AISD Teacher Throws Fit Over Student's Linux CD

Austinist ^ | Dec 10, 2008 | allenychen

[ari-freedom]

In an age where Windows and OS X reign supreme, it's no wonder that a local AISD middle school teacher became enraged after discovering one of her students distributing what she believed to be bootlegged copies of an operating system in class.

While teacher "Karen" was clearly operating under the assumption that she'd scored a minor victory for the Microsofts and other downtrodden software giants of the world, the particular operating system that she ended up disciplining her student for was a freely distributable version of Linux.

To wit, the following is part of an email that the teacher sent to the person who originally provided said Linux to the student

[JRandomFreeper]

One of the funniest responses on the blog site...

You are kidding arent you ?

Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows underneath it, at all ? 
As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and without any services ?

That sounds preposterous to me.

If it were true (and I doubt it), then companies would be selling computers without a windows. 
This clearly is not happening, so there must be some error in your calculations. I hope you 
realise that windows is more than just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from 
start to finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont realise this.

Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does not sound 
reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into existence overnight like that. 
It would take billions of dollars and a massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a 
huge amount of money developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows. Apple tried 
to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft.

Its just not possible that a freeware like the Linux could be extended to the point where 
it runs the entire computer fron start to finish, without using some of the more critical 
parts of windows. Not possible.

I think you need to re-examine your assumptions.

I laughed my arse off.

/johnny

[Laptop_Ron]

Well, gee, Unix has been around since 1969 and Linux since about ‘92 or so. Where do they get this “overnight” business? I guess it must seem like magic if the poster is technologically ignorant.

Yeah, some of those posts are just too funny.

[JRandomFreeper]

I don't know whether the guy was serious, or was laying on the sarcasm with a trowel, but it epitomizes some of the mentality out there. And it was funny.

/johnny

[Laptop_Ron]

Now that you mention it, I’m kinda having a hard time figuring out whether that post was sarcasm or not.

I think that failing to put /sarc tags on those things should be a misdemeanor. lol

[GladesGuru]

Actually, it is not my bar chart, at all. My sister is the psychiatrist in the family. Giving IQ tests is more in her line.

I’m an ecologist/educator. I do tend to work with the gifted and profoundly gifted, though.

You are totally on point when you listed other factors. All of them amount to the desire to actualize the potential that high IQ bestows.

However, minus the IQ, certain areas of human activity are simply not open to success, regardless of desire to achieve.

[smokingfrog]

funny story - linux ping

[padre35]

“However, minus the IQ, certain areas of human activity are simply not open to success, regardless of desire to achieve”

On that we can agree, stare at a higher mathematical problem all one would like, that won’t change a lack of fundamental understanding of how math works in solving it.

As for the mximizing discussion a hat tip to Einstein’s dictum:

“90% of life is showing up”

Indeed, life is ruled by those who simply show up.

[roamer_1]

It freaks some people out when I use a liveCD. Is there a Windoze equivalent out there? If so, it is probably pricey like the rest of MS.

Nope. Since Vista, MS FINALLY made WINPE available to the masses for free, if you know how to find it. A marvelous Live Windows platform.

There have been free after-market solutions for years though. I was running a home grown network aware ntfs read/write capable Mini98 bootable from CD to fix Win2k with. It ran out of a 32mg ramdrive and it's programs were unzipped to the ramdrive when needed, then deleted when done. Pretty slick, if I do say so myself.

Then came BartPE, the first to really mimic the WINPE (Windows Pre-Installation Environment), to be offered as a rescue platform, and has been the industry standard for years in the "free" offerings.

Right now I use a modified LiveXP from the Winbuilder family, which has terrific nic card support, great USB mass storage support, and I have got my one trusty USB wireless nic to work with it for those cases where the native nic does not work. Very good application support (lots of available apps) through the Winbuilder method, very good scripting support in the build process using AutoIt! for modularization/customizaton.

While I too have a Knoppix disk in my arsenal, and while my history here will show I am no Windows hornblower, to say that WinLive disks are not represented is just not so, and if you are not using them, you are really missing out.

[ASOC]

Not all teachers are condescending, arrogant and leftest bastards. Just too many.

Q - Who starts college with the lowest SAT scores but graduates with the highest GPA? (Yup, Ed majors)

My local (sorta) college had a Masters program (Voc Ed, at one time a legit branch) - had a course listed as

Better Communications - Bulletin boards in the classroom - 3 semester hours. MASTERS program...

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Mac 31.5%

And no Vista?

I would have to suspect bias in the sample. Don't get me wrong, I use an iMac myself but . . .

[Islander7]

25 years in health care has taught me that pure intelligence is not synonymous with ‘smart’. I have known, worked with and been associated with hundreds of doctors. All were brilliant, few had the sense to get in out of the rain, change the oil in the their car or manage the business aspects of their practices. Their private lives were disasters too.

[Islander7]

See my post #91

I’m at 92+ percentile.

Merry Christmas.

[midmoschmo]

This person would really not like ReactOS

[bigdcaldavis]

This happened in Austin. That whacko radio guy Alex Jones lives in and broadcasts from Austin. I guess I’ll have to listen to his radio show and hear him kook out over this and blame the Bilderbergers for the anti-Linux agenda. :-)