Re: [OS:N:] Re: Open Source in Schools and then some

[jkinz rcn com]

On Tue, Sep 03, 2002 at 09:36:37AM -0700, ekunin wrote:
> My second cousin once removed's wife is active in the local PTA. She and

Whew - for a moment there I thought you were going to quote from "The Bald
Soprano". :) 

> another lady auctioned off their services at a PTA fund raiser (a K-5
> school) to cater a dinner for 12. They must have reputations as cooks
> because it brought 1600.00. I asked what they were going to do with the
> money and she said it would go towards programming of some sort (not
> computer programming). I suggested Open Source operating systems and she
> asked "What's that?"

This is a result of the Open Source companies not having anywhere near
as much money to spend on promotion as Microsoft.   M$ has made in excess
of $13 Billion annually for at least the past six years and they spend a lot
of it on advertising.


> 
> Question 1: Any brochures or Adobe files or whatever that outlines Open
> Source in a selling manner. She, who is not especially computer literate,
> needs to be sold, before she starts making suggestions. Any suggestions?

I don't know of any.  Have you checked the RedHat Website ?  They probably
have some there.

In order to raise the general public awareness about Open Source I first of all
recommend "Branding" your "product" as "Linux".  Don't use the term "Open 
Source" as part of your initial pitch.  Since Open Source is a philosophy
rather than a product using the term as a product may just generate confusion.
 
> 
> Someone on the list said disarray is a good thing. Gives the individual
> choices and is the ferment that brews creativity. I disagree. For some
> reason some standards are perceived as diminishing the individual while
> others are accepted as a reasonable need. Take rules of the road. Each state
> can decide what a red light means. In some it can mean stop. In others it
> can mean go. We can have a computer data base which recognizes what state we

Ed - You have been confusing "standards for interoperability" with
"products".

All the cars on the road today comply with the "interoperability
standards" of the roads.  They all can stop at red lights, they all can
travel on the right hand side etc.. but a Ford is a different product
from a Chevy which is different from a BMW etc..

Yes interoperability standards are not just a good idea, they are
essential for the public well being.   BUT having only one choice of
product would result in terribly low quality cars being the only ones
available.

Competition improves both quality and features as the "automotive Asian
invasion" of the 1970's and 1980's demonstrated.  The quality level of
American manufactured passenger cars at the beginning of the 1970's was so
bad that congressional hearings on the issue were being suggested.  Today,
as a result of competition based on price and quality from (then) Japanese
imports American cars have a much higher quality, and feature level.

Diversity of product choice is a good thing and so are interoperability
standards.

One recent effort is the "LSB".  This is an effort/standard being
proposed by a group of Linux vendors to make sure that any Linux
distro(distribution) which is LSB certified meets certain requirements.
This will help Linux users/customers know that the Linux distro they
are getting will run any LSB certified application with needing any
modification or custom programming.


> 
> Question 2: An example of the nuisance caused by different ways of doing
> things. I have Red Hat 7.0 installed and I am trying to communicate with the
> modem which on windows is on Com 4. I ran minicom but didn't have the
> opportunity to select the com port. The book says Linux isn't compatable
> with plug and play modems. I have a plug and play modem. Is that my problem?
> is there any way around it?

Ed - The interoperability standards for mailing lists would indicate that 
the RedHat installation mailing would be a great place to ask the question. :)
Post to that list at : "Redhat-install-list redhat com"

I don't know what book you read but Linux works fine with plug and play
devices and has for some time.  Maybe you are confusing plug and play
for "win-modems" which are horribly designed cheapo modems that do require
some extra work to get working with Linux.




-- 
Jeff Kinz, Director, Emergent Research,  Hudson, MA.  "jkinz ultranet com" 
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