6 ms·

Linux - Stop holding our kids back

49 points by possiblemat 18y ago

ars 18y ago
Is this real? Or did someone make it up to generate a strawman argument?
- reconbot 18y ago
  I'm willing to bet it's a stawman argument. I've read a few letters in the past with a similar tone and I do believe some of them are real. There is a level of ignorance where even in my IT shop at work they think I'm pirating MySQL and want me to port anything that runs on a lamp stack to Microsoft Windows.
  - cabalamat 18y ago
    You'd be surprised at how stupid people can be. Every time you say "but no-one could be that dumb", someone somewhere will prove you wrong.
- sireat 18y ago
  This must be made up, because the person admits to trying out Linux then goes on a ridiculously over the top pro Microsoft slant (without argumentation). Somebody so clueless wouldn't even know (if) they tried out Linux in college...
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - jerf 18y ago
    Two possibilities come to mind: Satire, as mentioned by other people, or the original teacher is lying about having used Linux. As anybody who has been around on the internet (or BBS or Usenet or...) for a while has learned, some people take a very scorched-earth approach to argumentation, and if lying about having tried Linux bolsters the argument, in it goes, regardless of whether it's true. (Maybe.)
    - stcredzero 18y ago
      ...some people take a very scorched-earth approach to argumentation, and if lying about having tried Linux bolsters the argument, in it goes, regardless of whether it's true. I find this idea onerous, though I strongly suspect it's true. I wonder if someone could start a public forum that's a "Truth Zone?" Is it even possible? Wikipedia works well enough. Maybe their techniques would enable this?
    - Dobbs 18y ago
      It's also possible that the she was forced to use Unix in college. As she is not a techie, and probably wouldn't pay a very large amount of attention to the details, mixed the two up.
      - Network_Punk 18y ago
        The way I read it she had to use the command line when she was in college, and thinks the GUI is "stolen" from Windows. (Hence the concern about legality)
  - imgabe 18y ago
    Somebody that clueless would probably confuse telnetting into a Unix box and checking their email with PINE (common in colleges before webmail) with "trying Linux" in college.
- Goronmon 18y ago
  From the comments section Well, I am a school teacher in the Austin Independent School District and while I don't know any "Karen", I am intimately familiar with the rhetoric and attitude. The author here is uncomfortably close to knowing what he's talking about when he speaks of the NEA. We are "encouraged strongly" to discourage the use of anything other than Microsoft products in the school district and between the Tech folks fearing for their jobs and the ignorance of all the "Karens" I deal with daily, it's a wonder the boy wasn't publicly flogged. I have been trying to get our school district to use Linux for 3 years and I've been told that I am to desist with this quest if I want to keep my job. Those who questioned the email's authenticity owe him(?) an apology. Of course as I peruse the comments of the sort, I note with a wry smile that you don't have the courage to sign your name to it. Cowardice is easy. I wish this author well. Tim Daily
  - designtofly 18y ago
    There is no "Tim Daily" that is employed by the AISD. http://www.austinisd.org/inside/directory/index.phtml?alpha=D http://www.austinisd.org/inside/directory/index.phtml?alpha=...
    - Goronmon 18y ago
      Hey, maybe it's all made up and someone on the Linux side is going nuts trying to make that school system look bad. I don't know.
    - rbanffy 18y ago
      Now there isn't ;-)
    - Raphael 18y ago
      There are 3 Karens...
- jcromartie 18y ago
  I believe it. I had a computer science faculty member tell me that Linux had no GUI and therefore was not recommended for most uses. This was about 3 years ago.
- olefoo 18y ago
  Yeah, the whole thing seems a little pat. Plus a real world response would be more along the lines of "I'd like to meet with you to allay some of your concerns regarding free software."; most definitely not the "Super Flame Powers Ignite" response he claims to have sent.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
time_management 18y ago
Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college... Anyone else hear a tone alike one admitting to past drug use?
- turkishrevenge 18y ago
  Hey, it was college. Everybody experiments. I used to swing both ways... dual booting that is.
  - justindz 18y ago
    What does it say about your sexuality if you also had BeOS on there? I hope my wife doesn't read HN.
- nihilocrat 18y ago
  When I read that, I knew this was just some dated satire. It was sort of amusing 5 years ago, but now it's just "hyuk hyuk authoritarian teachers who don't know anything hyuk hyuk".
- jjs 18y ago
  That line alone tweaks my fake-o-meter the most...
globalrev 18y ago
Did I miss something? There are 2 parts, one which is pro microsoft and then a defense post which is pro Linux...right?
chaostheory 18y ago
I can understand the subtle anger in the response... but belittling someone is not the way to win new converts. conversely, i've seen worse responses
sdurkin 18y ago
This is very, very old satire. If this really is a recently received email, then the person who responded got punkd. I'm gonna go see if I can located the oldest such letter.
jmtame 18y ago
Wow, Karen is an embarrassment to society.
ckinnan 18y ago
TRS-80 was good enough for me, should be fine for today's kids.
jrp 18y ago
Old: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22called+a+confrence+with+the+student%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a http://www.google.com/search?q=%22called+a+confrence+with+th...
rp 18y ago
Balanced updates: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/digitalsavant/entries/2008/12/11/breaking_local.html http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust... http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/digitalsavant/entries/2008/12/11/aisd_director_o.html http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust...

49 points by possiblemat 18y ago

ars 18y ago

Is this real? Or did someone make it up to generate a strawman argument?

reconbot 18y ago
I'm willing to bet it's a stawman argument. I've read a few letters in the past with a similar tone and I do believe some of them are real. There is a level of ignorance where even in my IT shop at work they think I'm pirating MySQL and want me to port anything that runs on a lamp stack to Microsoft Windows.
- cabalamat 18y ago
  You'd be surprised at how stupid people can be. Every time you say "but no-one could be that dumb", someone somewhere will prove you wrong.
sireat 18y ago
This must be made up, because the person admits to trying out Linux then goes on a ridiculously over the top pro Microsoft slant (without argumentation). Somebody so clueless wouldn't even know (if) they tried out Linux in college...
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- jerf 18y ago
  Two possibilities come to mind: Satire, as mentioned by other people, or the original teacher is lying about having used Linux. As anybody who has been around on the internet (or BBS or Usenet or...) for a while has learned, some people take a very scorched-earth approach to argumentation, and if lying about having tried Linux bolsters the argument, in it goes, regardless of whether it's true. (Maybe.)
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    ...some people take a very scorched-earth approach to argumentation, and if lying about having tried Linux bolsters the argument, in it goes, regardless of whether it's true. I find this idea onerous, though I strongly suspect it's true. I wonder if someone could start a public forum that's a "Truth Zone?" Is it even possible? Wikipedia works well enough. Maybe their techniques would enable this?
  - Dobbs 18y ago
    It's also possible that the she was forced to use Unix in college. As she is not a techie, and probably wouldn't pay a very large amount of attention to the details, mixed the two up.
    - Network_Punk 18y ago
      The way I read it she had to use the command line when she was in college, and thinks the GUI is "stolen" from Windows. (Hence the concern about legality)
- imgabe 18y ago
  Somebody that clueless would probably confuse telnetting into a Unix box and checking their email with PINE (common in colleges before webmail) with "trying Linux" in college.
Goronmon 18y ago
From the comments section Well, I am a school teacher in the Austin Independent School District and while I don't know any "Karen", I am intimately familiar with the rhetoric and attitude. The author here is uncomfortably close to knowing what he's talking about when he speaks of the NEA. We are "encouraged strongly" to discourage the use of anything other than Microsoft products in the school district and between the Tech folks fearing for their jobs and the ignorance of all the "Karens" I deal with daily, it's a wonder the boy wasn't publicly flogged. I have been trying to get our school district to use Linux for 3 years and I've been told that I am to desist with this quest if I want to keep my job. Those who questioned the email's authenticity owe him(?) an apology. Of course as I peruse the comments of the sort, I note with a wry smile that you don't have the courage to sign your name to it. Cowardice is easy. I wish this author well. Tim Daily
- designtofly 18y ago
  There is no "Tim Daily" that is employed by the AISD. http://www.austinisd.org/inside/directory/index.phtml?alpha=D http://www.austinisd.org/inside/directory/index.phtml?alpha=...
  - Goronmon 18y ago
    Hey, maybe it's all made up and someone on the Linux side is going nuts trying to make that school system look bad. I don't know.
  - rbanffy 18y ago
    Now there isn't ;-)
  - Raphael 18y ago
    There are 3 Karens...
jcromartie 18y ago
I believe it. I had a computer science faculty member tell me that Linux had no GUI and therefore was not recommended for most uses. This was about 3 years ago.
olefoo 18y ago
Yeah, the whole thing seems a little pat. Plus a real world response would be more along the lines of "I'd like to meet with you to allay some of your concerns regarding free software."; most definitely not the "Super Flame Powers Ignite" response he claims to have sent.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

time_management 18y ago

Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college... Anyone else hear a tone alike one admitting to past drug use?

turkishrevenge 18y ago
Hey, it was college. Everybody experiments. I used to swing both ways... dual booting that is.
- justindz 18y ago
  What does it say about your sexuality if you also had BeOS on there? I hope my wife doesn't read HN.
nihilocrat 18y ago
When I read that, I knew this was just some dated satire. It was sort of amusing 5 years ago, but now it's just "hyuk hyuk authoritarian teachers who don't know anything hyuk hyuk".
jjs 18y ago
That line alone tweaks my fake-o-meter the most...

globalrev 18y ago

Did I miss something? There are 2 parts, one which is pro microsoft and then a defense post which is pro Linux...right?

chaostheory 18y ago

I can understand the subtle anger in the response... but belittling someone is not the way to win new converts. conversely, i've seen worse responses

sdurkin 18y ago

This is very, very old satire. If this really is a recently received email, then the person who responded got punkd. I'm gonna go see if I can located the oldest such letter.

jmtame 18y ago

Wow, Karen is an embarrassment to society.

ckinnan 18y ago

TRS-80 was good enough for me, should be fine for today's kids.

jrp 18y ago

Old: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22called+a+confrence+with+the+student%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a http://www.google.com/search?q=%22called+a+confrence+with+th...

rp 18y ago

Balanced updates: http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/digitalsavant/entries/2008/12/11/breaking_local.html http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust... http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/digitalsavant/entries/2008/12/11/aisd_director_o.html http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/aust...