[Its.an.education.project] Ivan's latest blog entry on OLPC

[Pamela Jones]

With all due respect, Ivan, which I genuinely feel, I felt when you calm 
down, you'll see that there are some logic issues.

Also some strategy ones.

Logic:

You attack Stallman for being such a purist about openness and freedom 
of the code. But at the end, you say essentially the same thing, that 
Microsoft stuff isn't really appropriate as far as the goals of OLPC are 
concerned.

And you are right. They are not.  But you spend a lot of time attacking 
that very concept first, before ending up saying that it does matter 
after all.

Now, I'm not a purist, so I genuinely don't care ultimately if all the 
kids get a Windows laptop, as long as it isn't rigged to prevent 
installing Linux instead.  It would slow down their progress, but it 
won't stop them.  I'd prefer Sugar, or any GNU/Linux that can work on 
it,  because I have an XO, and I love using it, and I find it creative 
and intriguingly fascinating.

Teachers may only want something that "just works" but kids will want a 
lot more than that.

Let me explain how I know that. I look at my own experience with 
computers. When I first started, I was in Windows 95 and I simply hated 
computers.  The relative trying to teach me almost gave up on me, 
because of my attitude.  But once I discovered the Internet, I fell in 
love with computers, because it got me *there*.  So at that point, it 
would be true that all I wanted was something that got me there reliably.

But I was working in a small law office, and no one had a clue about 
computers, and yet the boss wanted to be on the Internet for email. So I 
got anointed to figure it out for all of us.  That introduced me to 
security and web design and fixing broken hardware and eventually to 
Knoppix and Red Hat.  Despite knowing nothing, I found it really, really 
interesting.  And I started to learn about security on Windows as 
compared to Linux.

As I used Knoppix to diagnose problems (yay Emacs!), I fell in love with 
software at last and that led me to Linux.  Who knew? I had no 
background in anything remotely like this, but I found it fun to fix 
Windows 98SE computers when they got infected with malware, which 
Windows 98 can't avoid, no matter what you do, I finally concluded. That 
was a turning point. I was no expert, but I figured out for myself 
eventually that there was no way to be secure in Windows 98.  An expert 
later told me I was right, but the point is, Knoppix made it possible 
for me to know it by myself.  That is huge.

It was how I switched to Linux.  But it wasn't a fast transfer, and 
there are Mac Powerbooks in between as well.  I love my Powerbook. I use 
it for power use on email and such, and it's fine. But it's not the same 
as Linux, not by a mile.  Why not? Because ultimately you are not in 
control.  I assume programmers can figure out how to escape certain 
Apple-driven decisions, but I don't have time since Groklaw to learn 
anything new, so I can't. It bothers me *deeply* that you can't turn off 
Bonjour, for example.  I figured out how to turn off widgets and 
spotlight, but Apple won't help you.  If anyone knows how to turn off 
Bonjour, please email me, by the way.  I don't wish to be broadcasting 
my whereabouts to the world all the time, even if I turn off all file 
sharing capacities.

So, I'm saying all this to say that falling in love with computers is an 
unpredictable gift. We don't know which kids will do it, but we know 
some will, if you let them. I don't think it can happen unless you can 
look at the workings *and control them*.   I couldn't do it until I 
could look at the workings behind the screen, which Microsoft tries to 
mask from view, and Apple tries to control no matter what you can see, 
and could change it to suit myself.  On Linux, you are free to be 
yourself and to decide what you want to do, how much you wish to learn, 
and nothing, nothing, nothing blocks you but your own interest and time.

And no one spies on you, or reports on you, or facilitates you being 
taken over.  It's a significant difference, and it's a difference that I 
think matters when children are in the picture. I never relax on any 
computer unless it's a GNU/Linux computer. I'd never let any child of 
mine use Windows.  This security issue dovetails with *any* educational 
goal,  and even more so for little children.  I don't know if you read 
the Craig Mundie interview where he suggest a wonderful solution for 
education is MultiPoint, their solution whereby multiple mice can use 
one computer, with a picture of it on the wall, but I find it scary.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a137998b-e8d6-4fff-b805-2798d2c6e41d&displaylang=en

It's .Net stuff, and when I read the description, I cringe. The multiple 
mice idea is nice, actually, and I've always wanted to be able to share 
a computer that way, but Microsoft's stuff is so utterly controlled, so 
utterly unsafe, I  don't see it as appropriate for an educational 
environment, unless you have no other choice in the world.  The idea is 
fine, but the implementation is scary. Of course, that is often the case 
with Microsoft. How can anyone in good conscience say that children 
should use Microsoft software, when even adults can't control their own 
computers when they run it?

Microsoft also stuff tracks your moves in a way that I don't accept for 
myself any more, let alone a child.

So while I know you can start on a Windows computer and still end up 
learning something, I also know it's like you keep bumping into that 
wall, the screen that tries to hide whatever is behind it.  It's a 
conceptual difference that is fundamental to Windows and any proprietary 
software.  I think if OLPC switches to XP lite or whatever, it will end 
up the largest botnet in the world.  How could it not?

So, to glom on to what rms wrote, in his usual style, without grasping 
the essential truth that openness matches education is to lose an 
essential aspect of what makes the XO so extraordinary.

Now, as to the strategy part:  I think it's a mistake to trash OLPC, 
even now.  Yes, leave, yes, do something better, yes point out issues, 
but trashing isn't helpful. I honor the fact that the guy is trying to 
fulfill a vision that isn't utterly selfish. How many people are there 
in the world who would even try?  He's trying to reach and help children 
no one else in the world is interested in at all. Not Intel. Not 
Microsoft. No one with a profit motive cares about those kids in remote 
villages in Peru, etc. But I care about those childen. I care deeply. 
And so do you. And so does he. How to care may vary, but the goal is 
still the right one.   And yes, any laptop is better than no laptop, so 
long as it can go on the Internet or at least mesh with other kids in 
the village.  But a laptop that is itself a learning instrument, that is 
a truly wonderful gift, and I hope Sugar stays. There is a learning 
difference when software is open and free.

Yes, he isn't technically savvy.  That is obvious. Yes, that makes it 
hard for him to make wise decisions.  Some of the things he's said are 
offensive. But when people get mad, that happens.

So, I think you did damage to those children by airing your personal 
views, which are  probably quite accurate as to the facts but that I 
don't think the world needed to know in such detail.

I also couldn't link to it, due to language, and so I hope you redo the 
effort, dial back on the animus, the personality stuff, and focus a bit 
more on what will help *now*.

PJ

Ivan Krstić wrote:
> On May 13, 2008, at 9:46 PM, Stephen John Smoogen wrote:
>> Just make sure you read all the way through before trying to
>> understand it. I needed to read it through twice as he is a very angry
>> person and his anger seems to go at a lot of targets..
> 
> Do you feel that particular points were not properly supported or 
> explained in the essay?
> 
> -- 
> Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> | http://radian.org
> 
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