[tsycho]

>> For example, what is the goal of providing computer to poor rural students? Is it to make them computer proficient or Microsoft Office proficient?

I am no Microsoft supporter, but you have asked an important question here: If the long-term goal is to teach them Office, so that they can do administrative tasks etc. at their future workplaces (which are probably running Office2k on WinXP, based on my [anecdotal] observations), then Windows+Office training might actually be useful to them. Not everyone is being trained to become a programmer.

[127001brewer]

Not everyone is being trained to become a programmer.

Why do you assume using Linux means you are training to be a programmer?

Personally, I have installed Ubuntu Linux on friends' "old" laptops that have gotten "too slow" for Windows upgrades. Instead of being thrown out, these machines are still being used for common tasks such as internet browsing and e-mailing.

Ideally, a non-profit - if there isn't one already - could install a Linux distribution on an "older" machine and give those to low-income students in the States. (How often do government agencies cycle through machines? What happens to those old machines?)

[voyvf]

> Why do you assume using Linux means you are training to be a programmer? > Personally, I have installed Ubuntu Linux on friends' "old" laptops that have gotten "too slow" for Windows upgrades. Instead of being thrown out, these machines are still being used for common tasks such as internet browsing and e-mailing.

I'll vouch for this. My wife uses Xubuntu, and she's an accountant. There was a period of learning for her, but then again, part of that was due to the fact that one can automate just about anything via cron. (:

[saturdaysaint]

Would learning on Open Office and/or Google Docs really set them behind? The document metaphor is identical, all the core functions are the same. Learning on free/open document software would have real practical advantages - if their family got a cheap pc or laptop, they'd immediately be able to exchange files with their families and train them without added expense.

[technoslut]

>Would learning on Open Office and/or Google Docs really set them behind?

More likely than not. It's not hard to confuse people when different UI's are involved.

[oakgrove]

It is not the government's job to train a generation of school children to slavishly conform to a particular proprietary product. Teach them how to operate a word processor not how to click the icons in Word which, by the way, will be in a new place by the time they get of age to actually get a job.