[aklug] Re: Ubuntu LoCo

I think you are assuming too much. How many times have network administrators complained about end users? That's why I'm saying Teachers / older users might have trouble learning Linux. Not because Linux is difficult but because it's different from what their use too.

On the administration side you are assuming that ASD has people who know Linux. I'm not sure they do. We aren't talking about Windows or Mac administration. We are talking about Linux and distribution management. That takes a different set of skills.

I'm not saying that ASD can't do these things. I'm sure they can. I'm just interested in seeing how they do it.

NOTE
It's been my experience that the education system in this country doesn't like or even hates to change. It's nice to see our education system take a giant leap in the right direction. It will be interesting to see what they do with Linux and open source software.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Prentice" <ak.prentice@gmail.com>
To: "Damien Hull" <damien@linuxninjas.tv>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 9:52:33 PM GMT -09:00 Alaska
Subject: Re: [aklug] Re: Ubuntu LoCo

Honestly, I'd expect the students to adapt the easiest. Given a
kiosked and locked down light frontend where all they can get to is
what is necessary for their coursework, and if I understood correctly
from Denise this is primarily web-based anyways, they'll just see
Firefox instead of IE.

I waved a magic wand over the family computer at home and told my kids
they needed adult permission to use XP for anything, but all they
needed to use linux is their username and password to login. They
jumped on board immediately and even my 7yo can talk you through
configuring the look and feel of the Gnome desktop. They're pretty
savvy kids.

Teachers are probably no different than other adult users. Why
shouldn't they adapt easily? The #1 bitch and whine about linux from
the unwashed masses of internet trolls boils down to "install issues".
Denise is taking that out of the picture with Dell's Ubuntu. The
teachers, as I understand it, will still have whatever Macs they use
for ASD work so the laptops just need to run the apps that they're
designated to run.

I'd hope they'll kiosk up and lock down those laptops, master a gold
iso to reinstall everything to their specs in case a full reinstall is
ever necessary, and trust to basic linux tools to keep those laptops
running.

I think they'll do quite well with 1200 Ubuntu netbooks in student
hands. The hardest trick is probably going to be educating the IT
people who have to keep them in service.

I too will be very interested to see how this all turns out.

On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 7:08 PM, Damien Hull <damien@linuxninjas.tv> wrote:
> Is this a way to evaluate Linux in the Anchorage School District?
>
> I'm very interested in the following.
>
> 1. How will teachers adapt to Linux
> 2. How will students adapt to Linux
> 3. How will the IT department manage that many Linux systems
>
> Previous experience says that students will have no trouble with Linux. Teachers may have issues with it simply because they've never seen it before.
>
> I'm sure the IT department is happy to get new toys they can play with. It would be interesting to see how they manage that many Linux systems. Just keeping them updated could be a challenge.
>
> I hope this project works out.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Trujillo_Denise" <Trujillo_Denise@asdk12.org>
> To: bryanm@acsalaska.net, aklug@aklug.org
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 6:10:09 AM GMT -09:00 Alaska
> Subject: [aklug] Re: Ubuntu LoCo
>
> It's a project working with teams of teachers and their students.
>
> Denise
> trujillo_denise@asdk12.org
> ________________________________________
> From: aklug-bounce@aklug.org [aklug-bounce@aklug.org] On Behalf Of bryanm@a=
> csalaska.net [bryanm@acsalaska.net]
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 12:48 AM
> To: aklug@aklug.org
> Subject: [aklug] Re: Ubuntu LoCo
>
> On Tue, November 18, 2008 9:19 pm, Trujillo_Denise wrote:
>> We will be deploying 1200+ Ubuntu machines in January, so I am interested=
> i=3D
>> n an Ubuntu LoCo.
>
> Wow! Will these machines be for students, administration, or
> otherwise?
>
> --
> Bryan Medsker
> bryanm@acsalaska.net
>
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> --
> Damien Hull
> Linux Ninja
> Open Source Assassin
>
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>
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>

-- 
Damien Hull
Linux Ninja
Open Source Assassin
http://linuxninjas.tv
http://elite.linuxninjas.tv
http://www.digital-overload.net
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