[Sugar-devel] How to Make Activity Designers Happy , Parts I and II

[Chris Ball]

Hi Bryan,

   > Developing learning activities requires the developer already know
   > something about programming. In Nepal, China, India that means they
   > have at least a pirated copy of Windows and possibly Adobe Flash.
   > If they have linux, that means that some time ago they had pirated
   > Windows which they used to learn about linux.

That sounds plausible, at least for pirated Windows.  (I'm sure it's
much harder to get a copy of Flash.)

I'm not willing to incorporate "First, get a pirated copy of Windows
and Flash" into my instructions for activity development, though.
We're supposed to be combating the inequity that says "we can create
things on our computers because we're rich, but you don't get to do
that on yours without breaking the law because you're poor".  That
inequity is just as much a part of the digital divide as everything
else we're trying to bridge over, in my opinion.

It feels important to me to be able to say "Here's a software platform
for you to start out with, and here's all of the software we used in
the process of making it, which means there's nothing stopping you
from learning to further it yourself".  A true passing on of knowledge
from one group to another, as equals.

I imagine this is the kind of debate where no-one really changes their
mind; that's okay.  As long as the viewpoint of software freedom as a
foundational principle for Sugar (even in the face of extra convenience)
is being represented and considered, I'm happy.

Thanks,

- Chris.
-- 
Chris Ball   <cjb at laptop.org>