clair ching <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I think that people are used to the convenience of just having to > install M$ stuff because "everyone" has been using it for a while now. > Imagine having to re-learn some things. My mom hates re-learning > things especially those related to computers and apps. It's been > tough for me and my sister to handle her attitude towards learning to > use some apps on MS Windows and with certain differences in Linux > based apps... Well, that will be quite interesting.
Indeed. Another instance of popular choice severely constrained by the lack of choice. And even when there are choices, most humans take the easy path of ignoring open knowledge in preference to laziness and/or ineptitude of FOSS given their current situation. >> 2. Linux users in the Philippines is still limited, due to the >> conception that opensource is not as good as closed-source. Although >> this is gradually changing, the growth is still very slow. > It's a cultural thing, methinks. I have heard people say, "If it's > that expensive, it has to be good." And so some people think that the > open source is not that good. One thing that makes people wary to use > it is because it's free in more than one sense of the word. Same as the `diploma culture' most Filipinos adopt. Of course, by itself it isn't a bad thing, but we tend to stick to a particular side/brand/way even if we know its kinda wrong... >> 3. A lot of CS students don't have the patience to learn Linux, > I was in UP when Nemenzo started implementing the policy on using open > source apps. And this was true then. To mention Linux in class was > even worse in some cases. I took up certain electives and we had an > introduction to Linux. My classmates' reactions were quite varied but > most of them dreaded having to hear it, much more deal with the > change. Having not the patience to learn another operating system while trying to understand the fundamentals of computer science is an uphill battle. Even if it isn't Linux, at least knowing the ins and outs, both practically and theoretically, of a few different operating systems should be, at the very least, emphasized in CS courses. >> probably this is also due to lack of competent instructors. If you'd > Maybe that is another hindrance that is to be overcome. Which is probably best overcome once we have a better exposure of open documentation. Not only manuals and references, but intro texts and works into the philo of FOSS as well, that ought to be at the very least sold at a low price. A lot of educators might be nice, but with only half of exposure due to lack of having quality time to read and understand the fine documentation, is still a big pity ): >> 4. On the corporate side, moving to opensource is considered risky. In >> short, there is no one vendor to pin the blame on if anything goes >> wrong. ^_^ > They think of migration, training people, etc. aside from whatever > they have to do when things go wrong. However, I think that the open > source community is wonderful because people help out each other when > things go wrong. Besides, I see that maintainers are updating people > on forums and mailing lists, etc. so there shouldn't be much > difficulty with that. :) Yes, there shouldn't be, as long as FOSS company promoters can give the company a very clear picture of what FOSS can and can do for them. Really, this is not so much a problem to the promoters as it should be to the movers of the company, as they need to be keen enough so they don't just jump to using/supporting FOSS when in time they won't be able to handle it... > Maybe we should be more active in promoting initiatives with regards > to the usage of open source software ;) Incidentally, I was in SM > Carpark's Cyberone yesterday. One of the shops had a sign on their > walls which said that they install only Linux and Star Office. There > is a net cafe in Philcoa that plans to shift to open source soon. And had visited it. Very nice! There's also one in Harrison Plaza that has OpenOffice, though on Win98. They have some restricted shell running on top of Explorer (though I suspect very easy to break, given time) so I can't get Firefox or PuTTY, but there's Netscape and that's good enough. -- ZAK B. ELEP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- <http://zakame.spunge.org> 1024D/FA53851D 1486 7957 454D E529 E4F1 F75E 5787 B1FD FA53 851D -- Running Debian GNU+Linux testing/unstable. GnuPG signed mail preferred.
pgpXUbHzpzbHR.pgp
Description: PGP signature
-- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
