A little background. HeliOS has a foundation that takes abandoned and computers donated to it, and installs linux and other open source software on them and donates them to people who need computers. They operate in the black via donations and using such free software. (Yes Linux and other FOSS software are free as in beer.)
The story starts off with his sons teacher writing him:
…observed one of my students with a group of other children gathered around his laptop. Upon looking at his computer, I saw he was giving a demonstration of some sort. The student was showing the ability of the laptop and handing out Linux disks. After confiscating the disks I called a confrence with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.
[via Blog of helios]
EDIT: I just wanted to note that he has since written a follow up post to apologizing in a way for posting the story. Mainly because of how crazy it had gotten and some of the comments that had been posted. Please read the full note for the backstory.
I didn’t post the entire email that Ken Starks got, but I’ll suggest you go and read it if you want. My main reason to post this, besides pointing you to a worthy cause and an interesting story, was that I’ve run into this sort of thing before.
Trying to explain why something that is free is better then the expensive version they’ve always used. People computers that I fix at times are all virus ridden, and though I extol how nice Ubuntu is (All my computers except one are dual boot, and that one is only running linux). It comes down to people not wanting to try afraid, thinking it’ll be hard. Another thing is the number of times I’ve found McAfee or Norton taken over by Viruses and used to spread them, and after uninstalling and installing AVG they refuse to believe a free Anti-Virus could actually be better then the for pay ones. And explaining that there was a for pay version of AVG also didn’t seem to help. Instead it took them having it for a while before they realized it.
The same sorta goes for Ubuntu. It usually doesn’t take long though before someone realizes that they like it. Limitations are few to none and the fact that you can be running it for years without ANY issues is great. Plus the frst time it updates or you install a new piece fo software and it doesn’t require a reboot… You are left with a smile on your face.
Tags: Education, FOSS, Knowledge, Linux, Non-Profit, Support
