I'm not a huge proponent of Linux on the desktop (On the server, yes - big fan) - but it's rare to run into this level of chowder-headed nonsense. Ken Starks helps gets Linux into the hands of students, so that they can experiment with computers and learn - and after helping out a school system in Austin, Texas, he got this in email from a teacher:

After confiscating the disks I called a conference with the student and that is how I came to discover you and your organization. Mr. Starks, I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom. At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back.

It goes on from there, and doesn't get any smarter. I wonder where this teacher got the idea that free software was illegal? Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have questions about free software and viable business models, but how do you manage to come up with the idea that it's illegal?

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