polksalet Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 What kind of machine does your kid have? I am going to deciate my old compaq pII to P Jr. I am going to load it with linux and make him actually learn something. I had thought about doing the mac thing for ease of use but I don't think the education value would be the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 My kids both have HP computers (desktop and notebook) with Windows XP. No problems so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 my kids will get my G4 iMac when i finally upgrade this fall. of course, it seems like they already own it. not sure about your point on educational value as most software is compatible for both platforms and the innernets are platform-neutral. not sure how linux will actually teach your kids anything ... my goal for the kids is to learn about the world through the computer vs. needing to learn much about the computer itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 28, 2007 Author Share Posted May 28, 2007 My kid will learn how to learn linux which requires more thought than winblows or mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rams Fan Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 My kid will learn how to learn linux which requires more thought than winblows or mac. Wouldn't the idea be to learn a skill that is both useful and marketable in the job force... Being a rebel is nice, but the world operates Windows, like it or not. While that will likely change in the future, knowing how to navigate the relevant systems of the day, is what is prudent. Who knows what will supplant Windows; it may very well be Linux, but then again, it may be some little known operating system yet to be mainstream. Not knowing the ins & outs of Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office will actually be detrimental to a kids education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 28, 2007 Author Share Posted May 28, 2007 Wouldn't the idea be to learn a skill that is both useful and marketable in the job force... Being a rebel is nice, but the world operates Windows, like it or not. While that will likely change in the future, knowing how to navigate the relevant systems of the day, is what is prudent. Who knows what will supplant Windows; it may very well be Linux, but then again, it may be some little known operating system yet to be mainstream. Not knowing the ins & outs of Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office will actually be detrimental to a kids education. I was thnking that learning to actually think about what is going on would be beneficial. besides, you know his likely future occupation and I can teach him enough windows to succeed. I also imagine he will be exposed to plenty of windows in the school system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 28, 2007 Author Share Posted May 28, 2007 and fyi, some use linux to be rebels, some of us use it because it is superior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Wouldn't the idea be to learn a skill that is both useful and marketable in the job force... Being a rebel is nice, but the world operates Windows, like it or not. While that will likely change in the future, knowing how to navigate the relevant systems of the day, is what is prudent. Who knows what will supplant Windows; it may very well be Linux, but then again, it may be some little known operating system yet to be mainstream. Not knowing the ins & outs of Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office will actually be detrimental to a kids education. The linux geeks at my job are millionaires. If your kid can't figure out Windows, IE, and MS Ofice by the time he's 12, even without constant practice... he's developmentally disabled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rams Fan Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 The linux geeks at my job are millionaires. If your kid can't figure out Windows, IE, and MS Ofice by the time he's 12, even without constant practice... he's developmentally disabled. For those with an aptitude for IT, I agree. Those youngsters will not be satisfied with running the systems the masses do... They will go out & explore on there own. We're not talking about future IT people here most likely; we are talking about Average Joe Jr. If Jr. shows an aptitude and desire, then by all means push & steer him/her towards the cutting edge of technology. And I beg to differ, if simply using & excelling at Microsoft products were easy as pie, many of us IT folks would not have good paying jobs. What is probably easy (or easier) for those of us huddlers (we've already shown we embrace technology by virtue of being online for more than email & espn.com), is not so for the majority of the public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaumont Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 I have my 5 year old's stuff on both our current 2.8 gig/1 g ram XP and an old 800mhz/256 ram windows 98 ... I find the old computer does well on most kid's software but I dont have it hooked up to the net ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 And I beg to differ, if simply using & excelling at Microsoft products were easy as pie, many of us IT folks would not have good paying jobs. What is probably easy (or easier) for those of us huddlers (we've already shown we embrace technology by virtue of being online for more than email & espn.com), is not so for the majority of the public. I'm not talking about excelling at MS Office (pun). But my sister can use MS Word every day, and she's an idiot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rams Fan Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 I'm not talking about excelling at MS Office (pun). But my sister can use MS Word every day, and she's an idiot. Then it sounds to me like your sister shouldn't go out in search of the cutting edge technologies... Here is the bottom line: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/posters/65b7/zoom/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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