[CLUE-Talk] Hickenlooper, kids, and linux

[Charles Oriez]

The new Denver Mayor has urged businesses to work with the schools.  Some 
of us were kicking around the idea of getting businesses to donate old 
pentiums instead of carting them to land fills, refurbishing them, and 
donating them to either lower income students or schools, or both.

Microsoft in the past made it abundantly clear that they would enforce the 
provisions of site licenses which said that their OS had to be off the 
computer once it left the donor shop.

Assuming we solve the other issues (like storage, eligibility, a place to 
run an installfest, and how do we get modems to replace what will probably 
be network cards), would CLUE like to be involved?  Our idea is to strip 
MSFT and install linux, while training some subset of the kids to do the 
installations themselves going forward.  Some of the machines would end up 
in schools. Some would end up in student homes (theirs to keep).  I guess 
it would make sense to provide them to teachers too.

Would anyone like to participate in the planning committee?

For the record, I'm wearing my Sierra Club hat.  Our interest is seeing 
PC's recycled rather than sent to land fills.

--
Charles Oriez, coriez at oriez.org
39  34' 34.4"N / 105 00' 06.3"W
**
"What to do? Who to root for? In a battle of evil vs. evil, who do you want 
to win? I feel like jumping up and cheering, 'Go! Go! Go you money-grubbing 
market-manipulating garbage-software-producing piece-of-shit scumbags! 
Go!'" - Patti, on SPAM-L, reacting to the Microsoft anti-spam suit

"Let the spammers lose this one. I'll root for Microsoft to lose on some 
other day." - one response to Patti on SPAM-L