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]
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