Showing headlines posted by helios

Prologue: In retrospect, I have recently read a large amount of comments and articles on how Linux is not ready for prime time. Honestly, if I had read even a fraction of these articles, I doubt I would have installed it, even with Mark's endorsement. In the past two months or so, I can honestly say I can not understand how these writers came to such a conclusion. Linux works extremely well for me.

With that being said, there are things in Windows I miss

Prologue: I can't tell you exactly when I made the decision but somewhere between playing with LibreOffice and the webcam software, I found myself dropping and dragging important files from my Windows world onto a portable hard drive. It was about 6 PM that evening, roughly 9 weeks ago, I double-clicked the "Install Linux Mint" icon.

Like many people, I grew up using Microsoft Windows. I think the majority of people who sit down behind a computer did as well. All throughout high school and college I lambasted every computer I used when things went badly. I have probably done more re-installs of Windows than two-thirds of the people who use a computer. Looking back on it, it wasn't a computer crash or a system glitch that made me look outside the Windows world for a solution. It was a Windows update.

I've long lamented the fact that Linux lacks any real marketing strategy. Of course, when a product is free of cost, there is no ROI so what's the point? Canonical beat the odds with Ubuntu. The fan-base became so large, so fast that Universal Awareness of Ubuntu can be credited to a simple grass-roots effort that expanded across the globe. It wasn't television or radio advertising. It wasn't billboards. It was good old fashioned proselytizing. Gimmee that old-time religion any day.

I kept my mouth shut.

That doesn't happen often, especially when it comes to the thrust and parry during a Windows vs. Linux match. There was a time, I would shoulder my way into the battle and shamelessly impart my knowledge/expertise where needed. And as I've learned...cool, level-headed discourse is much more effective than the confrontational habit of calling your opponent and idiot...as difficult as that may be at times.

But in this case, my participation wasn't needed.

It's never easy for me to manage multiple tasks. I've never, ever been any good at it. Interrupt me to do something while I'm doing something else and I find it hard to restrain my full range of verbal expression.

Here's a conversation Skip Guenter had with a friendly neighbor last week.

"So anyone can come in and use those computers?"

"Sure, but students have priority."

"What if I don't want my daughter exposed to perverts? How can you make sure that doesn't happen?"

"We can seat her at a computer without an Internet connection."

"Well, how is that supposed to keep perverts away?"

Apparently, the perverts live in the computer. It also apparent that we have our work cut out for us.

Roughly 15 percent of our kids suffer disabilities of one sort or another. After an especially angry reaction from a parent who was offended by the name GIMP in the menus, we decided that it might be best to change the name locally, and specifically for our respin. I decided I wasn't going to experience another a$$-chewing of this magnitude again...not behind something that can be fixed easily.

During non-peak times, we would fool with my laptop and I would show him my Linux install. He had played with Linux on and off but hadn't really had anyone mentor him. It was during those slow times that I would do so. After a while, he did a dual boot on his laptop and we would talk about how Linux worked and many of the advantages it held. "Mike" eventually took a job at Dell and I eventually crossed enough lines to deem it mutually acceptable that I find employment elsewhere. We have talked from time to time via Facebook but really haven't kept in contact much otherwise. Yesterday, I got a private message from "Mike". I won't pretend that it didn't please me.

As a general rule, programmers should never be allowed to name anything. The more competent the programmer, the more likely this is to be true.

Now, keep in mind that the things we have to do involves carpentry and sheet rock skills....and that in turn involves the operation of power tools. I believe we're up to 13 states and Tonga that prohibits me from touching them. Some of them have filed a restraining order that keeps me at least 200 yards away.

I put away Eric and my Gedit scripts and began "working the streets" to get Linux onto more computers and those computers into the hands that needed them most. Six years and over 1200 computers later, I believe that HeliOS has gained some significant insight into how people react to the Linux Desktop.

It was a long time coming...but we finally got our stuff transferred from the old place in Lakeway and into our new, stand-alone building in Taylor Texas. At 10 AM on a beautiful Saturday morning, our volunteers began arriving and surveying the day before them. I'm sure there was more than one sigh of resignation.....

I had submitted a paper that discussed our experience with the kids that receive our HeliOS Project computers. We've distributed over 1200 of them in 6 years and some of the empirical data we've collected is not only interesting, it takes turns giving us encouragement and completely destroying some of the myths that exist concerning Desktop Linux. I thought that would be a good topic for one of the halls during the day.

Nope...HeliOS is the opening act.

We will set up a dedicated fund to provide our HeliOS kids with Internet service. Now, the point I want to make clear is this. This is an Austin problem and I am going to seek an Austin solution. We'll update our website soon to announce the presence of the program and to make people aware of it. I'm going door-knocking. I will approach businesses within the community to let them know what we are doing and what they can do to help.

"When asked about the possibility of dumping Windows in favor of Linux, AISD technol­o­gy director Gray Salada said that in terms of a cost-benefit analysis, it simply isn't worth it. Windows comes preinstalled on most computers, he said, so there is little savings to be realized from removing it and incurring the costs of retraining teachers and the district's 12 engineers, who are already proficient in Windows, to support Linux."

And therein lies the problem within the Austin Independent School District.

It dawned on me that this classroom of people, ranging in age from 30-60 didn't have a clue as to what I was saying. What was intended to be a quick class in how to browse and search turned into a "computer 101" session.

I'm willing to bet I might be a bit older than many people who read this blog. Some by not so much, and I know I am junior in age to a few. It's probably to those few that this will make the most sense.

The TLF is interested in having someone talk about Koha during the 2011 event. Texas Linux Fest will kick off on the 2nd of April and run through the weekend. Here are some important dates you might find useful.

Alan Jones has traveled a long way to be here. His route is as interesting as it has been long. From Australia to London, a prolonged stay in Santa Barbara and then, to Austin...

What a long, strange trip it's been.