What is Digg?189 Comments
- schestowitz, on 10/11/2007, -21/+192"From what I've read and heard and known for a long time, the teachers (at the high school) are basically spoiled. They want to have everything their way and when they are told they can't have something their way because of security issues. they complain," Mason said.
Sounds familiar? People who are not prepared for change are doomed to become dinosaurs. Good luck to them with MEII (released January 2007). They'll need to spend a lot of money and learn to cope with the same problems. - mattmcm, on 10/11/2007, -16/+105@rockrapdude:
I'm guessing Windows ME 2. AKA, Vista. - cr4ft, on 10/11/2007, -24/+93School District: You want to install a WHAT? Looonucks?
NetworkAdmin: Yes, it's better for the students and overall it's a more secure OS
School District: A WHAT?
NetworkAdmin: Operating System...
School District: We're not looking for smartasses sir, I'm afraid we're going to have to let you go and hire someone Microsoft Certified
NetworkAdmin: Your call - mattmcm, on 10/11/2007, -11/+65They're not using Linux due to some teachers complaining about their "lack of input in the decision."
- stephenwq, on 10/11/2007, -0/+50Anything is better than Windows ME. That release was definately a dud.
- AntBing, on 10/11/2007, -3/+44Don't mind me either...just testing my block button.
- ers35, on 10/11/2007, -2/+34Inaccurate title.
"The technology audit and firing come as the district attempts to transition many of its computers from the Windows ME operating system to a Linux operating system."
Although he did recommend it, he was not fired because of stubborn administrators. I do not agree with their choice however. - Flummoxer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+34@mattmcm
Nowhere in the article does it say that they aren't switching to Linux. Judging from the text they are still going through with it: "The switch to Linux should save the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, Bexley administrators claim." - noahhoward, on 10/11/2007, -3/+33How many teachers have you met who would have a clue what was the best system?
- michaelstokes, on 10/11/2007, -19/+48That'll teach him to go against the Microsoft Gestapo.
- mattmcm, on 10/11/2007, -1/+28@ Flummoxer:
Gah. Guess I needed to RTFA a little closer. I was wrong, and you were right. - cooppw02, on 10/11/2007, -1/+27This is actually a follow-up to this Digg story:
"Ohio school district upgrades to Linux, saves $412K"
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ohio_school_district_upgrades_to_Linux_saves_412K - cuttingmoon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+23They should at least upgrade to the much more stable Windows 98.
- Willeth, on 10/11/2007, -8/+30And then the new guy they get just goes and installs Linux anyway.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/11/2007, -8/+29Madness? This is MICROSOFT!!
- Trevino, on 10/11/2007, -4/+24RTA, Microsoft and Linux have little to do with this. He was fired because they feel they need someone more qualified. I marked this story as inaccurate.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18That's putting it lightly..
- Flamekebab, on 10/11/2007, -2/+20If I could digg you down twice as much, I would.
- mikes1, on 10/11/2007, -7/+24He wasn't fired for suggesting Linux. His position was eliminated because the district needed something less tactical and more strategic. It appears that he couldn't run the network in a way which met the needs of the district. This quote is telling:
“From what I’ve read and heard and known for a long time, the teachers (at the high school) are basically spoiled. They want to have everything their way and when they are told they can’t have something their way because of security issues. they complain,” Mason said.
I run into that attitude often - it's the tail wagging the dog. The only reason he had a job in the first place is because the district had a need for communications. The teachers are his customers. Don't tell the customer you can't do something (and certainly don't call them "spoiled"), tell them what you can do. It's their network, not his, he's paid to administer it like they want. If he disagrees, his sole responsibility is to explain the real or potential problems and document them, then let them make an informed choice. He demonstrated that he couldn't meet their needs, nor did he want to.
Burying as inaccurate. - archlich, on 10/11/2007, -2/+19' “If they think it was bad when I was there, they are going to really have some issues (now),” he said. '
This is why you _NEVER_ lay off an administrator with access to all your email and passwords without a huge severance package. =) - geminitojanus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17"If you use Linux, people lose jobs."
If you move to Clean Energy, people lose jobs. If you stop fighting pointless wars, people lose jobs. If you ... people lose jobs.
Realize that these people can be reeducated, retasked. Windows and Linux at the user level isn't that different these days, anyone who can use one, can use the other. People can be taught to administrate either system and even do mixed environment administration (imagine that). People aren't going to lose jobs because of Linux, people are going to GAIN jobs because of Linux; there is still a ton of software to be developed, a lot of relearning and reteaching to be done to use it properly, and this requires, you guessed it, people.
So you can drop your delusions now that Linux is somehow bad for the economy. Monopolies are bad for the economy. - geminitojanus, on 10/11/2007, -1/+17I hope that was a poorly executed attempt at sarcasm.
- bentrop, on 10/11/2007, -7/+23@linkedlist
> So they're trying to move to Linux, right? They fired him because they claimed he couldn't handle the job. While I didn't read anywhere in the article that he was fred for recommending linux I didn't read anywhere that Linux was recommended.
Maybe you should read the article again:
'“Linux was my idea,” Mason said.'
So HE DID recommend it.
> The reason some of the teachers were upset was because they didn't have any input, perhaps the way the new network was going to be setup was not very accomadating hence the major aggravations
'"Some teachers, according to high school teacher Ben Trotter, were upset by the plan to switch to Linux because they did not have input into the decision."
“From what I’ve read and heard and known for a long time, the teachers (at the high school) are basically spoiled. They want to have everything their way and when they are told they can’t have something their way because of security issues. they complain,” Mason said.'
The article seems to state quite clearly, that the teacher didn't care about the security threat that Windows ME poses today (since Microsoft doesn't support it any more and no further security patches are released) and that they wanted to stick with Windows (ME, i guess, since there wasn't sufficient funding for a switch to a more recent version of Windows).
> maybe he got too comfortable in his job and thought 'gee, I don't need to work anymore, they need me' then got himself fired.
Yes, I guess that's why he cut his Honeymoon short for his job ... because he didn't want to work any more. :-S - jjed824, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16"... I was wrong, and you were right." --mattmcm
I wish these words were spoken more on digg. - AF-Geek, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13Yeah, I got that too. Inaccurate title.
It sounds to me like the school is getting a little more sophisticated and he's not up to the job. I could easily see this happening. I volunteer at a school, and we started with a Belkin router and six computers hooked to the internet. Now I'm getting ready to install a content-filtering proxy gateway to hook up the 20 or so computers (small school).
You learn, or you get replaced (even me, and I'm just a volunteer). - dragonlor20, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13Something tells me that he didn't get fired JUST because he wanted to use linux instead of vista...
- uberdesigner, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13This is a very misleading headline. This guy was probably fired for being a jerk.
- rwallen, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12Sounds like he was fired for being under qualified and he is just whining about it with his "teachers are spoiled" remark. I have a friend who is a network admin for a school district and much like a government job with the postal service, you have to be very incompetent to get fired. It isn't like one person can just fire you, as this article explains, it has to be decided upon by a group of people.
- gadnur, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10I am the technology coordinator for a school district about 40 miles away from Bexley. Curtis regularly responds to questions on email listservs and seems to stay current on emerging technologies. Curtis' certifications include CNA, CNE4, CNE5, CNE6, MCNE and ITProject+. Earlier this year, there was an article in the same paper (This Week) that stated the district's goal of moving to Linux as a way to reduce costs and have newer operating systems. I believe their plan is to move to SLED. From what I read, it seems there is no technology coordinator for the district. I believe the curriculum supervisor oversees the technology department. Just a little background information on Bexley, it is a very affluent part of Columbus. I believe the Governor's mansion is in Bexley.
I know if I made a proposal to rip out our all of our Windows computers and install Linux, I would make the recommendation to our superintendent and there would be discussion at monthly administrator meetings. The principals would share the plan with the teachers at monthly staff meetings and would report input at the monthly administrative meetings. The board of education would be made aware of the plans and put a "stamp of approval" on the plan. I am deploying Linux in my district (Ubuntu), however, only teachers or staff that request it are getting computers with Linux. We try to keep the teachers happy, however, it is very difficult given the district finances. Sometimes you have to make decisions that are not very popular with the teachers. For instance, we switched to a new web-based student information system in the middle of the year. We chose to do it in the middle of the year to avoid the beginning of the year issues (adding new students, schedule changes) and the end of year issues (scheduling, year end wrap-up, testing). It was not a popular decision with the teachers, however, they realized why the decision was made and we worked with them as much as possible during the transition.
I have been a technology coordinator in my district for 8 years and every computer in service was installed by me. I built all of the servers. I installed every switch. I am the only technology employee in a district with 700 computers and take pride in the fact that everything we have, I have had my hands on at one time. I can't imagine what is going through Curtis' mind right now. If I had the resources, I would hire him in a heartbeat. - Phocion55, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10pogfreak needs to repeat grades K-6......seeing as how he can't RTFA
- Flamekebab, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9Teaching kids to be able to adapt to different environments but keeping the same principals is a bad thing?
- Flamekebab, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9People lose jobs?
Surely people GAIN jobs?
Instead of selling software it opens up jobs for people doing support, consulting, coding extra bits where required, installations..
Just because it has a different business model doesn't make it evil. - Dou6, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Anyone who has worked in technology in any education environment knows that for the most part, teachers / professors and the rest of the staff are mostly morons, who act like babies, and freak out whenever things don't go exactly their way at the exact second they want it. The only place worse is working in a medical school which involves ***** doctors, medical students, and staff that are just as annoying, petty, and childish.
- Jerim, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8@mikes1
I got a similar impression. It seems that the decision to let him go wasn't about Windows vs. Linux. It seems that the teachers either didn't like him, or didn't like who ever ultimately made the decision to switch without consulting them. If they didn't like the System Administrator, it could be that he didn't get along with the teachers all the much. I work at a company where I am the beck and whim of the employees. For the most part, everyone is nice, and I try to treat them in kind. There are a few snobs who rub me the wrong way. I just let it slide off my back. I pretty much have to, or risk starting some "That guy sucks" gossiping. Yeah, it sucks, but learning how to get along with people you don't particularly like is essential to any job. On the flip side, I have seen complete idiots keep their job based on the fact that they are good butt kissers. Rarely have I seen an emloyment decision based solely on your ability. You can get by being stupid and extra friendly or by being competent and friendly, but never by being incredibly smart and a jerk.
One of the fundamental parts of any project is understanding what the needs of the users are. It doesn't matter if it is a program or a network, you need to understand what the users require. If you are hired to create some invoicing software from scratch, you wouldn't automatically know that the system needs to number the invoices by department code, then transaction number, and finally a six digit number that designates the customer. You don't know this because you didn't ask anyone, or else you would have found out that that is necessary to integrate with their current system. So when you deliver it to customer, they are going to hate it. I think the teachers being upset over not being consulted is a valid concern. If the system administrator didn't consult them, regardless of whether he started the project or not, shows some sort of inability to move forward on the project. - pvliii, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I wish I was exposed to Linux in high school. I've been on Windows since 3.1 and OSX since, well, OSX, but I'm just starting to play with Ubuntu now it's like a whole new language for me.
- geminitojanus, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11"Some teachers, according to high school teacher Ben Trotter, were upset by the plan to switch to Linux because they did not have input into the decision. "
Was probably the quote you were looking for. He wasn't fired for choosing Linux, he was fired for not asking the teachers what would be best first. Which is kinda silly, because the teachers should realize being exposed to many different kinds of computers and environments is good for students, and it could save them a great deal of money. - Sneakernets, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8This isn't due to Linux, it's due to the teachers not wanting to learn other technologies. They want to stick to the start button and the Magical Blue E. It's your baby boomer teachers that think that there is a catch to everything that's "free". Plus the IT guy seems to be a jerk from his words.
I'm going to be honest right now, My mother is a teacher and I have worked on countless computers at her school due to "printers not working" and other abnormalities that come from the staff and faculty not knowing how to run the OS they're on NOW. So imagine what happens when you take that comfort that is windows away from teachers?
That generation does not understand computers unless they were raised around them as we were. computers are the new sex/drugs/rocknroll/dancing/witchcraft. Congress has this fear, Teachers have it, the general public has it.
Don't like this? You can DO something about this. Remember, WE are the MINORITY, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything. Sadly, The only thing most will do is post a message on the internet which none of these idiots that fired the Manager will ever see .Remember, you don't change anything by posting messages on DIGG, you change things by mailing letters/calling/petitioning/GETTING OFF YOUR ASS.
I have, and I caused 4 IT morons to get fired at my mom's school's board of education" for the county I live in. They blocked BZ2 and firefox to stop the Computer classes installing that "insecure virus-prone program" known as Linux. I wrote a 5 page letter to each one of the Board's IT staff saying how the IT staff knew what they were doing when they banned "mozilla.com" and "*.bz2". It's obvious what they are doing, and I caught them on it. They no longer have a job.
Now, Anyone here that lives near that school that did this?, it's time for YOU to get off YOUR ass and stop this nonsense! - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Yup, buried for inaccurate title.
- Pilgrim, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6You may be legitimately recommending the product..however you sound like you are plugging the product..so I'm going to have to digg you down. Sorry.
- skifreak107, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11Dumb
- Ocelot13, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5your clicking of the reply button by the original post is weak
- mrASSMAN, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8Looks like it failed..
- Slacker1031, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5THAT is why the linux community has a bad rep. ***** like you making it look like a cult, rather than a solution/alternative.
- chess007, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5 No matter how you feel about microsoft you have to admit that linux is better than ME.
- canewediggit, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6bob- thanks, already checked that.
sonaro- thanks, did that just now. good to know it's not just me and not some stealthy outlawing of a good f-bomb by digg. - metalhead3767, on 10/11/2007, -6/+11The teachers and students can't handle learning everything over. Their computers were all working just fine and some guy came along and installed an OS no one had ever heard of. And because no one has heard of it it must suck. They're looking for some one to blame. Its this guy. So then a few of them take the time to write letters to the district. The End.
Its a sad story. I'm high lol - Jammer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7And anybody who has ever had to deal with IT people in a business or education environment knows that for the most part, IT people are arrogant control freaks with huge insecurity complexes and are severely under-educated.
- insomniac8400, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6He should be fired based on the fact it's 2007 and they are still using windows me. He clearly has not done his job.
- Fhionnlaoch, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7"The technology audit found that Mason was highly qualified in everything he does, but that the requirements of the district have surpassed what he can do, Johnson said."
It actually sounds like the school district was too cheap to provide him with training in upcoming technologies. What's more, they want to replace him with a person with an Masters in Information Systems. It sounds like degree elitism, IMO.
Personally, I'd rather have a loyal employee with useful experience than one with a masters degree. For example, when the man who was running one of my grandfather's companies retired, my grandfather hired some hot shot MBA. Within a year, it went from a profitable company to being bankrupt. That caused my grandfather to fire him, set up business in another province, and run things himself. -
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