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Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

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Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#171

Post by lostlogin »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #169
nanna wrote: post #129

I teach at a world ranking university in the UK which has decided that in order to have a 'standardised student experience' teachers are prohibited from running their own FLOSS setup when there are proprietary contracts in place. Sorry but MS Teams is not designed with teaching in mind. I've been advocating for Big Blue Button and Jitsi but effectively told to shut up. It's infuriating.

You bring up a fascinating point. In many large enterprises -- even those that make money in some aspect of computing -- the centralized IT organization controls everything related to computers. I think we would find it odd if, say, the John Deere Corporation was forced by their "Transportation Support" organization to use Honda ATVs for moving people and goods around their factory campus. Or if Yale Law School was n…

‘The tail wagging the dog’ is what I think when I read your comment.

Thanks for writing this.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#172

Post by kick »

nanna wrote: post #152
craigsmansion wrote: post #93

I think one of the nicer points to take away here is that prof. Sussman worked around remote teaching problems not by getting bogged down in meetings, but by calling a friendly admin and by himself installing a piece of free software on a computer he had lying around in his lab. Free Software gives you back the agency to solve your problems in any way you see fit(be they hacks or not). It doesn't leave you helpless a…

So long as there isn't a bureaucracy in place to get in the way. That's a limit of Free Software.

That's a limit of bureaucracy, not of free software.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#173

Post by barking »

vertex-four wrote: post #166
barking wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could a programmer of great ability ever become wealthy living by your ethics?

How could an architect of great ability ever become wealthy if they weren’t able to just sell the same building design over and over again with no work for decades? Oh wait, that’s the norm.

Earlier you said copyright is unethical and also why should you be paid extra for work you did in the past.

Architects have copyright to their work. They do sell the same plans over and over. No one can just copy their work without paying royalties or at least getting permission.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#174

Post by systemvoltage »

woofie11 wrote: post #102
systemvoltage wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea physical goods was a bad analogy, I’ve redacted it.

No. It was an excellent analogy. Free software is like physical goods with Right to Repair. In the olden days, if you bought a radio, it came with a service manual and a schematic. It's how many people learned EE, and it was a huge loss when that went away. People maintained their own stuff. People tinkered. That's how Sussman learned to EE too. That's an analogy to free software exactly, 100%, and spot-on.

Good points. One major problem is I can make 10,000 copies of the software in a minute.

The hardware developer still gets to feed their children with an income.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#175

Post by fsflover »

barking wrote: post #168
fsflover wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I mentioned above, they also write free software for their devices. The price includes it.

Manufacturers commonly include software in their products but no one buys a Mercedes for its software.

In the particular case of Purism Librem 5 phone, many people decided to buy the device in order to support the development of free software for mobile phones. As opposite to the PinePhone, whose developers do not develop any software and rely on the "community developers".

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#176

Post by Kim_Bruning »

barking wrote: post #164
vertex-four wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm not making money off it, I'm going to stop writing it and find something else to do, obviously? Being able to say "I have deep technical knowledge of this domain, proven by the fact that I literally wrote the software and can customise it to your needs" is worth something, unsurprisingly.

How could a programmer of great ability ever become wealthy living by your ethics?

I think you're assuming that most software work is confection.

In reality, or at least in my case, pretty much all the money I've ever earned was in doing bespoke work.

You _could_ see contributions to FLOSS as loss leaders; though that wouldn't be accurate, since there are definitely benefits beyond just advertising your skills.

A key benefit: if there is a set of freelancers working around a single FLOSS code-base, each of them actually benefits by contributing back; because the shared code-base increases in quantity and quality, and thus leads to competitive advantage for all.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#177

Post by servilio »

remexre wrote: post #138
enjoyyourlife wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canvas ( https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms ) is open-source

This actually surprises me, with how cruddy it is, I assumed it was proprietary... My uni switched to canvas from Moodle, to the general detriment of anyone without fast internet and a fast PC.

Do you know if they are using the a hosted version or hosting it themselves?

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#178

Post by ramshorns »

vikramkr wrote: post #161
phkahler wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My approach in all area - work include - is to use FLOSS by default unless I can't for some reason. Usability is one reason, and as a developer it's good to observe the flaws that drive me to commercial software at times. Why would anyone not choose FLOSS by default?

For some industries where the software is doing something mission critical, it's important to have complete control over the software and even more importantly, you need someone to sue

Is the importance of having complete control over the software an argument against using free software? Surely the best way to have control over it is to be able to read what it does and make it do what you want.

Re: Teaching my MIT classes with only free/libre software

#179

Post by danhor »

noobermin wrote: post #15

It honestly would be great for some competition, FOSS or not in the distance learning department. Blackboard and friends are horrendous, and as we know zoom has myriad problems. For a small group meeting I have each week that is now online, I've started using jitsi too.

My University uses ilias and in my experience it's way better than moodle, but I haven't used BB. Although I haven't seen any glaring issues in the english translations, it seems to be primarily targeting german audiences. https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS
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