There is a certain cross-over between the
+
Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
+ +I'm a South-African free software geek who lives in Cape Town. My +days vary quite a bit since I'm involved in too many things. As I'm +getting older I'm learning how to focus a bit more :)
+ +I'm also an Edubuntu contributor and I love when there are +opportunities for the Edubuntu and Debian Edu projects to benefit from +each other.
+ +How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?
+ +I've been somewhat familiar with the project before, but I think my +first direct exposure to the project was when I met Petter +[Reinholdtsen] and Knut [Yrvin] at the Edubuntu summit in 2005 in +London. They provided great feedback that helped the bootstrapping of +Edubuntu. Back then Edubuntu (and even Ubuntu) was still very new and +it was great getting input from people who have been around longer. I +was also still very excitable and said yes to everything and to this +day I have a big todo list backlog that I'm catching up with. I think +over the years the relationship between Edubuntu and Debian-Edu has +been gradually improving, although I think there's a lot that we could +still improve on in terms of working together on packages. I'm sure +we'll get there one day.
+ +What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?
+ +Debian itself already has so many advantages. I could go on about +it for pages, but in essence I love that it's a very honest project +that puts its users first with no hidden agendas and also produces +very high quality work.
+ +I think the advantage of Debian Edu is that it makes many common +set-up tasks simpler so that administrators can get up and running +with a lot less effort and frustration. At the same time I think it +helps to standardise installations in schools so that it's easier for +community members and commercial suppliers to support.
+ +What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?
+ +I had to re-type this one a few times because I'm trying to +separate "disadvantages" from "areas that need improvement" (which is +what I originally rambled on about)
+ +The biggest disadvantage I can think of is lack of manpower. The +project could do so much more if there were more good contributors. I +think some of the problems are external too. Free software and free +content in education is a no-brainer but it takes some time to catch +on. When you've been working with the same proprietary eco-system for +years and have gotten used to it, it can be hard to adjust to some +concepts in the free software world. It would be nice if there were +more Debian Edu consultants across the world. I'd love to be one +myself but I'm already so over-committed that it's just not possible +currently.
+ +I think the best short-term solution to that large-scale problem is +for schools to be pro-active and share their experiences and grow +their skills in-house. I'm often saddened to see how much money +educational institutions spend on 3rd party solutions that they don't +have access to after the service has ended and they could've gotten so +much more value otherwise by being more self-sustainable and +autonomous.
+ +Which free software do you use daily?
+ +My main laptop dual-boots between Debian and Windows 7. I was +Windows free for years but started dual-booting again last year for +some games which help me focus and relax (Starcraft II in +particular). Gaming support on Linux is improving in leaps and bounds +so I suppose I'll soon be able to regain that disk space :)
+ +Besides that I rely on Icedove, Chromium, Terminator, Byobu, irssi, +git, Tomboy, KVM, VLC and LibreOffice. Recently I've been torn on +which desktop environment I like and I'm taking some refuge in Xfce +while I figure that out. I like tools that keep things simple. I enjoy +Python and shell scripting. I went to an Arduino workshop recently and +it was awesome seeing how easy and simple the IDE software was to get +up and running in Debian compared to the users running Windows and OS +X.
+ +I also use mc which some people frown upon slightly. I got used to +using Norton Commander in the early 90's and it stuck (I think the +people who sneer at it is just jealous that they don't know how to use +it :p) + +
Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?
+ +I think trying to force it is unproductive. I also think that in +many cases it's appropriate for schools to use non-free systems and I +don't think that there's any particular moral or ethical problem with +that.
+ +I do think though that free software can already solve so so many +problems in educational institutions and it's just a shame not taking +advantage of that.
+ +I also think that some curricula need serious review. For example, +some areas of the world rely heavily on very specific versions of MS +Office, teaching students to parrot menu items instead of learning the +general concepts. I think that's very unproductive because firstly, MS +Office's interface changes drastically every few years and on top of +that it also locks in a generation to a product that might not be the +best solution for them.
+ +To answer your question, I believe that the right strategy is to +educate and inform, giving someone the information they require to +make a decision that would work for them.
+