LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Stephen Ward <sward@trinity.sa.edu.au>
  To  : <bastill@sa.apana.org.au>
        < LinuxSA >
  Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 15:35:20 +0930

Re: MS Curriculum at schools and TAFEs ...

Dear Brian

I have followed this tortuous thread with some interest, and at times marvelled at
the 'catfight' it seems to have engendered. Contributor 'Mark' is our network
manager and a Linux / Solaris devotee - and a fine one at that!

Some points:

After many years in the field, starting with the BBC Micro (and what a machine that
was, looking back), I had welcomed the development of IT from a mystical science,
full of posturing wizards who zealously guarded their secrets, into a relatively
friendly and open environment where the average enthusiast in schools had a good
chance of setting up a PC network using (for example) Lantastic, Novell or NT. Like
it or not, MS provided the impetus for the PC framework onto which most educational
software has attached itself, and there are many fine products - almost an infinite
supply at increasingly competitive prices.

The move to Linux etc. appears to have moved us some steps backwards, despite the
supposed 'low cost'. We now have to employ full-time network managers, and the
ability for the teacher to have a key role in running (or intergering with) systems
becomes increasingly remote. Morover, the network manager may have a very different
perspective of the network and technical priorities compared to the teacher in the
classroom. We sometimes seem to be moving into 'computing for computing's sake'
rather than focussing on the needs of the end-user.

Linux is not easy to use. The mnemonic jargon which fills this list is evidence of
that. OK, so network managers will look after all the background tasks, but, at the
end of the day, where is the software support? The Gimp, Star Office, Logo (and a
multitude of banner-choked net sites) may be fine, but DTP, conventional (non-java)
programming, CD-ROM resources, CAD, and general K-12 curriculum support seem to be
poorly served.

Could someone please 'put me right' and point me to some resources. Once the server
is up, and protected by its firewall, chatting to its clients and showering them
with easy email and net access, what are students in schools going to be doing
other than sending each other silly messages and cruising the net?

Stephen Ward


Brian Astill wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Apr 2001, Ian McLeod wrote:
>
> > I admire Microsoft.  And I think as long as they
> > understand the importance of marketing and publicity -
> > call it 'dumbing down' or 'selling out' as much as
> > you wish - Microsoft will pervail and rightfull so.
> >
> > If *nix users don't take a similar attitude - then
> > *nix will rightfully be a specialist market.
>
> Ian,
> You are not alone in overlooking the obvious:
> -----------------------------------------------
> M$ is a COMMERCIAL enterprise - and has been for many years.
> M$ was built - from inception - on MARKETING rather than technical
> expertise.
> M$ has HUGE resources, such that they can successfully challenge the
> government of the richest country in the World - the US.
>
> Linux, FreeBSD and compatriots are FREE NON-COMMERCIAL systems.
> The software people tend to run on those systems are also FREE
> NON-COMMERCIAL products.
> There is no huge bank of resource available for marketing purposes.
>
> Only slightly less obvious is that *nix only became more-or-less
> universally possible for desktops with the advent of the 80386 systems.
> The easily installed easily used easily maintained GUI *nix desktop
> system is probably no more than 5years old, if that, and really needs
> not less than a 486 system. ie M$ already had an established market
> base years before desktop *nix was a proposition.
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> Can we PLEASE resile from the obsessive demands that
> Linux/LinuxSA/AUUG/whomever MUST do whatever is suggested to "combat"
> Microsoft?  The resource differential is simply too great for us to contemplate
> such a battle.
> Among the things we CAN do are run installfests, introduce *nix to
> schools (which is one reason I want the SA installfest to be held on
> school premises), lobby for TAFE Linux courses (some already exist),
> distribute CD's as freely as possible, lobby governments, etc - all
> things that can be done at minimal cost.
> Ultimately the cost/benefit of *nix and the poor quality and
> vulnerability of M$ products will (probably) see Open Source and the
> free unices become standard.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Brian
>
> ********************************************************
> Dr Brian Astill  Visiting Research Fellow
> Flinders University Institute of International Education
> Bus 8201 3480     FAX 8449 9199
> bastill@sa.apana.org.au
> ********************************************************
>
> --
> LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/  IRC: #linuxsa on irc.linux.org.au
> To unsubscribe from the LinuxSA list:
>   mail linuxsa-request@linuxsa.org.au with "unsubscribe" as the subject

begin:vcard 
n:Ward;Stephen
x-mozilla-html:FALSE
url:www.trinity.sa.edu.au/
org:Trinity College
adr:;;Box 131;Gawler;South Australia;5118;Australia
version:2.1
email;internet:sward@trinity.sa.edu.au
title:Head Of Information Technology
fn:Stephen Ward
end:vcard

-- 
LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/  IRC: #linuxsa on irc.linux.org.au
To unsubscribe from the LinuxSA list:
  mail linuxsa-request@linuxsa.org.au with "unsubscribe" as the subject