Business-to-Linux event (Was- A group statement onSCO'sactions)

[Mitch Anderson]

Just a few years ago... when i was still in high school('99-'00), I
pushed PG highs CS teacher to let us experiment with linux in the C++
class I had there.  He usually always ignored my push because he was
uncomfortable with linux, and I heard from kids after I left that he was
announcing to all of them that linux wasn't all it was made up to be
because it was hard to get installed... (atleast he couldn't...) Yet in
the last 2-3 years there have been major improvements to linux as we
know... maybe he would be willing to try it again...

As for the technologies thats used in the workforce... I don't buy
that... as they still used WordPerfect and some other Dos programs,
served through NAL on windows 95 when I was there... How often do you
run into those?  I would think teaching a variety of things out there
would be more benifitial... as every company is a little bit
different... 

On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 10:16, District Webmaster wrote:
> There's a lot of resistance to change, for a number of reasons. I'm
> not in the department that makes a lot of these decisions, so I'm not
> certain what would work best. One of the arguments that I've heard
> repeatedly is "We need to train students on the technologies they'll
> use when they enter the workforce."
> 
> I think you may have hit on a way to introduce more OSS into our
> schools -- adding a few machines to a CS lab. Certainly any CS student
> in today's environment will have at least _some_ interaction w/
> OSS in their career.
> 
> Will the idea fly? I don't know. I don't understand the resistance to
> OSS in the first place. I've even tried to introduce OpenOffice.org
> on Windows in _addtion_ to (not a replacement for) MS Word. For some
> reason nobody ever understood that it wasn't just for Linux. They
> also don't understand that several servers in the district are already
> running Linux or a BSD (or that Mac OS X is now a BSD).
> 
> I think you may have success getting our technology decision makers
> to come to a convention or show if you invite them specifically.
> 
> Dave
> 
> >>> jesse at cwdkids.com 05/23/03 09:19 AM >>>
> I'm sure you've already presented this idea, but what would they think
> of maybe just a Linux machine or two in each of the computer labs, or
> maybe just the computer science labs so those interested in learning can
> get some experience in it?  Maybe this could at least begin to open the
> door for them to see what Linux is.  If the students like it and enjoy
> it, maybe the educators will begin to embrace it.
> 
> -Jesse
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: District Webmaster [mailto:webmaster at alpine.k12.ut.us]
> > Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 10:59 AM
> > To: pluglist at plug.org
> > Subject: Re: Business-to-Linux event (Was- A group statement
> > onSCO'sactions)
> > 
> > 
> > Our secondary (High School, Junior High) schools are almost 
> > exclusively
> > Windows; Our elementary schools are almost exclusively Macintosh
> > (mostly still on OS 9). I've found it _very_ difficult to get our
> > decision makers to embrace OSS. We had one bright spot when Merrill
> > Oveson gave us a tour of his facilities (they were impressed) -- but,
> > unfortunately, it did not translate into action.
> > 
> > The main difficulty is that this district (and I suspect others)
> > are structured to provide leadership and career-path opportunities
> > for educators.  This means we have very little technical experience
> > among our decision makers -- and sometimes they just don't get it when
> > we try to explain an advantage to OSS. I think they tend to label
> > all OSS as "Linux" (without really understanding what Linux is) and
> > don't really understanding that adopting OSS doesn't mean you _have_
> > to dump everything you have for a new OS, offices suite, etc.
> > 
> > In the case of our decision makers, I think it would be helpful if
> > they could see both Linux-only setups, as well as OSS in a Windows/Mac
> > environment.
> > 
> > Dave Turnbull
> > 
> > >>We should probably be enlightened by Dave 
> > >>what schools and districts really do use.....
> > 
> > 
> > ASD Webmaster
> > .===================================.
> > | This has been a P.L.U.G. mailing. |
> > |      Don't Fear the Penguin.      |
> > `==================================='
> > 
> .===================================.
> | This has been a P.L.U.G. mailing. |
> |      Don't Fear the Penguin.      |
> `==================================='
> 
> .===================================.
> | This has been a P.L.U.G. mailing. |
> |      Don't Fear the Penguin.      |
> `==================================='
-- 
Mitch Anderson <mitcha at xmission.com>