Public Schools, Open Source Software and Linux

I really enjoyed this blog post. It had an air of open honesty that I appreciate.

Quoting: Unfortunately it did not make sense to the computer teacher, as OpenOffice.org was not Microsoft Office. The textbooks taught Microsoft Office, not OpenOffice.org. The general feeling was that OpenOffice.org, since it was free, must also be inferior. I never saw the teacher even try OpenOffice.org. I saw quite a few students use OpenOffice.org and some even installed it at home.

Some call this "contempt prior to investigation."

Quoting: Firefox, on the other hand, became a browser that the computer teacher and many teachers and students (especially the students) were comfortable using. But even that required educating a several of the teachers to the benefits of using Firefox over Internet Explorer.

I detect a contradiction in the computer teacher's reasoning.

First the teacher is not OK with OpenOffice.org because it lacks cost. Next, the teacher is OK with Firefox, despite it lacking the same type of cost.

Hmm.

Some might argue that IE is also free of this type of cost. I would respond that as an integral part of Windows, and as a Windows-only app, it is part of the cost of Windows, so it is not, in this sense, free of cost. Firefox, on the other hand, is, in all these senses, free of cost.

I was required by my employer to attend an Excel spreadsheet seminar. This was a more advanced level of training than beginning. During a break I was talking with the teacher about uses of spreadsheets at work and I mentioned OpenOffice. This teacher had never heard of it. She had to write it down so that she could research it later.

My guess is that many of them are similar to some people in IT. They have invested time and effort into learning MS and do not wish to be troubled by learning anything else. To the rest of us they are like a workman who only has one tool in his toolbox.

Quoting:I mentioned OpenOffice. This teacher had never heard of it. She had to write it down so that she could research it later.

Quoting:Some of the blame also has to go to the open source community for not undertaking an “open source” marketing campaign of the likes that closed source software companies buy to push their wares.

Quoting:Some of the blame also has to go to the open source community for not undertaking an “open source” marketing campaign of the likes that closed source software companies buy to push their wares.

I think what helios and friends are doing is a good step to remedy this situation. Every bit of participation would help

See The Tux Project link http://thetuxproject.com/