Re: Going To University? Leave Linux Home! It's Not Supported!

From: Paul Bramscher (brams006_nospam_at_tc.umn.edu)
Date: 08/25/05 

Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:47:30 -0500

flatfish wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:06:41 -0500, Paul Bramscher wrote:
>
>
>>Try attending the University of Minnesota? You can use student computer
>>labs for those apps which won't run on linux. No reason you have to buy
>>a Windows-only PC for home use. And no reason you cannot dual-boot either.
>>
>>http://www.google.com/u/umn?domains=umn.edu&sitesearch=umn.edu&q=linux
>>
>>Paul Bramscher
>
>
> That's the way it works at the University my daughter attends.
> She uses an iBook though and hasn't had any troubles.
> However, I can see where Linux users could have problems though because
> she brings home CD's all the time that only run under Windows or Mac.
> I've seen art and music training CD's that will not run. An interactive
> history CD and even a language CD.
> Most of these seem to use the standard file formats but the
> loader/frontend and navigation programs are Windows or Mac only so while
> in theory you can load say an image that is a jpg, it's really useless
> because it's difficult to locate it and you can't use any of the tools
> that are incorporated into the program.
>
> I've tried on occasion to make one or the other run under wine just for
> kicks and got nowhere.
>
> Like your school however, she can use the schools computers which I
> believe are a combination of Windows and Macs so there is no need for the
> student to have their own computer other than convience.
>
> Personally I see no reason to use Linux in this situation because it will
> be more of a millstone than an advantage.
> Use the right tool for the job.

Word processing, internet, programming, math, astronomy, physics, many
of the sciences, etc. are quite well suited to linux. We also have some
  specialized linux labs and server farms. I attended college and
earned degrees in both the liberal arts and computer science. For my
anthropology & history degree, I didn't need a computer for anything
except word processing and communications. An Apple //c sufficed for
the first couple years, MS-DOS and Win 3.1 for the last couple years. A
modern and full-blown linux distro with KDE or Gnome today would have
been a godsend when I was a financially-struggling liberal arts student.

The "job" you're referring to is shorthand for "how do you respond to
corporate monopolization"?

They're predatorial with regard to students. For instance, college
textbook publishers are notorious for introducing new editions regularly
at exorbitant prices -- because they have a captive audience. How each
of us responds to being kicked in the groin is a delicate matter.

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