[ILUG] Typical - Schools / vendor lockin.

[Conor Wynne]

On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:10 AM, Ciaran O'Riordan <ciaran at fsfe.org> wrote:

>
> "Conor Wynne" <mariconor at gmail.com> writes:
> > My mother in law (also a principal) has zero interest in linux. As a
> result,
> > no linux is their respective schools.
>
> FWIW, when I spoke to a group of secondary school computer teachers, the
> thing they liked most about free software was that it was a way for them
> to
> become legal.
>
> I guess a lot of schools are using unauthorised copies of MS stuff.
>
> For the ethical arguments, here's a bit from one of RMS's talks about free
> software in schools:
>
> http://fsfeurope.org/documents/rms-fs-2006-03-09.en.html#free-software-and-schools
>
>  "It's vital for schools to use Free Software exclusively. The reason is:
>   schools have a mission to teach society to be capable, to educate people
>   to be parts of a capable, free society. Teaching students to use
>   proprietary software is teaching dependence. It's training them to be
>   dependent on specific powerful companies. Giving those companies more
>   power over society. Whereas, teaching them to use Free Software, is
>   directing society onto the path towards freedom and strength. So schools
>   must stop teaching proprietary software.
>
>   But there's an even stronger reason for this. And even deeper reason.
> And
>   that is, for moral education. Schools have to teach children the spirit
>   of good will, the spirit of helping other people around them in
>   society. So every class should have a rule: children, if you bring
>   software to class, you can't keep it for yourself, you must share it
> with
>   the other kids, and if you won't share it, you can't bring it here
>   because the way we do things is we help each other.
>
>   The school, in order to teach this properly, has to follow its own
>   rule. It has to set a good example. This means the school must bring
> only
>   Free Software to class."
>
>
> And RMS on why universities should exclusively use free software:
>
> http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/transcript_richard_stallman_honorary_degree_speech_pavia_2007
>
> And another bit:
>
> http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/transcript_of_rms_at_wsis_on_is_free_open_source_software_the_answer#wsis--schools-and-proprietary-software


I totally agree with you Ciaran. If only teachers considered what they were
doing was actually illegal and immoral.
They simply don't see it that way. They think, sure its only for kids, so it
doesn't really matter about licenses...

I feel they only way this can change is through the minister for education,
and not via the schools themselves.
I bet if we audited schools, that every single one in the country, both
primary and secondary would have dodgy licenses...

Unless the change comes from above, then things wont change at all.
Oh its its not just MS stuff, they tend to get copies from other teachers,
who got copies from elsewhere.
No-one really knows who bought the original!

Universities tend to license their stuff, any time I had to deal with them,
everything has been 100% legit.
Lots of linux deployed too -- on servers & storage I mean, no idea about
workstations.

Conor.