In Queensland Australia, ve haf vays.........
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Ridcully Aug 26, 2010 8:40 PM EDT |
Hah ! This is just a single educational institution. You ain't seen nuthin' till you get to the "Sunshine State". This is ultimate irony by the way: Queensland's motif is "The Sunshine State".......it's the one state of Australia that hasn't yet really explored solar power properly and is also a state that has blocked the light of open source software from reaching its students. In Queensland, the entire state schools system is locked onto Windows by the Queensland Government Head Office and its servers. Now get this: you cannot put anything other than Windows software onto any computer used by any child in the Queensland state schools, both in all primary schools and all secondary schools......so from 5 or 6 years of age until they leave school at about 18, these Australian children are indoctrinated in the Microsoft prison. The results are horrifying in both the knowledge of these students about computing in general, the costs to the State Educational System, and the un-necessary redundancy of computers themselves. Teachers cannot even use computers that have been written off due to age (and usually these are perfectly good and running machines) for FOSS/Linux software because they cannot be attached to the internet as maintained by the "powers that be" in Head Office.....if they did, the Ed Dept servers would instantly notify the "computer inspectors" who would then be disciplining the relevant teacher. Any school's IT person cannot even use OpenOffice because it isn't a Microsoft approved piece of software......."Thought police" aren't in the running here; Queensland probably teaches the post-graduate courses. An educational system is supposed to be there in order for the students to explore and understand while being taught the information they will need in later life. Queensland's Educational Department however, ensures that in computing at least, this will never happen. Despite the enormous moves by Linux into all aspects of daily life, the Queensland Education Department blithely assumes that Microsoft software dominates the entire world and no-one uses anything else. And they won't change either: Microsoft oriented staff dominate the IT Government advisory departments. |
| gus3 Aug 26, 2010 9:32 PM EDT |
Are you saying that even Cygwin is forbidden? |
| Ridcully Aug 26, 2010 11:31 PM EDT |
Spot on Gus3, even Cygwin IS forbidden..........I just confirmed this over the phone a minute ago with a Queensland teacher who administers a school's IT department......Cygwin is just not on......You have NO idea as to the incredible prison cell of Queensland Education IT.......nothing gets in or out to any school unless it is routed through the Education Departments servers and they in turn check it for any "naughtiness".......In my communications I have to be very careful as to the words I use, as otherwise my emails are blocked. Only proprietary software based on Microsoft Windows is allowed in the schools and that in turn must be approved by Head Office.......Like I implied, Microsoft has this state and its IT directorate sewn up and firmly in its back pocket. To give you an idea of just how much, the present contract binding the Education Department into Microsoft software was put together by a government employee who then became the State Director of Microsoft.......Well, well, well............ So, perhaps 500,000 students remain permanently disadvantaged in Queensland........Nice isn't it ? |
| gus3 Aug 26, 2010 11:35 PM EDT |
Words fail me. Well, not really, but I would get a TOS warning if I said what's on my mind... |
| tracyanne Aug 27, 2010 12:17 AM EDT |
I've set up Ubuntu computers for several kids in Queens land, there is nothing stopping them using Linux and OpenOffice.org. There were som rumblings from their teachers, but after I got in touch with the relevant oversight department and got the facts, which I passed on to the schools, there were no more complaints from the teachers. |
| gus3 Aug 27, 2010 12:29 AM EDT |
@ta: Could you provide more details about these exchanges? If you don't feel comfortable putting such details on public record, I'd be happy to hear about them in a private message. |
| tracyanne Aug 27, 2010 12:49 AM EDT |
@Gus, now you've put me on the spot, It was 3 years ago, that i spoke to these people, and can't remember the details, and the High School age girl is in her last year, The other girl starts high school next year, there was a boy as well from another family, but I've lost track of them. Both girls from separate families, their families are friends. They are doing all their work on Ubuntu Linux using Open Office.org. Interestingly I've just got off the phone to Cengage in Australia, and the Queensland cll centre assure me I don't have to have Windows to do their IT Certt 2 course, even though the stated requirements are IE6+ and Outlook (with the unspoken requirement of Windows). I was told Firefox is fine as is OpenOffice.org, and when I told the bloke I spoke to that I have Linux, he was quite excited, and went on to say I would have no trouble doing the course. Yes just about every Govt department is welded to Windows, costing the Tax payer huge amounts of unnecessary cost, but in most cases there i, currently, no impediment to accessing material using Linux, that I'm aware of. When I first calle Cengage, I spoke with a woman who didn't know an Operating System from a Web Browser, but when I insisted on getting the information I sort, she put me on to a bloke who just happens to also be a Linux user, coincidentlly. |
| Ridcully Aug 27, 2010 1:03 AM EDT |
@tracyanne......What you appear to have done flies in the face of everything I have been told and my source is a dedicated and very enthusiastic Linux user who is also the IT and Windows adminstrator for his school. He has constantly run up against the brick wall of Windows only and is certain that he cannot use Linux on his school computers. He does encourage the children to use Linux at home and is giving out copies of OO.org for the kids to use. With respect to the staff, I understand nothing is going to disturb their Windows prison cells. They don't want to know. A major part of the problem is that there is no incentive for schools to want to use Linux because of its cost savings because all schools are supplied via the Microsoft contract made by the Education Dept itself and therefore the software is supplied without apparent cost to the schools. As an added rider, the person above is in a high school. I approached the local primary school with the idea of setting up Linux on some of the school computers that were being made time redundant and was told that it was simply impossible as well, because they were not permitted to put anything other than Windows on their computers. So I hit the same brick wall from two separate institutions. One last and very important thing: was the school a public or private one ? If a private school, then it is fully understandable, but you seem to be indicating by the text that it was a state-run public school. If so, then it becomes quite intriguing from my perspective. I'd like to know how it was allowed. |
| tracyanne Aug 27, 2010 1:17 AM EDT |
@Ridcully, all public. |
| Ridcully Aug 27, 2010 1:24 AM EDT |
@tracyanne......Okay. Just in case I haven't made it totally clear, I am not discussing computers that are used by the children at home. The computer systems I am talking about are strictly those inside the school itself. The children may own their own computers and put whatever they like on them and that is how my high school friend is disseminating Linux. I know for a fact that he has been issued with a very expensive brand new laptop which sits in storage on a shelf purely because it is Windows installed and he can do nothing about it and will not use it. I tend to think you were amazingly lucky, or perhaps we do not know the whole story. Whatever it is, I'm very, very envious of your success. Do please pass on the "tricks of the trade".......just HOW did you manage it ? |
| tracyanne Aug 27, 2010 1:25 AM EDT |
@Ridcully, there is a difference between what the departments are forcing on the schools, and what is actually possible, in most cases. The guidelines are that the pupil be able to do the work, the schools and the department aren't allowed to stop them using what ever operating system they have on their computer, and must accept work so long as it's in an acceptable document format (.doc, .xls). Open Office.org has no trouble reading and displaying docx and xlsx, especially the complexity of the documents the students must deal with. The students who are going to hve problems are those from poorer families who use an older version of Windows and or MS Office and can't afford to "upgrade" to a newer newer version, not the Linux using ones. |
| Ridcully Aug 27, 2010 1:30 AM EDT |
@tracyanne...Absolutely. And as I said, this is what my friend is doing. The problem remains with Windows lockin on the "school owned computers"......but the kids are free and encouraged to use what suits them on their own computers. Remember however, that MOST computer admins in Queensland will not be Linux literate. So, the general problem remains. |
| Ridcully Aug 27, 2010 4:04 AM EDT |
Since he has given his permission, provided he remains anonymous, I would like to share with you all, the latest reply from my high school friend after he read the above comments. Very little has been changed other than some material which would not be applicable to the general discussion:Quoting: An interesting exchange indeed. The computers which are supplied by the Prime Minister Rudd money for "a computer for every student " scheme, are indeed very different from the ones that the school buys. The Rudd computers are branded as NSSCF (National Secondary Schools Computer Fund) computers and are treated differently in the accounting system and the school really doesn't own them at all. Yes, of course they are loaded with Windows and as such must be part of the Queensland Educational domain and only Windows can do that in the way they have been designed to work, ie using a process designed to work ONLY with Windows computers. These Rudd computers are remotely administered, well, monitored at least, as are all of the computers in the school, meaning the ones we buy for ourselves as well. So, even if the Australian Federal Government supplies computers to the children, we have vendor lockin with Microsoft........A Microsoft prison cell for Queensland children indeed, with no apparent key. Only the politicians can deal with this, and since most of them are computer iliterate and act ONLY on the advice of the relevant IT department, and that is stacked with Windows users, the status quo remains. A sad indictment of the IT world of the Queensland Education Department and the Government in general. |
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