Penguin of Linux wreaks Havoc in Texas!
p2pnet news | Open Source:- A teacher who spotted a pupil giving a Dastardly Demonstration of a Linux Distro during class gave him detention and threatened to call the cops.
“I observed one of my students with a group of other children gathered around his laptop,” says Karen X, quoted in the Blog of Helios.
“Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was giving a demonstration of some sort,” she says, going on (and No, this isn’t a spoof) »»»
The student was showing the ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom.
At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal.
No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.
These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all.
I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them…”
Karen xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxx Middle School
AISD equals Austin Independent School District and when HeliOS Solutions‘ Ken Starks learned of Karen’s Austism, “Hmmmm,” he said in a thoughtful response posted in the Blog of helios, continuing »»»
I suppose I should, before anything else, thank you. You have given me the opportunity to show others just what a battle we face in what we do. “We” being those who advocate, support and use Free Open Source Software and Linux in particular.
If you find my following words terse or less than cordial, take a breath and prepare yourself…what I have to say to you are soft strokes to your hair in comparison to what you are about to experience.
First off, if there was even the slightest chance that I was doing something illegal, it would not have been done. To think that I would involve my kids in my “illegal” activities is an insult far beyond outrage. You should be ashamed of yourself for putting into print such none sense.
And please…investigate to your heart’s content. You are about to have your eyes opened, that is if you actually investigate anything at all. Linux is a free as-in-cost and free as-in-license operating system. It was designed specifically for those purposes. Linux is used to free people from Microsoft. The fact that you seem to believe that Microsoft is the end all and be-all is actually funny in a sad sort of way. Then again, being a good NEA member, you would spout the Union line. Microsoft has pumped tens of millions of dollars into your union. Of course you are going to “recommend” Microsoft Windows”. To do otherwise would probably get you reprimanded at the least and fired at the worst. You are only doing what you’ve been instructed to do.
You’ve been trained well.
I don’t know when you attended college Karen but the Linux of even two years ago pales in feature and ability to what there is available now…and that in turn will pale in a year’s time. linux is superior to MS windows in so many ways, they are too numerous to mention here…I am weary of enumerating them. Unlike Microsoft who meters their “improvements” and then shovels them to you every five years or so for purchase; Linux releases their improvements upon their completion. We receive the newest and the best of the system when it is tested to be usable and stable. Karen, you have no idea the slavery you work under…but you don’t know any better. The shame of it is, you are trapped with millions of other teachers in obeying the NEA and preaching the goodness of Windows and Microsoft. A superior, free and absolutely entertaining method of operating your computer is within reach and you are unable to grasp it.
The most disturbing part of this resides in the fact that the AISD purchases millions of dollars of Microsoft Software in a year’s time when that money could be better spent on educating our children. A dedicated School Teacher would recognize that fact and lobby for the change to Free Open Source Software and let the money formally spent on MS bindware be used on our kids.
A teacher who cared about her students would do that.
That is sad past my ability to express it to you. Don’t shackle your students in your prison Karen.
Now. You give that boy his disks back. Aaron is a brilliant kid and he’s learned more using Linux than he ever did using Windows. Those disks and their distribution are perfectly legal and even if he was “disruptive”, you cannot keep his property. I have placed a call to the AISD Superintendent and cc’d him a complete copy of your email. It looks like we will get to meet in his office when School starts again after the holiday. I am anxious to meet a person who is this uninformed and still holds a position of authority and learnedness over our children.
Ken Starks
HeliOS Solutions
Definitely stay tuned as super-villain the dreaded Penguin of Linux continues to wreak havoc in Texas.
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Blog of Helios – Linux — Stop Holding our Kids Back, December 8, 2008
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December 12th, 2008 at 11:20 am
/facepalm
I hope Karen doesn’t teach tech.
You would think several refresher courses and an aptitude test would be the minimal for a teacher, yearly if not bimonthly in this day and age.
December 12th, 2008 at 11:31 am
WOW he was extremely nice. I would have went down to the school and of course I would not have been that calm.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
i would bring with me a laptop with any distro of linux running compiz fusion, and a laptop running vista, then i would give them a demo as to how much more eye-candy there is with compiz than with vista, because we all know eye-candy=better os
December 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
There is a followup on the HeliOS blog
December 12th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Don’t we need to have a brain and a degree to be a teacher?
May be not in Texas! MAy be this is the school where the teach you that you don’t need to know anything!
Can they use what is loaded into their brains at birth at least?
If Bush went to this type of School with this type of teacher no wonder he was the worst president ever!
December 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
On my computer, I run Windows Vista and Ubuntu Linux, and often use Linux at school, only using Vista for one thing: MS Office 2007.
Aside from that, all my computers run Linux and will continue running Linux, even if it becomes outlawed. Unless someone wants to pay for the licenses I’d be getting for all ten computers, Linux will forever be the better OS.
That AND the fact that Vista was a step backwards on so many levels, it’s not even funny.
December 12th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Actually, you can’t blame this stupid bitch (which is all she is) for believing this:
1. Thanks to various corporate lobbies we all know and love so well, a large proprortion of the populace believes the bullshit about copyright, patents and such monopolistic bullshit being critical to any “business model”. They’ve been force-bed the notion that it’s only proprietary, secretive, and thoroughly Statist IP regs which create an “incentive to create”. Thus, the notion that “no software is free” comes easy to them. The idea that people would actively WAIVE a significant proportion of the draconian IP bullshit (or USE it to “enforce freedom” a la the GPL license etc.) doesn’t make sense to them.
Ignorant sheep like this are the best thing corporate megaliths could hope for: ignorant, docile, mindlessly obedient, and willing to enforse their own twisted interpretation of an ALREADY idiotic legal coce.
This is why copyright and patents need to be scaled back (if not totally abandoned outright.) Shit like this is inexcusable.
Too bad he blanked her info, or she could have gotten some friendly emails/snail mails demonstrating the error of her thinking.
(Don’t mind me — I have the flu or something.)
December 12th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
About the ten computers/licenses:
Read up on the “First sale doctrine” sometime — a lot of the bullshit restrictions in EULAs probably wouldn’t stand up in court, any more than the “don’t sell below this price” would. That, or they need to stop lying to us and claiming that people “buy” software.
It’s not ownership (in that you aren’t permitted “legally” to do what you want with it), but it’s not exactly rental either. It’s….bullshit. (NO wonder people crack stuff and share it.)
December 13th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I guarantee you that the teacher teaches some kind of technology class. Nothing worse than an idiot who thinks their degree gives them the right or even knowledge to spout baseless claims about subjects they have no idea about.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Texans always feel that they have the right and knowledge to spout baseless claims. They do it all the time.
December 13th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Please update your link in the article above to the Helois Blog to the real blog (http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/). And as another commentator said, there is an update where Starks apologizes for his strong words after a talk with the teacher and some investigation into the AISD tech situation.
Thank you
December 13th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Respect rule #1
Thou shall always check both sides of a situation before opening thy trap
I don’t see any apologies here
Most teachers don’t have a clue there’s even another OS out there.
With that said, in my opinion Microcrap should be outlawed!
December 13th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Holy hell, what planet does this retarded wench come from? She must come from some hive planet where steve balmer is the queen, and his drones give credence to his every utterance.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
oh boy… *facepalm*