If you guys are interested in hearing the IT directors Ted talk from 2014 here it is https://youtu.be/f8Co37GO2Fc
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That was only in the 90s. Now they have a vibrant ecosystem where they let students have full root access to there machines.
If things go wrong they just reimage.
Have full root access to my machine, still broke. What am I doing wrong?
You also need full root access to you bank’s machines.
If your not spending tons of money on vendor lock in you can spend it else where.
It’s a private school, not much you can do (also 0 tech budget ≠ broke)
Hehe if you’re REALLY broke you get “benevolent” corporate grants for things like cheap Chromebooks, so Google can write off a huge donation while vendor-locking school infrastructure and student mindshare into their “cloud services.”
There once was a school that ran Linux
“Not so!” cried so many cynics
Robert Maynard put Linux in
it made the cynics heads spin
so fast they ended up at the clinics
If you actually look up the school it is really cool. They literally give students full root access to there local machines and encourage learning. That is a bright contrast to the world of locked down Chromebooks and high surveillance
Oh man, I would have learned so much so fast by breaking stuff and having to fix it. It’s how I learned what I know now, just later. This is fantastic
The one rule (from what I read) is that students need a usable system for class. So you can’t experiment too much outside of a virtual machine.
You still have root but they politely ask you not to let experimentation get in the way of class.
That’s pretty cool yeah.
This just reminded me of a thing from my high school (many years ago). They had windows machines that were somewhat locked down, but I discovered a trivial way to bypass the restrictions on changing the desktop wallpaper. So naturally I set the background image to a screenshot of the desktop, and then hid all the actual icons.
On another timeline, the staff would have approached this with “Huh that’s clever. You fooled us and we thought the computer was broken. Please don’t do that, but also let’s channel your creativity somewhere useful.”
Instead I got a monologue about breaking things and was banned from the computer lab for a week. Soured me on school and such for a while.
You just got to be a bit more stealthy. When I was in middle school I figured out that I could completely bypass group policy if I unplugged the network cable at the right time.
When one of the school IT person questioned me I just said, I do not know why it looks like that. I also never shared my secret
That’s a nice find.
You just got to be a bit more stealthy.
Yep, but that’s not the lesson the school should be teaching, at least for it’s best interest. Fostering white hat attitudes would probably work out better. Instead I learned the authorities were idiots that can’t be reasoned with.
That is a very important lesson to learn early, because the same applies when you’re grown up.
There’s a school I’ve worked at that’s got somewhat old desktops running Ubuntu. I smiled when I saw it.
Yeah my university commons and lab computers had 3 options you could select before reserving one: Windows, OSX, and Ubuntu.
Anyone else find themselves singing this headline to the tune of The House of the Rising Sun?
I hate that it lines up so perfectly, and then is missing a single syllable following “linux”.
GNU/Linux
Stallman saves the day
I didn’t before but now I am glad I did
I went to an elementary school in California that was using Linux laptops circa ~2008, I have find memories of playing Super Tux after finishing my classwork.
Found your memories?
Anyway I too played SuperTuxKart. When I was in middle school I bought a computer for $3 at a garage sale and then shortly after installed Linux on it.
A nice read. A real good internal self-made infrastructure.
Give this guy a fucking medal
Honestly he deserves it. Just listen to his ted talk
I was going to link it but I can’t find it. Can you give me a hand with that?
A school? One? There’s one school? Don’t all schools use Linux?
In the US there’s a lot that use Linux via Chromebook, but you don’t get root access or even arbitrary command execution.
That would make the world a better place
“There’s a school in Wisconsin that is so underfunded that they only have very old computers and the person running it barely knows hat’s a computer and thus won’t ever create a budget or approve new systems. Furthermore this school is so irrelevant they aren’t even able to qualify for free software from Microsoft. A bored teacher saved the day and made the old computers somewhat useful by installing Linux on his spare time. Of course all of this doesn’t come for free, the current generation of students never used a computer at home, just mobile devices, and are being robbed of learning a valuable and required skill for any future job - basic Windows and Office usage.”
There, article fixed for you.
Sure basic windows and office usage is sure a required skill.
You don’t even use windows that much in any future job. You use the software solutions you are given as a wage slave. And most of them run in a browser.
Also cool that this school is unimportant for Microsoft. But for the students, teachers and parents its certainly ain’t.
You don’t even use windows that much in any future job. You use the software solutions you are given as a wage slave
So you’re assuming there aren’t “wage slaves” doing data entry on MS Office and also that 0% of those students won’t ever be managers or hold any other more high level job that does require those tools. So you must be against teaching financial literacy at school as well because “they won’t ever invest anything”. Great job, let’s keep the peasants illiterate in everything they actually need to climb the ladder.
You can learn Windows pretty quickly. Also this is much better than giving students locked down Chromebooks
Also this is much better than giving students locked down Chromebooks
Oh yes, but still can pose a problem. Imagine one of those students tried to apply for a backoffice job at a bank, they’ll most likely test the person’s Office skills and the student may not be able to compete the assessment and have an inferior grade to another one who always had MS Office at his school.
I’ve never ever heard of that happening. It was a problem 5-8 years ago but now its not expected.
Oh but it happens.
Because they can’t learn to put words and numbers in excel. How skillful do you think they’re gonna get from one semester in excel?
One semester in Excel you have time to learn how to use it for almost everything.
Good luck teaching middle schoolers how to use a pivot table when there’s barely enough time to teach the basics of Excel’s convoluted user interface.
Maybe they don’t give up that easily.
There’s OpenOffice and LibreOffice. There’s even Google Docs or Office 365, which run in a web browser.
Microsoft Office for Windows is about as useful as manufacturer-installed bloatware these days.
Except for the fact that it is what every major company out there uses lol
Wouldnt you keep them computer illiterate when you teach them exclusively how to use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office?
Also that’s a big jump to assume that I would be against financial literacy.
Wouldnt you keep them computer illiterate when you teach them exclusively how to use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office?
As I said on another comment:
Students can and should learn Linux / LibreOffice and can most likely do almost everything they need with it, however once they get into a job and the company uses MS Office they won’t be be able to pick the work right away and be as productive as their peers will be. Imagine one of those students tried to apply for a backoffice job at a bank, they’ll most likely test the person’s Office skills and the student may not be able to compete the assessment and have an inferior grade to another one who always had MS Office at his school.
I’m all for FOSS but we must be very responsible when it comes to what we expose young people to and how that may impact their careers on the long run. They should have exposure to Linux, LibreOffice and have a basic understanding of them but they shouldn’t be robbed of valuable jobs skills that may make a difference just because.
If you can only use a word processor because it looks like the one you have been trained on then you are computer illiterate. That’s not something a school should proliferate.
You aren’t wrong, but that’s besides the point. The point is that even if you’re decently computer savvy and you can switch around between programs you’ll always be better and faster at advanced features on the one you used more hours. If you say this never happens to you then you’ve never been exposed to a program for enough time to actually learn it from top to bottom.
Well that’s undeniable. But, coming back to this school, do you think that they could afford licenses for the latest MS Office and or MS Windows? No they would teach with one or more generations ago where things are laid out and function totally different.
So you get the same issues you are complaining right now and nobody gained anything.
Or, teach them both LibreOffice and Office 365. They’ll have more technical literacy by learning to adapt to new situations rather than relying on clicking this button here and that button there.
Did you even read my comment? That’s what I said.
Apparently, I did not. Or I might have replied to the wrong comment. Either way, my apologies.
a valuable and required skill for any future job - basic Windows and Office usage.
Not everybody is a data-entry drone. I have no use for it, and I have a technical career.
Also Libreoffice works just as well
Not everybody is a data-entry drone. I have no use for it, and I’m in a technical career.
Your manager, that most likely started his career as a tech person as most tech manager do, likely uses Office a lot and he certainly isn’t a data-entry drone. One day as you progress in your career you’ll too.
PS: whoever doesn’t understand this comment and downvote right away should really think about their life. If one doesn’t understand that a manager does need to be proficient in MS Office then you’ll never get there / have a very hard time.
There’s nothing that anyone can do in 2024 in the MS Office suite of applications specifically that I can’t find a third party or cloud equivalent of to do the exact same thing.
There’s nothing that anyone can do in 2024 in the MS Office suite of applications specifically that I can’t find a third party or cloud equivalent of to do the exact same thing.
This isn’t true. It might be close to true for a lot of situations, but not true at all. And the issue here isn’t that there isn’t an alternative, those students can learn LibreOffice and do almost everything they need with it, however once they get into a job and the company uses MS Office they won’t be be able to pick the work right away and be as productive as their peers will be. Imagine one of those students tried to apply for a backoffice job at a bank, they’ll most likely test the person’s Office skills and the student may not be able to compete the assessment and have an inferior grade to another one who always had MS Office at his school.
I’m all for FOSS but we must be very responsible when it comes to what we expose young people to and how that may impact their careers on the long run. They should have exposure to Linux, LibreOffice and have a basic understanding of them but they shouldn’t be robbed of valuable jobs skills that may make a difference just because.
Most young people are unfamiliar with Office. Once the older generation retires Office is probably going to be dead.
No it won’t. What you see is that younger generation (millennials that actually know a bit of Office) getting slandered as soon as they’re promoted and required to use those tools. They eventually learn them and are productive but it takes more time than it should. Precisely because of what you said is the reason why those generations should be exposed to said software - after all some of them will be managers, layers and other types of professionals that will keep using those tools.
What will they use Word and Excel for that can’t be replaced by docs and calc? We already have automated time tracking software.
Since when does a manager need office? This isn’t 1998
Not to mention most of the younger generation grew up with Chromebooks.
Useless manager detected
You are already drowning in downvotes. Certainly managers are going to have to use office software. I do not think that using Microsoft Offce in school makes it any more likely that you will become a manager.
Most managers are really not that great at using Ofice and, what they know, they learned on the job. Learning to use PowerPoint is more about leaning how to present and communicate in general. A course on the software is not going to teach that and knowing how to use LibreOffice Impress gives you more than enough expertise. In terms of presentation, the marketing department typically dictates the look and feel. You just need to populate a template. None of the executives I know use anything advanced out of Microsoft Word. If you can “track changes”, you can collaborate on documents. Really the only application that managers are likely to have any specialist knowledge around is Excel. I will admit that knowing Excel specifically vs other spreadsheet applications is useful. Being able to do a VLOOKUP, a pivot table, or even just proper multi-sheet formulas is useful. Even just being able to format effectively can make a difference in how professionally you come across. Honestly though, the Internet is littered with $19 Excel courses. Take one.
You are already drowning in downvotes.
So what? I’m not a politician running a politically correct popularity contest and saying what people want to hear to win votes. I’m just stating what is omitted from the article and what is a fact as you eventually got there:
Really the only application that managers are likely to have any specialist knowledge around is Excel. I will admit that knowing Excel specifically vs other spreadsheet applications is useful. Being able to do a VLOOKUP, a pivot table, or even just proper multi-sheet formulas is useful
Honestly though, the Internet is littered with $19 Excel courses. Take one.
Yes, and will a gen-Z take them? Isn’t just easier to gradually expose them to those tools so they learn naturally without the pressure of getting to some job?
basic Windows and Office usage
lol
Just like people are constantly using Fax machines
They could upgrade at this point but it doesn’t make any sense. This is just one article. There literally give laptops to all the students and then allow they students to have full access.
Most of there IT department is also run by students.
Why put this much effort in trying to getting banned? Is making up a story based on the headline a creative writing exercise for you?
I’m not sure why you would ban someone for having an opinion. I don’t agree with it but they don’t deserve to be censored.
Just making shit up for ragebait is trolling my friend, it’s not having an opinion. What he posted has no relation to the interview.
I’m not sure what the benefit of posting something to try to get down votes. The person obviously has a opinion that is unpopular. I’ve heard the Office argument before from others.
Ahahaha, I like to think about all possible sides of a situation.
What about this situation where kids don’t have enough knowledge to give informed consent to being spied on and profiled for the rest of their adult lives?
Once again, people should learn both and be aware of the differences as I said somewhere.
That part was good… The pointless Microsoft dick sucking ruined what could have been an insightful point though
uninteresting disingenuous troll
You know it’s bad when you recognize the user name.
Good! Teach them useless pirate OS things so they don’t take away my job! /S
Or that :P
