Debian Edu interview: Cédric Boutillier
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diff --git a/blog/draft/2013-skolelinux-jonathan-carter.txt b/blog/draft/2013-skolelinux-jonathan-carter.txt
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+Title: Debian Edu interview: Jonathan Carter
+Tags: english, debian edu, intervju
+Date: 2013-06-04 10:30
+
+
+Debian Edu and Skolelinux
+
+
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 and Knut 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.
diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html
index 6b0e624176..70ec190e90 100644
--- a/blog/index.html
+++ b/blog/index.html
@@ -19,6 +19,45 @@
+
+
+
5th June 2013
+
Here is a call for help from the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project.
+We have two problems blocking the release of the Wheezy version we
+hope to get released soon. The two problems require some with PHP
+skills, and we seem to lack anyone with both time and PHP skills in
+the project:
+
+
+
+- It is impossible to log into the slbackup web interface
+ (slbackup-php) using the root user and password. This is
+ BTS report #700257.
+ This used to work, but stopped working some time since Squeeze.
+ Perhaps some obsolete PHP feature was used?
+
+- It is not possible to "mass import" user lists in Gosa, neither
+ using ldif nor using CSV files. The feature was disabled after a
+ major rewrite of Gosa, and need to be ported to the new system.
+ This is BTS report
+ #698840.
+
+
+
+
If you can help us, please join us on IRC
+(#debian-edu on
+irc.debian.org) and provide patches via the BTS.
+
+
+
+
+
4th June 2013
@@ -835,40 +874,6 @@ for LEGO designers.
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-
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10th May 2013
-
I fjor sommer ble jeg
-gledelig
-overrasket over et oppslag i avisen Fremover om Narvik kommunes
-bruk av Skolelinux. Oppslaget
-var basert på et notat som besvarte spørsmål fra ordfører Tor Nysæter
-og rådgiver for skolesektoren, Petter Falkbu, om bruken av Skolelinux
-i Narvikskolene og konstnaden ved å gå over til Windows. For litt
-over en uke siden siden fikk jeg endelig bedt kommunen om å få innsyn
-i dette notatet, og det ble oversendt på epost tirsdag. Jeg fikk
-lagt
-ut notatet samme dag, og fikk i dag sjekket postlista til Narvik,
-der jeg fant notatet som
-sak
-2013/1023.
-
-
Notatet forteller at Narvik ville måtte betalt minst 9 millioner
-for å gå over til Windows på skolene. I tillegg dokumenterer notatet
-at læreplanens krav oppfylles uten problemer ved bruk av Skolelinux.
-Jeg anbefaler alle å lese de 10 sidene med gode argumenter for å kutte
-unødige utgifter på IT i skoleverket. :)
-
-
-
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