Recently a Texas teacher confiscated Linux OS discs that a kid was passing out in class. She then sent a nasty email to the nonprofit that built and donated the Linux-loaded computer…
“No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful,” Karen wrote in the email that HeliOS, which builds and donates computers for poor kids, posted to their blog. “I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.”
Yikes. Talk about talking out your ass, and then looking like an idiot. These are the fools who are teaching your kids, America.
via Linux: Teacher Confiscates Linux Discs, Chides Charitable Computer Group, “No Software Is Free”.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, on 13 December, 2008 at 3:37 am said:
And on the other hand, there’s this, which provides some useful and very human perspective on the story. Bonus feature: the teacher now knows what a total miscall this was, and she seems to have learned from the experience. Meanwhile, it appears that in fact her school district is actually pretty forward-looking in its widespread use of open-source software.
Pablo Defendini, on 13 December, 2008 at 3:37 am said:
Wow, as a longtime Mac fanboy (as in way back in the days when John Scully and Gil Amelio were peeing in the pool, and the notion of Macs being cool was about as alien as the notion of a progressive George Bush), I can relate to the guy. It’s also awesome that he took the time to follow up and reconsider his position. After reading him talk about Karen, I kinda also feel bad about calling teachers “fools”.