Canadian Education

2012-01-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

As Spock would say...fascinating...

2012-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Appalling things going on in public schools, libraries, governments, etc.

Take a look at the cross reference pages here...

Turning school teachers into M$ PR agents.

Turning public schools into private businesses.

M$ blocking the use of linux.

...and on and on...

Interesting videos about freedom, etc.

2012-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

Freedom vs. control:

http://www.ted.com/talks/mikko_hypponen_three_types_of_online_attack.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html

2011-10-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

And just where are your electronic gadgets coming from, and are they made from 'conflict minerals'? Time for a change, much like the Canadian initiative, the Kimberley Process, for diamonds, etc. Check out the current state, and support conflict free mineral products, manufacturers, etc.
Conflict minerals

2011-02-13T13:00:00.001-08:00

Does reading this blog about an education system in Texas sound familiar? I.e. secret agreements with MS, preventing the public from knowing how many millions of dollars are being siphoned off to MS, while children are in dilapidated facilities, while the computer illiterate 'decision-makers' (and I use the term loosely), sign away millions, wasted, in contracts? Millions of taxpayer dollars, every year, down the drain, to a corporation that doesn't need the money...what is going on? Sure, just go ahead and try to find out how much money is being sent to MS from the TDSB for example...good luck with that.

2011-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Lucky students in New Zealand are learning linux, and since they have the freedom to use and study any software, there are no limits or barriers to their education and learning about computers, technology, etc., as demonstrated by these students! :-) (Too bad students in Ontario are denied these opportunities...:-()

2010-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

So, want to keep up with the latest news on open source software, linux, etc.? Checkout these sites, Linux Today and Linux News, which post new stories/articles daily! :-)

2010-10-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, 1 to 1 computing...a computer for every student...spreading all over the world...but not in Toronto, or Ontario. No, the 'decision makers', brainwashed by a corrupt, incompetent IT dept., insist on wasting millions on obsolete junk tech, courtesy of MS marketing propaganda, etc. Ontario, the laughing stock of computer education.

2010-10-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

Interesting overview of internet companies, by a French philosopher, in the Japan Times!?!! :-)
(A truly global overview! :-) Yet more reasons to switch to linux, etc., in the pursuit of freedom.
And here is an EXCELLENT discussion of why school boards waste millions on MS junk...
i.e. corrupt, lying IT departments taking advantage of computer illiterate 'decision makers'

2010-09-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Great summary of the current state of linux around the world. Are your students being put at a disadvantage, due to a windoze only policy?

2010-09-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

The largest school board in Canada, the Toronto District School Board, has a third world ratio of 10 students to 1 computer, while 3rd world countries are rapidly moving to 1 to 1, yes, a computer for every student. And check out Brazil, which has the LARGEST deployment of linux computers in education in the world: (324,000! compared to the mere 60,000 in the TDSB), and a Canadian company, Userful.com is involved! Or how about Uruguay? Yes, Uruguay has given EVERY elementary school student in every school, in every district, in the ENTIRE country, a linux laptop! And now they are expanding the program to provide EVERY high school student in the ENTIRE country with a laptop. Meanwhile, in incompetent, illiterate Toronto, having wasted millions with little to show for it, students have to fight for access to a computer...sigh...

2010-09-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Interesting new website, providing FREE software for medical applications, etc. Also checkout: linuxmednews! :-)
Now if only our politicians weren't so corrupt and illiterate, perhaps we'd have world class, state of the art medical information systems, at REASONABLE cost to the taxpayers...
I'm such a dreamer...:-)

2010-05-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

So, want to see how a progressive education system works in terms of computer education? Check out Kerala, India...over 4 THOUSAND schools, 200,000 teachers, millions of students, etc. all using linux! (And saving millions to boot...) Then look at the appalling state of computer education in our system.

2010-04-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

So, if your school/board does not allow linux, and only allows MS, do you realize the horrors that are being done by enforcing the use of MS products in schools? Slave labour using high school students? Yeah, enjoy those M$ products...Warning: This link can be upsetting, due to graphics, etc.
Oh heck, just google "Microsoft China slave labour" and read all about it...sigh...

2010-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice, current summary of the many, many places linux is being used...and begs the question: "Why isn't linux available and being taught in schools?" In my school district, it is due to the illiterate, corrupt decision makers in the back pockets of a certain large corporation with the initials MS...anyways, read it and weep that students have virtually no opportunity to learn about these systems:
http://www.focus.com/fyi/information-technology/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect/

2010-03-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

And then there are libraries, of all sorts, that have seen the light, and are migrating to reasonable, open source systems:

Evergreen_libraries

And userful.com is also quite active in this area! :-D

2010-02-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

And yes, people DO get fired for using Microsoft...just ask the London Stock Exchange's ex-CEO Clara Furse...who insisted on using MS for mission critical systems...and cost the exchange billions when it failed!

2010-02-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

If you know of someone who has an XO from the OLPC project, especially if it is collecting dust, it can provide much needed assistance to children in Haiti. More details at:

wiki.laptop.org http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_for_Haiti
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Haiti
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_for_Haiti/Support

And you might want to have a look at what this Canadian company, Userful.com, is doing in 100 countries around the world, installing linux systems in schools and libraries! userful.com :-)

Not bad, eh? 30,000 schools using userful systems!! :-)
microsoft-plays-catch-up-linux-virtual-desktop

2010-02-13T15:12:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! :-)
And Happy Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Tiger! Roarrrrrr! :-)

2009-12-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

Well, please enjoy the holiday season...and the next time someone says to you: "...nobody uses linux...", suggest that they might have a look at this! :-) (Funny, I used to hear that all the time...now, not so much! :-)) And as someone who has constantly been trying to teach computer science, using linux, as opposed to the 'educators' teaching student how to use MS Word and Excel and becoming dependent on MS and calling themselves 'computer literate', I couldn't agree more with the following comments: (The problem? Computer illiterate 'leaders', 'administrators', 'decision-makers' and all the other nonsense terms they like to call themselves...):

"Steve Lohr writes in the NY Times that the country needs more 'cool' nerds — professionals with hybrid careers that combine computing with other fields like medicine, art, or journalism. Not enough young people are embracing computing, often because they are leery of being branded nerds. Educators and technologists say that two things need to change: the image of computing work, and computer science education in high schools. Today, introductory courses in computer science are too often focused merely on teaching students to use software like word processing and spreadsheet programs, says Janice C. Cuny, a program director at the National Science Foundation adding that the Advanced Placement curriculum concentrates too narrowly on programming. 'We're not showing and teaching kids the magic of computing,' Cuny says. The NSF is working to change this by developing a new introductory high school course in computer science and seeking to overhaul Advanced Placement courses as well. The NSF hopes to train 10,000 high school teachers in the modernized courses by 2015. Knowledge of computer science and computer programming is becoming a necessary skill for many professions, not only science and technology but also increasingly for marketing, advertising, journalism and the creative arts. 'We need to gain an understanding in the population that education in computer science is both extraordinarily important and extraordinarily interesting,' says Alfred Spector, vice president for research and special initiatives at Google. 'The fear is that if you pursue computer science, you will be stuck in a basement, writing code. That is absolutely not the reality.'"

2009-12-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

For an example of a nation that is rapidly providing an EXCELLENT computer education for their children, look to Spain...300,000 computers in just ONE region of Spain (Andalusia) in their schools, PLUS an extra 180,000 notebooks, all running linux. Compare this with the problems the Toronto District School Board has handling a mere 43,000 computers with a dismal 10 to 1 student to computer ratio...sigh...oh, and the region has saved over 180 MILLION Euros while providing this vastly better computer education system for their students!

2009-12-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

The OS wars continue...and linux is gaining ground! :-)

2009-11-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

And the beat goes on...seems that linux has gained a few more percentage points to claim 90% of the world's most powerful computers...:-)
And we do indeed live in interesting times...:-) a new Android (linux) based phone has become available, and Google announced the Chrome OS this week as well! :-)

2009-10-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

So, Uruguay apparently believes in educating their children. They have just completed providing a linux based computer for EVERY elementary school child in the ENTIRE country! Meanwhile, back in corrupt, illiterate Canada, politicans spend billions on 'consultants', (i.e. friends, relatives, consultants, lobbyists, etc.)

2009-10-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

And then there is the Aurora, Colorado school district, supplying their students close to 2,000 linux netbooks! :-) Meanwhile, back in corrupt, incompetent Canada, a billion dollars wasted and not even anything remotely resembling a electronic health care system. And one can find many, many competent, responsible IT people...in France! And need more evidence of the incompetent, criminal governments of Canada, wasting tax payers money, when open source solutions exist? Take a look here. Includes ehealth report, etc., etc.

2009-10-06T20:30:00.001-07:00

Well, more schools are moving to linux, open office, etc. And of course, the London Stock Exchange has finally made some intelligent decisions in that they are ditching windows and moving to linux, following competent exchanges, such as NYSE, etc. And here's an interesting article about new Dell computers, with an 'instant on' Linux bootup, and people are spending 70% of their time using linux! :-)
And then there is the Dutch police force, which has wisely chosen to switch to linux! :-)

2009-09-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

Looks like there are going to be another 360,000 users of Open Office instead of MS office in the very near future! :-)

2009-08-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Soooo...do you know a 'Charlie Brown' user? ;-)

2009-08-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Interesting new campaign to inform people about Windows 7, etc. :-)
Visit windows7sins.org today! :-)

2009-08-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who have, or know friends that have these MS things, do them a favour and get rid of them before they catch fire, etc. :-)
Xbox failure rate over 50% !!??!!...yep, similar to windows quality...oh wait, windows isn't NEARLY that reliable...:-)

2009-08-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today's news includes the University of Verona moving 4,000 computers to linux! :-)
And here's a technical school in Iceland reporting huge savings on switching to Ubuntu, etc. :-)
Finally, a thoughtful blog from a retiring teacher, (I can certainly relate to the points she brings up) and other education articles (U.S. based)

2009-07-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Those lucky kids in Brazil...:-)
The Ministry of Education in Brazil is providing 26,000 new computer labs for about 10 million students in their education system...and of course, they're using linux to do it! :-)

And then there are the 50,000 linux laptops going to kids in Venezuela! :-)

Meanwhile, back in corrupt, computer illiterate Canada...if only a few so-called "leaders" and "decision-makers" would pay attention and make the same kind of smart decisions as Brazil, etc.

2009-07-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well, this comic made me smile today! :-) Check out the archives, etc. :-)
And YES! At last, some people who know what they are doing, have been empowered, rather than tech illiterates making bad decisions...City of Edmonton is moving to open source! :-)

2009-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Interesting commentary by Carla Schoder about user habits, etc. :-)
And it appears that the fall is going to be a very interesting time, in the computer world...Google is working on, and will release their own version of a linux OS, Google Chrome OS, and it will not only work on the standard x86 platform (standard desktops and laptops), but with ARM processors (CPU common in mobile devices, etc.) as well! Thank you, Google! :-) Yet another slow but steady chipping away at M$. (Remember who won the race? The rabbit or the turtle? ;-)) Let the OS wars begin! :-)

2009-07-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

So, there is at least one competent, informed, genuine leader in the world, who is serving his people, rather than serving corrupt corporations. Apparently, the speech given by the President of Brazil, the world's fifth largest economy, is now available on Youtube. And then there is this article, with a wonderful quote from Walter Bender:

The next talk was given by Walter Bender, who took a rather different approach. He's head of Sugar Labs, the software team that broke away from the One Laptop Per Child project when the latter decided to put Microsoft software on its machines, thus ensuring that young minds were enslaved by Windows even earlier.

Indeed, it was evident from Bender's presentation, albeit quite low-key, that he believes passionately that children have a right to free software, for the simple reason that they cannot truly learn with any other kind.

As the Sugar Labs site puts it: “emphasis on learning through doing and debugging: more engaged learners are able to tackle authentic problems.” That is, free software gives the unique possibility of allowing students to explore and modify their tools, whereas Windows- based solutions are simply used as given, with little flexibility.

I think this is a crucial point that not enough people in the world of education grasp. For them, software is simply a dumb tool, like a pencil: you just use it. For Bender, it's something much more exciting: it is part of the educational experience. If a learner can't hack it, it's not fit for the purpose.

He also emphasised how important the Sugar on Stick offering was. This is simply the Sugar software environment provided on a USB drive that can be plugged into any PC, and run without affecting the latter:

2009-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Soooo...is an unaccountable, undemocratic corporation controlling your children's education, getting them addicted to junk software, and unable to think for themselves, and dependent on their software drugs (the first M$ software fix is free when you buy a computer (actually, it's just included in the price when you buy a new computer...), corrupt school boards, governments, etc. Does any of this sound familiar to you? I.e. viruses, computer problems, etc. are good for business, bad for you trying to get anything done. Make the decision to choose freedom today, and start learning about the world revolution of those in the know, using linux! :-)

2009-07-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that the London Stock Exchange has finally come to its senses...and ditched both windows and the incompetent CEO that defended it. My guess is that they'll follow the NYSE, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, etc. who competently moved to linux YEARS ago, and have been chugging along nicely ever since. Comments in the article are especially enlightening...:-) Now if we could only see that kind of enlightenment in education...:-)

2009-07-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

As a very strong believer in the following quote:

A child's exposure to technology should never be predicated on an ability to afford it.

I work constantly to instruct people about linux. Sometimes, I've been punished for my views, by incompetent, illiterate power abusers (BTW, here's an excellent book about power abusers found in organizations, including schools, etc. ;-)). But like many others, I'll never give up. I've spent many years listening to the excuses and propaganda about why it can't be done, etc. Well, as shown by the many references on this blog, it IS being done, around the world, in all languages (more languages than windows, because MS considers some language groups, etc. "too small" or "not profitable, not worth the effort, the market is too small, etc.". In other words, don't let the nay sayers, and those who wish to exploit others, win the game! :-) Help spread the word.

2009-06-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

And yet another huge, famous company is moving forward with linux...;-) Running over 30,000 desktops on linux! :-) And then there are the police in France, who have saved over 50 MILLION euros by switching from windows to linux. And they mention how all the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) about " oh, it's too difficult. It requires training, etc. " that I hear all too often from windoze addicts, etc. to be nonsense. Meanwhile, back in corrupt, incompetent Ontario...And want more references about competent schools, organizations, etc. moving to linux? Take a look, here for a sample. Especially note the "Related stories" links at the bottom of the article for more, etc. :-)

2009-05-30T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that in over 140 countries, 20,000 schools, and millions of school children are using linux! :-) And that is just one linux company! :-) Meanwhile, back in incompetent, corrupt Toronto and Ontario schools...sigh...are your children being left behind, forced into using monopoly, criminally expensive, unreliable junk technology?

2009-05-21T13:19:00.001-07:00

So, here's a story about someone who has finally seen the light of freedom...a Microsoft employee and programmer of 11 years, noless, has now switched to linux and written a book about his experiences at MS, etc. Quite interesting...:-)
And now MS is putting the squeeze on charities...personally, I don't donate to any charity running MS software. I prefer my money goes to helping people in need, not Bill Gates. And check out the Los Angeles Times articles, if you need more reasons to quit using windoze, and switch to linux! :-)

2009-05-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I think this article is looking a bit too optimistically into the near future, but hey, it's Taiwan, where a very large chunk of our computers are made...they must have some idea of what is going on...:-) In any case, I hope they are right! (i.e. 50% of netbooks will be linux based! :-))

2009-05-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

Recent post summarizing linux in some school systems around the world, etc.

2009-05-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

So, checkout how some people are really LEARNING using linux! :-) Rockets, space science and other cool stuff...
And then there are intelligent schools, who are not locked into schemes by proprietary software, thanks to corrupt/illiterate politicians/bureacrats, etc.

2009-04-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Seems I'm not alone in fighting incompetence and corruption in schools...:-)
Take a look at this article, and the comments from various people in various school boards in the U.S.
Our children are being denied the opportunity to learn about alternatives, and billions of tax dollars are being wasted. No wonder our schools don't have enough teachers, textbooks, lab equipment, etc., when we are sending millions upon millions to a convicted monopolist.
And it is getting worse in Canadian schools...recently, we've been required to use a MS only marks program, at a cost of $300 per license (even though intelligent schools are using the much better, much more flexible and FREE marks programs that are easily available). Oh, and that's $300 per school per YEAR. Yes, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted every year. Just for a marks program. And don't get me started on the tremendous waste of teacher's time this has created (and continues).
Want a concrete example of brain dead? The "Marks" program we are using will crash if the computer is not connected to a printer...that's right, hours upon hours were wasted as teacher's networked and standalone computers continually crashed if they were not connected to a printer. And the software is apparently written in Visual Basic (that's BEGINNER'S All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). About as far from 'professional' as you can get...and it shows...again and again...sigh...
Your wasted tax dollars, not at work...

2009-04-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

An excellent site for keeping track of how the world is changing to linux! :-)
Danish government IT is now offering linux.
And 50% of surveyed businesses are considering moving to linux! :-)

2009-04-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, are your skills (and those of your students) going to be ready for the future? :-)
Linux deployments are expected to TRIPLE in the next 5 years or so!
(e.g. from a 12 billion dollar linux market in 2008, to a 35 billion dollar linux market in 2013...:-))

Why heck, it's expected to grow 21 percent, just this year, 2009, alone! :-)

Fire up that KDE/GNOME/XFCE GUI or cli today! :-)

And all 2,400 educational institutions in Tatarstan are changing completely to linux! (Find it on a map...)
And the better known government of Hungary, is now spending half of its IT budget on Open Source!

The world is changing...:-)

2009-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Seems the famous New York Times is encouraged by the rise of linux! :-)

2009-03-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, no great surprise here, but some new numbers about linux adoption...

2009-03-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

And here are a few random samplings of why the world is switching to linux...:-)
And yet more schools are switching. Here's the latest example from Germany...:-)

2009-03-11T05:04:00.001-07:00

Want a concrete example of a major government saving millions of dollars (euros), while our government continues to waste millions? Then check out this.

2009-03-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

So, are you being held back by a school system that refuses to offer linux courses? They are denying you (and your children) future opportunities.

2009-02-19T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well, great news for students and children...in Brazil! :-) Apparently, the largest number of virtual PCs in the world (356,000 workstations!!!!! using Linux, of course! :-)) will be installed in many locations for the benefit of millions of children in Brazil...meanwhile, back in Canada, I have to beg and wait months to get a SINGLE computer for more than 50 students in science classes!!?! Yep, we are rapidly becoming a 3rd world country in terms of education, while other countries leapfrog ahead.

2009-02-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

So, planning to visit one of the new 'Microsoft' stores? Apparently, trying to clone Apple stores is the new MS strategy...well, if you do, do you realize you'll be supporting these kinds of appalling human rights abuses?

My suggestion? Do the right thing and get educated about linux...then go out and purchase a linux netbook. :-)

2009-02-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to say that I'm in total agreement with this! :-)

2009-02-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well, education in the Phillipines is leaping over anything going on here in Ontario...23,000 linux computers in schools in the Phillipines...meanwhile linux is systematically eliminated in Ontario schools?!!! Students are being denied the opportunity to study, learn and share linux in Ontario schools, and instead are being taught to become dependent on costly junk instead, due to computer illiterate "leaders".

2009-01-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

Well, seems that more people are learning about how Microsoft has turned millions into addicts. Are you one of them? And as an educator, I hear all the usual propaganda that teachers and students have been programmed to spout all the time, unfortunately. It's unfortunate that so few people are able to think for themselves, instead of just repeating/parroting what they've been told to think/say. Fortunately, there is hope, as one can see here...make sure you read the comments! Many are about schools who have switched to linux, and some of the comments are even written by enlightened school principals?!! I'm shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED! :-) Oh, wait, none of them are in Ontario...sigh... Well, as one commenter submitted, good luck for your students if they want a job in Europe in the future...all are going linux, etc. Yep, the corrupt and ignorant 'leaders' here in Ontario, Ottawa, etc. continue to send millions in tax dollars to one of the world's largest companies, and continue depriving our students of a GENUINE education, rather than dumbed-down addiction to junk.

2009-01-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well, seems that the government of Vietnam can be added to the list of competent governments moving to open source. Meanwhile, back in corrupt, incompetent Canada...our schools continue to set a poor example, sending millions of taxpayer dollars to a convicted monopolist that continues to abuse the public, with the consent of the so-called 'leaders' in Canada.

2009-01-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

Just a sincere wish for a Happy New Year to one and all! :-)

And news of yet another company doing a brisk business selling linux based ecofriendly supercomputers...:-) And take a look at the latest MS bribery antics, etc...

2008-12-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

It is unfortunate that so many so-called 'educators' have the mentality of the Inquisition (or perhaps the Salem Witch Hunts, etc.). However, that indeed seems to be the case, as pointed out by this recent event. Is this happening in your schools? Are your children being denied opportunity due to either corrupt lobbyists or ignorant administrators? However, if you read the comments on this story, (and I encourage you to do so), you will be heartened to see comments by many schools who are using linux. Let's hope it continues to spread and shine the light of freedom and knowledge everywhere.
And indeed it is. Now here is a very progressive school system, that is providing the best possible computer education for their students...a one to one ratio! That's right, one computer for every student...in every school...in the entire state...and all running on LINUX! Here's a recent conference about it, that gives some numbers for you. :-) It's called the InAcess project, by the Department of Education of the state of Indiana. Demonstrates the incredible waste going on in Canadian schools.

2008-12-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I'm asked why I only use linux. There are a large number of answers to this question, but perhaps this article sums up a few of them. I use a computer as a tool. I use software(tools) that do what I require, without restrictions, I require access to the complete instructions, (source code) should I choose to change/improve the software, etc. I.e., I love freedom to do what I want to do. I'm not interested in being a POW (Prisoner of Windows ;-)). And I love diversity and choice...;-) Hopefully, we can continue to free the people! :-) And final news tidbit for today: here are some students using Blender (3d modelling/animation software:checkout blender.org)...some 'adults' complain that it is too hard...well look at these ELEMENTARY school students using it without any problems! ;-) Just more examples of open minds (versus closed) in education. :-)

2008-12-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well, seems IE has slipped below 70% now, for the first time since stats have been kept on this sort of thing. Perhaps the internet will grow more stable with less people using this badly designed browser. We can only hope that word spreads. And of course, more and more people are learning about linux as well! :-) And here is a great summary of what is wrong with the internet...Microsoft et al.! :-) And YAGOL (yet another group of (school) libraries) has switched to linux/open source, etc.!

2008-11-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

Here's yet another school that has switched almost everything to linux...servers, laptops, etc. And are you a victim of any of these brainwashing blurbs? :-)

2008-11-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Curious about current linux job opportunities, salaries, etc.? Are your schools ensuring that students have the opportunity to pursue these types of jobs?

Take a look (from the article): :-)
"The average 2006 salary for Linux professionals was $77,950, which was higher than the national average for all tech professionals of $73,308. (However, this is somewhat misleading, since the national average includes historically low-paid IT staffers like help desk workers.)

If you’re a Linux specialist looking for the best paying area of the country, your best bet is – no surprise – Silicon Valley, where Linux pros make $96,578 (but a cup of coffee costs $11.25). Other top-paying Linux areas are Washington, D.C. ($86,882), Los Angeles ($86,618), and New York ($86,305).

Female Linux professionals, admittedly a scarce group (but certainly an attractive one), earn less ($74,263) than do male Linux professionals ($78,412).

And ever wonder how many people are using linux? ;-) Well, Red Hat linux currently estimates somewhere between 9.5 and 10.5 MILLION users! :-) And Ubuntu linux estimates at least 8 MILLION using their distro...

2008-11-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

Now here is news you can use...:-) Seems the linux penguin is taking off in the states and various other countries around the world in universities and K-12 schools! :-) Fire up that terminal...:-) And it seems that linux runs on more devices than any thing else available now...:-)

2008-11-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Some interesting predictions and summaries of the status of linux in the world! :-)
Exemplis gratis: New York Times suggests that linux will ship on more laptops than windows next year! :-) And read about all the new mini laptops(netbooks?), by different manufacturers, appearing with linux preinstalled! :-)

And here is a linux POS (Point of Sale) system that seems to be doing well, especially at UBC! :-)

2008-10-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, seems the German Foreign Ministry is saving their taxpayers millions of Euros...having switched ALL of their embassies (over 11,000 computers), in various countries to linux, at far, far lower cost. When will our computer illiterate, corrupt government, schools, etc. get with the program? :-)

2008-10-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

Ah, those Aussies...jumping ahead of everyone! ;-) Seems netbooks are flying off the shelves...with GNU/Linux! ;-) Personally, I just purchased a nice linux equipped netbook, and I'm delighted with it so far. Like carrying a paperback, and it's heaven to surf and email in a coffeeshop at my leisure! :-) And I've seen some estimates that total linux users is about 60 million at the moment (and of course, growing everyday! :-)) Here's an article about Ubuntu linux and Fedora linux specifically.

2008-10-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

Could it be that there is a glimmer of common sense breaking out in governments and education? :-) NSW in Australia is considering linux laptops for their students, And ODF is now a national standard in Sweden, joining several other countries moving to open standards, etc. Then again, on the other hand, we seem to be moving to a time of restricting knowledge to those who can pay/control, and expanding ignorance...sigh...Is this your children's future? Only those who pay can learn?

2008-10-02T04:47:00.001-07:00

EXCELLENT article by the famous Mr. John Hall about all those so-called "TCO" studies, etc. In a nutshell, schools using linux are doing well, in terms of budget, etc., while MS schools are still being taken to the cleaners...so what else is new? :-) And Ubuntu uptake in the business world is taking off! :-)

2008-09-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

Great article about 100 reasons Linux beats windows! :-)

2008-09-27T08:37:00.000-07:00

Concise, simple article about some of the reasons for using linux! :-) And Big Money (i.e., the LARGEST amount of money in the world) seems to rely on linux. :-) And seems that Venezuela has ordered one million...yes, 1,000,000 linux computers for their school children! :-) from Portugal. And apparently, Portugal itself has ordered 500,000 linux computers for their school children as well! :-) Japan is bringing superconductors to the home, along with 1G internet...far ahead of Canada, which is falling behind dismally...sigh...But to end on a positive note, please visit Ontario Linux Fest, if you are in Toronto on Oct. 25! :-) And a good overview of 14 different distros of linux.

2008-09-26T04:35:00.001-07:00

Wonderful story for you today about a poor school in Pakistan, which now has a computer lab full of...you guessed it, Linux computers! :-) And if you can help, there is a contact email in the article.

2008-09-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Great article about the current growth pattern of linux systems! :-)
And happy birthday to GNU! LOL! :-) The fight for freedom continues...:-)

2008-09-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Interesting journey of a teacher changing his system, despite opposition, but for the benefit of his students! :-) A wonderful article...:-)

2008-09-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

Nice list of many companies, organizations currently using Ubuntu (and user base currently estimated at about 8 MILLION! :-)) And MS Internet Explorer use has dropped...again...not surprisingly :-) So, Ubuntu at 8 million...one wonders how many millions of people are now using linux in various forms, such as Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Knoppix, Suse, Debian, Fedora, Scientific, etc., etc.! :-) And congratulations to Uruguay, which has just reached 100,000 linux laptops for their children! :-) Meanwhile, back in the Dark Ages in Canada...

2008-09-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

An interesting site, perhaps useful for parents, students, etc. which is maintaining a list of schools, colleges, universities, etc. that use and promote open software, etc.! :-) Ensure that you are going to be ready for the future, rather than the closed past...And one would hope that this will just be the first of many activities to bring open source to Canadians, otherwise, we will continue to fall further and further behind the rest of the world. And what a waste...apparently, at least $80 MILLION taxpayer dollars a year, just in Quebec, and that is just for some public entities...going to MS!?!! One shudders to think of how many millions (billions?) the governments of Canada, at all levels, have wasted, and continue to waste, sending it to one of the world's wealthiest corporations, while our students can't get access to a computer in school, and when they do, it doesn't work most of the time! Appalling, really. Computer illiterate decision makers, impoverishing our schools, while enriching B. Gates!?!!

2008-08-31T14:02:00.001-07:00

Great article about why universities should be advancing free software for the benefit of the world, rather than enriching MS et al.

And heard about the new MS brainwashing campaign? :-) MS...the antithesis of freedom...

Here's a very short definition of the Four Freedoms...why aren't more schools teaching this?:

The first formal definition of free software was published by FSF in February 1986.^[4] That definition, written by Richard Stallman, is still maintained today and states that software is free software if people who receive a copy of the software have the following four freedoms:

Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
Freedom 1: The freedom to study and modify the program.
Freedom 2: The freedom to copy the program so you can help your neighbor.
Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

Freedoms 1 and 3 require source code to be available because studying and modifying software without its source code is highly impractical.

Thus, free software means that computer users have the freedom to cooperate with whom they choose, and to control the software they use. To summarize this into a remark distinguishing libre (freedom) software from gratis (zero price) software, Richard Stallman said: "Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of 'free' as in 'free speech', not as in 'free beer'".^[5]

In the late 90s, other groups published their own definitions which describe an almost identical set of software. The most notable are Debian Free Software Guidelines published in 1997,^[6] and the Open Source Definition, published in 1998.

2008-08-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of education related articles about open source wikis, etc.

And in addition to China, France and the rest of Europe are all leaving Canada in the dust in terms of computer education. And here's an interesting prediction from the January issue of Yahoo Internet Life magazine...1998!!! any of this sound familiar to you? :-)...:

"Now Penn Jillette (Magician with Penn & Teller) had a really interesting prediction I thought, especially with all of the fuss going around about Privacy these days.

Quote:

We will continue to be told that freedom is a bad idea. The Net will be blamed for more kiddie porn, terrorism, and loss of privacy. Those who remember that these things predate home computers (and maybe even pong) will get blue in the face trying to keep the future getting better."

2008-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Interesting, recent summary article about MS...:-) Or how about just good ol' financial fraud, courtesy of MS? And to really stay up to date about the appalling abuse of consumers, etc. by MS, one only need visit this site from time to time. :-)
And it appears that some people in Quebec are finally fed up with government corruption. We can only hope that this will spread to Ontario, etc. And why is Ontario lagging behind B.C.? Corrupt contracts with convicted monopolies, perhaps?

2008-08-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Wonderful articles about using linux in music education, written by a music teacher, and an interesting article about the use of Open Textbooks! :-) And an article about using linux software for math and science at high school and university levels! :-) And the next time someone uses FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) to discourage linux education, consider that they are attempting to discourage you from LEARNING what these (a few examples...there are many, many more...) companies already know: ;-)

* Amerada Hess Corporation - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - Amerada Hess Corp is a $7.4 billion petroleum company, but the supercomputers traditionally used to analyze oil exploration data are rather costly even for a company of this size. No longer a problem. Amerada Hess now uses a large Linux cluster for the job. - Article -

* BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) - Light Rail Metropolitan Transit System - This system tracks the flow of electricity from the high voltage DC power lines of Pacific Gas and Electric to the distribution of electricity via the third rail. If an emergency required the evacuation of a train, this system would be used to turn off the electricity to ensure the safety of passengers as they exited the system. (Using linux)

* Boscov's Department Stores - special invoicing, server consolidation, Web site, etc. - Boscov's, America's largest family owned department store chain, has been steadily moving it's back office operations to Linux, and will probably eventually migrate POS (Point of Sale) systems as well. - Article -

* Burlington Coat Factory - Entire Systems - Burlington Coat Factory is a "Factory Outlet" retailer with 280 stores in 42 states. Initial Linux installations at their new distribution center and a few new stores proved highly successful, so roll-out to existing stores began. An order for 1,250 Dell computers preloaded with Linux was placed to support the effort.

The Linux systems are used to run warehousing and distribution, the gift registry and back office functions such as ordering and general desktop. The chosen office productivity suite is Applixware Office, which allows a very high degree of customization. - Article -

* Conoco - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - Conoco is one of several major petroleum companies that have chosen to use inexpensive Linux clusters instead of costly supercomputers to analyze oil exploration data. - Article -

* Cisco - Worldwide Printing System - Cisco, a $21 billion maker of routers that tie the Internet together, signed a major agreement with Microsoft regarding support for Active Directory. As part of that deal, Cisco management declared Cisco an "all Microsoft" company.

Unfortunately, Cisco's IT staff couldn't get network printing services to work right through NT servers (and you can't say Cisco engineers don't understand networking, now, can you?). Cisco's worldwide printing services now run on Linux.

* Digital Domain - Visual Effects Supercomputing - Digital Domain is a major visual effects studio. In particular, they did the visual effects for Appolo 13 and Titanic. The effects for Titanic were particularly demanding, too demanding for their SGI Inigos, and would have normally required a supercomputer costing millions. Digital Domain was able to do the job on an inexpensive Linux cluster instead. - Article -

* Ernie Ball Inc. - Entire Operation - Ernie Ball was one of those unfortunate companies turned over to the BSA (Business Software Aliance) by someone with a grudge. While few "infractions" . There's hardly a small business anywhere that has all the paperwork together for their software, and while few "infractions" were found, that was enough to be very costly. Ernie Ball decided this would never happen again and made a very successful migration to Linux. - Article -

* Garden Grove California, City of - major operations - The City of Garden Grove began moving operations to Linux in 1995 with central data systems running Samba and the Pick database. The initial deployment was so successful and saved so much money the city has been gradually moving other operations to Linux, including some desktop systems. - Article -

* Google - Search Engine - The wildly popular Google search engine simply would not be possible without a customized version of Linux fit exactly to its needs. - Article -

* Just Sports USA - A fast growing chain (now 50 stores) selling sports items - All Stores, Back Office functions, Inventory and eCommerce systems run on Linux. All functions are integrated together using a PostgreSQL database. The eCommerce system runs on Linux / Apache Web servers and is also integrated with the inventory database. Postgre and Apache are also Open Source products. - Article -

* Kaiser Aluminum - Manufacturing Control - Kaiser, one of the world's largest producer of aluminum, aluminum sheet and foil, has chosen Linux for many applications on the manufacturing floor. It works side by side with Unix, Windows NT and specialty "real time" operating systems. - Article -

* Largo Florida, City of - City office desktop systems. - Largo has about 400 thin client workstations running the KDE Desktop from a Linux server. Database workloads were migrated from SCO Unix, AIX and Windows NT servers for a multi-million dollar savings. Largo figures its IT budget is about half that of other cities its size. Using thin clients provides a low cost, very low maintenance, uniform and easily administered computing environment for all city users. At peak, there are about 230 simultaneous users. - Article - Article

* Lawson Inc. (Japan) - In-Store Consumer Web Ordering System - Lawson, a giant convenience store chain (7,600 stores) in Japan, will be placing two Linux based computers in each store to implement it's new Web ordering system. The over 15,000 computers will be purchased from IBM pre-configured with Linux installed. - Article - Article -

* Mexico City - government of - Everything! - The government of Mexico City have concluded they can no longer justify the ever rising cost of Microsoft Windows when the cost of Linux software is very low. Linux has already proven itself in the city's motor vehicle licensing agency and in the Mexican school system. Money saved will be used in social welfare programs. - Article -

* Mobil Travel Guide - Major Consumer Web Site - This Exxon division found Linux ideal both from a cost/performance standpoint and for scalability as the division grows. - CIO Insight.

* Omaha Steaks - On-Line Commerce - Advertisements for this mail order company can be found in the back of most up-scale home oriented magazines. They were running their internal systems on an IBM AS/400 and outsourced their Web site, but they wanted to tie the on-line ordering directly into the AS/400. A cluster of Linux servers now runs the Web site and connects to the AS/400. - Article -

* Panasonic - Major Electronics Manufacturer - Panasonic's popular DBS business telephone system included a voicemail system based on Windows NT, but it was a bit pricy. To be more competitive in smaller businesses, Panasonic developed a system incorporating 1CTI's Linux based voice mail software. The Linux based system has been so well accepted by the customers the Windows based system is being discontinued.

* Raymour & Flanigan - Furniture Chain (50 stores in Northeast) - The store chain has trnsferred most of its servers to Linux, and is replacing Windows 98 PC with Linux based "thin client" workstations in its service centers. Inventory and other databases are now being migrated from Microsoft Access running on Windows servers to Oracle running on Linux. - Article -

* Royal Dutch/Shell - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - One of the world's largest petroleum companies, Royal Dutch/Shell could certainly afford the supercomputers traditionally used to analyze oil exploration data, but why do that when your competitors are using inexpensive Linux clusters to do the job. Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to set up a bigger Linux cluster than the ones it's competitors have. - Article -

* Tommy Hilfiger - Clothing Brand - Note: website designed by idiots won't let you in at all without Flash plug-in. The company is installing three Linux based portals running on IBM xSeries servers. The first provides remote access to data on the company's IBM iSeries (AS/400) datacenter computers. The second provides access for clothing manufacturers to designs and specifications. The third provides B2B eCommerce access to retailers and a company store for employees. Company officials say the Linux systems provide the required performance at a lower cost than any other platform. - Article -

* Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. - Dealer Communications System - Toyota is installing a Linux based system connecting all its car dealers to it's factory. This is a Web based system from the ground up, and will be handling 30 different functions including parts ordering, warranties, sales transactions and repairs.

A 30 dealer pilot roll-out was highly successful, extremely reliable, and easily maintained, so now the system will be rolled out to all 1,200 dealers. - Article -
* Travelocity - Travel Agency - Travelocity is the back-end system for the travel services offered by AOL, Yahoo and US Airways. It's Web site gets 11 million page views and 170,000 email transmissions a day. The system is being migrated to Linux and Java. - Article -

* U.S. Army - major military organization - The U.S. Army's Land Warrior program, the first stage of a far reaching battlefield information and communications system, leads a general move to Linux. The Army says that "Evidence shows that Linux is more stable". Apparently the Army has issues with Microsoft's "blue screen of death". - Article -

* U.S. Federal Courts - case management, case tracking, finance and accounting, probation and pretrial services - A support contract has been awarded (Nov-03) to PEC Solutions for migration of the Federal Judiciary to a Linux based system. = - Article -

* U.S. Postal Service - OCR Supercomputing - The Postal Service had declared itself an "all Windows NT" house, but you can't use NT for what it simply can't do - so they now sort all the bulk mail on over 900 Linux clusters scattered around the country (at less than half the cost of the next cheapest solution (and that wasn't NT either)).

The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system uses scanners that were already in place. The Linux system consists of 5 rack mounted PCs, one to handle the scanners and sorting equipment, and 4 to share the computational tasks.
* WesternGeco - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - IBM has built a Linux based supercomputer for analysis of seismic data. This machine is built from 256 IBM eServer xSeries. This is the second largest Linux cluster IBM has built for oil exploration, the largest being the 1024 xSeries cluster for Shell. - Article -

Source of above info.

2008-08-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

Well, seems China is indeed going to lead the world, while Canada falls further and further behind...Linux is not only being used in THREE HUNDRED Chinese universities and colleges, but current estimates are that 100,000 students PER YEAR are learning to use linux...the Chinese Ministry of Education has approved ELEVEN published linux textbooks!?!!...meanwhile, back in computer illiterate Canada...having seen the kind of ignorance being promoted by administrations...it's no wonder we are continuing to decline in terms of computer education. And are you giving away all of your rights to your photos?

2008-08-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well, here's a government that is doing something right for its people! :-) (i.e. moving to Open Office, etc.) An EXCELLENT read, and something to discuss with YOUR local politicians, schools, etc. And here is YAME (Yet Another Ministry of Education) that seems to be on the ball, listening to genuine experts. Rather unlike some Canadian Ministries, who are wallowing in the pockets of corrupt, illiterate bureaucrats/politicians.

2008-08-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Great article about an install fest for schools who TRULY care about children and education! :-) And apparently, at LEAST 11% of U.S. businesses are using Ubuntu linux!? So, I wonder what the percentage is including all the other versions of linux, such as RedHat, OpenSUSE, etc.? ;-) And yes, for millions of people around the world, linux is the Desktop! :-)

2008-08-10T07:07:00.001-07:00

Interesting update on the OLPC story! :-) And note of at least 23,000 linux computers in Phillipine schools! :-) A (Phillipine) government light years ahead of Canada (unfortunately for Canadians) in the area of computer education...And here is a general interest site with a variety of case studies of where linux is being used. :-)

2008-08-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ah, we do indeed live in interesting times...;-) And Ubuntu is targeting data centers, etc.! :-)
And people are learning that there is a much, much better way to use computers...;-), rather than the old-fashioned, out-of-date, illiterate MS propaganda that is dumbing down our education system. It's unfortunate that many schools (even high schools) insist on using MS junk, and that they are being far surpassed by even PRE-SCHOOLS and elementary schools, etc.! But hey, all those MS FUD 'experts' must be right about how linux is soooo hard to use, maintain, etc.?!!! And finally for today, an interesting interview with the author of Python, or have a look at some of the other programming languages.

2008-08-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

Read about a health clinic treating 25,000 patients a year, and apparently has the best healthcare IT system around, based on linux, and the ClearHealth software used by hospitals, etc., saving HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars! To keep up to date on healthcare IT systems in general, I recommend LinuxMedNews. Meanwhile, back in computer illiterate Canada...sigh...

2008-08-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today, a Guest Post by Heather Johnson, about tips for success in online courses. There are a number of other interesting articles for teachers and you can find links to a couple more in the Freedom links list (Greening classrooms and Learning Styles). And on a linux note, this fascinating article quotes some numbers about how quickly the linux kernel is progressing!

2008-07-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Yet another article on how linux is thriving in the business world! :-)
And our schools are NOT preparing our students for the future, if all they offer is MS. And here is a fascinating article on why a veteran Acess and Excel developer has switched from MS to linux, etc.

2008-07-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Todays news includes how Intel is gearing up support for linux...;-), for the next billion computers in the world, etc.! :-) And here is something to look forward to: Linux pre-installed, at major retailers, coming soon! :-) And here is a very interesting development in the patents area...:-) And looks like Europe is moving more and more of its governments, schools, etc. to open source! :-)

2008-07-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

So, read an article by a teacher, about how Australia is joining the crowd of countries moving to one computer for each student...meanwhile, back in computer illiterate Canada...our idiots (politicians) in Ottawa are definitely corrupt. Talk about putting your citizens at a global disadvantage...
Meanwhile, here is an article about 3 healthcare centers who cut costs by more than 50 per cent using linux...
And here is an article about how businesses can reduce IT costs.

2008-07-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

So, I wonder how many millions of taxpayer dollars are being sent to one of the world's wealthiest companies, without ANY accountability? Secret deals with corrupt politicians? Appalling. Same thing in Canada, unfortunately, due to illiterate, corrupt politicians and lack of accountability. How much more damage/waste to school budgets will continue, due to secret MS deals with schools, governments, etc.?
Meanwhile, YAB(Yet Another Bank), and a very large one at that, has switched to linux...!:-)

2008-07-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

EXCELLENT article on the current appalling state of IP, etc., by a couple of Nobel Prize winners. Well worth the time to read. And for business people, here's a great intro from a business perspective, about moving from Vista to linux. And how many have heard the myth that 'linux is hard to use' constantly promoted by the proprietary software types?

2008-07-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

And the beat goes on...Citroen has moved to linux...Union Bank, one of the largest banks in the U.S. has moved to linux...(Nota bene: article mentions that virtually ALL of the Fortune 500 are using linux, etc.) And here is a nice summary of how things are moving along...and here's another with a few examples...:-) Savings in schools, government, health care, etc., using linux?...how about 30 MILLION euros (about $45 million!) shown in this article? How about getting the Real facts? ;-) Or this list of government, schools, businesses, etc. using OpenOffice? :-) And one has to wonder how many more linux computers there are out there that aren't publicized? Personally, I think desktop penetration is far higher than most people think, because a lot of that info is suppressed, discounted, ignored, not counted, etc.

2008-07-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

YASUL! (Yet Another School Using Linux! :-) Here's a forward looking school moving to linux, providing it for ALL of their students and preparing them well for the future! And are you the unfortunate victim of poor CIO/management? ;-) And are you STILL a slave to MS, who continues to dictate what you will use, when you will use it, how you will use it, etc.? Yes, MS has dictated that XP will no longer be sold, supported, (if you call outrageous prices for buggy software 'support', etc.), whether you like it or not. Well, you know what course you need to take to freedom! ;-) And here is an excellent article published today about the difference between Sir Bill and Sir Tim. Hats off to Sir Tim! :-) Finally, in honour (I jest, of course! ;-)) of Sir Bill, I'd like to recommend this cartoon.

2008-06-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

YASD (Yet Another School District) has seen the light and switched to linux! :-) Over 9,000 computers in all schools in Geneva, Switzerland are changing to Ubuntu, Open Office, etc. And saving hundreds of thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR by doing so, etc. Or how about this very large school district, San Diego, empowering ALL of its students (i.e. one computer to one student ratio) using linux? Or how about the state of Indiana, which is ALSO moving to a one to one ratio for all of its students, using linux? Even Macedonia is providing a one to one computer ratio to equip ALL of their students for the future. Well, the list of changes and schools that are providing a state-of-the-art education for their students is constantly growing. It's clear that some schools and administrations clearly have done their homework and are providing the best educational experience for ALL of their students, preparing them for the future, able to work anywhere in the world, able to use linux computers anywhere in the world, anytime, any language, etc. How about YOUR schools? Unfortuately, Ontario students are falling far, far behind, due to lack of access, etc.

2008-06-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

It's getting quite routine to see how linux is being used to run the most powerful systems on the planet...amongst other things...;-)
And I quite agree with this Technology Director concerning computer education. Are your students being prepared for the world, or just being brainwashed by a major corporation for lockin and continued enslavement? And here are some very interesting opinions of true world leaders in the computer world.
Here are a couple of examples of Canadian schools that are preparing their students for the future, rather than the past...
And here is an additonal article about the world's newest, fastest, best supercomputer, which runs linux, of course! :-)

2008-05-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

In Britain, London's subway card system is now running on linux! :-) (and apparently much better than the junk they were using before, and with very substantial savings as well! :-))

2008-05-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

The largest stock market on earth is moving to linux, entrusting $140 billion-a-day business to linux! :-) And ASUS motherboards (shipping about 1.1 million motherboards a month) will soon ALL include linux (instant start Splashtop)! :-)
Incidentally, about 300 million devices a year are shipped with linux...are YOUR students prepared for this?
And on a more interesting note, this site will keep you well-informed about M$ intentions for future enslavement, etc. It's unfortunate that many still insist on using M$ junk. Seems I'm not alone in suggesting that people should change to linux...:-) One wonders how many millions of tax dollars could have been better spent on educating our children, and how many millions more continue to be wasted. Want some examples of how switching to linux saves millions? Just google "savings using linux". Here's a sample of saving taxpayers millions. Meanwhile, back in Canada, the waste continues...sigh...

2008-05-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

A thought provoking article about human rights and use of computers, etc.

Seems like ex-Microsoft employees have seen the light and switch to open source! :-)

And here are yet another group of libraries have switched to open source in B.C. (the leader in open source in Canada, I believe...check out School District 73 in B.C. for example...using linux in ALL elementary schools, etc.! Amazing, and far ahead of anyplace else in Canada). Along with Userful (a Canadian company), yet another open source library company finding success with open source.

And for those of us who are already using linux, I recommend this humourous article as your pickmeup for the day. And a daily visit to this Canadian site for linux humour is also a must! :-)