No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.

This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...kids-back.html

Since the blog is rather long, I'll quote just the essential part :

Linux - Stop holding our kids back

This blog is momentarily interrupted to bring you a snippet of
recently received email.

"...observed one of my students with a group of other children
gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was
giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the
ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating
the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came
to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you
strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support
your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I
am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and
spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to
adults for guidance and discipline. 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. Mr. Starks, 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 admire your
attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but
putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.

This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and
putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping
these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they
would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison
of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service
to those receiving them..."

Karen xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx Middle School
AISD

On 12/28/2008 05:47 PM, Penang sent:
> This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
> so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
> http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...kids-back.html
>
> Since the blog is rather long, I'll quote just the essential part :
>
> Linux - Stop holding our kids back
>
> This blog is momentarily interrupted to bring you a snippet of
> recently received email.
>
> "...observed one of my students with a group of other children
> gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was
> giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the
> ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating
> the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came
> to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you
> strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support
> your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I
> am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and
> spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to
> adults for guidance and discipline. 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. Mr. Starks, 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 admire your
> attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but
> putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
>
> This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and
> putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping
> these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they
> would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison
> of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service
> to those receiving them..."
>
> Karen xxxxxxxxx
> xxxxxxxxx Middle School
> AISD

This started about three weeks ago. The teacher is from an Austin,
Texas USA school. It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
since.

--
1PW @?6A62?FEH9E=6o2@=]4@> [r4o7t]

1PW wrote:
> On 12/28/2008 05:47 PM, Penang sent:
>> This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
>> so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
>> http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...kids-back.html
>>
>> Since the blog is rather long, I'll quote just the essential part :
>>
>> Linux - Stop holding our kids back
>>
>> This blog is momentarily interrupted to bring you a snippet of
>> recently received email.
>>
>> "...observed one of my students with a group of other children
>> gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was
>> giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the
>> ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating
>> the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came
>> to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you
>> strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support
>> your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I
>> am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and
>> spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to
>> adults for guidance and discipline. 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. Mr. Starks, 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 admire your
>> attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but
>> putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
>>
>> This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and
>> putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping
>> these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they
>> would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison
>> of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service
>> to those receiving them..."
>>
>> Karen xxxxxxxxx
>> xxxxxxxxx Middle School
>> AISD

> This started about three weeks ago. The teacher is from an Austin,
> Texas USA school. It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
> since.

You get what you pay for when you let teachers unionize. You can't fire the
incompetents or the idiots.

--
When a hospital is said to be on the cutting edge of new treatments that
means it is following all the latest fads.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 4069
http://www.giwersworld.org/environment/aehb.phtml a2

Matt Giwer <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> 1PW wrote:
> > On 12/28/2008 05:47 PM, Penang sent:
> >> This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
> >> so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
> >> http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...kids-back.html
> >>
> >> Since the blog is rather long, I'll quote just the essential part :
> >>
> >> Linux - Stop holding our kids back
> >>
> >> This blog is momentarily interrupted to bring you a snippet of
> >> recently received email.
> >>
> >> "...observed one of my students with a group of other children
> >> gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was
> >> giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the
> >> ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating
> >> the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came
> >> to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you
> >> strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support
> >> your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I
> >> am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and
> >> spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to
> >> adults for guidance and discipline. 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. Mr. Starks, 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 admire your
> >> attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but
> >> putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
> >>
> >> This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and
> >> putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping
> >> these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they
> >> would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison
> >> of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service
> >> to those receiving them..."
> >>
> >> Karen xxxxxxxxx
> >> xxxxxxxxx Middle School
> >> AISD
>
> > This started about three weeks ago. The teacher is from an Austin,
> > Texas USA school. It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
> > since.
>
> You get what you pay for when you let teachers unionize. You can't fire the
> incompetents or the idiots.

My experience is that spreading FUD about any OS other than
Microsoft's starts at the top of organizations, not individual
workers. It would be interesting to hear what the Austin School
District's IT people are telling the teachers.

-- Patrick

On Dec 28, 9:18*pm, 1PW <barcrnahgjuvf...@nby.pbz> wrote:

>
> This started about three weeks ago. *The teacher is from an Austin,
> Texas USA school. *It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
> since.
>

Sorry I'm lazy. Do you have a link?

tad wrote:

>On Dec 28, 9:18*pm, 1PW <barcrnahgjuvf...@nby.pbz> wrote:
>
>>
>> This started about three weeks ago. *The teacher is from an Austin,
>> Texas USA school. *It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
>> since.
>>
>
>Sorry I'm lazy. Do you have a link?

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/

The original post (as quoted) is the entry for Dec 8, but do check out
the followup from Dec 12.

--
Bart.

On 12/29/2008 01:35 AM, tad sent:
> On Dec 28, 9:18 pm, 1PW <barcrnahgjuvf...@nby.pbz> wrote:
>
>> This started about three weeks ago. The teacher is from an Austin,
>> Texas USA school. It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
>> since.
>>
>
> Sorry I'm lazy. Do you have a link?

<http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html>

--
1PW @?6A62?FEH9E=6o2@=]4@> [r4o7t]

On Dec 28, 8:47*pm, Penang <kalamb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> No software is free and


Bullshit.

For example:

http://just-john.com/node/5

Software, written by me. Free. (Fly, my pretties!)

Not GREAT software, but stuff I could link to in under thirty seconds.

On Dec 29, 12:23*am, Matt Giwer <jul...@fritz.tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> 1PW wrote:
> > On 12/28/2008 05:47 PM, Penang sent:
> >> This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
> >> so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
> >>http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...g-our-kids-bac....
>
> >> Since the blog is rather long, I'll quote just the essential part :
>
> >> Linux - Stop holding our kids back
>
> >> This blog is momentarily interrupted to bring you a snippet of
> >> recently received email.
>
> >> "...observed one of my students with a group of other children
> >> gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was
> >> giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the
> >> ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating
> >> the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came
> >> to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you
> >> strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support
> >> your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I
> >> am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and
> >> spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to
> >> adults for guidance and discipline. 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. Mr. Starks, 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 admire your
> >> attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but
> >> putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
>
> >> This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and
> >> putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping
> >> these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they
> >> would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison
> >> of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service
> >> to those receiving them..."
>
> >> Karen xxxxxxxxx
> >> xxxxxxxxx Middle School
> >> AISD
> > This started about three weeks ago. *The teacher is from an Austin,
> > Texas USA school. *It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
> > since.
>
> * * * * You get what you pay for when you let teachers unionize--competent, dedicated teachers who make a decent living and thus don't resent their students.

There, fixed that for you. You're welcome.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:23:09 -0500, Matt Giwer <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> 1PW wrote:
>> On 12/28/2008 05:47 PM, Penang sent:
>>> This morning I saw something rather troubling, a one liner on a forum,
>>> so I clicked the link, ended up at a blog at
>>> http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/1...kids-back.html
>
>> This started about three weeks ago. The teacher is from an Austin,
>> Texas USA school. It's interesting if you follow what has occurred
>> since.
>
> You get what you pay for when you let teachers unionize. You can't
> fire the incompetents or the idiots.

Nobody is an idiot because they don't know what Linux is. If that were
true, then many Linux people would also be considered idiots because
they don't know anything about plumbing or battle aircraft construction.

Human endeavors are so diverse and so numerous that it is impossible for
any single person to know everything about everyone and everything else.
Since it is "normal" for someone to be unaware of what Linux is, because
they didn't happen to hear about it so far, calling a teacher stupid
because she didn't know about Linux, especially after she has *resolved*
this particular issue, is not good.

It may seem like it should sound surprising to some of us (including me)
that there are people who don't spend a lot of their time hacking away
at computers. This is "ok" though. We need people who know about house
construction, as much as we need plumbers, designers, decorators, poets,
painters, and ship builders or spaceship engineers. The multitude and
diversity of human lives around us is what makes this a beautiful planet
and a wonderful place to live in.

So let's cut down a bit on that name-calling shall we?