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In Defense of a Linux Education
,----[ Quote ]
| The difference between learning how to use a new tool and learning a new
| concept is the same difference between receiving training and gaining an
| education. How many times have you heard (or said) that algebra and history
| are not “useful” in “real life”? I can understand when such a claim is made
| by a sixth-grade student who has much time left to decide on a career, but
| I’ve even heard college students complain that their programs of study should
| focus on what they will “do for a living” and that all of the basic curricula
| should be dropped. “I’ve already taken that in high school!” they cry. What
| many students never come to understand is that by teaching you the same old
| things in new, more complex ways forces your mind to think differently, to
| grow.
`----
http://linuxfud.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/in-defense-of-a-linux-education/
Microsoft, the Bully
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is sending letters to school districts insisting on audits to make
| sure they are paying for all the licenses they should be.
|
| [...]
|
| However, along with that threatening letter is a sales brochure for a new
| license program from MS: pay us money for every PC in the district capable of
| running Windows and pay for it every year. Over and over again. Every year.
|
| [...]
|
| But then I think…Linux is free.
|
| Linux will never threaten you.
|
| Linux will never ask you for money.
|
| Linux will never try and revoke your ability to use it.
|
| Linux will never ask you to not share.
|
| Linux encourages you to give back and make things better and share that
| better with others.
|
| Linux has a nice soft fluffy mascot.
|
| Linux loves children.
|
| It seems like such an easy decision.
`----
http://leotree.com/?p=765
Days ago:
Becta, open source and education: Too little, too late?
,----[ Quote ]
| Slow adoption of open source and free software in UK schools can be
| attributed to the same kind of inertia that afflicts SMEs in the UK. It
| arises from a fear of the unknown, misapprehensions of the capabilities of
| the software, over-reliance on trusted suppliers, and general lack of
| awareness of the alternatives - but the major obstacle has been a lack of
| coordination, direction or understanding from the relevant authorities,
| exacerbated by a series of agreements with Microsoft at government level that
| have effectively tied the education system into Microsoft-only solutions.
`----
http://www.itpro.co.uk/603639/becta-open-source-and-education-too-little-too-late
The OSC's open letter to Becta
,----[ Quote ]
| If you are a school, ignore Becta's project, ignore Becta, and seek advice
| from the people who are able to give it. Any of the organisations Becta
| rejected will be your best choice.
|
| If you are a member of the Open Source community or industry not yet touched
| by this scandal, boycott the project and refuse to have anything to do with
| it. It's not about 'Open Source', it's about jobs for the boys, spin, and
| discrediting non-proprietary software.
|
| If you are anyone else, throw your hands up in despair at yet more political
| sleaze, cronyism and incompetence, and vote for someone other than the
| current government at the next election, preferably someone with policies on
| Open Source and Open Government.
`----
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10008436o-2000331761b,00.htm
The Case for Linux in the Classroom
,----[ Quote ]
| Linux is the only OS designed and equipped with Education in mind. Edubuntu,
| a flavor of Linux, is designed with the classroom in mind. It comes
| preinstalled with education software and applications that suit students of
| all grade levels, and even has some handy applications for the teacher too.
`----
http://teachertechblog.com/the-case-for-linux-in-the-classroom/190/
BECTA Rubbishes Almost the Entire UK Open Source Industry
,----[ Quote ]
| I've written a number of times about BECTA, charting its constant flip-flops
| on open source in schools – sometimes damning it, sometimes driving it. Like
| me, you've probably been increasingly confused about BECTA's real attitude to
| free software. Well, I think we know now, following the snubbing of all the
| most experienced UK open source players in the awarding of a major contract
| to promote open source in schools.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=912&blogid=14
A learning experience
,----[ Quote ]
| The situation looked to have improved in early May when it was revealed that
| Becta had issued an invitation to tender for a project to set up and run an
| open source schools project.
|
| As Glyn Moody reports, however, despite bids from the great and the good of
| open source in the UK (supported by the likes of Red Hat and Canonical) the
| contract was awarded to The AlphaPlus Consultancy, a company described as
| having “no known experience or track record in FOSS”.
`----
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2008/06/13/a-learning-experience/
Becta schools deal stuns British open-istas
,----[ Qyuote ]
| He claimed that the decision to snub bidders that included Red Hat-backed
| Sirius and Canonical-backed The Learning Machine exposed Becta’s open
| source “posturings” as a “sham”.
|
| Becta, which in recent months has been a vocal critic of Microsoft’s
| monopolistic stranglehold on software, invited bidders to tender for
| its “Open Source Schools” project in May.
|
| At the time it said: “Becta wishes to ensure that schools are aware of and
| can access the wide variety of open source software in the marketplace. To
| achieve this it recognises that they must be supported in its awareness,
| adoption, deployment, use and ongoing development.”
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/13/becta_open_source_schools/
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