[ale] Notes from Jun 19th meeting

Mon Jun 23 21:35:13 EDT 2008

I really like the intoxicated analogy. For the large school environment, it
is very appropriate!

As a person who has both sold service to install and support Linux thin
client systems in schools as well as donated time towards the same end, when
it comes right down to it, dinky little applications like printshop are of
no consequence. Once the teachers see the huge wealth of applications they
now have, they simply walk away from the old dinky ones running on windows
98 machines. I have seen the crustiest of teachers sit and figure out how to
do something in inkscape/openoffice/gimp/tuxpaint/kwordquiz because IT
WORKED EVERY TIME THEY WENT TO THE COMPUTER!! That's all that matters. Is it
different? Yes. But as long as it works, they are actually happy. Can they
always do things the same way as before? No. Do some gripe about it? Yes.
Are they the ones that gripe about ANY change? Yes. Does anyone around them
care? No. Their colleagues are too busy playing with the new WORKING
COMPUTERS to listen to the whiners.

Dinky stuff like printshop were created because people didn't have bigger
tools and could figure how to use those bigger tools they did have. As the
makers of printshop still sell their wares on the endcap at Office Depot,
they are relegated to irrelevant status in the schools. Besides, the
teachers are much happier having the KIDS decorate the room with tuxpaint!

Just because someone is accustomed to the 1974 Honda CVCC and all of it's
old age quirks doesn't mean they won't grow to love a brand new Toyota
Corolla.

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 1:51 PM, aaron <aaron at pd.org> wrote:

> I have to add a note to the list of happy agreements
> with Daniel's revelation (quoted at end).
>
> I don't think anyone here can seriously disagree that the
> Linux environment has grown to become a very desirable
> and sustainable option for general home, business and
> educational applications. Linux doesn't just compare
> favorably with common commercial offerings in terms
> of abilities and features, either. Several major vendors
> are now shipping desktops, laptops, portables and
> mobile network appliances with Linux pre-installed,
> and there are strong consumer support communities
> building up around Ubuntu, Mandriva, Linspire, GOS
> and other distros, and all of this is serving to make
> Linux competitive in terms of real world support as well.
>
> I think another big part of the growing adoption of Linux
> is that there are a number of effective and improving
> tools to address migration and legacy software issues,
> from wine and Crossover Office to the increasingly
> transparent Virtual Machine solutions. Still, as clear cut
> and undeniable as the advantages of migrating to Linux
> are, I think it's important for OSS advocates to also
> (openly) acknowledge that the benefits of switching to
> a Free, Open Source environment do not always come
> without some costs or compromises. Chiefly, the "Free
> as in Beer" benefits only apply to our brands of Beer,
> and that drink menu is never going to be a one to one
> match with every expensive froufrou commercial
> coolaid concoction for which wealthy drunks are
> accustomed to paying staggering bar tabs to drink.
> Rather than further enable an expensive obsession
> with little paper parasols, we need to persistently
> remind the public of the hard costs of their hard liquor
> addiction and the liabilities that are associated with
> their risky behaviors.
>
> Stated without the colorful but accurate analogies,
> the reality is that providing operationally identical,
> Free OSS replacements for every custom, specialty
> or niche market legacy application out there is a
> practical impossibility. Laboring too heavily on the
> tasks of extricating archaic programs from years of
> accumulated windoze muck, or rescuing niche
> applications that refuse to adapt to changing
> environments, only serves to delay and distract from
> the more essential and positive work of helping guide
> the world to Linux and Open Source solutions.
>
> The big picture fact that needs to be front and center
> in Open Source promotion is that the compromises
> needed to migrate to a Linux software environment
> are diminishing daily. The hard to fit niches are become
> increasingly rare as Linux use continues to grow and
> more commercial enterprises realize that their migration
> to Open Source isn't just practical and profitable, it is
> inevitable.
>
> peace
> aaron
>
> PS:  I still occasionally miss Amiga Deluxe Paint (IV)
> for it's simplicity and ease of use in creating digital art,
> animations and flashy color cycled bitmap images.
> I have yet to find an OPERATIONALLY similar program
> for any other OS, but the advantages of moving to OSeX
> and Linux and the many FUNCTIONALLY similar but
> more capable tools they provide make the pangs of
> nostalgia silly and irrelevant.
>
>
> ======
> On Saturday 21 June 2008 22:38, Daniel Howard wrote:
> > Thanks Mike for the Inkscape solution, I'll show my teachers that one
> > first of next year.  Coupled with the graphics on OpenClipArt, it should
> > meet the needs of both teachers and non-profits.
> >
> > Jim's commentary got me thinking: what I need to do is stop arguing
> > about supporting an old application, and focus on what they can do with
> > the new system.  With K12LTSP and TeacherTool, teachers have
> > unprecedented control over what kids do with the computers, even beyond
> > what they're seeing at the Educational Tech conferences to which Jim
> > referred.  So, for my next school, I'm going to include a demo of
> > TeacherTool and show them why a thin client architecture makes sense and
> > what they can do with it is well beyond what they currently do.  I'm
> > guessing that a new capability/software application will trump any
> > resistance from supporting an old application, especially if I can show
> > them they can still do the old stuff if they really want to.
> >
> > Still learning in Atlanta,
> > Daniel
> >
> > --
> > Daniel Howard
> > President and CEO
> > Georgia Open Source Education Foundation
>
>
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>

-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
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