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They *want* computers, just not these. According to Mr. Sinani of
the city government of La Paz, the laptops being purchased now are
of the "latest technology", while what the parents want are desktops
which, according to Mr. Sinani, are or "lower technology (?!?!). <br>
Mr Sinani further remarks that the Classmates "do not fulfil the
necessary requirements for the education of the students".<br>
<br>
As to the teachers, as usual their opinion has never been sought
officially, thought the Trostkist union is against computers, while
surveys made by the Ministry, whose result was not made public,
might indicate that the majority of the teachers want computers.
Teachers are one of the segments of state employees that have had
the biggest raises in salary in recent years. a big Operating
System corporation got paid fees for software, and out of that was
going, in "return", to "pay" the Ministry to train teachers. In a
personal note, it was interesting to know that this corporation was
aware of my presence within a company that was about to get that
contract, and was not pleased (I don't know if to be proud that my
FOSS credentials were recognized that way, or to be upset that they
have me in some sort of black list). As far as I know, that call for
bids was never completed, and those funds might be part of the huge
segment of the education budget that does not get spent (in a given
year, out of $35 million USD available in international aid for
*new* education projects, only $9 million were spent).<br>
<br>
FOSS people have "liberated" many Classmates. Interestingly, the
proprietary OS that had been loaded on them before being gifted to
important officials was the 30-day demo that needed a code to
operate further. That gave us a chance to educate several of those
people about what is better. However, the teacher's union is adamant
that if there be computers, they have to be Windows, while the
Ministry technology advisors and IT comunity representatives have,
almost by unanimity, recommended Linux. Even the representatives
from the Universities, that are pretty much wall-to-wall windoze,
have recommended that education computers be Linux. The result is
that machines are being handed out without any serious thought, and
pretty much immediately loaded with pirated software. We know that
Mr.Gates does not really mind, as it strengthens the grip.<br>
<br>
As to China, yes, they have no idea. Of course, these are the
decision-makers regarding education. <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 09/28/2011 10:11 AM, Alexandro Colorado wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAMK9kTjB4Hu76eOsN2eSUcBdKRgMXitAph6wS9tDTA_22wGevg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 10:05 AM,
Yamaplos . <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:yamaplos@gmail.com">yamaplos@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
Because they do not like the Intel Classmate computers the
City<br>
Government of La Paz gave them, on Tuesday Sept 27 the La Paz
union of<br>
parents of schoolchildren blockaded the main highway between
La Paz<br>
and El Alto, with one woman injured due to the tires being
burned.<br>
<br>
"they are made in China and designed to last only one year",
is said<br>
about these laptops in the linked article, with a picture of
one of<br>
the Classmate units.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://eldiario.net/noticias/2011/2011_09/nt110928/5_03nal.php"
target="_blank">http://eldiario.net/noticias/2011/2011_09/nt110928/5_03nal.php</a><br>
<br>
(some of us don't like the Classmates, but to go out and riot
because<br>
of that, I believe is a first)<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Wow I think there are a lot of pressure by the union who
see technology as more extra work to teach teachers in the
device, probably without extra pay.</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
(of course things are a bit more complex, because it mostly
has to do<br>
with who got "bought" by Wintel and who didn't get the sweet -
no one<br>
in the debate, on either side, cares much about deeper issues
of<br>
reliability, relevance, responsibility - I've met personally
the<br>
people in the City Government, and can vouch of this, alas)<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So this is just a wintel strategy like in Chile or will the
classmates have a Linux OS like in Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru
and/or Arentina.</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
(the mention of China as country of origin proves how much
knowledge<br>
is owned - at my last meeting there what seemed to be the
biggest<br>
argument against the XO by the BO Ministry of Education was
that in<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I am not sure what that means, anything against china? Do
they know everything else including Iphone, Macs, Dell,
blackberry and every other computer is made in china as well?</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
Rwanda they are used as home lights by people who have no
electricity<br>
at home - why that is an argument against, really beats me)<br>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I thought that was the argument for it, since there is no
electricity that's why the XO was a better unit since it was
designed with that in mind.</div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
_______________________________________________<br>
Lista olpc-Sur<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:olpc-Sur@lists.laptop.org">olpc-Sur@lists.laptop.org</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sur"
target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-sur</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<br>
-- <br>
<b>Alexandro Colorado</b><br>
<b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Open</span><span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Office.org</span></b> Español<br>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://es.openoffice.org"
target="_blank">http://es.openoffice.org</a><br>
</div>
<div><font size="1"><font color="#999999">fingerprint: E62B CF77
1BEA 0749 C0B8 50B9 3DE6 A84A 68D0 72E6</font></font></div>
<br>
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_______________________________________________
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>
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</blockquote>
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