Re: (FWD) Re: Fw: RE: [seul-edu] Comprehensive Student Management

[Michael Williams <michael@haywood.k12.nc.us>]

> From: Igor Tamara <j-tamara@uniandes.edu.co>

> I don't agree with you it's not simply the choice of an O.S., it' s a
> philosophy issue. If you show your students some moral values involved in
> the Free Software, you will be making a more human world, if your choice is
> another O.S., you MUST tell them about the social impact of this.

Who's philosophy and who's moral's? Our job is to educate not dictate.

> Are we choosing software simply because we need it? Are we not thinking
> about the world where our children will live? equality, open knowledge,
> cooperation, among others.  Are not those values more important than the
> software itself ?
>

I am choosing the best solution for the current situation. There are other
considerations such as functionality, support and documentation that have to
factored into the equation of software selection, just because it's "free"
doesn't make it best.

I am not a programmer, I can't make sense of any of the code I have and do use.
I use and advocate the use of open source software when ever and where ever it
is appropriate, because it gives me the opportunity to hire someone who can
make sense of the code and modify it for our needs and follow through with
support and documentation. I do not think that it has to be "free" as in beer,
but "free" as in freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom from the greed
that seems to guide the technology industry ( I am not implying that all people
in the IT field are greedy) and I'm not just talking monetarily, I'm talking
knowledge and information. Solutions are more than code.

Michael Williams
Network Admin/Tech
Haywood County Schools
http://www.k12linux.org