[plug] suggestion: PLUG 4 Schools

[Anthony Jones]

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On Monday 06 May 2002 22:49, Arie Hol wrote:
> What happens when you have Linux established and operating successfully in a
> school, but all the parents of the kids at this school have Windows PC's at
> home.
>
> What happens when these kids move on to another school or educational
> institution (like uni)?

I don't see this as a problem. Most of the Unix tools also work on Windoze - 
this means that anything you can do on Linux you can also do on Windoze with 
Cygwin, for example.

Are you suggesting that we shouldn't be teaching people how to use Linux 
because not enough people know how to use (and use) Linux?

> Will they be capable of handling the change of software environment - it
> would be great for the kids if they can learn to use two operating systems
> and their respective software environments - but I think our kids are
> already under enough pressure with the current circumstances in our
> education system.

The OS really makes very little difference. Windoze isn't really that 
different in the way it operates to Mac or Linux. You are also 
underestimating the rate of change of Windoze. M$ keep on releasing new 
versions of Windoze which are totally different from the last. This requires 
completely re-learning everything every 2-3 years.

> What happens when the kids move out into the work force - will their Linux
> skills be what is required by their employers ? A great win for employers if
> they are running Unix and/or Linux systems - but maybe a loss for the kids.

Who knows what the future will bring. I would say that Unix has been around 
for more than 40 years and Windoze has been around for about 10. I suspect 
that in five years the computer world will be totally different again (as it 
has done in the last five years).

> I do not condemn Microsoft totally - I think that there are many people who
> are now Linux devotees who may not have even been computer literate if it
> hadn't been for DOS & Windows. Microsoft needs to be brought back to sanity
> - they have become the "Ogre in the forest". They need a big, loud wakeup
> call and I believe that Linux will be that call.

I do condemn M$ totally. They are rotten to the core.

Anthony
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