Promo/Schools/StudentTasks

This page contains the most important tasks students are using their computers for and show possible ways to solve those tasks with KDE software.It was created during a Google Code-In Project.

Main tasks that students are doing with their computer

Students are doing plenty tasks with their computer.

Some of the tasks that students are doing with their computers (and unfortunately by using proprietary software most times) could be :

• They like to surf on the internet and do plenty of things. When students surf the internet, they are visiting various well known sites like Google, Facebook, YouTube etc.
• Students are burning CDs/DVDs by using known CD/DVD Burning Suites. These can be sometimes free but other times students are forced to purchase them.
• Office Productivity Suites are widely used by students in order to complete several tasks for school and/or to make presentations
• Students like to use applications to communicate with their friends/relatives/classmates etc. These applications can be instant messengers or email clients
• Students are usually using special applications that help them in their school
• Listening to music and watching videos are and always will be one of the students' main entertainments in their free time
• Not to forget, students like to take pictures with their camera or mobile phone, then edit them with an image editor and finally upload them in the internet
• Large files are downloaded by students, usually bu using a torrent client. Students are widely using the peer to peer network.

A deeper look on the above tasks as well as the possible software that students may be using

We can now have a deeper look at the students' main activities and examine some possible software they may be using. Such software is sometimes proprietary; others they can be trial versions. Many students are unfortunately not familiar with KDE and FOSS as well as the possibilities these two can provide.

• Surfing the Internet

Students are using a web browser like Internet Explorer, Opera or Mozilla Firefox to surf the net. Since many sites include flash content, they have to install a flash player in order to be able to view them. Social Networking Sites (like Facebook, Twitter), Search Engines (like Google), Video-Sharing Sites (like YouTube,Dailymotion) are some well-known websites that students visit and spend their time on.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• CD/DVD Burning

Students burn files or other things directly to optical discs. They like to share them with their friends. DC/DVD burning suites (either free or non-free) are being used for this purpose.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Office Productivity

A variety of office productivity suites are being used by students to write texts, make presentations and other things for school. These programs can be Microsoft Office or OpenOffice, as students know them better.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Communication (Instant Messaging or Emails)

Students spend a lot of their time communicating with their friends by using an instant messenger. Moreover, they read and write emails through an email client like Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Educational Applications

Students are always looking for special applications that can help them at school or with their homework. They use calculators, encyclopedias and other programs that might help them

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Listening to Music and Watching Videos

Students like listening to music and watching videos a lot. They can do that offline, by using sometimes a media (or audio) player like Windows Media Player,VLC Media Player, Winamp etc.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Taking pictures and editing them on the computer

It is a hobby of many students to take pictures with a camera or mobile phone,then transfer them in the computer,edit them with a program and finally upload them on the net. Image editing software are being used by students for this purpose (like Paint, GIMP, Photoshop, TuxPaint etc).

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

• Downloading large files through P2P network

By using a torrent client (like uTorrent,Transmission,BitComet and others) students like to download large files throught he P2P network.

Can KDE provide a solution to this? YES

Solutions provided for the tasks mentioned above

Here are solutions to the students' task that are previously mentioned above. By installing KDE software, students will have the power to live in a free, easier and better environment without the need of other (and mainly proprietary) software. Take a look at the applications that are included :

• Surfing the internet

With Konqueror as their main web browser, students will love to surf the internet and visit their favorite websites. Since Konqueror can use embedded applications, students' web browsing will be easy and pleasant. File:Http://kde.org/images/screenshots/resized/konqueror.png

• CD/DVD Burning

k3b is one of the best burning programs out there! As being well-known to the GNU/Linux community, it is obvious that k3b can do everything for you, just as an expensive proprietary program will do. k3b can be used to directly burn files to discs,rip dvds,create audio cds, burn or create disc images and many more! The power of this amazing application will be on students' hands!

• Office Productivity

With Kword,Kspread and Kpresenter students will be able to use such powerful office productivity applications. They are easy to use and do not require any previous experience at all! They are used to instantly create documents,spreadsheets and presentations without spending too much time!

• Communication (Instant Messaging or Emails)

With Konversation students have the ability to connect to irc channels. And with Kopete as their main instant messenger, students gain the ability to talk with their friends around the globe. Finally, with Kmail as their email client, students will easily send, receive and organize their emails.