Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

High school student gets detention for using Firefox
TechRepublic ^ | Dec. 17, 2007 | Jay Garmon

Posted on 12/17/2007 11:41:53 AM PST by twntaipan

firefox_eats_ie.jpgLast week, a student at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania was given detention for using Firefox on a school computer. Quoted below is the key explanation from the official detention writeup:

“Today in class [name] had a program launched called Foxfire.exe. I had told [name] to close the program and to resume work but he told me that is was just a different browser and that he was doing his work. I had given him two warnings but he insisted that it was just a ‘better’ browser and he wasn’t doing anything wrong. I had then issued his detention.”

I’m sure whether I should laugh or cry. It says so much about the state of technical education, respect for authority, what passes for civil disobedience and–of course–the all-consuming corporate hegemony of Microsoft. We live in a strange world.

Once again, hat tip to my buddy Lizard for the heads up.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: firefox; idiocy; marines; microsoft; microsoftnazis; mozilla
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-147 next last
To: AU72

Ain’t that the truth?


121 posted on 12/17/2007 3:05:39 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: CholeraJoe

You obviously have a good IT department.


122 posted on 12/17/2007 3:08:05 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: imahawk; Still Thinking

In general terms, how did you come up with the idea for your business?


123 posted on 12/17/2007 3:08:10 PM PST by wideminded
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

Yeah. Of course, he could have done something really heinous, like cutting his meat with a knife, and could have been arrested for his trouble.


124 posted on 12/17/2007 3:10:24 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: Leroy S. Mort

The motive for creating the hoax would belong to Firefox supporters if you ask me. They’re trying to get their product’s name out and whip up some sympathy as being unfairly persecuted in typical environments. From the looks of the thread responses it didn’t work, even many firefox users were turned off.


125 posted on 12/17/2007 3:13:50 PM PST by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Thanks. I was away for a few hours and appreciate the updated information.


126 posted on 12/17/2007 3:13:56 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Wouldn’t it be a hoot if it turned out that the school’s IT department started this hoax?


127 posted on 12/17/2007 3:14:46 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: Still Thinking
What size drives did you have? I’m surprised you could reimage between classes.

Actually, it can be extremely fast, using either an image on a hidden partition on the hard drive, or if all the systems are identical, using multicasting (as long as you don't have any Dell switches on your network, because you'll wind up with broadcast storms).

From start to finish, it can take less than 7 minutes.

Policy based imaging can be your friend - Zenworks from Novell is my personal favorite in Windows environments, although for single computers, it's hard to beat Ghost.

Mark

128 posted on 12/17/2007 3:29:08 PM PST by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: Still Thinking
What size drives did you have? I’m surprised you could reimage between classes.

Actually, it can be extremely fast, using either an image on a hidden partition on the hard drive, or if all the systems are identical, using multicasting (as long as you don't have any Dell switches on your network, because you'll wind up with broadcast storms).

From start to finish for a basic system, it can take less than 7 minutes.

Policy based imaging can be your friend - Zenworks from Novell is my personal favorite in Windows environments, although for single computers, it's hard to beat Ghost.

Mark

129 posted on 12/17/2007 3:30:01 PM PST by MarkL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: twntaipan

I suppose my school’s pretty laid back. In our comp class, we can pretty much do anything so long as we get our work done. I mean, Halo and several other games are installed on all of our computers, the teacher knows about it, and he actually installed it. We play the games and do whatever. If we waste too much time, we get bad grades. Simple.

Me thinks the teacher was either ignorant or a bit over zealously bureaucratic.


130 posted on 12/17/2007 3:46:27 PM PST by onja ("The government of England is a limited mockery.") (France is a complete mockery.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: onja

It turns out this was a hoax.


131 posted on 12/17/2007 4:01:08 PM PST by twntaipan (To say someone is a liar and a Democrat is to be redundant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies]

To: Osage Orange

good point - would the student be a ‘tax-payer’ then? or just the dependent of a possible tax-payer?


132 posted on 12/17/2007 4:14:33 PM PST by SoftballMominVA (Never wrestle with a pig; he wants to get dirty anyway.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: dmz

That’ll knock the buzz right outta you. Don’t you think a whip would have felt better?


133 posted on 12/17/2007 5:02:27 PM PST by jwh_Denver (Free Republic All Huck, All The Time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Golden Eagle; ShadowAce
> The motive for creating the hoax would belong to Firefox supporters if you ask me. They’re trying to get their product’s name out and whip up some sympathy as being unfairly persecuted in typical environments...

OH NOEZ!! IT'S THE OPEN SOURCE CONSPIRACY!! IT'S THE COMMUNISTS WHO DON'T LIKE MICROSOFT!! OMG OMG OMG!! EVERYBODY RUN!!!

C'mon GE, lighten up. Some kid who happens to hate IE probably decided to go up against the teacher, caught hell for disobeying directions, and decided to get even on the internet with a hoax.

Firefox's name is plenty "out", and no Firefox supporter would intentionally launch such an inane stunt anyway; as you correctly pointed out, it's not very effective.

Seriously, GE, they're not -ALL- out to get you... just us ;-)

134 posted on 12/17/2007 5:05:04 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 125 | View Replies]

To: twntaipan

Ah. My apologies to the teacher for any undue criticism.


135 posted on 12/17/2007 5:28:04 PM PST by onja ("The government of England is a limited mockery.") (France is a complete mockery.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 131 | View Replies]

To: wideminded

In my case, I just started as a side business doing the same thing I did during the day, but for companies small enough not to hire an inside person. And I built the stuff instead of just designing it like I did during the day. Caught on, and I started doing it as a full time gig.


136 posted on 12/17/2007 5:31:04 PM PST by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 123 | View Replies]

To: dayglored

Don’t worry, we know what it is, not like we’re not used to the constant open source marketing threads like this distracting from more interesting and important articles on this site. Shot down like normal, too.


137 posted on 12/17/2007 5:50:26 PM PST by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies]

To: Golden Eagle
> ...the constant open source marketing threads like this distracting from more interesting and important articles on this site...

If you find them dull and unimportant, that's fine -- please do us all a favor: save your time and typing, and ignore them. Your comments typically add nothing substantive to the discussion, so we're all better off if you pay the open source threads no mind. Now wasn't that easy?

138 posted on 12/17/2007 6:07:54 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 137 | View Replies]

To: dayglored

Most people do ignore them, not only because they are relatively unimportant, but they are typically filed with misinformation. But I like pointing it out.


139 posted on 12/17/2007 6:15:14 PM PST by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: Golden Eagle

If the kid went to to teacher to no avail its ok to then go to the admins, there does need to be respect throughout the process..


140 posted on 12/17/2007 6:20:44 PM PST by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-147 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson