. It is kind of a waste of all our time to repeat the same thing over and again, if any of us is so passionate, sit down and write what you have to and put in on a site or something, so that we can spent the remaining time in contributing effectively to make the free software community stronger. Let us all contribute in code, design or something creative than just thru arguments. The code is mightier than the word. ;) Happy Hacking, -Sumod On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 2:58 AM, smart kundassery <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Sony, > > http://distrowatch.com/ gives a comprehensive list of GNU/Linux distros. > A lot of information is given for each of the currently available and newly > added distros. Best wishes for your initiative. > > regards, > Smart Kundassery. > > > On 30 January 2012 23:51, Sony Krishna Swamy <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Dear Linux users, >> >> I am a visiting faculty at various MBA institutes in Kochi, and I am >> disappointed to know that my students have never heard of Linux (or >> anything non-Windows). >> >> I tried encouraging them to install Linux, but the roadblocks they face >> in that one task deflects them away from this great OS. >> >> However, they were comfortable with using Ubuntu Linux, once they see how >> to go about things. >> >> So my question is this: Can we form a group that helps people INSTALL a >> flavour of Linux? >> >> The help could be by email/phone/in person/any remote way one could think >> of. >> >> But im talking of about a 100 students in each institute, connected via a >> wireless network. So, is there a way for network installation? >> >> It is my understanding that this group stands to promote the use of Linux >> OS among people. I believe that students are a base where we can start >> from, so that they can make the change at their workplaces, other >> institutions, when they start a business, at their homes, and so on. >> >> This revolution can have far reaching effects. >> >> Please reply with your comments. >> >> Regards, >> Sony >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List >> http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ >> http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org >> #[email protected] >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List > http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ > http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org > #[email protected] >
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