I have an idea. It contains no
facts or
statistics, just pure
speculation.
Linux is an extremely powerful
tool. In an age where
technology is a
driving force to prosperity, an education in this feild is extremely important. Almost everyone has to have some insight to the use of
GUIs to say the least! But this advancement is expensive not only in
training but in
equipment costs and time. Many people will donate linux
486s and provide some training to
schools and
children with non
tech inclined parents. Which is a great thing to do. But is it really a good idea to put something that powerful in hands that do not realize its dangerous potential and do not yet have a developed idea of what impact their actions have?
Lets pretend that we travel back in time to when fire was a commodity.
Fire rocks. It keeps us warm, cooks food and provides some safety. But it can also destroy. We give the knowledge of
how fire works,
how to start a fire and
how to stop a fire to some people who have not been introduced to this technology before. They now thrive and begin to advance due to the introduction of the new tool. That would be the best scenario. This is much like
distributing a powerful knowledge (in our case computer related) that can accel someone to higher level of moral/economic/intellectual prosperity. If we had just given the
low-tech ancient people a flint and some kindling they might have taken a long time or never to invent fire through their own discovery. What if we had given fire to a young person in that society? What if they had been irresponsible and accidentally burned down their entire dwelling?
My point is (heh, finally) that powerful tools given to the wrong people might be bad. Unless that enough instruction can be provided to them of the technology that they control they might end up using it for ill or accidentally opening themselves up to
flaws in security and privacy.
This is bad!
It takes training and responsibilty to keep a proper linux machine. We cannot provide enough training to keep these machines safe. To really learn about linux takes some
real world experience. They can learn the basics, but admining on your own does occaisionally take root... Are we opening up a hole in our childrens privacy and security by
giving them fire and not telling them about fire extinguishers?
I would like to come back in some years and compare the thoughts presented here with what is now the future. And no, I don't really think we should not allow people access to linux. I was noding as a
devils advocate.