Giving kids a fresh start with Qimo Linux
One of the great challenges to Linux adoption is inertia. Many Windows users, for example, have spent decades learning and using the operating system: they don't want to be bothered with moving to and learning another.
Those are fogies like you and me. Kids, however, are a tabula rosa.
Taking advantage of that concept is Qimo, a desktop operating system geared toward kids that is based on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. Developed by a husband-and-wife team Brian and Michelle Hall, Qimo was released in mid-February.
Getting kids into a new operating environment lets them, not Microsoft or any other company, define its boundaries. But getting Qimo going likely will require convincing parents who are already into Linux to install Qimo for them--in other words, the very sort of parents who probably already have their kids running the "grown-up" Ubuntu.
Even so, I like the idea of Qimo and would love to hear feedback from those who have installed and evaluated the system, especially if you're under the age of 12. :-)
Follow me on Twitter at mjasay.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
"Tabula rasa", NOT "rosa". Think "erase".
(Matt - be glad you never went to Catholic school... your knuckles would still be sore after bungling that one ;) ).
I would be curious to know whether this is improved or streamlined; however, my kids have already been burned when I tried to switch them to Linux, so I am sure it would be a fight to switch them back again.
I keep going back to my argument that the only reason Linux hasn't seen more penetration on the desktop is because it's all being put together by developers. They may be the spawn of the lowest darkest parts of the pit, but until some consumer marketing people get their hands on a solid linux product it will never really advance.
Also everyone is right. A linux distro needs some marketing. It needs to be on QVC and places like that! A lot of people I know that moved to Macs did so because they saw the I'M a PC / I'M a Mac ads and then came to ask me about Macs.
That is what Linux needs to make it into the home.
- by mhall119 February 24, 2009 11:29 AM PST
- Hi, I'm Michael Hall, the developer of Qimo (I'm also the husband to Michelle, not Brian, he is our graphics artist). I say "the developer" because I am, literally, the only one putting it together. Selling Qimo computers on QVC would be great, as would prime-time commercials, but sadly it's not in the family budget.
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- by bjames105 February 24, 2009 2:39 PM PST
- Hey Michael I am so glad you helped create this operating system. As of now, I am a 15 year old high school student in IT classes. I appreciate this for the purpose it was given and I also would like to use it for my kids in the future (or maybe my future wife, if she's a computer doofus :) ) I have grown fond of Ubuntu Linux, as I ordered a complementary CD from Canonical. It would be really cool if I could recycle the old computers that I had when I was a kid. Never throw them away and just let my kids use it. I really would like to switch to Linux myself, since I'm only 15, but I just will dual-boot with Windows XP or Windows 7 (when it is available for purchase) because not all the software I want to run is available on Ubuntu. Qimo will bring kids to appreciate and use Linux and increase the number of Linux users out there. I'm here to support your work and am happy you have done what you did. Can you drop me a link and tell me if you have updates for the operating system? I hope it lasts very long so I can use it for my kids! Thank you!
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- by tymiles February 25, 2009 5:53 AM PST
- Thank you Mr Hall for taking the time to come and answer our posts. I know what you mean about the budget issues, hard to market when you are working with shoe strings. :-) I am just hoping someone like Ubuntu will step up in the future and partner with a company to sell Ubuntu computers on someplace like QVC. This will be good for companies like yours as your version would also be able to run on anything Ubuntu can.
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- by mhall119 February 25, 2009 6:16 AM PST
- tymiles,
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(10 Comments)Like most distros, Qimo was created to serve a need, and that need was our charity QuinnCo (www.quinncoincorporated.org), which gives computers to low-income and special needs kids. Qimo is meant to be used in a home environment, as opposed to edubuntu which is more classroom oriented. Qimo is also designed to run on old, low-end hardware that gets donated to us, so 3D games were not an option anyway. But there are plenty of games in Qimo that kids seem to absolutely love, so if you have little ones between 3 and 12 years of age, download Qimo and let them play.
P.S. Games aren't really that important for kids. If I wanted to, I'd create a game for them that is incredible! :)
Now I have a better understanding of the difference between your version and edubuntu. I will for sure download it and pass it on to the kids I know that need computers. I would love to give away low cost Linux computers to inner city kids.
Again, thank you for taking the time out for us. :-)
We, along with several other groups across the nation, are working together to help people like you start recycling and donating Qimo/Linux based computers in their own communities. Please send us an email at info@quinncoincorporated.org, and we will so whatever we can to help you get started.