Re: [school-discuss] Talking Linux in School is a Serious Blunder!

[Leon Brooks <leon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Saturday 05 March 2005 05:15, Michael Dean wrote:
> Especially when schools, who are goal and objective driven, must sift
> through thousands of duplicatory packages, many of dubious quality, 
> that comprise what I call the "kitchen sink" distros such as Redhat,
> Suse, Mandrake and Debian.

MS Windows has the dubious advantage of coming with naff-all by way of 
software, forcing educators either to kitchen sinks like TUCOWS or to 
spending money (and red tape) on software in the forlorn hope that 
price is a guarantee of quality.

In short, the worst-case scenario is that Linux is no worse for them.

In Real Life(tm) the schools I have dealt with are happy to have the 
choice and convenience.

> We must produce an Educational System which is
> based on a minimalist, goal driven philosophy.

Only if minimalism and the _same_ goals are the quintessence of every 
education system you face. At which concept I laugh most heartily. (-:

> FreeBSD would work equally well in schools, and it has a more
> rational license.

OK, now I *know* I'm feeding a troll.

If the licence was more rational, and taking as axiomatic that the 
selection is made rationally it follows that it would suit more people, 
no? And does it? Is it?

I happen to like the BSDs but the hardware support and technical 
community is significantly less available than Linux's.

Cheers; Leon