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Comment by bilbo0s | Hacker News Reader

So have the kids learn to code on Android.

Problem solved.

There is no "Obstacle to America's Future" here. The point is for every kid to learn to code... not for every kid to build a business publishing iPhone Apps. Why does it matter WHAT they code on???

I learned on an Apple II e, why? Because that's the computer that was donated to my school. It was old and haggared and no... my programs were not compatible with the PC dos or that cool, slick new "Windows" thingy everyone was talking about at the time. And CERTAINLY nothing compared to the little Mac that was out.

But so what?

I still made a pretty cool Angry Birds style game on it using only hline and vline. It taught me the basics... that was the point.

If kids want to publish apps... well... publish them to Android. There is nothing wrong with that.

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I am gonna pull a Stallmann here and say it does matter how you are introduced to coding or even computers in general. I know a few younger people which are "educated" through this whole company driven, web-service addicted and golden cage world. For them it is completely normal not to have any content on there devices - just have it on some web service, they don't know anything else than closed ecosystems and so on. They have no incentive to even think about criticizing things like closed app stores, fees for publishing, licensing issues, censorship and so on because it's all the know.

Isn't that the point that was being made? FTA:

... if we really care about the next generation becoming hackers and makers, not just consumers, we need to reject Apple’s bullshit, reject Micorsoft’s (decreasingly relevant) bullshit, and focus on open systems. This doesn’t have to be Android. Ubuntu Phone looks promising, Firefox OS might not be more Mozilla vaporware, and Jolla looks incredibly promising.

Problem solved, if kids have access to Android. Apple is aggressively pursuing the edu market, and seems to be winning there. This is antithetical to the "kids learning to code" ideal.

I don't care what kids code on, I care about access. And forcing people to pay $99 to run their own code on their own devices is beyond unconscionable.

Google is aggressively pursuing the edu market with Chromebooks, so what?

You can develop for Chromebooks, on Chromebooks, for free, and it's one-time $5 to distribute. That's what.

The point is about access to the tools, the skills, and the ability to share; if the vendor controls any of those, FAIL.

Well, then we are lucky that we live in a free country where school administrators can buy whichever tools they think are best for the children.

The $99 is to publish apps - I've made a couple of little quick fix utils for work projects by building and deploying straight to the phone via USB, no subscription required.

Without jailbreaking?

Of course without jailbreaking

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