[Ubuntu-PH] [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor?An article Posted by Christopher Dawson (Allan Registos)

Thu Mar 26 12:06:24 UTC 2009

Allan I agreee with you on the Linux part. But of course its a post of Chris
dawson, one edtech blogger whos a linux ang google fan, so shared it with
our people here.

Not that Idont agree with the salvation part

cheers

Yosif Roque Santos Morales
====================
School Administrator
Asian Academy of Business and Computers
Educational Management Consultant
Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
Ubuntulinux user
Linux machine # 365046.
https://sites.google.com/a/ympn.org/memltd/Home
http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/
http://mafatihulhikmah.blogspot.com/
http://strategicresearchinstitute.blogspot.com/

>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re:  [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor?An
>      article Posted by Christopher Dawson (Allan Registos)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:35:26 +0800
> From: Allan Registos <allan.registos at smpc.steniel.com.ph>
> Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-PH] [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the
>        poor?An article Posted by Christopher Dawson
> To: "Mailing List para sa Ubuntu Pilipinas (Philippines)"
>        <ubuntu-ph at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID: <49CB3E4E.4040403 at smpc.steniel.com.ph>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
> >
> >
> > So again, is Linux only useful in a recession or in South American
> > countries trying to get as many computers into the hands of rural
> > schoolchildren as they can?
> >
> My take:
> Linux is useful when you know what to do with it. It is not about for
> the poor, it is not about for those folks who wants to get rid of the MS
> technology or to avoid vendor-lockin but it is a good alternative and
> even superior in some areas. While Windows need to stay if you want to
> run your aging ERP, gaming or a Graphic studio.
> It is the technology that is "inside" Linux that we need to use it, not
> that it was being provided for free. Even Hollywood Studios like
> Dreamworks were using Linux.
>
> However, Linux is indeed useful for the poor since it is free, but it
> doesn't mean that Linux was somewhat designed for the poor people as per
> your question. Linux is not cheap, but it was free. In a Christian
> perspective, Salvation is not cheap but it's free.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Yosif ali" Roque Morales wrote:
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: *yosif* <queroph at gmail.com <mailto:queroph at gmail.com>>
> > Date: Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 3:13 PM
> > Subject: [FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION] Is Linux only for the poor? Posted by
> > Christopher Dawson
> > To:
> >
> strategic-research-institute-philippinesdiscussion-groups at googlegroups.com
> > <mailto:
> strategic-research-institute-philippinesdiscussion-groups at googlegroups.com
> >
> >
> >
> > Last week, I followed a conversation on an OpenSuse Education
> > newsletter to which I subscribe. I didn?t have time to join in, but it
> > did get me thinking about open source in education more broadly.
> > Regular readers will know that my school district has made serious
> > strides in the last couple of years, particularly as it relates to
> > technology. However, those same regular readers will also know that
> > the community is hurting like many other aging mill towns and that I
> > frequently at least explore open source solutions as money savers.
> >
> > For now, most open source use is among students. All of the elementary
> > schools use Open Office; we don?t have any Office licenses in place
> > with the exception of a couple secretarial power users who are able to
> > exploit some of the advanced features in Office 2007. Students
> > throughout the district use Open Office at home, saving themselves the
> > trouble of using Works if it came preinstalled on their computers or
> > to avoid buying Office. I hand out CDs and USB keys to students with
> > dialup access loaded with OO.org 3.
> >
> > An increasing number of students and teachers have turned to Linux as
> > they try to eek out a bit of extra life on their computers or decide
> > that they don?t like whatever version of Vista came preinstalled on
> > computers they recently purchased. I?m happy, along with a couple of
> > my techs, to help people get up an running with Linux. However, we
> > haven?t yet rolled out Linux formally in our schools. The only time we
> > had a full Linux lab was when we had absolutely no technology funding
> > in my second year teaching and I let my students build a lab from old
> > donated computers.
> >
> > Which leads me to the point of this post? If you have money in your
> > district, is there any reason to use Linux? The original conversation
> > I mentioned earlier was started by an IT staffer at an exclusive,
> > well-funded private school. They were a Windows shop and saw no
> > incentive to change. Licensing costs were a non-issue. Even we still
> > largely use Windows and OS X, despite my fondness for Linux. We?ve
> > been granted the funding to do so in the last couple of years and my
> > primary goal has been instructional integration of computing, rather
> > than worrying about training for a Linux rollout.
> >
> > We?re hunkering down now budget-wise for a tough couple of years.
> > While we have solid technology in place, new acquisitions will be very
> > carefully scrutinized for cost and benefit; there are very few pennies
> > to spare. Saving $50 per computer on OS licensing just might be the
> > difference between funding a project and needing to wait for 1-2 years.
> >
> > So again, is Linux only useful in a recession or in South American
> > countries trying to get as many computers into the hands of rural
> > schoolchildren as they can?
> >
> > Cost will certainly give people a reason to switch, but I don?t think
> > a crappy economy or poverty in a developing country is the only reason
> > to use Linux and open source software. I won?t even get into the
> > argument of exposing kids to a variety of computing environments. I
> > think the biggest reason to use Linux (aside from potential cost
> > savings if you can develop some in-house *nix expertise) is simply the
> > giant body of software that is freely available.
> >
> > The OpenSUSE Education project <http://en.opensuse.org/Education> is a
> > great example. Desktop software included with this project
> > <http://en.opensuse.org/Education/Applications/Desktop> ranges from
> > computer science applications for kids to the R statistical
> > programming interface. Server software
> > <http://en.opensuse.org/Education/Applications/Server> ranges from
> > OpenSIS to Joomla.
> >
> > Whether your school has money or not, there is incredible value in the
> > open source community. Perhaps most important, though, is that word
> > ?community.? We can talk all we want about global economies, but
> > allowing students and staff to be part of and participate in a
> > community that drives the way we use technology is an incredible
> > opportunity. Keep in mind that there is plenty of open source value
> > for Windows users; we don?t all have to switch to Linux to reap the
> > benefits of FOSS.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Posted By yosif to FLOSS WORLD EDUCATION
> > <
> http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/2009/03/is-linux-only-for-poor-posted-by.html
> >
> > at 3/26/2009 12:11:00 A
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> >
> > --
> > Yosif Roque Santos Morales
> > ====================
> > School Administrator
> > Asian Academy of Business and Computers
> > Educational Management Consultant
> > Professor, Sociology, Strategic Studies and Islamology
> > Ubuntulinux user
> > Linux machine # 365046.
> > https://sites.google.com/a/ympn.org/memltd/Home
> > http://lamundofloss.blogspot.com/
> > http://mafatihulhikmah.blogspot.com/
> > http://strategicresearchinstitute.blogspot.com/
> > Mobile number +639275642816
>
>
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