On 01/21/2011 04:14 AM, Philip Guenther wrote: > 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*? >
I don't understand why they can't be evaluated in school/univerity/whatever computers, which such OS already installed, instead of their own. Regardless, I must admit, you make a good point, and on this, I must agree on this particular example :-) > > Philip Guenther > -- Hugo Osvaldo Barrera