Re: Major interview

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

From reading through this thread I think I see some themes developing.  I'll 
tell you how it looks to me, and you folks can correct me where I'm wrong.

Linux is usable _now_ in K12 schools in a server setting.  There's nothing 
technical standing in its way, only perceptions and the common hesitancy to 
try something new.  I think this is a theme that Jose might be best to advance, 
with special note being made of OpenClassroom's Local Tutors program and Bill's 
LENPP.  These are ways in which members of the Linux community can get involved 
in education and support Linux at the same time.

Linux provides major financial benefits for education over other operating 
systems, not the least of which is the ability to continue to use computers 
that can no longer run the supported commercial OSs.  This theme works best as 
an advocacy tool for those trying to convince curious school administrations to 
try Linux.  Along with this goes the theme of open source development, the kind 
of peer review of work that is very familiar to the educational community.  
This development model would allow any interested student or teacher to study 
the internal workings of open source software and tinker with them if they 
want to.  As someone said, the Linux and educational communities share similar 
philosophical stances.  These themes are probably mine to address.

For use on the student desktop Linux needs some work.  There currently are few 
pedagogical or exploration programs available for Linux that would be useful 
at this level.  While there are open source projects (which we support and 
encourage more of) currently to address this lack, it seems likely that the 
lack of these programs will slow Linux's adoption in schools.  We encourage 
commercial educational software companies to port their existing programs to 
Linux, and will be happy to discuss with them ways of making a profit with 
commercial educational software in the Linux world.  We are generally 
supporters of open source software, but we recognize that that may not be the 
most appropriate development model for all niches of software.  Roman is 
the best one for this theme.

We think that much of the software available, both for Linux and for other 
OSs, is more difficult to use than is necessary and that this is keeping 
many from trying Linux.  That's one of the reasons we want to see high-quality 
programs designed for children on Linux--because a user interface simple and 
obvious enough for children should also be very good for other end users and 
would help advance SEUL's goals.  On the other hand, we think that such UIs 
could and probably should be adopted as alternatives for standard Linux 
programs such as the GIMP.  We'd like to see kids using the GIMP through an 
interface similar to Kid Pix, which could be gradually enriched till they were 
using the full power of the program.  The same goes for word processors, 
databases, spreadsheets, etc.  This is a theme we can all hit.

How does that read?

Doug Loss            Always acknowledge a fault.  This will throw
dloss@csrlink.net    those in authority off their guard and give
(570) 326-3987       you the opportunity to commit more.
                        Mark Twain