+ <item>
+ <title>Debian Edu interview: Yvan Masson</title>
+ <link>http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Yvan_Masson.html</link>
+ <guid isPermaLink="true">http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Yvan_Masson.html</guid>
+ <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2020 06:30:00 +0200</pubDate>
+ <description><p>It has been way too long since my last interview, but as the
+<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
+community is still active, and new people keep showing up on the IRC
+channel <a href="irc://irc.debian.org/#debian-edu">#debian-edu</a> and
+<a href="https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">the debian-edu mailing
+list</a>, I decided to give it another go. I was hoping someone else
+might pick up the idea and run with it, but this has not happened as
+far as I can tell, so here we are… This time the announcement of a new
+free software tool to
+<a href="https://framagit.org/Yvan-Masson/WhosWho">create a school year
+book</a> triggered my interest, and I decided to learn more about its
+author.</p>
+
+<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
+
+<p>My name is Yvan MASSON, I live in France. I have my own one person
+business in computer services. The work consist of visiting my
+customers (person's home, local authority, small business) to give
+advise, install computers and software, fix issues, and provide
+computing usage training. I spend the rest of my time enjoying my
+family and promoting free software.</p>
+
+<p><strong>What is your approach for promoting free
+software?</strong></p>
+
+<p>When I think that free software could be suitable for someone, I
+explain what it is, with simple words, give a few known examples, and
+explain that while there is no fee it is a viable alternative in many
+situations. Most people are receptive when you explain how it is
+better (I simplify arguments here, I know that it is not so simple):
+Linux works on older hardware, there are no viruses, and the software
+can be audited to ensure user is not spied upon. I think the most
+important is to keep a clear but moderated speech: when you try to
+convince too much, people feel attacked and stop listening.</p>
+
+<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu
+project?</strong></p>
+
+<p>I can not remember how I first heard of Skolelinux / Debian Edu,
+but probably on planet.debian.org. As I have been working for a
+school, I have interest in this type of project.
+
+<p>The school I am involved in is a school for "children" between 14
+and 18 years old. The French government has recommended free software
+since 2012, but they do not always use free software themselves. The
+school computers are still using the Windows operating system, but all
+of them have the classic set of free software: Firefox ESR,
+LibreOffice (with the excellent extension Grammalecte that indicates
+French grammatical errors), SumatraPDF, Audacity, 7zip, KeePass2, VLC,
+GIMP, Inkscape…
+
+<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian
+Edu?</strong></p>
+
+<p>It is free software! Built on Debian, I am sure that users are not
+spied upon, and that it can run on low end hardware. This last point
+is very important, because we really need to improve "green IT". I do
+not know enough about Skolelinux / Debian Edu to tell how it is better
+than another free software solution, but what I like is the "all in
+one" solution: everything has been thought of and prepared to ease
+installation and usage.</p>
+
+I like Free Software because I hate using something that I can not
+understand. I do not say that I can understand everything nor that I
+want to understand everything, but knowing that someone / some company
+intentionally prevents me from understanding how things work is really
+unacceptable to me.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, and more importantly, free software is a requirement to
+prevent abuses regarding human rights and environmental care.
+Humanity can not rely on tools that are in the hands of small group of
+people.</p>
+
+<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian
+Edu?</strong></p>
+
+<p>Again, I don't know this project enough. Maybe a dedicated website?
+Debian wiki works well for documentation, but is not very appealing to
+someone discovering the project. Also, as Skolelinux / Debian Edu uses
+OpenLDAP, it probably means that Windows workstations cannot use
+centralized authentication. Maybe the project could use Samba as an
+Active Directory domain controller instead, allowing Windows desktop
+usage when necessary.</p>
+
+<p>(Editors note: In fact Windows workstations can
+<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Buster/HowTo/Samba">use
+the centralized authentication in a Debian Edu setup</a>, at least for
+some versions of Windows, but the fact that this is not well known can
+be seen as an indication of the need for better documentation and
+marketing. :)</p>
+
+<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
+
+<p>Nothing original: Debian testing/sid with Gnome desktop, Firefox,
+Thunderbird, LibreOffice…</p>
+
+<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
+get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
+
+<p>Every effort to spread free software into schools is important,
+whatever it is. But I think, at least where I live, that IT
+professionals maintaining schools networks are still very "Microsoft
+centric". Schools will use any working solution, but they need people
+to install and maintain it. How to make these professionals sensitive
+about free software and train them with solutions like Debian Edu /
+Skolelinux is a really good question :-)</p>
+</description>
+ </item>
+
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