[seul-edu] Fw: Re: ~education project introductions Re: [cwlc] k12linux

[Douglas Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

On Sun, 15 Jul 2001, owner-seul-edu@seul.org wrote:

> From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
> To: eharrison@mail.mesd.k12.or.us
> CC: karl@tux.org, cwlc@fairfax.van-pelt.com, mossc@mossc.com,
>         jholland@tomsw.com, seul-edu@seul.org,
> Subject: Re: ~education project introductions Re: [cwlc]
> k12linux
> 
>     In the last year, we have started shifting focus to the
> desktop.
> 
> Good!  Servers in schools are important, but what really
> matters is
> the machines that the students use.  We need to bring freedom
> to the
> students, by using free software on the computers that
> students use.
> 
>     The #1 complaint I hear from the schools is that it is
> difficult
>     and expensive to run computer labs. The solution we are
> working
>     on is producing a very easy to install distribution built
> around
>     the Linux Terminal Server Project.
> 
> It sounds like you are using a complete GNU/Linux system, not
> Linux
> alone.  Many people call the whole system "Linux", but that
> makes
> things very tough for the GNU Project--the people using our
> system
> don't know it.  Could you help us out, by calling it
> "GNU/Linux"?  See
> http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html for more
> explanation.
> 
> For instance, if you call your group K12GNU/Linux, that would
> correct the mistake in a very clear way.
> 
> 				       Things are looking pretty good,
>     the LTSP is looking pretty solid. GNOME, our preferred
> user
>     interface, is improving quickly.
> 
> Would you like to provide feedback on how GNOME could be
> better for
> your users?  I think that is very important.
> 
>     The Children's Internet Protection Act is a pain that
> schools and
>     libraries have to deal with. We have found that the free
> software
>     SquidGuard (http://www.squidguard.org) is quite
> competitive with the
>     proprietary offerings.
> 
> Isn't the constitutionality of this law being challenged?  You
> probably
> do not have to implement it until that is decided.
> 
> What, exactly, is the filtering supposed to stop people from
> doing?
> Does someone have to classify and rate sites?  If so, who does
> that?
> 
> If you must install filtering software, the best possible
> filtering
> program is one that has a gross bug so that it can be
> bypassed.  Soes
> Squidguard have the necessary bug?
> 
>     We license all of the software we write under the GPL,
> naturally.
> 
> Might you be interested in making some of this software into
> GNU
> packages?
> 
> 
-- 
Doug Loss           Advertisements contain the only truths
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