Comment 734 for bug 1

I don't think education is particularly the issue. Windows is no more
ubiquitous in schools and universities than it is in every other area.

In my first IT class I was taught on an Acorn, but before that I had
learned to use Windows because that is what my dad had on all our
computers. Then I went to University where us computer science
students (a still-growing discipline, incidentally) were very much
encouraged to use Unix and Linux, even if the rest of the university's
workstations ran Windows.

So I would say education, certainly in England, is making an effort to
not automatically subscribe to Windows *despite* its overwhelming
ubiquity. Not all that much of an effort, but still, it's not the
biggest problem.

Also I don't think it's fair for you to criticise the teachers. You
blatantly hear the teachers complaining more than the students just
because they have more voice than the students do: they are adults,
people will listen to them, they have publications etc. And you seem
to be suggesting that their complains aren't valid just because
they're not geeks! If slightly less computer literate people have
difficulty using Linux this is the fault of Linux, not them - we
should strive to make it as usable as possible by everyone, no matter
their educational background.

Robin.

2008/7/12 ^rooker <email address hidden>:
> Education & Government?
>
> I've noticed that the way people are currently "educated" regarding computers leads to a very narrow-sighted, almost 99% Windows-only way of thinking.
> This applies to schools, universities and adult evening-courses.
>
> In an Austrian school in "Krems", they've adapted an existing live-distro to perfectly fit the needs of an average school environment:
> http://www.bg-kremszeile.ac.at/homepagenew/index.php
> (sorry, German only)
>
> Interestingly, the pupils are not the ones complaining - it's the
> teachers. And mostly those of other schools. From my experience, I'd say
> they are afraid. Most teachers nowadays are not good with computers and
> they will literally hang you if you modify *anything* on a system
> they're used to work with. They never understood the applications,
> they've learned things the "muscle-memory-mouse-way".
>
> Why are they so afraid? Because they don't have anyone helping them, and
> often the math or physics teacher is the admin - and thus stressed by a
> double-workload.
>
> So what will happen?
> Kids that could grow up open minded only see Windows around them (and a few Apples). As soon as they start working, they will use the tools they've been taught. They will install the same applications at home (usually illegal copies), suggest them to friends, support them, etc...
>
> Getting FOSS into schools would provide a better IT future, because kids could actually learn something. Currently, they're only taught to become end-users.
> ...and that would also bring more developers to FOSS, because clever pupils have a lot of spare time. : )
>
>
> Now there are several approaches for improving this situation. The ones that could immediately be tried out are some bottom-up ideas:
> - Convert your old school?
> Most of use *are* geeks. This usually means we were also good at school, and thus we often have a good connection to our old teachers (at least they pretend to be friendly). What about talking to them, asking them why they're not using FOSS - and where we could help them.
>
> - Talk to parents.
> If you have kids yourself, you can talk from parent to parent and make them see what harm the current educational system will cause their children, by denying them access to valuable technology know how. etc...
>
>
> There are several more ways, but I don't want to flood you with a wall-o-text. : )
>
>
> ^Rooker
>
> ---
> The 2nd thing are governmental institutions. I'll wait for replies on my first post before elaborating that.
>
> --
> Microsoft has a majority market share
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ichthux - Linux for Christians: Confirmed
> Status in JAK LINUX: Confirmed
> Status in The OpenOffice.org Suite: Confirmed
> Status in Launchpad Translations: Invalid
> Status in Tabuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in "bum" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "casper" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "djplay" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "firefox" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "ubuntu-express" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in The Breezy Badger: Invalid
> Status in The Dapper Drake: Invalid
> Status in Baltix GNU/Linux: Confirmed
> Status in "linux" source package in Debian: Confirmed
> Status in Tilix Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
> This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.
>
> Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting access to IT to a small part of the world's population and limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
>
> Steps to repeat:
>
> 1. Visit a local PC store.
>
> What happens:
> 2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software pre-installed.
> 3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.
>
> What should happen:
> 1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like Ubuntu.
> 2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and benefits would be apparent and known by all.
> 3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.
>