Teacher confiscates Linux CDs, claims no software is free

[rybread]

If you're not familiar with it, the HeliOS project is an effort to get computers into the hands of kids who might not otherwise be able to afford them. To date this year, they've distributed over 300 machines. Apparently that's not enough to keep them from making an enemy.

A middle school teacher named Karen observed one of her students demonstrating the abilities of his Linux-powered laptop to his classmates. What a great thing, a student exposing his peers to technology they probably weren't familiar with before....Right?

Wrong. Karen sprang into action, confiscated the CDs the student had brought to share, and unleashed the Spanish Inquisition.

Who is the charlatan who convinced this poor, misguided student that "free software" is something that actually exists?

Who could be so evil as to distribute non-Microsoft software to children? How can that person expect our children to survive in an MS-powered world? Once she had her answer, she sent Ken an email.
Click here (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/12/10/teacher-confiscates-linux-cds-claims-no-software-is-free/) for the rest

[CEOmike]

There is free software, software that makers make free and there is a lot, but most of it is small utilities or low level games.

There is also public domain software that can be used free, no restrictions.

Then there is Open Source, NOT FREE, but free to distribute without cost with conditions. Linux is in this category, additionally, not all Linux install programs for computers are free completely. There are two Open Source licences, one restrictive for COMMERCIAL Open Source programs and one less restrictive.

Using Linux as an example, you can not re-distribute the Red Hat Linux - from their EULA agreement " 2. Intellectual Property Rights. The Programs and each of their components are owned by Red Hat and others and are protected under copyright law and under other laws as applicable." But you can take the Linux part of Red Hat that does not include their drivers, documentation, installation routines etc and re-distribute that part only free, you could even call it Ubantu. There is a difference between Linux SUSE and openSUSE - the latter does not include all the commercial software.

Any Linux that comes with a computer will be copyrighted, it has to be to have drivers for components!

The teacher was probably right and may be better informed than most.

my wesite www.medscribbler.com

[Fay Wrinkle]

That article looks mostly like an anti-Microsoft rant.

ETA...After reading the original article, I can see why.


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..."

That teacher is ill-informed, to say the least.

[Le Type Français]

Stupid teachers don't always create stupid students. I went to war with an eccentric Algebra I teacher and at the end of the year won with a 100 score on my report card and a medal for the highest GPA in Algebra I for that year. It was a small piece of justice in my little world.

It began when she accused me of cheating and giving me a 0 on a test that was open book. The answers to the odd-numbered problems were in the back of the book, so rightly, the test was the even-numbered problems. I worked out an odd-numbered problem, looked in the back of the book to assure I was using a proper formula and she accused me of cheating, even though I did as I sat RIGHT in front of her. I protested and went to the principal's office. I explained it was an "open book test" with no instructions otherwise and the answers to the test problems weren't even in the back of the book, so it was impossible to be considered cheating.

[Lazlo]

Though it is possible to have a Linux-based distribution that is not free to distribute, the guys mentioned in this article are specifically promoting the use of Linux in education and I'm pretty sure the contents of the disc they are distributing are free to use, in the sense that there is no cost for the license. I don't think the teacher was speaking from a well-informed point of view here. Still the Linux zealots jumped on this story, when really the author probably should have just spent a little more time helping educate her and her school on FOSS.

Computer zealots love to RAGE!!!