Re: Debian for kids
In article <38A43352.9DAC438B@mindspring.com> you wrote:
> "Fool Proof Debian", "Low-Maintenance Debian", "No Hassle Debian"? I
> can't think of a good term.
We need to be careful here. My goal isn't any of these things... it's to
make Debian an operating system my kids *want* to run.
The note that kicked off this thread talked a bit about the issues of sharing
a Debian machine with kids, which I suspect is what is leading to the above
set of concerns... but in my case, it's completely clear that my kids should
have their own computer(s)... so I'm worried more about making sure the kinds
of programs they would want to have and run are available. I also agree that
we could provide a more kid-oriented "desktop environment" with a set of
features they can latch onto easily without being too limiting long-term.
Don't laugh, but I bet some desktop themes with cartoon characters, dinosaurs,
zoo animals, or other things like that which appeal directly to kids would
have more to do with whether our kids think it's cool running Debian than
almost anything else we could work on. /o\
By the way, I don't want my kids to have a completely fool-proof system. They
aren't fools, and it is important that they have the learning experiences that
go along with fixing things and/or getting help to fix things from time to
time. One of the great enabling features of an Open Source system is that you
*can* learn how it all works if you want to. If there are things we can or
should do to improve Debian's robustness for all users, that's great... I
sure have spent a lot of late nights trying to make the packages I maintain
more robust because I think that is generally important, and I don't intend
to stop... but it isn't a kid-specific issue.
Don't confuse the issues associated with making Debian more attractive and
useful to kids with the issue of robustness... they may go hand in hand, but
they are *not* the same thing!
Bdale
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