[ILUG] Typical - Schools / vendor lockin.

[Andres Jimenez]

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 4:00 PM, Gavin McCullagh <gmccullagh at gmail.com> wrote:
>  On Wed, 09 Apr 2008, David Coallier wrote:
>
>  > understanding that Linux is a good learning tool.
>
>  It is?  Please explain how/why.

Two main reasons:

- It's  free as in "free speech" (=open). So you can actually
learn/tech how it works (rather than just take the maker's words for
granted)
- It's free as in "free beer". So students don't need to spend any
money (or break any law) in order to use it

>  In
>  the hands of a teacher with no linux experience (99% of teachers), I
>  suspect linux is not at all a good learning tool.

I think you are getting the wrong point.
I agree that most teachers have no knowledge of linux, so little
knowledge they can pass to the kids. But that's doesn't mean the
"tool" is bad. My mother cannot use a cell phone. Does that makes
cells phone bad or useless tools?

What it's true is that we can be not paying attention to the fact that
teachers should be the first to be taught about the advantages of
Linux and other OSS.

Just my 2 cents



-- 
Andres Jimenez

GPG : http://www.andresin.com/gpg/gandresin@gmail.com.asc