Why Linux and Open source do belong on OLPC

Story: "Open Source and Linux Has No Place in OLPC"Total Replies: 1
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theboomboomcars

Mar 30, 2007
10:33 AM EDT
Quoting:Open Source and Linux Has No Place in OLPC
This cannot be further from the truth for a couple simple reasons. One is that OLPC is an educational foundation focusing on bringing the advantages of technology to developing countries. Using open source software will allow the children to learn how to use a computer, just like using closed source software would but it also allows the students to learn how the computer works, and what happens if you make a change. Since OLPC is geared towards getting children in developing countries to be able to benefit from technology, understanding how it works will achieve that goal.

Another is that since both Windows and OSX are closed and under complete control of Microsoft and Apple respectively, they can decide that if the poor students want updates, fixes, or even to continue using their computers they will have to pay for the opportunity. Whereas with using a Linux distribution that cannot happen. If Red Hat tried to put a kill switch in the software that required someone to pay to continue use, the whole world would know, and someone could fix it. My guess would be that the heads of OLPC would choose another vendor for their OS.

Quoting:Our interest here is on the operating system, so in a laptop that is supposed to open up mainstream technology to kids for the first time, what kind of OS would you expect to be in use?
I would expect Linux or FreeBSD to be the OS on such a device, or perhaps even ReactOS. For the simple reason that these will actually open up the world of technology to the users rather than being a buffer to it.

Quoting:The interface basically involves a number of big icons that allow students to do various things, and while there is some nice Internet functionality, it doesn’t resemble anything that we’re used to with desktop computing.
There are two main flaws with this argument. One is that MacOS and Windows are extremely different in their User Interface that using one will not really help you in using the other, other than knowing how to use a mousing device. How is putting a simple interface that is easier to use any different that saying putting OSX on it would help them use windows if they desired to? I can't think of any reason.

Quoting:Simple can be good, but this looks more like one of those interfaces from a LeapFrog product that you can buy at Toys "R" Us.
The OPLC is aimed at children, hence the acronym stands for One Laptop Per Child. Putting a simple interface that is easy to use and a child can relate to seems like a good thing to me. And since they decided on an open source operating system they were able to create a GUI specifically for the intended application with no extra bells and whistles. Which helps keep the hardware requirements down and the system cheaper to meet the $100 required price tag.

Quoting:Students need to learn about technology with the primary tools that are actually used by other people. They may "learn" about computers and technology on this laptop, but if you sat them down in front of a real OS, they wouldn’t know what to do.
If you teach a child how to use a specific application they then know how to use that specific version of that application. If you teach a child how a computer works and how to negotiate their way through different styles of applications,then they will be able to figure out how to use what ever computer you put in front of them. Applications change, systems change. The software that is out today is very different from the software that I learned in High School 10 years ago., which was very different from the software I used on our first computer 10 years before that. But using different types of OS's and different applications taught me how to use a computer without regard to OS or application.

Quoting:Shouldn’t we teach them computer skills that are actually going to help them in the future?
Yes we should which is why we shouldn't force proprietary closed software on them, we should teach them how a computer works, and how to configure and change that computer. because you never know, one of these kids maybe the one to develop the ultimate operating system. Because we all know that isn't here yet.
hiohoaus

Mar 31, 2007
2:13 PM EDT 		Ah, those Developing Countries will get you. (-:

How on earth can a country develop unless it has incentive? The vast majority of Australia's software deficit is related to a certain piece of foreign operating system software. This amounts to an enormous tax on our economy, meaning that we have to be a developing country or else a gone-bankrupt country.

This PITA exists despite an amazing proportion of Australian FOSS developers. Where was SaMBa invented? Where did the penguin first bite? Which FOSS OS became so popular that we had to hold last year's conference in a different country? Who got Avahi started from Western Australia? And so on.

It simply proves, I think, that in every crowd of politicians there will be a few who are, um, hell-bent on dragging defeat from the very jaws of victory.

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