Re: [Hampshire] Hello

Hi,

Becky Taylor wrote:
> I can't
> see why any teacher would want to prevent you having access to Linux.
> >
> Neither can I. :-( But then there are so-called 'reasons' why we can't
> have Linux at school.
>
>

At one place I worked I was told I couldn't have it because it was a
security risk to their Windows network!!!!

> We have this awful net-nanny called 'websense' - I don't know if anyone
> else has come across it? Websense blocks bizarre words - 'sussex'
> 'middlesex' and 'wife' for some examples.
> Wife? It came up as 'adult material'. What?! Bizarre. Surely then
> 'husband', 'auntie', 'uncle' and 'grandmother' should also have been
> blocked?
>
>

Seen that too... In one place the filter decided that "analyser" (a
common word in my job) was a naughty word. If you have a machine at home
that is always-on and you can take your own laptop into school I can
give you all the details of the system I put together that fakes an SSL
session into my home server then runs a VPN on it so I can join my home
network and surf whatever I like. I can even access my printers and
network hard drive at home and backup my files from inside a company
network. :). All you need is PERL, OpenVPN and a couple of nice
open-source scripts :) I haven't found a filter yet it couldn't bork :D

> The school has a very shaky system (peoples' folders, whole folders of
> GCSE work going missing fairly reguarly, etc.). There's only 40 students
> there! (Forty-two actually-anyone into Douglas Adams?), and there's also
> the most terrible... well just everything, really.
> If linux was installed, it would be a hell of a lot easier... (even the
> school IT Technician agrees with me!) but they won't even install
> OpenOffice.Org or Firefox.
>
>

You just can't tell some people. Someone at work recently had a tech
have a go at them for running Firefox because it "causes trouble on our
network." Obviously not true but I did catch someone running FasterFox
with it set to insanely antisocial so maybe that was it...

> They're not very open-minded computer-wise... And that is THE reason
> really, why my school will never get Linux - At least not in the next
> two years that I'm there anyway. :-(
>
> ....And I suspect I have gone off on a rant, and have completely
> forgotten why I was writing this in the first place... ;-) Sorry!
>


Don't be sorry... We understand your pain and have been there.

Cheers,
Paul.