On Wed, May 16, 2001 at 02:37:53PM +0200, Christian Selig wrote:
There is no point in having free software if no one knows how to use it. I think we should make some efforts leading to:
- Developing free software to be used as a tool in any level of education: primaire, high school, supérieur.
- Promoting the teaching of free software use. It can't be widely used if there's no widely spread knowledge on how to use it.
- Increase the general exposure of the next generations to free software. Let them all, not just geeks, know it exists, and they have enormous benefits to reap from it.
[FSFE PR][EN] "Free Software Foundation Europe aiming for more coordination between Free Software Developers."
Georg C. F. Greve press@fsfeurope.org 07 May 2001 20:06:23 +0200
Seems like I missed the paragraph you quoted.
Okay, so the goal is clear: Free software for education. You have mentioned three points:
- The first was the creation of general purpose applications for education.
*Tools* to be used *for* education.
- The second point is "promotion". Could you specify what you mean "promotion"?
Promotion of the teaching of free software use. Produce "know-how" on free software. Educate in the use of free software.
I meant anything that will have as a result (or encourage) classes where the subject taught is around "how to use XXX", where XXX is some part of a free environment. The same way there are classes teaching MS Office use, classes teaching LaTeX, LyX, AbiWord, Dia, Gnumeric, etc. The same way there are classes teaching how to set up and administer a Windows NT network, classes on how to set up and administer a network of boxes with free OS's (classes on SAMBA, NFS, NIS, security specifics to a free OS, ...)
Goal: The average guy that knows "how to use a computer" know how to use the GNU, not "only" the leading proprietary OS.
- The third is exposure of students to free software. I think this is conclusion of our actions, not an action itself.
I was beeing a bit more generic there, not only students. Have the things they want to run at home written, and let them know it exists. Even for students, the preceding point is what they study, what they "work" with. This point is what they have at home, what they "play around" with, what they have leisure with.