Linux-related job postings - Hopkinton NH School District

[Dan Jenkins]

Fred wrote:

>I've always wanted to teach computers to eager to learn individuals, but
>the money element has never been there. 
>  
>
I used to teach part-time years ago. I figured I was getting paid less 
than $2 per hour after including all the time actually required. As much 
as I enjoyed it, it just wasn't feasible.

>If you can wean them off of IE and Outlook, most of their spyware
>problems will become history from that alone. It amazes me that it isn't
>common knowledge that IE with its support for Active-X is the great barn
>door for spyware and lots of other ills. If they must use IE, at least
>disable the Active-X support. Tis would be a nightmare to do, of course,
>if you have a hundered workstations without any decent management
>software pre-installed. Oh well.
>  
>
Actually we have over two hundred workstations up there at this time. 
Management software has not been supported by the budget now nor any 
time in the past. We've built stuff using scripts and Samba and cron and 
batch files to implement some of the functionality, but the oldest 
equipment doesn't have anything yet.

>I keep forgetting, of course, that most people don't even know what
>Active-X is. I always get this dopey "duh, Really?" response. "Yes,
>Virginia. Active-X is the active gateway to all the active ills that has
>now rendered your computer inactive."
>  
>
They already use Netscape or Mozilla as their default browser

Caveat: Some people do switch back to IE on their own. Some are running 
older Netscapes (4.x) still, they need updating. Of course, a few users 
do need IE because the web sites only work with IE. That is mostly 
limited to administrative staff.

Biggest problem: Their testing service requires Internet Explorer. In 
fact, it requires ActiveX. It also requires changes to disable any 
prompting for ActiveX components. It requires changes at the web proxy 
filter to allow its compiled HTML pages (.HTA) to pass through. And, no, 
they (the testing service) has no plans to make any changes in their 
application. They do not acknowledge any of these are security issues. 
And testing is mandated for all students (except kindergarten and 
preschool). Even viewing the test results requires these changes.

They do not use Outlook. They use either Netscape/Mozilla or Squirrel 
Webmail.

Caveat: Some people do setup Outlook on their own.

They still get viruses and spyware. Antivirus software is disabled by 
kids or teachers (and by some of the newer malware) sometimes. They 
click on all sorts of links, popups, etc. We do filter a lot at the web 
proxy, but, due to the testing software requirements, we can't block 
whole classes of problems. Folk bring in Word & Excel documents from 
home. There is a public library attached to the school (and to the 
school's network) with publicly accessible computers. The library has 
been outside our purview until quite recently. All the library's 
equipment, software and support came from a grant from the Bill and 
Melinda Gates Foundation, no less.

Anyways, progress is being made. I hope to use Linux more extensively 
there to solve more problems.
Without it, they would already have melted down.

-- 
Dan Jenkins (dan at rastech.com)
Rastech Inc., Bedford, NH, USA --- 1-603-206-9951
*** Technical Support for over a Quarter Century