Why should we teach students Linux??

Why should we teach students Linux??

[Roel Bindels]

Hello listers,

I'm tutor on the Faculty ICT, department NID. This is a bachelor degree
and we are preparing our students to become something more then just
System Administrators (such as manager, consulting, etc....). Since this
department is part of the Microsoft camp, the students are educated
mostly in this direction, which I think is not a bad thing. A better
thing would be if we could give our students the opportunity to meat
both the systems on the same level, at least, that is my opinion.

To change a curriculum of a study, I need a solid case. So if somebody
knows a link/document about why we should educate our students in the
Linux OS, please send it. Or article about the usage of Linux in company's.

I hope you will all take some time to send me your best links/documents.

with best regards

Roel Bindels

Re: Why should we teach students Linux??

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2007, Roel Bindels wrote:
>Hello listers,
>
>I'm tutor on the Faculty ICT, department NID. This is a bachelor degree
>and we are preparing our students to become something more then just
>System Administrators (such as manager, consulting, etc....). Since this
>department is part of the Microsoft camp, the students are educated
>mostly in this direction, which I think is not a bad thing. A better
>thing would be if we could give our students the opportunity to meat
>both the systems on the same level, at least, that is my opinion.
>
>To change a curriculum of a study, I need a solid case. So if somebody
>knows a link/document about why we should educate our students in the
>Linux OS, please send it. Or article about the usage of Linux in company's.
>

Don't so-called educational institutions always push diversity?

Linux is based on Unix, the same source that Microsoft went to to get most
of its ideas (although they have never figured out security)  since
purchasing a CP/M port to Intel chips from Seattle Computer, the first
manifestations being the hierarchical file system in DOS 2.0.

Adding Linux to the curriculum could provide students with background in
secure, multi-user systems, and a development model based on integrating
small components into useful systems in contrast to Windows which never has
implemented effective security, and tends towards huge monolithic programs
which are difficult to maintain and debug.

Linux also provides the source code so interested students have the ability
to really understand what's going on under the hood.  When I started using
Xenix in 1982 (a Microsoft port of Unix to the Radio Shack Model 16), I
learned a lot by examining system scripts to see how things were done.

One of the major differences between folks competent in Linux and Unix and
Windows ``experts'' is that the *nix people usually start by trying to
analyse and fix problems while MCSEs only know the Three R's of Windows,
Reboot, Reboot, Reinstall.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill@Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676

DOS: n., A small annoying boot virus that causes random spontaneous system
     crashes, usually just before saving a massive project.  Easily cured by
     UNIX.  See also MS-DOS, IBM-DOS, DR-DOS.

Re: Why should we teach students Linux??

[Vu Pham]

On Tue, 2007-03-06 at 09:14 -0800, Bill Campbell wrote:
[...]
> One of the major differences between folks competent in Linux and Unix and
> Windows ``experts'' is that the *nix people usually start by trying to
> analyse and fix problems while MCSEs only know the Three R's of Windows,
> Reboot, Reboot, Reinstall.

Hmm, I was an MCSE ( expired already ) and I would like to correct you :
those three R's are : Reboot, Register, and Reinstall. You do not have
to reboot twice :)

Vu

Re: Why should we teach students Linux??

[Roel Bindels]

Vu Pham schreef:
> On Tue, 2007-03-06 at 09:14 -0800, Bill Campbell wrote:
> [...]
>> One of the major differences between folks competent in Linux and Unix and
>> Windows ``experts'' is that the *nix people usually start by trying to
>> analyse and fix problems while MCSEs only know the Three R's of Windows,
>> Reboot, Reboot, Reinstall.
> 
> Hmm, I was an MCSE ( expired already ) and I would like to correct you :
> those three R's are : Reboot, Register, and Reinstall. You do not have
> to reboot twice :)
> 
> Vu
> 
> 
Ok, but don't you guys have some fact I can build a case with?? I don't
think that my college's will take me serious if I come with this store,
even it is true ;)

Re: Why should we teach students Linux??

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Tue, Mar 06, 2007 at 06:43:34PM +0100, Roel Bindels wrote:
> Ok, but don't you guys have some fact I can build a case with?? I don't
> think that my college's will take me serious if I come with this store,
> even it is true ;)

You are crossposting far too widely to some wildly inappropriate lists
for this subject.  Try to find an advocacy group, or a local user group.
They can be of more help in this.

Re: [ubuntu-marketing] Why should we teach students Linux??

[Melissa Draper]

Roel Bindels wrote:
> Hello listers,
>
> I'm tutor on the Faculty ICT, department NID. This is a bachelor degree
> and we are preparing our students to become something more then just
> System Administrators (such as manager, consulting, etc....). Since this
> department is part of the Microsoft camp, the students are educated
> mostly in this direction, which I think is not a bad thing. A better
> thing would be if we could give our students the opportunity to meat
> both the systems on the same level, at least, that is my opinion.
>
> To change a curriculum of a study, I need a solid case. So if somebody
> knows a link/document about why we should educate our students in the
> Linux OS, please send it. Or article about the usage of Linux in company's.
>
> I hope you will all take some time to send me your best links/documents.
>
> with best regards
>
> Roel Bindels
>   
Roel,

I recently interviewed Richard Weideman (who I am adding to the CC so he
can comment directly) for an article about Edubuntu. One of the comments
he made was:

    "Kids who learn to use a computer from scratch are not afraid of
    Linux or OpenOffice.org. They concentrate on the learning task at
    hand, and they learn to use whatever the tool is put in front of
    them. If some of those kids graduate to a work environment using
    Linux or OpenOffice.org, they will have no problem. If the new work
    environment uses Windows, they will adjust without any issues. Some
    of them will even propose OpenOffice.org or Linux at work, and help
    their new company to migrate and save money."

You can read the full article at
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/20/197251

-- 
Sincerely
Melissa Draper

http://www.meldraweb.com

Phone: 0404 595 395
(intl): +61 404 595 395

P.O Box 1412
Lavington, NSW 2641