Linux/Unix in the classroom

[David Roberts]

On Mon, 20 Jan 2003, pll at lanminds.com stated in their Email:

pll> From: pll at lanminds.com
pll> To: Travis Roy <travis at scootz.net>
pll> Cc: Derek Martin <gnhlug at sophic.org>,
pll>      'GNHLUG Mailing List' <discuss at gnhlug.org>
pll> Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 14:17:03 -0500
pll> Subject: Re: Linux/Unix in the classroom 
pll> 
pll> 
pll> In a message dated: 20 Jan 2003 14:05:53 EST
pll> Travis Roy said:
pll> 
pll> >who is going to use something they don't know how to install.
pll> 
pll> About 4 billion MS Windows users :)
pll> 
pll> >Surely a modern linux dist like RedHat or Mandrake is simple 
pll> >enough that anybody that can install windows should be able to 
pll> >deal with.
pll> 
pll> I agree, if you can install Windows, you can easily install
pll> Linux.  The problem is that 99.999% of all users order their
pll> computers with the OS already installed and never have to
pll> experience that unpleasant task.

Not just ordered systems, but repairs as well.  If something 
happens most people immediately either call 1-800... or take 
the system back to the store and say "it's broke".  And then 
there are those who have found a friend who can fix their 
systems - I've lost track of the times I've received a phone 
call just after dinner from friends on my street, my church 
community, family, etc. saying "Can you help me?  My PC just 
died and..."  or even worse  "AT&T Broadband said netscape is 
screwing up my cablemodem so I have to remove it and reinstall 
internet explorer before I can get back online..."  (no joke).

On a side note, after working/rebuilding all these systems, 
I have come to a good conclusion.  Comparing the Windows 
and Linux installs (for whatever reasons), I find the Linux 
installs to be *much* easier and less time consuming than 
Windows (Red Hat that is, I've not had time to play with 
other distros lately).

dlr
-- 
"Linux: Because a PC is a terrible thing to waste."
   -- As seen on the 'net --