[LINUX:5192] [Fwd: Mexico's Educative System Goes for GNU/Linux + GNOME]
Imran Geriskovan (imrana@doruk.com.tr)
Thu, 15 Apr 1999 16:58:28 +0300 (EET DST)
Arturo, Espinosa, Aldama, <arturo@estadistica.unam.mx> wrote:
>
> Greetings, beloved GNOME users and developers.
>
> I work as the project leader of the "Scholar Net", a program that aims
> to bring computers and the net to every elementary and mid-level school in
> Mexico. We expect to install from 20 to 35 thousand labs per year to a
> total of 140,000 centers in the next five years.
>
> Due to matters of cost, reliability and configurability, we plan to
> use GNU/Linux to replace the proprietary server options and, now thanks
> to GNOME, the proprietary desktop application options.
>
> We will develop GNOME to a point where we can get a useful and friendly
> enough desktop for the elementary and high school student. There are some
> aspects of GNOME, such as uniformity, Spanish translation, bug fixing and
> application development which we will address to achieve this.
>
> At an average of 20 users per machine, and being all of them school
> children and teachers, GNU/Linux will become, at the long term, a major
> influence in Mexico. In the short term, GNOME will get an additional
> impulse from us and those who will contribute following our guidelines,
> and GNU/Linux will prove to be a real-world option for the end user.
>
> For further information and details on the Scholar Net and, specially
> for GNOME developers, on how to contribute to GNOME for us to arrive to
> deployment stage, please contact Arturo Espinosa .
>
> Arturo Espinosa Aldama
> Project Leader
> Academic Services Coordination
> National Autonomous University of Mexico
>
> The text above may be copied in any way provided that it stays
> with this paragraph and unmodified.</pre>
> =============================
> <p>Note: The original source URL of this document is contained in the URL's
> section of this magazine.
> <h5>
> Steve Litt can be reached at <a href="mailto:slitt@troubleshooters.com">slitt@troubleshooters.com</a>.</h5>
>
> <h1>
> <br>
> <a NAME="MyFellowAmericans"></a>My Fellow Americans</h1>
>
> <h5>
> By Steve Litt</h5>
> My fellow Americans, we're in another race every bit as vital as the space
> race of the 1960's. Once again it's time to get moving. The race is no
> longer to the moon, but instead to technological dominance. Our competitor
> is no longer the Soviet Union, but instead every nation on earth. The threat
> is no longer nuclear obliteration, but technological and economic obliteration.
> <p>Our neighbors to the south are attacking this challenge head on. Mexico
> is installing 140,000 computer labs using the best (but not the most expensive)
> technology available. Soon they will field a fleet of millions of superiorly
> trained technologists. Mexico has taken a page from America's pioneering
> spirit. Free thinking, they went with the right choice, not the politically
> expediant one. They worked to get results. They stood up for their children.
> <p>Contrast this with America's response. We hesitate over lab installation
> because it's too "expensive". Expensive because we pay per-seat licenses.
> Expensive because Windows desktops requires more expensive hardware. Expensive
> because NT Server is *fabulously* expensive. Expensive because Windows
> requires constant attention to keep running. Our children languish while
> Microsoft stockholders get rich.
> <p>My fellow Americans, the choice is ours. We can change course to the
> better plan instituted by Mexico, continuing our leadership position well
> into the next century. Or we can remain in our present comfort zone, making
> Microsoft stockholders rich while our children receive inferior educations
> and our nation's technological leadership fades.
> <p>I ask you to follow Mexico's lead. Stand up for our children. Stand
> up for our nation. Use free software in our schools.
> <p>Fellow Americans, my critics will tell you there will always be work
> for Americans who want to work. They are absolutely correct. The question
> before us today is whether that work will be charting the worlds technological
> course, rather than serving at resorts, hotels, gas stations and restaraunts,
> hoping we'll be tipped in Pesos.
> <h5>
> Steve Litt can be reached at <a href="mailto:slitt@troubleshooters.com">slitt@troubleshooters.com</a>.</h5>
>
> <h1>
> <br>
> <a NAME="RichardStallman"></a>Richard Stallman, Architect of the Revolution</h1>
>
> <h5>
> By Steve Litt</h5>
> In 1984 Richard Stallman wrote the GNU Manifesto, which advocated free
> software, specifically a free UNIX workalike. In the Manifesto, Stallman
> prophetically described the process of getting this to happen, including
> ideas in licensing (must pass on source and all rights to the receiver,
> etc). In 1991 he copyrighted the GNU General Public License (otherwise
> known as GPL). That license provided a framework allowing a developer to
> guarantee that his work would never be co-opted or subverted by an unscrupulous
> corporation. Software authors began to license their software using GPL.
> <p>It worked. Linus Torvalds and his crew wrote the Linux kernal, combined
> it with many of the already developed GNU utilities, to come up with the
> GNU/Linux operating system, which was absolutely free to anyone. Other
> software followed.
> <p>Others started licensing software under non-GPL licenses that nevertheless
> guaranteed source availability, ability to modify, and passing on of rights.
> Others had licenses that didn't do all that, but managed to make the product
> free and standard. And now you can get, absolutely free of charge, the
> GNU/Linux OS, Netscape browser and authoring tool, GIMP graphic software,
> Apache web server, sendmail email server, GNU C and C++ compilers, Python,
> Perl and Tcl interpreters, Java, and several editors. Or, if you don't
> want to download them, you can purchase them for as little as $1.99 plus
> shipping.
> <p>Much of the Internet runs off these free tools, especially Apache. And
> the web can replace any 30 technical textbooks, and it's always up to date.
> <p>This has cut the cost of setting up a computer lab or computer school
> by a factor of 10 or more. Once only the upper middle and upper classes
> could get an excellent computer education. Now almost anyone can do it.
> <p>Richard Stallman: hero or rabble rouser? I guess the answer depends
> on whether you're a normal working person, or the president of an expensive
> and elite university.
> <h5>
> Steve Litt is the originator of the UMENU Software Project. He can be reached
> at <a href="mailto:slitt@troubleshooters.com">slitt@troubleshooters.com</a>.</h5>
>
> <h1>
> <br>
> <a NAME="LinuxLog"></a>Linux Log: The Redmond Tea Party</h1>
>
> <h5>
> Linux Log is now a regular column in Troubleshooting Professional Magazine,
> authored by Steve Litt. Each month we'll explore a facet of Linux as it
> relates to that month's theme.</h5>
> Few grudge anyone the right to make an honest living. I haven't heard one
> person question the cost of (Borland) Turbo Pascal or Turbo C. Few objected
> to the price of the DOS or Windows operating systems. There were some problems
> with Mac pricing, but those wanting a cheaper product simply bought one.
> <p>Trouble is, sooner or later certain commercial outfits get greedy. I
> don't know whether they forgot history and then repeated it, or whether
> they felt the lessons learned didn't apply. But these commercial outfits
> (and it wasn't just Microsoft) gouged us blind. The insane prices and even
> crazier licensing provisions erected an entry barrier few could penetrate.
> So we went elsewhere. To Linux, to free software in general. And we found
> it to be better.
> <p>So we snuck in the corporate back door with superior free software systems,
> and got free software on the corporate agenda. It's humorous that now the
> commercial biggies find themselves subject the the same type of FUD they
> used to dish out. "I'm not buying the Microsoft product -- a superior free
> software product is expected any time now". The Mexican government is building
> a nationwide computer lab network using Linux and Gnome. It hasn't happened
> yet in the US, but it will. Throngs march on Redmond to dump not tea but
> Windows, not into Boston Harbor but into the Microsoft campus.
> <p>I predict that Windows 2000 will fail miserably, as the masses shift
> to the technically superior, and probably by that time more user friendly,
> Linux. The other gouge and grab software outfits will get theirs soon after.
> <p>Let's hope Caldera, Slackware, SuSe, Pacific HiTech (TurboLinux), Red
> Hat, Star, Corel and Applix learn from their predecessors' mistakes.
> <h5>
> Steve Litt can be reached at <a href="mailto:slitt@troubleshooters.com">slitt@troubleshooters.com</a>.</h5>
>
> <h1>
> <br>
> <a NAME="letters_to_editor"></a>Letters to the Editor</h1>
>
> <h6>
> All letters become the property of the publisher (Steve Litt), and may
> be edited for clarity or brevity. <b>We especially welcome additions, clarifications,
> corrections or flames from vendors whose products have been reviewed in
> this magazine. </b>We reserve the right to not publish letters we deem
> in bad taste (bad language, obscenity, hate, lewd, violence, etc.).</h6>
>
> <h6>
> Submit letters to the editor to slitt@troubleshooters.com, and be sure
> the subject reads "Letter to the Editor". We regret that we cannot return
> your letter, so please make a copy of it for future reference.</h6>
>
> <h1>
> <a NAME="submit_article"></a>How to Submit an Article</h1>
> We anticipate two to five articles per issue, with issues coming out monthly.
> We look for articles that pertain to the Troubleshooting Process. This
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> <h5>
> I (your name), am submitting this article for possible publication in Troubleshooters.Com.
> I understand that this submission becomes the property of the publisher,
> Steve Litt, whether or not it is published, and that Steve Litt reserves
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> After that paragraph, write the title, text of the article, and a two sentence
> description of the author.
> <br>
> <br>
> <h1>
> <a NAME="urls_mentioned"></a>URLs Mentioned in this Issue</h1>
>
> <ul>
> <li>
> <a href="../../troubleshooters.htm">http://www.troubleshooters.com</a>:
> Steve Litt's website, Troubleshooters.Com.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.troubleshooters.com/umenu">http://www.troubleshooters.com/umenu</a>:
> The website for the Universal Menu System Open Source Project</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.troubleshooters.com/umenu/download/index.htm">http://www.troubleshooters.com/umenu/download/index.htm</a>:
> The download site for the (free, Open Source) Universal Menu System (this
> version works only on Linux, but upcoming versions will work with Windows
> and with UNIX).</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://luthien.nuclecu.unam.mx/~arturo/scholar/">http://luthien.nuclecu.unam.mx/~arturo/scholar/</a>:
> Mexico's Scholar Net program, an installation of 140,000 computer labs
> throughout Mexico.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/people/rms.html">http://www.gnu.org/people/rms.html</a>:
> Richard Stallman's home page.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.calderasystems.com/">http://www.calderasystems.com</a>:
> Caldera's OpenLinux home page.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.suse.com/">http://www.suse.com</a>: SuSe Linux distro
> home page.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.Slackware.com/">http://www.Slackware.com</a>: Official
> home of the Slackware Linux project.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.turbolinux.com/">http://www.turbolinux.com</a>: Website
> of Pacific HiTech, makers of the TurboLinux distro.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.redhat.com/">http://www.redhat.com</a>: Home of Red
> Hat Software, makers of the Red Hat Linux distro.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://linux.corel.com/">http://linux.corel.com</a>/: Corel's
> Linux product website.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.applix.com/appware/linux/index.htm">http://www.applix.com/appware/linux/index.htm</a>:
> Applixware for Linux.</li>
>
> <li>
> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com">http://www.microsoft.com</a>: The guys
> who make Windows NT, a very nice server OS that would be as good as Linux
> if it was faster and more reliable.</li>
> </ul>
>
> </body>
> </html>
>
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