Discrimination based on OS?

[Samuel Thurston, III]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Fred Roller <froller at tnclimited.com> wrote:
> Samuel Thurston, III wrote:
>> That you choose your OS eliminates it from consideration as a basis
>> for discrimination.
>>
>>
> I can see your point; but, are we (society as a whole) getting to a
> point where technology is so interwoven in our lives that one must have
> the technology to participate, say, in higher education.  If your only
> option(s) for an affordable solution exclude you from purchasing a
> competitive solution, acquiring 'cracked' OS/Software, or FOSS then can
> the argument be made for the University to support the option.

Higher education itself is hardly affordable.  Is it discrimination if
you can't afford the tuition and can't get financial aid?  if you
can't afford textbooks?  Copies of windows can be bought for less than
most textbooks.

Surely the argument can be made, but not on the basis of discrimination...

>
> In the case of the local University here, the head of IT support sited
> security reasons why they would not support Linux on the APs.  I was
> curious about the public access part, and as you mentioned I had a
> choice and decided not to use their service.

Did he or she cite specific "security reasons" or did he or she just
say "for security reasons?"  You could ask for specific security
reasons, and this may cause your IT dept. to go into convulsions.
Alternately, they may accidentally give you the information you need
to make linux work.

>
> Since the IT department is not going to disclose a lot of information on
> their security/equipment, I have no way of knowing if Linux is an
> option.  But assuming Linux is an option which the University choses
> /not/ to support are they unfairly restricting access?

If they give you the information needed to connect with windows or a
mac, chances are you can find the information needed to connect linux
with a couple of google searches.  Maybe see if there's a campus linux
group active, or if anyone in the CS department has already done it
and can help you out.

My ISP (Qwest) doesn't support linux either... "not supported" doesn't
mean "it doesn't work."  It means you have to figure it out on your
own.