[geeks] Kids and computers...

[s at avoidant.org]

"Greg A. Woods" wrote:

> Oh, you mean educational software!  ;-)  there are lots of creative
> things a pre-schooler can do for fun with any text editor or any
> graphics editor....


Yeah, he loves painting-type software, but he's three, not thirteen.
Text editors are fun for a few minutes, but don't compare to dinosaurs
knocking down buildings and eating books when you get the answers wrong.
I'd love to recompile these things and run 'em on linux or BSD, but
they're not open source, and I'm a sysadmin, not a programmer.

Realistically, I'd love to go out and buy Reader Rabbit for *nix, but it
just ain't happenin'.


> Why when I was a kid I was happy to play with static physical toys that
> had far more limitations imagination-wise than any graphical interface!  ;-)


Yeah, me too. But I didn't get my grubby little paws on a computer at
home 'till the Commodore 64 (which I still have, BTW) If Nahi's that far
ahead of where I was then, I can't wait to see what he's doing at 35. I
want to give him every advantage i can. I realize windows isn't the
biggest advantage, but it's a start.


---sambo