copyleft protection, merit, DRBL/PiNet, etc.
trunk/www/manifesto.md (diff)| @@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ | ||
| 15 | 15 | |
| 16 | 16 | The concept of free computing is based on the distribution of software |
| 17 | 17 | with the complete source code that can be freely used, modified, |
| 18 | -distributed and protected due to the copy-left license. | |
| 18 | +distributed (and protected against | |
| 19 | +[proprietization](http://callfortesting.org/curse/) | |
| 20 | +if copylefted). | |
| 19 | 21 | |
| 20 | 22 | A free educational software follows several principles: |
| 21 | 23 |
| @@ -26,11 +28,14 @@ | ||
| 26 | 28 | * Freedom to understand its internals; |
| 27 | 29 | * Freedom to modify and redistribute it. Here, the author should be |
| 28 | 30 | very careful with the distribution license used. We suggest using a |
| 29 | - copy-left license and specifically the GNU GPL; | |
| 30 | -* Academic freedom: the freedom from corporate interest in the area of | |
| 31 | - education. Software should be picked by teachers based on merit, | |
| 32 | - rather than because a company has given money to the teacher. Also | |
| 33 | - free software does not lock students into proprietary standards. | |
| 31 | + copyleft license and specifically the GNU GPL; | |
| 32 | +* Academic freedom: the freedom from distorted corporate interest | |
| 33 | + in the area of education. Software should be picked | |
| 34 | + by teachers based on merit, rather than because a company | |
| 35 | + has provided to the teacher monetary or other incentives | |
| 36 | + of no public interest. | |
| 37 | + Also free software does not lock students into proprietary | |
| 38 | + file formats and/or proprietary communication protocols. | |
| 34 | 39 | |
| 35 | 40 | **Equality:** |
| 36 | 41 |
| @@ -65,16 +70,11 @@ | ||
| 65 | 70 | towards the realisation of a free GUI; |
| 66 | 71 | |
| 67 | 72 | * This fraternity is the real strength of free software, thanks to the |
| 68 | - copy-left GNU GPL license. In less then 15 years and with few | |
| 69 | - financial resources it has produced a completely free operating | |
| 70 | - system - GNU/Linux - out-classing many alternatives. In the world of | |
| 71 | - computer science, 15 years is a long time but we have to consider | |
| 72 | - that the project started from scratch and now offers an entire | |
| 73 | - system. After all, 15 years is not long considering the freedom we | |
| 74 | - now get. The main goal of OFSET is to promote this rising freedom in | |
| 75 | - educational software. | |
| 73 | + copyleft GNU GPL license. With few financial resources | |
| 74 | + it has produced a completely free operating system - GNU/Linux - | |
| 75 | + out-classing many alternatives. The main goal of OFSET | |
| 76 | + is to promote this rising freedom in educational software. | |
| 76 | 77 | |
| 77 | - | |
| 78 | 78 | ## Free Educational Software ## |
| 79 | 79 | |
| 80 | 80 | The development of free software is mostly conducted trough the |
| @@ -91,11 +91,13 @@ | ||
| 91 | 91 | sense of emancipation in exploring and modifying software; 2. they are |
| 92 | 92 | formed through the idea of free collaboration in software development. |
| 93 | 93 | |
| 94 | -Today installing a workstation based on GNU/Linux in a school is a | |
| 95 | -reality. The distributions are getting more and more easy to install. | |
| 96 | -Even if installing such a system requires specific knowledge or | |
| 97 | -training, several schools have taken the step. Taking care of such a | |
| 98 | -system is quite easy thanks to the rock solid behavior of GNU/Linux. | |
| 94 | +Today many schools install GNU/Linux in their computer labs. | |
| 95 | +Projects such as [DRBL](http://drbl.nchc.org.tw) and | |
| 96 | +[PiNet](http://pinet.org.uk/) not only make installing | |
| 97 | +and administering such diskless classrooms easier, but also | |
| 98 | +reduce the need of constant hardware upgrade except perhaps | |
| 99 | +the server, thereby demonstrating to the students | |
| 100 | +what can be done to reduce e-wastes. | |
| 99 | 101 | |
| 100 | 102 | Of course, a system of networked GNU/Linux workstations is not enough |
| 101 | 103 | for a school. A lot of applications that can be used in schools are |
| @@ -107,10 +109,7 @@ | ||
| 107 | 109 | These applications exist in proprietary forms but are not always |
| 108 | 110 | available in free equivalents. When available, it's in very specific |
| 109 | 111 | domain area and very often it is not localized to the language |
| 110 | -required by the user. A problem of the existing applications that can | |
| 111 | -be used in school is their lack of consistency concerning the user | |
| 112 | -interface. This is really a challenge to students as they need to | |
| 113 | -learn a different interface with almost each application. | |
| 112 | +required by the user. | |
| 114 | 113 | |
| 115 | 114 | OFSET will be very meticulous regarding this issue by following the |
| 116 | 115 | FSF guideline and favoring open standards for user interfaces, like |
