Re: [school-discuss] Discussion About Linux on Linkedin

[LM <lmemsm@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 12:42 PM, Robert Litt <rlitt6@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> in my experience, I am surprised to see that many teachers do not know the
> difference between proprietary an open source software

I'm really not surprised at this point.  After talking about Open
Source at 3 of our district's annual tech conferences and trying to
discuss Open Source on Edmodo, I pretty much expect it.  At the tech
conference, in part of the talk, I ask if anyone can name an Open
Source program.  It typically stumps the audience.  Most did not even
know that a program they use like Firefox is Open Source.  On Edmodo,
people were posting about proprietary software in the Open Source
forum.  When it was mentioned that the forum was for Open Source only,
they said they didn't realize they weren't supposed to post there.
They assume free as in no charge means Open and/or Free.

The issue isn't just with teachers, I noticed most people at Software
Freedom Day (unless they're programmers), have little or no clue
what's Open Source and what is not.

I think the issue is only going to get worse.  There's such a huge
proliferation of phone apps which are all proprietary and many people
are using tablets, pads or phones instead of computers.  There isn't
even an easy way to get Open Source applications onto many of these
devices without going through some company's app store.  I really
don't like the way the computer/programming industry is headed.
Developers may be using more Open Source than before, but consumers
are willingly using more proprietary software and allowing more
restrictions on what software they can use on their devices.  It's
sort of like censoring for programs.  The companies that make the
devices control what programs you can run on a device not the
consumers or developers.

Wish there was something more we could do to make people more aware of
their choices as consumers.  If anyone has any ideas, would be
interested in hearing them.

Sincerely,
Laura
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