Eurpoean Computer Driving Licence and Non-MS Operating Systems
It appears from the various sites relating to the ECDL that only Microsoft o/s are supported (vide winzip and Acrobat for Windows as the only downloads in support of ECDL materials). Can you please assure me that: a. The ECDL is not a front organisation for Microsoft (as it appears to be), b. That any o/s and appropriate software is (or is to be) considered as a suitable vehicle for ECDL qualification, c. That answers to module questions (such as the example at http://www.ecdl.co.uk/common/sample/module1.htm) "1.1.4 Explain what a computer virus is and describe two measures you can take to protect your computer from a computer virus." are acceptable according to the o/s and software used, d. That if b. and c. above are not accepted, then the reasons why they are not will be made public, and the subsequent limited value of ECDL certification publicised on all ECDL promotional material(as endorsing a UK driving licence with, e.g., "Valid for driving Ford cars only"). There is an increasing awareness, especially in Europe, of the undisirability of proprietary, closed software, on a number of grounds, not least cost, unreliability, and lack of security, all of which Microsoft exemplifies. With the welcome increase of European governmental spending on alternative o/s (Germany- IBM & Linux, France- Mandrake Linux), it is important that the ECDL is, and is seen to be, non-O/S and non-software specific. It is thus also important that non-O/S specific question/answer combinations exist. For example, the sample question quoted above could have answers from a Unix/Linux/BSD user along the lines of: "1. Use an inherently secure o/s (that is: NOT ANY of the various flavours of the MS o/s), 2. If you can't, NEVER use, or allow other users to use, MS Outlook." You may also get answers about user/group permissions, firewall configuration etc.. Thank you for your help in this matter. I look forward to an early reply (as I hope to use my (SuSE) Linux system and Sun Open Office 1.0, along with postgresql and other such programmes to qualify for my Computer Driving Licence!). Terence McCarthy
Why are you Cc'ing people/lists to a closed mailing list? Sigh... -- -ckm
On Wednesday 03 July 2002 01:27, Terence McCarthy wrote: - It appears from the various sites relating to the ECDL that only Microsoft - o/s are supported (vide winzip and Acrobat for Windows as the only downloads - in support of ECDL materials). - - Can you please assure me that: - - a. The ECDL is not a front organisation for Microsoft (as it appears to be), - - b. That any o/s and appropriate software is (or is to be) considered as a suitable vehicle for ECDL qualification, - - c. That answers to module questions (such as the example at - http://www.ecdl.co.uk/common/sample/module1.htm) "1.1.4 Explain what a - computer virus is and describe two measures you can take to protect your - computer from a computer virus." are acceptable according to the o/s and - software used, - - d. That if b. and c. above are not accepted, then the reasons why they are - not will be made public, and the subsequent limited value of ECDL - certification publicised on all ECDL promotional material(as endorsing a UK - driving licence with, e.g., "Valid for driving Ford cars only"). - - There is an increasing awareness, especially in Europe, of the - undisirability of proprietary, closed software, on a number of grounds, not - least cost, unreliability, and lack of security, all of which Microsoft - exemplifies. Interesting issue, though off topic ;-) I have often wondered about this as well. I wonder how the ECDL decision making process ended up with this formula. This is a good issue for a campaign, particularly in the EU countries that are adopting Linux for administration. Cheers, Brian
, and the subsequent limited value of ECDL - certification publicised on all ECDL promotional material(as endorsing a UK - driving licence with, e.g., "Valid for driving Ford cars only"). - -
ECDL has very limited value. Some times ago I was reading what an "ECDL"ed guy has to learn. I really did find some mistakes, and there was nothing mentionet but M$. For example one of the point of such exam was: "Learning that computer calculus power is measured in megaherz". Have you understood, you benchmarking people? You are wasting your time.... just look at the frequency! There were some more mistakes but I cant remember now. Praise
participants (4)
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Brian Durant -
Christopher Mahmood -
Praise -
Terence McCarthy