Edubuntu Released

Since my dealer – Alec – got me hooked, I can’t get away from Ubuntu fever.

Of the several GNU/Linux “distros” I’ve tried, Ubuntu has been by far the smoothest encounter with 100% freedom that I’ve gotten my hands on. I’m already being tortured by so many crashes and NIS/NFS detection failures (upon bootup with my clients) with my school fileserver using FEDORA Core 4 – that I’m at my wits end.

However, the Ubuntu team seems caught in a “deer/headlight” state with their inconsistent choice to either acknowledge freedom or frivolize it. That is, for the most part the Ubuntu team have erroneously chosen to tag their distro as “Linux for human beings” instead of “GNU/Linux for human beings”. However, with the latest release, their FAQ states that Edubuntu is a “GNU/Linux” distribution.

Think the name is inconsequential?

Fact is, the “Linux” kernel would be nothing without GNU. And GNU is about freedom. Not in the George Bush Administration sense of the word, but REAL, 100% genuine freedom. Linux is merely 1 quarter of 1 percent of the code that runs on a typical, complete free operating system. A crucial part of the code, but a small part nonetheless. The promotion of “Linux” in congruency with the “Open Source” movement was a ploy to convince business interests to invest in “Linux-related” public stock by creating apolitically-correct talk that avoids mention of “freedom” and “no cost”.

And guess what…it worked! And there is no problem with that. The Open Source folks have contributed much useful software that makes the community of those who value freedom that much richer. The free software supporters genuinely thank them for their contribution by bringing the business folk to the socially correct side even though it was through inferior “technical superiority” arguments.

But we are in education. Tech education is not about falling for the lesser, though factual, open-source ploys. Education isn’t about anything else but seeing facts for what they are and creating socially aware and globally conscious citizens. Naked and bare – no distortion. Why? Because we have no selfish interests guiding our action. We are only interested in making the world a better place – no matter how fluffy and esoteric that may sound. We base our action primarily upon the betterment of humanity. People (often, especially business people) laugh at that but we are sincere. We see that education produces change. And we see that only education unimpeded by false propaganda brings about lasting, genuine change. If we did not believe this we would use our cleverness to make much more money than the career of “teaching” can ever offer our wallet.

Think I’m extreme? Read an EULA like the one governing Windows XP and then read the GNU GPL. In fact, have a class do this assignment and then discuss it. Do a cross comparison on the restictions and the underlying intent of the discovered restrictions. Then look at the fact that over 90% of programming work is done through technical support after the license for code is obtained and smash the illusory apocalyptic world proprietary companies/corporations propagate. That is, the world that they accuse GNU supporters of promoting where coders beg for food on the streets. It’s FUD.

We can have freedom and make a living at the same time.

Let’s call it GNU/Linux and not fail to neglect history or we are bound to lose our freedom in favor of convenience. Know the history. Know it inside and out and you will see that calling the opertaing system “Linux” is a result of second-hand false appropriation of the immensely hard and visionary work of those who started the GNU Project back in the 1980s…before “Linux” was even a twinkle in Linus Torvalds eye. Fact is, “Linux” would be nothing without GNU. That fact alone should be enough to convince those aware to call the system “GNU/Linux”.

Peter Rock Lacroix.

p.s. Then again, I’m a crazed extremist who has clearly lost his marbles so I’d be extremely wary of considering anything I have to say.