On Pedagogies
Tuesday, April 25th, 2006I feel a bit sad. Is FOSS really just going to be an alternative forever? Or can it break out of the trappings of alternatives, and make a world a better place? =)
Instead of posting this to BiOS, I felt that it would be better posting it here; feel free to comment, feel free to ignore 
Get a grip on reality. Even windows is an alternative to us FOSS loving peeps. Saying that FOSS is an alternative IMHO is a good marketing/advocacy tactic to get potential new users to get their feet wet on FOSS.
And now you are risking yourself to sounding hostile.
At the risk of sounding like a bad guy, I have been shifting in between the planes of Ubuntu and Windows via cold water over the past few weeks; wala lang, I just wanted to be reminded of how it feels to be `shackled’, so to speak. But really, I’m doing this because I can, and as a result I’m having a rocking time appreciating the subtleties of both Windows and Ubuntu So I guess I’m not so far removed from reality as you seem to portray.
Now, let me play the simpleton, who’s really an astute participant. If a FOSS desktop, say Ubuntu’s Gnome, is supposed to be as easy as Windows, then why should I bother learning it at all, when I can simply transfer my old Windows skills to Ubuntu without much a problem?
Another question: why should I be motivated to switch to FOSS at all? Perhaps you can dismiss this as FUD, but you are none the wiser when your reasons for switching to FOSS is only because that it is an alternative, that it is cheap (hard to get cheaper being free), and that its mandated by the local government. Among other things petty and cruel.
Indeed, these are the questions people ask to us FOSS people, even long after the good shows (OSForum, SFD, LinuxWorld, etc.) have their run. As a matter of fact, I keep asking this to myself everyday, for the past 3 years of using GNU/Linux everyday. And every single day ends with an answer: “I use FOSS because it empowers me to {surf,chat,email,program} with relish.” For many other people, unfortunately, they don’t even get around to use a FOSS system, much more a CLI; thence they just make do with “I use Windows because that’s just what I have.”
But I don’t want to force people to switch (or even just use) FOSS because of those reasons. I want them to use FOSS exactly because it empowers them, allowing them to get their jobs done effectively and efficiently.
FOSS isn’t out there to deceive, as you so imply, maybe unwittingly. Well, perhaps, sometimes it is, but more often than not, its there so as to convey a deeper truth: that you can do things with it, while at the same time feel empowered, and FREE, with it.
Once they get their feet wet, it would likely be a natural progression for these users to realize the benefits that FOSS can offer (full-fledged, stand-alone and yet cooperative at the same time, approach to solving real problems). The key here is to just even entice the user to try, to take it for a spin, that would be a big step towards FOSS land.
Yes, getting feet wet is a good thing, it has its purpose, namely, for a person to acknowledge that he’s stepping on water, and preparing for a plane shift But from the point of view of a swimming instructor, getting feet wet is not good enough; it is better to get a person wet his head into the water, because that’s the time you know that he’s ready to learn how to swim, even if he doesn’t feel he’s ready.
The same is true for newbies wanting to dive in like in that Linux Crash Course. It is not good enough that a newbie be exposed only to just one interface, just one true way (yeah, that coming from an Emacs guy I do not want them to slave away moving the mouse to and fro, doing some stuff under a GUI when they can just do the same thing in less time by just a few keystrokes. Perhaps, most wouldn’t be ready to use a CLI immediately to do some hand-hacking, but, like air in the planet, its always there, even when you don’t have an immediate need for it (air, however, is something we always have an immediate need for And neither do I recommend learning the intricacies of the shell, whether be it Bourne, Korn, or Peanut shell. Indeed, there’s nothing wrong about being at least bilingual; I want my audience to learn just a little bit of everything
I want them to be aware, that there’s more to FOSS than what we’re just showing them. I don’t want them to deny the freedom and potential of looking what’s within a GNU/Linux system, unlike the usual situation of getting a brand-new PC with just Windows in it, with not a clue as to how things work within it. It’s like showing what’s under the hood of a car, but unlike the casual driver who only knows just how to drive it, the FOSS user is much more free to tweak whatever pleases; yeah, the danger of overheating is there, but with care, that could be addressed.
In short: I don’t like this kind of false FOSS advocacy, when you’re effectively denying the chance for other people to improve and empower themselves, just so because CLIs seem to be so complicated to be taught in a single day 
No; I don’t think a shell has to be complicated and convoluted and inscrutable, like governments, among other things; rather, they are their own kind of fun, like finding a sleuth solving a case in a whodunit, or winning the World Cup.
I’m no longer wanting to be in the business of long, impassioned, flamewars (is this thread one?) so I’m stopping here. Like I said earlier, it’s a speaker’s call to make adjustments on his presentations so that it reaches its target audience effectively and efficiently, just as it is a call for a FOSS user to use a GUI or the CLI to solve a problem.
Besides, I have a swimming class to teach tomorrow Dive in!
