[ale] Volunteer work for non-profits

[Greg]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-admin at ale.org [mailto:ale-admin at ale.org]On Behalf Of Geoffrey
> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 12:36 AM
> To: ale at ale.org
> Subject: Re: [ale] Volunteer work for non-profits
>
>
> Greg wrote:
> > The answer is probably in many layers:
> >
> > 1.  All PC's given to kids *have* to be the exact same, else
> the kids start
> > whining over "Why is Susie's PC bigger/bluer/smaller/etc etc
> than mine.  So
> > standardization is req'd in some aspects of their operations.
>
> It's free, you get what you get.  They need to understand, life is not
> always fair.  Be glad you get something.  Sorry if that sounds harsh.
>

	Well, considering they are children, I cannot be harsh.  Since *I* am not
the one teaching *I* am not going to comment on what these people have
learned by doing & by experience and adopted as a policy.  Teaching children
is hard enough without several of them obsessing on what is in actuality
meaningless differences in a PC case, in which case (pun) the time spent in
a classroom is wasted.  Isn't your wife a teacher ?  Don't you have children
?  One of my many jobs in the Army was teaching and I always made an effort
to keep distractions to a minimum.

I have some creative ideas of fixing it so everybody gets a different PC,
which would help them,  but I won't know if it works until it is talked over
with these folks and perhaps tested.  If none of them work, fine.  At least
I tried to give them a solution and not just more problems.  I really don't
intend to make any problems for these folks, nor am I suffering from the
egotism & "it's my way or the highway" that is an IT occupational hazard.

> >
> > 2.  More games on PC's. (I dunno, I just made this up).
>
> Wrong answer.

	Dude, it was a joke.  Lighten up.

>
> >
> > 3.  It's a M$ world.  I know that this is a poor forum for
> pointing out this
> > fact, but a fact it is.
>
> So that's a reason to proliferate the illegal monopoly?

	Geoffrey, you really need to get over this fixation with Microsoft you
have.  The last time I looked, any person in the US could use any software
they chose.  Just because the majority chose Microsoft is really no reason
to get upset.  Who really cares ?  I don't.

	If you cram Linux down everyone's throat, aren't you guilty of the same
thing ?  And to say that Linux is the end all and be all is just so wrong on
so many levels.  These folks aren't in cohoots with Redmond or anyone else
and to suggest otherwise (ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU'VE NEVER MET THEM) is
paranoiac to say the least.  The focus here is on a group of folks trying to
do something good in Atlanta.  As someone who has brushed up against those
on the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder probably more than the
average person, I chose to help them and consider myself lucky to say this
sitting in a warm home with a full belly and a dry bed, knowing I can look
forward to the same tomorrow.  And I don't care if I have to install NT over
the Samba I configured today or whether they want Windows 3.1 and Lan
Manager or whatever.  I don't think a religious war is appropriate here.  If
you want to get into one, fine.  You win.  I am not going to reply to
anything else on this thread. I am not much on cyber jihad's anyway and I
think you really need to heed something said a while back and stop looking
into an abyss:

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not
become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also
looks into you." -- Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)

>
> If you're giving a computer to someone who can't afford it, give them
> something they can continue to use.  I would think they wouldn't want to
> get into the grey area of having to prove they have valid licenses for
> these machines.

	Somehow I don't see the SBC (or whatever) ringing doorbells in the
tenements.  They also address this on the website.  If you talk to them, I
believe this has been addressed. And even if it is illegal I don't' give a
damm.  If anyone wants to lock me up, fine.  I am in the telephone
directory.


  Further, teach them how to update the machine and get
> the free goodies that come with a free OS.

	Ok.  Are you volunteering to do this or is this just mere words ?  I will
be there next week at 12:00 noon.  I expect you will also with your plan to
do just this ? And if your plan is rejected are you prepared to teach M$ or
take your toys and go home ?  Dude, these folks need help & solutions, not a
religious war. And yes, I am serious.  I would like to see you there.
However, as per their web page:

ALL volunteers are expected to help where the need is currently greatest.

Let's just get them crawling before running.


  Further, if they are truly
> underprivledge, they'll be tickled to get the computer with the games
> that come with Linux.
>
> >
	The games thing was a joke.  Yes, reason states that beggars can't be
choosers, but when was the last time you were in a classroom full of
reasonable children ???  Didn't Bill Cosby talk considerably on this ?

	And what is with the "let them eat cake attitude".  Some beggars don't know
they are beggars and want some thing better - and I don't blame them.  And
if that's what it takes to get a kid to read and learn, so be it.  As I was
told, they had a kid who was thought to be illiterate. Turns out he read
fine when he was on the PC.  PC's really provoke a reaction in kids.  That's
what I want to be a part of - and I don't care about the OS that that kid
was using. That is not the point.

> > 4.  Their website says kinda that they are open to Linux
> provided that they
> > have the things many small businesses need. i.e.:
>
> They do.  I personally won't donate time to an organization that is
> going to assist microsoft in the brainwashing of children.
>
> >

	Fine. Free country.  I guarantee we won't cry over your absence. If your
personal jihad against Bill and all things Gatesian is of greater importance
than helping others and playing with a warehouse of every type of PC in the
computer pantheon, fine.  Don't want you to compromise your morals.

	Of course, you won't have the opportunity to "brainwash children for Linux"
or put Linux in a non profit in GA, or help us in putting in their network,
or teaching a networking course using a *nix, but that is ok. Watson and I
think one other volunteer have set up some Linux boxes (and an Irix box
too!) and that is a start for Linux in this organization. And I really dig
the environment.  Nothing cooler then in a club-turned-PC-warehouse/shop
where everyone has to be a self-starter and take ownership of things.

I am showing up next week.

And I don't care if it is me and the one lone employee of Free Bytes or if
it is a hundred showing up.

And I don't care what is asked of me with regards to software/hardware.
Just as long as the basic mission is accomplished I will be happy on the
long drive back to Kennesaw.  I am not going to drive to Midtown to bring
more problems but solutions.  I will as OpenBSD sez "Shut up and hack".

There is way too much wrong with things in this world and I want to be part
of the solution and not of the problem, one of which is apathy (read:
sitting on one's ass).

And that is it as far as I am concerned on this thread.  I am not responding
to anything else.  If all of the penguinistas want to take a shot at me, go
ahead.  I am not going to waste any time on a religious/holy/OS discussion.
Anyone wants to flame me, knock yourself out. Don't care.  I know how to use
a mail filter.  But like I said, I am going to help this organization and
will be at

2581 Piedmont Road
Suite D-1000
Atlanta, GA

next week at 12 noon.

And anyone who is coming with solutions and not problems is welcome. Alot.
Really.

Greg Canter


> >
> >
> > Why doesn't Free Bytes offer updated versions of Windows on their PCs?
> >
> > Free Bytes 'can' distribute copies of updated versions of windows
> > (preferably Windows 95b), provided that the original license for the
> > operating system is donated with the PC. The original license is the
> > "Certificate of Authenticity." If your are in an office environment, the
> > network administrator may have a drawer full of them.
> >
> > Otherwise, as a non-profit, Free Bytes is only authorized to distribute
> > copies of Windows 3.11 and earlier. While it is not the latest
> software out
> > there, it is perfectly suitable for the database management, word
> > processing, and spreadsheets that are the greatest needs among
> non-profits
> > requesting computers.
>
> And I would say Linux is far better suited for such purposes. So who do
> we talk to?
>
> >
> >
> >
> > So, I think that they are open in many respects, but you have
> to be mindful
> > of reality.  I dunno, you would really have to ask them.
> However, Windows,
> > in some cases, runs on old stuff better, since it is not as
> strict as a *nix
> > on stuff (read M$ has lower reliability standards.
>
> Sorry that just isn't true.  How old of hardware are we talking?  I've
> got a couple 386's with Slackware on them.  I assure you, the latest
> Slackware will surely outperform windows 3.*.
>
> I'll check out their website for contact info.
>
> --
> Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net
>
> The latest, most widespread virus?  Microsoft end user agreement.
> Think about it...
>
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