Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 16:35:27 -0800 From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net> To: Nik Clayton <nik@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG, advocacy@netbsd.org, advocacy@openbsd.org Subject: Re: [Slashdot] BSD usage in education Message-ID: <20000303163527.R14279@fw.wintelcom.net> In-Reply-To: <20000303221539.A92735@catkin.nothing-going-on.org>; from nik@FreeBSD.ORG on Fri, Mar 03, 2000 at 10:15:39PM %2B0000 References: <20000303221539.A92735@catkin.nothing-going-on.org>
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* Nik Clayton <nik@FreeBSD.ORG> [000303 15:37] wrote: > Hi guys > > [ hoping I don't have to be subscribed to advocacy@{netbsd,openbsd} to post ] > > Hopefully many of you will have seen the recent Slashdot story, "Tux on > the Upper West Side" (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/03/03/033231) > about the use of Linux in the Beacon School, New York. > > In the interests of BSD balance, we're looking for similar stories with a > BSD element to them for a followup. > > Simply "My school uses $BSD, and it's great" isn't really going to cut it > though. What I'm after is examples that will appeal to Slashdot's mainly > technical audience. So something like "OpenBSD was installed at $FOO > School, and now we have two committers from that class, they helped fix > three security problems" would be a bit more like it. This is sort of a advice/warning piece to advocates looking to get BSD into a school... I've tried a couple of times to get FreeBSD into NYC public schools. I gave a presentation or two (setup www, X, some accounts, showed some of the IDEs and free programs available) and promised phone support and remote administration for free (your kernel hacker is just a phone call away). I even bought the guy a PowerPack and brought in spare 3.0 cdroms to put in the library (which i'm pretty sure never made it there). After a while of being put off, I was told something like: "Albert, we are more intested in LINNEX" arrrgh! Yes that was the director of computer services misspelling both my name and Linux, I guess installing an operating system because of hype which you know nothing about, is more important than having someone offering free support. I've talked to many other directors in the school system and had very little luck convincing them that there was more to computers than "Mavis Becon Teaches Typing" and MS-Qbasic. I almost cried when a teacher showed me his "solution" to students wiping out system files on the MS-DOS machines they were using... some lame hidden directory stuff along with xcopy. ugh! The only place I thought I'd have some luck was at Stuyvesant, where they are pretty technical, however it seems to already be a Linux shop although they did have some interest in FreeBSD. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the administrator seems blinded by 'LINNEX' or in love with NT, then don't waste too much time, it's going to be pretty fustrating, move on or try to find someone else who's actually interested in learning. I haven't given up on bootstrapping some school with BSD, I'm just not going to put so much effort into it if they seem reluctant. To give these guys some credit, it's just that they are usually _so swamped_ with supporting the Microsoft junk around them and making sure not to violate any licenses that you'd be hard pressed to hold a conversation with one of the admins for more than 3-4 minutes without some 'issue' cropping up. Avoid these harried admins and try to find someone with _some_ authority who will actually put aside the time and equipment for you to give a proper presentation. Yes, I'm somewhat bitter but I may try again sometime soon. -- -Alfred Perlstein - [bright@wintelcom.net|alfred@freebsd.org] To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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