[OLPC-Peru] [Sur] Windows en OLPC XO Peru

[Walter Bender]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Daniel Ajoy <da.ajoy en gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:19:34 -0500, Walter Bender <walter.bender en gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I don't understand the point you are trying to make re Java and Flash.
>> If the MoE thinks it is important, they are welcome preinstall these
>> tools regardless of Windows vs Linux. But you raise it as an issue in
>> a discussion about Windows on the Laptop, as if it is an advantage to
>> running Windows.
>
> My point is:
>
> * If teachers consider having YouTube and applets educationally valuable (In this discussion list teachers don't ask much but one of the few things that they have asked for is YouTube. I personally don't think that YouTube is very educationally valuable. )
>
> * And if the Windows laptops come ready for YouTube and applets (versus current Sugar laptops that don't come ready for YouTube and applets)
>
> then that is a plus for the Windows laptops.

The fact that the current Sugar laptops "don't come ready for YouTube
and applets" is a local choice, not one inherent in the system, so to
argue that one should switch to Windows laptops for something readily
available on *any* laptop seems a bit of a stretch.

>> And again I ask, what are great tools that are missing in the
>> GNU/Linux world we should be making available?
>
> I think the Linux world has great tools, even *enough* great tools.
>
> Eg. the Linux world has many spreadsheets. Are they available for the laptop?

Dan Bricklin, the inventor of the spreadsheet has built a spreadsheet
for Sugar. Also, you can run gnumeric inside the X Activity (I am
testing it right now).

>> How will the
>> freedom to appropriate they learning experience and learning platform
>> impact their long-term opportunities?
>
> I don't see how children working with windows laptops will be less free to appropriate their learning experience, except that the Sugar laptops have peer to peer chat and (some kind of) sharing out of the box.

Perhaps if the Sugar environment, which includes not just sharing and
chat, but a model of discovery and appropriation as a fundamental
component--we chose Python as a base language so that the teachers and
children would be able to appropriate all aspects of the platform.

Transparency is empowering. Free and open-source software (and
content) gives children—and their teachers— the freedom to reshape,
reinvent, and reapply. I don't see how a Windows-based platform could
ever achieve this: it goes against the culture.

-walter