Teacher tells students Linux is

[shakey_snake]

Linux = so good it's illegal

[bobbba]

Maybe in the "world" where you live those aren't common. However if you travel "outside your world" you will see a lot of institutions using Free Open Source Software for their activities, and those institutions aren't just the public service ones but also the private sector. Not to mention if that you are going to work in the IT sector and don't have the knowledge to work with this type of tools you are very limited to a low rank work (if you are able to find any in this area).

It's a matter of priorities that governments just don't seem to understand. Who has the knowledge controls everything, the ultimate truth is adapt or loose your position. It's even in their own interest to maintain their position, but sometimes this reality gets obscured by other interests of a more doubtful nature...

Interesting that you mentioned the cost. The cost of not having the competence is far greater than the cost of making this type of knowledge available to a society.

There are indeed a lot of institutions using open source however there's far more that are not. The figures for the OS and office suite markets make it pretty clear what the situation is currently and that life without open source software goes on.

Your idea that those with no open source software skills are restricted to lower ranking jobs is laughable, just ask any Oracle, Cisco or MS certified IT worker. Sure it's no bad thing to have open source skills but there are many jobs where they are not needed. Why should skills in an open source product be any more valuable than those in a proprietary product? The answer is that they are not and that any skill's value is subject to supply and demand of that particular skill regardless of which category it fits into.

I'd largely agree with you on your last point although I would say that the costs of not having competence applies to many areas and frequently to a far greater extent than open source software.

Schools and teachers are all like that.

At my school:

Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7 are unstable and not secure. Same goes with XP SP2 and SP3. That's why we keep running our XP SP1 with IE6 without any updates. (on machines with 4GB ram by the way)

LOL, I hope you are being ironic...

[obiwong]

lol wow

just wow.... :wacko:

[shakey_snake]

Why should skills in an open source product be any more valuable than those in a proprietary product?

Because the product is very often gratis.

That, in itself, adds value (ie $$$) to those skills.

[Unto Darkness]

If I were Mr. Starks, I would just tell her to STFU and GTFO. Why the rant about how Linux is much better than Windows?

In case it hasn't been made obvious, Karen works for the Microsft Underground; they are trying to poison us from such a young age... :|

She tried Linux? What does she think it is, a pie?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.

She isn't even 100% sure. What gives her the right to seize a student's property?

[Panacik]

I wouldhave been tempted to email her back, "lol"

Nothing more.

[markwolfe Veteran]

She isn't even 100% sure. What gives her the right to seize a student's property?

If they were being disruptive, they can confiscate phones or mp3 players. Why not CDs?

Not sure if this was during a study hall type of free period or not.

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

She was misinformed and ignorant yes, but unless she is teaching an IT subject then it's no reflection on the school system. As long as she is able to teach the subject matter she is supposed to be teaching then she doesn't need to be an IT guru.

I think the "Linux is the best" approach was the wrong way to go about it. If you just say something is superior then people can easily ignore and just disagree with that. If you say the reasons why it is superior (without explicitly saying that it is) then that is likely to be far more effective. There could have been more information about what "Open Source" actually means..

Also, it was annoying that she confiscated that child's property BUT she thought she was protecting the children in her care from getting mixed up in something illegal. She was wrong in thinking it was illegal, but if she was confiscating crack no one would be complaining!

It is a sad fact that so many teachers are so ignorant about IT .. but hopefully in ten to twenty years the current generations, who are more knowledgeable will filter in to the system and things will improve. It's just a shame that those who have studied degree level IT and CS will probably not going into low paid teaching careers and schools will still be full of non specialists..

[obiwong]

I wouldhave been tempted to email her back, "lol"

Nothing more.

i don't even think she knows what that means

you might have to email her "laughing out loud"

[Slimy]

This looks fake.

[Kralik]

:blink: :huh:

[antarian on earth]

Well let me say, this teacher is a real moron, to say that Linux is illegal is just laughable, what she should have done was to do some research before sending that ridiculous email.

On the other hand, I am a Linux lover, but that is just because I decided that I was getting A LOT more from Linux than MS Windows, but I think the more knowledge you have, the better off you will be in your life, why? Very simple, you can move from one place to another if you have the necessary skills.

I think what the board of education should do, in order to promote openness and competitiveness is to have some of their computers with Linux on it, so that the kids can see the differences and similarities between OSs, and for that matter maybe have other OSs available like Mac OS and BSD as well, the more the merrier.

Now my question is, is she legally liable for seizing someones property without authorization?

[Lechio]

There are indeed a lot of institutions using open source however there's far more that are not. The figures for the OS and office suite markets make it pretty clear what the situation is currently and that life without open source software goes on.

Your idea that those with no open source software skills are restricted to lower ranking jobs is laughable, just ask any Oracle, Cisco or MS certified IT worker. Sure it's no bad thing to have open source skills but there are many jobs where they are not needed. Why should skills in an open source product be any more valuable than those in a proprietary product? The answer is that they are not and that any skill's value is subject to supply and demand of that particular skill regardless of which category it fits into.

I'd largely agree with you on your last point although I would say that the costs of not having competence applies to many areas and frequently to a far greater extent than open source software.

LOL, I hope you are being ironic...

I do agree with this point in your post:

Why should skills in an open source product be any more valuable than those in a proprietary product?

That's the only point in which I can agree with you there. If you look at my previous post I've never referred that having competence in an open source tool would be more valuable than having the same competence in any other non-free tool. Knowledge is of the same value there, no matter what tool is used. And furthermore it's not having an "MS certificate" or any other type of title that will make you more competent than another person who doesn't have it. Sure it's a good thing to have, will it make you look good in a job interview to have those kinds of titles? Absolutely. Will it make more competent? Absolutely not.

The figures for the OS and office suite markets make it pretty clear what the situation is currently and that life without open source software goes on.

What market figures are you talking about there? If you are talking about the share of servers that currently exist serving web pages and other Internet services, do know that the share that run on OSS tools is by far superior to those that don't. Check that data by yourself: http://news.netcraft.com/ .

This Internet wouldn't be as we know it if it wasn't for LAMP servers. It would be something else, not Internet.

You talk about office suite market shares there too, I don't see your point in referring that. And (maybe it's just me) see no difference in using a word processor from the MS suite and another from the Openoffice.org suite, same applies to the other programs provided by the suite. Those work exactly in the same way and execute the same productive job. With the only difference residing in the type of license used and the availability of its source code.

Your idea that those with no open source software skills are restricted to lower ranking jobs is laughable, just ask any Oracle, Cisco or MS certified IT worker.

If I was to hire an IT Admin and that person told me he didn't have the skills to access a database using bash, I would laugh at his face (not laugh in his presence out of respect by its person but would consider laughing about it later).

I'd largely agree with you on your last point although I would say that the costs of not having competence applies to many areas and frequently to a far greater extent than open source software.

Thank you for that, and that was the entire point of my previous post.

I don't believe in modern societies "outsourcing" their work to other countries (countries like India, China...) just because they lack the competences of doing their own work. I do not believe that a modern society can turn its back on knowledge and giveaway such important tasks to "others".

[Fagutish]

I'm suprised noone called this out.

I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods.

I along with many others tried pot during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly overstated and hinge on falsehoods.

This could be Exploited:

I along with many others tried ___ during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly overstated and hinge on falsehoods.

[Skulltrail]

What OS was it? I'm having a gut feeling it was Shift. :laugh:

[PuttPutt]

What i think is ironic is if windows does go down we can Use Linux to help recover it -Damn Small Linux - Don't you think with the economic challenges ahead open source does offer more in the future?

I think it is ironic that MS employees have been in possesion of open source software on their computers?

[Hurmoth]

Wow. I really am speechless. I don't even know where to begin. Are we sure this is even real? I mean, I have to wonder, because this is someone supposedly teaching our children. The generation of tomorrow. And she says, "there's no such thing as free software." :laugh: And then she goes onto say that she tried Linux in college. Well if that's true, then she should know that Linux is free.

This is why our education system is failing. No, a teacher of history or art shouldn't know the inner workings of an OS, but they should know something. I mean, she really shows her ignorance when she tells him to contact Microsoft and they'll give him a copy of an older version of Windows. That's a seriously, WTF moment right there. Microsoft is in the business of making money, not handing out free software.

:pinch:

Sad. Just sad.

What i think is ironic is if windows does go down we can Use Linux to help recover it -Damn Small Linux - Don't you think with the economic challenges ahead open source does offer more in the future?

I think it is ironic that MS employees have been in possesion of open source software on their computers?

Let's don't turn this into a debate on which is better. Both have their pros and cons and let's leave it at that.

She was misinformed and ignorant yes, but unless she is teaching an IT subject then it's no reflection on the school system. As long as she is able to teach the subject matter she is supposed to be teaching then she doesn't need to be an IT guru.

However, before writing a letter and making claims such as there is no such thing as free software, she should have done a little homework. It isn't hard to find out on the interweb using teh Googler that Linux is freely available.

[Ambroos]

LOL, I hope you are being ironic...

On the Windows XP SP1 and IE6 part, I'm not ironic. Same on Firefox. They gave me an official warning last year that I will be kicked out of school if I save Portable Firefox to any school computer, cause it poses a threat for the network infrastructure. That's why I still do it.

[chrisj1968]

why would an OS that can be downloaded for free be considered illegal? :blink: Linus torvalds conceived Linux to be a free OS did he not? :blink:

[winrez]

But how will the students taught Office XP use Office 2008? With that new taskbar, they'll never survive in the business world! But wait, someone out there will take their money to teach them that file menu is still the file menu.

In a different article I read on ITWire about using Linux on the "OLPC" project in Australia, the man with the idea for the use of linux said students should be taught word processing and spreadsheet skills, not MS Word and MS Excel.

There is no excuse for a teacher who would be using Office XP to teach the class. I have set computer systems up for School Systems enough to know that Microsoft gives the latest software at virtually no cost with software assurance $12 per pc admin fee.

[HawkMan]

The reply was as stupid and brainwashed as the original letter though.

Well the teacher was just plainignroant and dumb.

The starks guy, he was more of the Brainwashed fanatic kind, unable to see anythign beyond his desire to spread what HE thinks is right, down to lying about it and it's advantages and whatnot.

[Panacik]

i don't even think she knows what that means

you might have to email her "laughing out loud"

Thats the point ;)

She would probably email back saying you just said something rude etc... lol :p

[markwolfe Veteran]

The reply was as stupid and brainwashed as the original letter though.

Well the teacher was just plainignroant and dumb.

The starks guy, he was more of the Brainwashed fanatic kind, unable to see anythign beyond his desire to spread what HE thinks is right, down to lying about it and it's advantages and whatnot.

No. The initial letter was more ignorant and "stupid", as it was factually incorrect about no software being free, and it being harmful and potentially illegal.

The reply stated opinions, and "superior" is subjective and cannot be quantified.

Stating falsehoods and asserting them to be factual is much worse of an assault on veracity than is the expression of opinions that you, personally, do not hold, HawkMan.

[Denis W. Veteran]

I'm surprised she didn't confiscate his laptop as well. :hmmm:

While I agree that her views on open source software sound like an American capitalist screaming BLOODY MURDER at the thought of 'communism', this guy's response sounds just as arrogant and parroting on the old archaic Microsoft of the late 90s that didn't "innovate."

On the Windows XP SP1 and IE6 part, I'm not ironic. Same on Firefox. They gave me an official warning last year that I will be kicked out of school if I save Portable Firefox to any school computer, cause it poses a threat for the network infrastructure. That's why I still do it.

Sounds to me like they'll have you arrested if you bring in to class a MacBook(Pro/Air) or a regular laptop running *nix or - gasp - Windows Vista 7 build 6956.

Funny mini-story: My tech teachers didn't mind us using Portable Firefox (or Opera); the school machines were Dell Optiplexes with XP SP2 with IE6. But one time, my teacher caught me enabling a web proxy in Opera (they have NetSupport School installed on all machines to spy on students). I didn't get in trouble though... he just wanted a copy for his own use as well. :laugh: