Sorry, I wanted to write a proposition of letter for this Dear professor and her hierarchy, but I didn’t find time this week-end to do it, and I’ll probably not have time this week. However, I’m thinking she has got the deserved publicity:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/15/helios_linux_texas_teacher/
http://br-linux.org/2008/desconfianca-de-pirataria-de-linux-faz-professora-colocar-alunos-na-detencao/
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/10/001236&tid=146

A word for teachers everywhere: Teach how to use COMPUTERS, not how to use Microsoft. But, oh, wait… Didn’t Microsoft maybe give that school (teacher?) ‘incentives’ to teach their software? hmm… maybe, just maybe…

I agree that if the student was not listening to the course while presenting Linux to his friends, he is to blame, but that’s the only thing he has to be blamed for. The rest is purely to be blamed on the teacher. She should be ashamed to maintain such a discourse without having tried the stuff.

It’s not possible that such a discourse exists! Not only today, but even at all (what’s this underlying racist idea that would authorize that poor people have bad software and rich one have good one)…

I can’t stay doing nothing in front of that. I’ll try to write a calm, cool and pedagogic answer to this person. However, I’ll need your help: 1. to get in touch with the person directly and 2. because I imagine this kind of people won’t care about the opinion of a French guy living in Brazil; the impact of USA guys would be greater, 3. my English is poor, 4. maybe a physical encounter/conference in the school to explain the basics of FOSS can help.

Also, I’d like to send the mail with copy to her hierarchy, because I can’t stand that she spreads so false ideas. She has to be stopped! And, has you propose, her whole school must be “put into the loop” and now help spread the truth. I would suggest, as a repair for her mistake, that she gives an assignment to the involved students in order that THEY present to their peers what FOSS is philosophically and legally, and also make some demos, because she apparently needs it too (as she ever compared the beauty of Compiz with respect to the very limited 3D in Vista’s ? http://www.youtube.com/v/lawkc3jH3ws and with what difference in hardware!!!).

More importantly, we need to put again the right ideas in the mind of the child (and his parents, friends, etc.): I’m sure this “Karen” has frighten him menacing him of legal pursuits… We must also enter in contact with the kid and provide him the means to discover truth and argue against this “teacher”.

Are there people ready to help me in that?

A first list of ideas of her that we have to contradict:
On a technical point of view:
-> Free (as a beer) software is not bad (see how M$ are so full of security holes)
-> Free (as a speech) software is not illegal (there’s also free art: music, pictures…!)
-> Free (as a speech) software can/must be redistributed (show her the FSF website/GPL)!

On a more general point of view:
-> M$ does not provide free, even old versions of its software, and even if it would do, we don’t want it (because it traps you into their system => open formats, etc.)
-> “and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them”. Yes computers have been designed to help people. So they should be there to do what THEIR USERS want. But, is she aware that it is exactly the contrary towards which M$ and the Majors are pushing towards with Vista’s “security” system and all the DRM stuff?

On a more societal point of view:
-> “This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer”. As she ever asked herself why this is the case (1. see M$’s lost trials for monopoly abuse with IE, 2. Office acts like a virus: if you use it, you oblige your friends+familly+collegues to use it, because of the closed protocols and file formats – see, again, M$ lost trials in the EU)
-> Poor people do not deserve worse software than rich ones (how can a *teacher* have such ideas in mind! She needs to be recalled the basics of the mission of a teacher/nation: sharing, support, equalities of chances, etc…)