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apple, apple mac os, apple mac os x, helios, helios linux, Linux, mac os, microsoft, microsoft windows, open source software, operating system, os x, windows
Thats what a school teacher in a school teacher thinks. When this poorly informed lady found one of her students distributing free copies of the HeliOS Linux distribution she went ballistic. Not only did she claim that it was illegal she even went ahead and confiscated all the copies and put the student on detention.
This incompetent lady then contacted the vendor of the Linux distribution and wrote to the vendor:
I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful.
I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting Linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
Putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison [sic] of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them…
Well nothing could be further away from the truth than these preposterous claims of her’s. This Miss/Mrs Know-Nothing-At-All is probably the worst influence on the children she is supposedly “teaching”. Her thoughts seem to be bounded and as for operating systems that only thing that apparently exists for her is Microsoft Windows. Not even the famous and enormously popular Apple Mac OS?
Such stupid and incompetent people are one of the reasons why our younger generation are more enslaved to the bindware that comes of the Microsoft’s stables. Teachers are supposed to set the minds of those they teach free. Instead this lady was actually trying to covert them to vassals of one large corporation.
On another note, this incident should appear alarming to the Linux and by extension the entire open source software community. It is this exact mindset that we have to overcome to be successful. Microsoft with its billions of dollars was, is and will continue to brainwash people into believing that Windows is the only truth and nothing else exists.
K.Mandla said:
I hope this isn’t rude, but while I agree with all of your points, a lot of people suspect Starks may have been trolled, or invented the letter to pull traffic. I’m not completely convinced one way or another, but I have my suspicions.
eksith said:
If the letter was fake, it’s possibly one of the dumbest stunts to pull from a PR prespective.
When Linux is having (legitimate) image issues to work out that’s the last thing the community needs right now. To be seen as a bunch of pranksters isn’t so good when trying to sell Linux to the bosses when most of them don’t know a thing about software let alone the Open Source community.
I have no reason to suspect the letter is fake, but I’m curious as to why you think this may not be real. After all, we’ve seen how ignorant teachers can be in other matters.
maarten said:
I am more and more convinced that the letter is Fake, why:
I am aware that Microsoft indoctrination of teachers is a big issue and I imagine teachers thinking Linux is illegal and writing such mails happens almost daily.
I think this story is BS because someone who is that ignorant about software etc, would not use such accurate terms. Most people who just use computers don’t know what an operating system is..
I had never heard of HeliOS before,Looking on the website I can’t find a download version, he is only selling services or DIY kit. It is extremely unlikely a student would be running and distributing this distro (if it was a story about Ubuntu, fedora .. I’d be more likely to believe this)
I had to do quite some searching before I found the actual Helios website and the guy’s name. I doubt the teacher in question would manage to find all the info she needs to contact this guy and not be smart enough to get correct info on linux
I get the feeling guys guy made up this story so OpenSource proponents would spread it through blog, digg etc and he can make a nice profit.
K.Mandla said:
I don’t have any way of proving that the letter is fake, any more than HeliOS has posted any visible means of proving its true. Before I get labeled as a HeliOS basher, I do read that blog a lot and link to it from my own site.
But what I remember from the Tux500 episode last year, and some of the other more sensational posts that occasionally appear there, I tend to take anything posted with a grain of salt.
Probably the best summary of the issue, and what encapsulates my opinions, is this discussion at the Ubuntu Forums:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6345505#post6345505
I apologize aforehand for pointing you to a closed thread, since it doesn’t give you the opportunity to respond to the discussion.
eksith said:
@maarten
Not necessarily.
There are plenty of people who know (or think they know) “just enough”. Often times it’s this little knowledge that lands them in trouble. People who know little to nothing of them are still bound to use those terms.
I’ve never heard of HeliOS before either, but considering the prevalence of Linux, that’s hardly surprising. I’m sure there are many others that are relatively high profile (as seems to be the case with this one) that neither one of us have ever heard of.
I did find a list of downloads from their product site. And students putting together their own distro from a DIY kit isn’t so unlikely. After all, highschool students put together their own LFS distros all the time.
“HeliOS Linux” and “Ken Starks” were one of the first resutls on Google. And they do have a history of sorts.
I still see no evidence the story was made up.
@K.Mandla
Well it’s always wise to take something with a grain of salt. But when in doubt consider poor judgement than evil.
As for teachers taking time to write long-winded letters. It’s happened to me when I was a young lad
This really depends on the individual. Most teachers are going to be far too busy doing their job properly to engage in this sort of nonsense, but there are odd cases abound.
And as for Ken’s misspelling, the site is a .de domain. Which means it’s possible English isn’t his first language.
After all it’s “supposed” to be my first language now, but I’m still terrible at spelling. I’m not so sure that poor spelling is much of a smoking gun.
eksith said:
Addendum :
Penguin Pete himself later pontificates on the whole Tux500 issue…
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