[Wftl-lug] Tuxzine

[Jon Biddell]

I used to have this argument all the time with some of the IT  
professors at ACU (where I used to work)... They have students  
building websites using DreamWeaver - and those same students know  
NOTHING about HTML, javascript or any other technology.

I put the following case to the class one day as an exercise:

" You graduate (eventually) and end up being given a job to maintain  
the website of a large company. Let's say that company uses Linux on  
its' computers - how do you maintain the website ?"

Answer 1: "Get a Windows machine and install DreamWeaver"

Sorry, no - the company has (quite rightly) banned Windows from its'  
network.

Answer 2: "Get a Mac and install DreamWeaver"

Nope... The Mac is OK, but they don't want to introduce another  
development software application into the corporate network, and all  
other software must conform to corporate standards. Oh, and the site  
was created without any such tools.

Answer 3: "Tell them they don't know what they're doing and resign"

CORRECT.... the "resign" part anyway. Because you have been trained  
in a PRODUCT, not a TECHNOLOGY or METHOD. And if you continue knowing  
nothing about HOW a website works, then you'll be almost unemployable  
in anything but a dedicated Microsoft shop, and they are starting to  
decline gradually.

Funny - some of them still couldn't see my point !

Jon



> Robert,
>
> No offense taken, I hope I never implied that  educatators should be
> brainwashing their students against free and open source software.
> Education should be preparing people for jobs and if you teach in a  
> country
> where free and open source software has a greator market share then  
> the US
> then you should be teaching those students how to use OOO and other  
> such
> programs.  I think students should be introduced to a lot of  
> things, but if
> a student has never used Outlook or used some of the other  
> collobarative
> software when he/she goes to get a job, then they might feel  
> embarrassed by
> their lack of knowledge.
>
> Teachers should prepare them for the real world which includes free  
> thought,
> but they should also know how to use the tools they  will be asked  
> to use in
> that job
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wftl-lug-bounces at salmar.com [mailto:wftl-lug- 
> bounces at salmar.com] On
> Behalf Of Robert Smits
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 6:13 PM
> To: wftl-lug at salmar.com
> Subject: Re: [Wftl-lug] Tuxzine
>
> On Monday 08 January 2007 15:03, Jonathan Jesse wrote:
>
>> I am one of those that use both Windows and Linux on a daily basis  
>> and I
>> still find there are a lot more things that Microsoft and MS  
>> compatible
>> software does better than Linux and Open Source software.  Take the
>> software this email is being typed w/ Office 2007 far outshines  
>> any form
> of
>> OpenOffice or email client including Thunderbird when used in the
> corporate
>> world.  In fact as much as it pains me to do this but because here  
>> in the
>> US companies use MS products, I would recommend the schools and even
>> universities teach MS products to better prepare the students for  
>> a job
>> which I feel is the role of an educational facility (this is  
>> coming from
>> someone w/ a teaching degree).
>
> I'm glad you're promoting Linux, but sorry that, as an educator you  
> feel
> it's
> your role to teach them MS products. I think you do your students a
> disservice by teaching them any particular office suite, especially
> proprietary ones. Students should be taught the basics of how to  
> use any
> office suite not just MS. Open Office is perfectly suitable for that.
>
>> Until Linux and OSS can reach the point where Office/Exchange/ 
>> Sharepoint
>> are, and the collaborative features they provide, along with the  
>> ease of
>> Active Directory/Group Policy management that is what corporations  
>> will
>> run. And in my view that is what students in all areas Kindergarten
> through
>> Graduate College should learn how to use and use correctly.
>
> Respectfully, Jonathan, I couldn't disagree more. It's not the job  
> of the
> education system to brainwash our kids to thinking there's no  
> alternative to
>
> MS.
> -- 
> Bob Smits bob at rsmits.ca
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---
"For the right to use one copy of Office plus Windows for one year or a
  year and a half, until the next upgrade, we have to till the earth,  
plant,
  harvest, and export to the international markets 60 sacks of
  soybeans. When I explain this to farmers, they go nuts."

-- Marcelo D'Elia Branco, Brazil's Free Software Project coordinator


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