Yes, proprietary versions of products can look prettier, but nine times out of ten there’s an open-source alternative that might be rough around the edges with the same functionality. If they can get it for free, they can use technology to improve their lives at home, not just at school. Same goes for GIMP, OpenOffice, Avast, etc. That’s part of why I love teaching with Google Apps – it’s free for them to get at home. You shouldn’t train kids to use programs that they can’t actually acquire at home. When you’re teaching kids from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, free is better. Here I’m referring to the open source movement as a subset of the free software movement (see here). If you’re curious, the blend of programs I usually download from ninite for school machines:Īnyone else have good tools they like to use when setting up a new computer? I’ve been using ninite for about a year to set up school and personal computers, and I’ve been happy with every experience. The installer skips all those annoying toolbar downloads and saves you a ton of time. ![]() You just choose the programs you want (including many open-source options) and then download an installer. Ninite gives you a great list of programs to choose from. is a huge time saver and makes my life so much easier. ![]() At my small school, anything I want to install has to be done manually, sitting in front of each computer. If you’re working at a larger school, chances are your computers are networked and it’s a little easier for you to install and update your machines.
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