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> They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day. I can't remember ever wanting that. > Proprietary software rejec

> They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day. I can't remember ever wanting that. > Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, “The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is forbidden!” I can't ever remember thinking that. > How do natural-born programmers learn to be good programmers? They need to read and understand real programs that people really use. Real program != well written program. This article makes so many statements in the form of "You must do X because of Y otherwise you are immoral" that if any of those would actually be true 99% of programmers today should not be able to exist by his logic.

MonadIsPronad 6y ago
Anecdotally, I can certainly relate strongly to the quotes you pointed out.
fsflover 6y ago
99% people do not want any of these. But it's the 1% who change the world.
II2II 6y ago
> They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day. It's not quite the same thing, but I remember reading and modifying the source code of Applesoft BASIC games as well as trying to reverse engineer copy protection in the school's computer lab. The reality though is that open source software's main benefit to schools is the licensing model. Not only does the cost of the software actually being used add up, there are also licenses for the software to manage licenses. On top of that is the effort it takes to manage licenses, which ties into labour costs. Things have probably changed since I managed a school computer lab a decade back, but I did a test deployment of an all open source solution in an evening of my spare time. It took several months of evenings to build up a similar setup using commercial software. The major difference between the two were the hurdles created by commercial software licensing.

MonadIsPronad 6y ago

Anecdotally, I can certainly relate strongly to the quotes you pointed out.

fsflover 6y ago

99% people do not want any of these. But it's the 1% who change the world.

II2II 6y ago

> They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day. It's not quite the same thing, but I remember reading and modifying the source code of Applesoft BASIC games as well as trying to reverse engineer copy protection in the school's computer lab. The reality though is that open source software's main benefit to schools is the licensing model. Not only does the cost of the software actually being used add up, there are also licenses for the software to manage licenses. On top of that is the effort it takes to manage licenses, which ties into labour costs. Things have probably changed since I managed a school computer lab a decade back, but I did a test deployment of an all open source solution in an evening of my spare time. It took several months of evenings to build up a similar setup using commercial software. The major difference between the two were the hurdles created by commercial software licensing.