Re: [school-discuss] [Fwd: (LOSS, Mr Doug) Britannica Technical Support [No Ticket]]

[Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca>]

On Tue, May 28, 2002 at 08:56:43PM -0600, Matt Jezorek wrote:
> > If there is a non-proprietary project of encyclopedia software created 
> > via the port, ala mozilla and openoffice.org, then it could be a good 
> > thing.  But if they simply want to stick with only a proprietary 
> > product, they will get no help from me, and probably no help from many 
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As this poster put it, we're talking about *help* here, not *use*.

> If proprietary is the only way to get some software ported to Linux is 
> this not the best way to go?

Sure, but I, for one, ask to be paid to write proprietary software.  I'm
funny that way, I guess.

> If certian closed source software 
> applications where avaliable on Linux would that not make Linux a better 
> option. I thought the purpose of getting Linux into Schools was to better 
> education by helping cut costs and stability issues among other issues.

I agree.

> I  dont think that getting Linux in Schools should depend on making sure 
> everything used is Open Source or Free.

Neither do I.

> While it would be nice if it was 
> currently I think the objective should be get Linux and other alternatives 
> into the school before we try to take over the systems.

Can't disagree here, except I'm hazy on what you mean by "take over the
systems".

> Sometimes the Open Source Mentality is the same as the Microsoft Closed 
> Source:
> 
> Open Source: IF it is not OSS then it is worthless and I wont use it.

Where in the above poster's comments did he say that?

> Close Source: IF it is OSS then it is worthless and a major breach in 
> Security and does not follow standards.
> 
> Those to me seem the same. I think we should all concern ourselves with 
> getting the software we can into the schools and not worry about total 
> domination.

Who said anything about total domination?  I think you're reading a lot into
this.

The issue is doing free development for a company to make a proprietary
product.  I don't think many (if any) free software developers among us
would do that, no matter how noble and self-sacrificing.

Ben
-- 
    nSLUG       http://www.nslug.ns.ca      synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
    Debian      http://www.debian.org       synrg@debian.org
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