Some REAl general thoughts on the KDE-EDU world

[Wolfgang Romey]

Am Samstag, 29. März 2014, 08:15:07 schrieb Carl:

> These issues are important. And they will become more so as time proceeds.

I have longstanding expierience in the education sector, having been working 
in the formation of teachters since 1978 and trying to make Free software 
being part of it since 1991.

I see, that teachers, who want to use digital technology in education, are 
changing from desktop pc and laptops to tablets and smartphones, beeing proud 
of that, which means they are saying goodby to selfdetermination and hello to 
surveillance and closed software, which may be cost free.

And most important: This is not KDE software.

> In my view, the KDE Community could be a leader in this effort. And the KDE
> e.V. Board could be a leader of the KDE Community on this subject. For
> several reasons, I doubt that either of these things will happen.
> 
Yes, this should be the case.

> 
> The lack of mobile hardware is a serious threat to free and open technology.
> It is a more serious, existential threat to KDE. The original 1996 proposal
> for KDE included:
> "The idea is to create a GUI for an ENDUSER. Somebody who wants to browse
> the web with Linux, write some letters and play some nice games."
> 
> When KDE software can be installed on more-or-less any personal computer
> hardware, this goal is viable. With closed/proprietary tablets and smart
> mobile devices being the only option, KDE is irrelevant to a significant and
> growing number of users.
> 
That is what I observe. This is sad, especially as there is the chance that 
there could be hardware which is cheaper for the pupils and more sustainable.


> Other
> responses have ranged from nothing to outright antagonism. That's
> surprising.
> 

I am very interested in the "outright antagonism". One could learn from that.


> I also accept how things are, and I'm not willing to attempt to
> singlehandedly change the culture and trajectory of KDE. 
Maybe you don't have to do it singlehanded. :-)

Wolfgang

-- 
Wolfgang Romey

 Anhänge bitte nur in offenen Formaten wie z.B. die OpenDocument-Formate 

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