On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Hugo Osvaldo Barrera <h...@osvaldobarrera.com.ar> wrote: > On 20/01/11 22:47, Andres Perera wrote: >> On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Predrag Punosevac >> <punoseva...@gmail.com> wrote: ... >>> All my desktops and laptops run OpenBSD. As a matter of fact the >>> desktops and laptops of all my students also run OpenBSD:-) It is >>> mandatory! >> >> Ignoring that I have a hard time believing that, I've had to deal with >> your type before, and I didn't like it. The teacher wanted me to >> install Windows so that I could learn Excel, all of this being part of >> the introduction to programming class. >> >> Really need to focus on the content instead of the tools, specially if >> you're supposed to be a respectful person being paid to teach. > > It's actually the same; FORCING people to use an OS, be it freer or not, > is basically the same idea; if you FORCE them to use it, it's not freedom.
Huh. Do not confuse freedom with education. Imagine you're teaching a junior/senior level course about OSes, along with other courses or duties as part of a normal course and duty load. You understand that theory without practice is hollow, so you desire to require some practice of your students. As part of your course, you require your students to demonstrate OS understanding by at least *attempting* to make a change to an OS. What range of OSes do *you* accept as the target of that? A specific OS used in lecture and discussion for the class? Any of several OS mentioned in lecture for the class? Any OS to which you and the student can run and legally view and modify the source? Any OS to which you and the student can legally view and modify the source? Any OS which is "still in active development", for some definition of that phrase? Any OS to which the student can obtain source during the term (regardless of whether you can legally view it)? (Where do the following OSes fall in that list: Linux, OpenBSD, DragonflyBSD, SunOS, AIX, OS/360, Sprite, V, L4. At one of the colleges I worked at, some of the students were officially interns with IBM for a project that they were not to disclose. A submission from them would have been interesting...) Care to make an estimate for how long it will take you to evaluate the student submissions, *PER OS*? Philip Guenther
