Re: Kids Games and Linux

[Robert Hopcroft <hopcroft@uswest.net>]

Jeffery Douglas Waddell wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Doug Loss recently introduced me to the SEUL-EDU list.  I was not aware of
> your efforts in the educational field and look forward to working with as
> many of you as possible on my own endeavor, see the attached rant/project
> announcement ;)

Jeff, I looked at your announcement. Following are some thoughts and
comments:
I see that you have set a very ambitious goal for yourself. Just a question,
I seem to read two different things. At one point, it sounds like your goal
is to develop games for kids but later on it sounds like your goal is to
develop more traditional educational software. I realize there is some
overlap but I would suggest that you write a mission statement (one sentence)
defining precisely what you intend to do. Given your situation, you want to
be very focused in your endeavor. Next, I believe that a well done
informative web page is essential to providing the world with an up-to-date
picture of your project. I don't know what your thinking is but I would take
a look at the direction of the gaming market, Sega's Dreamcast, Sony's
PlayStation II, the set top box, etc. The first two are powerful gaming
machines and my understanding is that Linux is the development OS for the
PlayStation. Also what is the difference between a PlayStation and a
LearningStation. In two weeks 500,000 Dreamcast's have been sold. It is well
known that games are a fast way into a hardware market. Next the general idea
of an appliance, set top box, whatever it's going to be called where the
application runs on a high powered multiprocessor server. Anyway give it some
careful thought. Now a thought for a project. I believe that it's going to
come down to one or the other, either information is freely available to
everyone or it is controlled by the few and access sold to the rest. Hardware
will be so inexpensive, it will be given away. In the local school system,
the students are required to understand the meaning of 'copyright'. However,
GPL and copyleft are never mentioned. In thinking about this situation, the
following thought crossed my mind as a way to fix the problem. A strategy
game called copyright/copyleft or perhaps GPL where the forces of copyright
and copyleft are pitted against each other. This might get the interest of
the Linux community and bring in help. It will also create controversy, get
publicity, get the message across, bring in more help.
Anyway, Good Luck

Bob