Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (171 mails)

["Mark Evans" <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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> There is a lot of controversy at present because the BBC propose to put _150m 
> into content development with free access for schools. The traditional 

Certainly not free of charge though, since just about
every school has (or should have) a TV licence.

> suppliers such as RM are squealing because they believe it will damage their 
> business. Isn't this another side to the free software argument? Shouldn't 

Maybe instead the BBC should supply content entitled
"Free Market 101" and send complementry copies to
RM

> the BBC make the content available under the GPL and then others could use it 
> and develop additional resources all free? The main argument of RM et al 
> seems to be that it will kill development because the commercial developers 
> will not be able to compete. Since the same money will be available I don't 

Then they'll have to sell a product they can make
money on. Commercial enterprises do not have
a god given right to make a profit at all.

> think that argument holds water since the BBC can't cover every single aspect 
> of education. I see this initiative as potentially complementary to free 
> software, especially if we could persuade the BBC to release its content 
> under the GPL - after all, its our license fees paying for it.