Seeing as our high school network hijinks pretty much led to semi-permanent suspension, our barren hearts were actually warmed by the story of 11-year-old Jon Penn, who has been in charge of his elementary school's 60-machine network since last year. The previous network administrator at the Arkansas school simply up and left, leaving the IT systems in shambles -- and in the hands of Jon's mom, the school librarian. Jon's since scrubbed the aging Windows 98 machines of their accumulated viruses and spyware, and he's installed a firewall and virus / spam filter to keep things clean while he works out a plan to move to Windows 2000 and centralized system management. Right now though, Jon's got his hands busy doing everything from fixing everything from paper jams to revising server configurations, and it sounds like he's having a ball -- he says he's been testing out virtualization products lately, and he's studying up for A+ technician certification this summer. Looks like school's a lot more fun when you're running the show, no?
[Via
Switched]
posted Mar 31st 2008 6:19PM
You see? Get kids on the IT department and they'll figure everything out.
Too bad "comp nerds" like him are being bullied at school. :(
theres a quote my spanish teacher once said:
"you may think that nerds and geeks are total weirdos now, but listen. geeks will always make more money and get hotter chicks than anyone else." (or something like that)
this kid will be a millionaire and have as many supermodel girlfriends as hugh hefner (sp?)
Right on there Cow- Err... Moo!
I was the computer guy for my house when I was 10. LOL!
The new world record for most number of senseless posts goes to Aguiluz. XD, just playing with you.
Well yes and no, it is a shame that the bullying occurs yes, but I'm pretty sure an 11 year old, doesn't have the knowledge to run an entire server setup by himself. No no, he really actually is a newb, not in a literal sense like everyone thinks of, but rather, 11 years of life experiance isn't enough to be a "pro" at anything. Windows 2000 and centrilized server management? Still not hitting the nail on the head there, try windows XP, a handful of hand written scripts (which I assume this kid probably can't do, no offense, I can't even do scripts that well and I'm 17), perhaps try using deepfreeze and using a standard image system wide across all the computers that is optimized on one computer to avoid having to indivigually set up each computer.
Some things people just don't mind doing, for free or for money.
At my school I don't SEE much bullying, but I am sure it happens. However, I don't think it may happen as much to "computer nerds" as it used to. We have people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to thank for that. IMHO.
Sounds like M$ needs to spread some love and ship that boy 60 licenses of XP and a copy of Server 2003 with plenty of cals. Or maybe Apple could be the hero and send him 60 new iMacs and a server. I love to spend someone elses money.
He reminds me of myself when I was only 11. The teachers will always ask me to fix the Mac/TV/VCR/DVD etc etc... but being a nerd wasn't bad =D. I get in trouble for hacking into the database for stealing everyone's information but that was only 3 times!
@Moo2
"geeks will always make more money and get hotter chicks than anyone else"
o_O
I hand built, networked and upgraded my Church's 30-machine computer lab when I was 14.
But unlike Jon here, I was installing Windows '98 as a brand NEW operating system, lol.
On another note, the show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" has a secret question every game that donates an entire computer lab to a pre-picked school if the player answers correctly. Hopefully this story will bring Jon's school into their eyes, or at least another computer charity. Its sad to see Windows 2000 being installed as a new OS, however it could have been worse: Vista.
Yeah, kids are a lot more capable than they're given credit for. I know I was running my home network at least in my pre-teen years, installing firewalls and anti-virus software, updating drivers, configuring the router, setting static IPs, etc. Luckily I was raised in a household where my father worked in the IT field and I always had internet access. I was encouraged to learn by my parents and I wanted to learn, so I did. If you give kids the tools and encouragement they need in order to learn new things, you'll find that many are capable of some really advanced stuff.
Really, the difference between techies and non-techies is three things: a willingness to learn new things, the ability to follow directions, and enough determination to deal with frustrating situations. A lot of tech related stuff isn't that hard - just Google things you don't know, follow the directions, and make an effort to retain that information. If you're willing to repeat those steps whenever you encounter something you're not familiar with, you can learn a lot.
Somehow, just somehow, I'm somewhat skeptical an 11 year old is getting A+ certification...unless getting an A+ cert has become exceptionally easy (read: DeVry and/or ITT Tech)
Reminds me of my time in elementary school, I was constantly fixing the crappy old systems in our school. Only thing was, instead of Win 98/2K, we had Apple IIc's in the classrooms and a computer lab full of state-of-the-art PCs running PC-DOS 6 (and on the rare occasions we were "allowed" to open it, Win 3.1). Goddamn I feel old...
Of course, elementary schools aren't the only ones behind the times, my high school didn't move to Windows XP until the year I graduated, and trust me, me (a relative white hat) and my blacker-hatted buddies used to find all sorts of fun holes in the crappy security protocols they had - Win 98 (but they didn't bother disabling the MS-DOS Prompt - idiots), some crappy web filter (that blocked more good sites than the bad, and was easily fooled by proxies), an idiotic remote-control/desktop-viewer in the computer lab (meant to catch kids goofing off and surfing the web, too bad it was incompatible with the Java IDE our programming class used, so if you WERE doing your work, when the teach checked up on you, your system rebooted spontaneously...), and a school server with no sort of permissions (we once used the school server as a music swapping server, and we even installed and ran StarSiege:Tribes off the server, which was laggy as all sin, but a nice POC).
Makes me almost misty-eyed for school...
Look at him..
The bitches at his school smell money all over that kid.
Hope he doesnt turn out like the Dell dude!
@Dave
A+ is a bulls**t cert. It IS easy as pie if you can memorize the questions off the practice tests, which is how most of the people get the cert, which is why it means nothing. All it means is that you can read a horribly dry book, do the same quesions over `till you memorize them, and take a test.
Really, not to take anything away from this kid though, it is VERY impressive for him. Having an A+ cert at 11 would be pimp!
Yeah it doesnt take much Dave to get A+ Cert. I can get it thru work by reading a text book and then taking a test at the Tech to complete. Can be done in just a month or 2.. Think they give us 3 mths at work..
And Snowraver1 is right, A+ doesnt mean Jack anymore.. In the eyes it does but I know a few ppl that are A+ cert and I wouldnt trust them with a PC.. I can run circles around them and I have no schooling background other than my self taught knowledge..
But think of this Kids resume thats the big kick. Who wont hire him at 18, fresh outa HS, with 7-8 years exp in IT.
Going off of the comments about school computer systems. Man, my school has a nice system, newer computers, and a pretty good IT squad putting out those fires (when kids do stupid stuff and they block about ten proxies a day). But that doesn't stop kids from working around it. I've got a freind who has to comes up with a new solution every week to get WiFi (yeah, it's weird that we have WiFi at a high school) on his iPod Touch, and then get past the filters.
Seriously, kids and teenagers are more than adapt to use technology. I think it's because they don't get frustrated as easily as adults. Much like DWells55 said...
Chebwa, that doesn't apply to hot emos like you, no one would know you were a geek :D
Libb,
So true. When I was in high school we were able to get past all the security they put on the computers and install/ do whatever we wanted. I got a nice full version of Macromedia Flash, Dreamweaver, etc. off the hdd. We also installed Counter Strike on the server so we had a lag-free place to play at night when everyone went home. But the best was this kid who installed Dameware on the teachers computer and would log on when she walked away and change grades. We ended up getting caught when the IT guy came to the class to install something and one kid logged in as admin for him...
ahh, the nostalgia. I'm sure lots of people around my age (19) remember teachers allowing us to do "alternative projects" with technology. Really classy move by the teachers that realize potential and allow a student that opprotunity. I hope Mr. Gates sees this (as he learned his skills using school funded computers) and helps the guy out.
Tangent: Doesn't everyone remember "that kid" who would claim he could change grades "on the mainframe" if he really wanted to? I always wondered why "that kid" thought it was impressive to announce he was too stupid to BS his way through the American public school system... (not that I was a great student by any means) I'll have to go visit him at burger king this week and say hi... haha
Anyone who thinks Windows 2000 is bad, I disagree. I love my 2K box! So much more stable than XP or Vista. Anyone who thinks they should have XP on any of those machines must have not read that they currently run 98, 2K needs much less resources to run compared to XP, he should just install xubuntu and be done with it!
"I love my 2K box! So much more stable than XP..."
Nah.
Stories like this just make me feel stupid.
That would be in a good way?
I guessing because he is older and a 11 year old knows just as much or even more than him. =P
That kid actually looks like me when i was toying with my old junker computers. too bad i wasnt offered my dream job in middleschool, IT
I feel your pain, man. I'm still trying to get my A+ cert and in the middle of an MCSE course. :s
Damn, I'm 15 and I wish my school would let me be IT :D we just got some fat guy that does it..
But can he make the computers blend?
No.
I think the correct question would be "But will he blend?"... and yes, he most likely will.
I still think the open movie folks need to use distributed rendering instead of sun servers...
but those are 32 bit machines there, so for blending complicated frames, they would choke.
It's a shame the kid used windows instead of edubuntu.
"Thats 11 year old boy dust. Don't breath it in."
blend, no, play doom, yes
I thought it was in Alabama, not Arkansas?
ahhh, the youth
he is going for Win2000
tssk tssk tssk.....
Read the article. They are on a shoestring and their comps are old. Yeah? Going for Vista? No... I don't think the outdated hardware can handle it.
Having lived in West Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana... it's fortunate that the Arkansas school isn't using 95, baby steps my friend baby steps.
I'm sure this news will get to Microsoft somehow and hopefully a charitable donation of XP copies will be ok, either that or better computers.
I don't understand the move to win2000. Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting him down at all... but administrating win2000 w/ i would presume 2k server is a "little" cumbersome compared to xp pro and 2003. unless it's budget, then MS should step up to the plate.
I'm pretty sure from my experience windows 2000 was the worst operating system since the invention of dogs.
Heh- this kid needs to learn the power of Linux. I could've done that when I was 11 - 4 years ago. But Windows 2000? the computers are old. Putting linux on would make them more modern. And my school won't let me run the network :-(
"I'm pretty sure from my experience windows 2000 was the worst operating system since the invention of dogs."
I believe nothing can beat Windows ME for that title.
@Jordan. I think you mean Me. Windows 2000 was far better than windows 98 / NT 4.0...
2000 is a solid and good working OS, dunno where you're getting your info on it...
@Jordan:
Correction. ME was the most unstable release of Windows so far.
Win2K is a perfectly reasonable, networkable, OS for older computers. I've run it on about 40MB of RAM. I'd like to see you try that with XP or Vista.
I stand confused and corrected.
I suspect Jon doesn't know that Windows 2000 is about to EOL.
He should move to Xubuntu as soon as possible.
now, that 11 years old kid is far better than Jordan.
Like any kid who knows a little too much about computers I bet he has stashed porn in a hidden C:/Windows/System32/research folder in one of the computers in that room.
Why? Do you do it? Ewww... XD
dude! he's 11!
@Carl -
So?
Actually... that's how I learned about computers as a pre-teen. We'd download p0rn on my friend's dad's massive Toshiba "laptop". This thing weighed at least 10 pounds and had a red only screen (They called it 'color' - ha!). I don't think you could really tell what was what with that low resolution, but we had no idea what we looking at anyways... Fast forward 20 years - I now work with computers. Thank you shady internet sites!
Good for him, I say!
With a record like that, keep it up and he'll be set for life! Puts most of us to shame!
I still have my chance. I'm only 5 years older. :)
Yea, because what have you done? I'm 5 years older than him, and my "hijinks" resulted in a not-so-temporary suspension from my school. (Hilariously, one of the things I got in trouble for was forcing a resolution change from 1024x768 to 1280x1024. This was in a design class.)
Fighigushigu, (There goes my spelling) I did bypass that blocking thing with a proxy.
i should be put in charge of our pc lab.
our entire district uses emacs (the CRAPPY OS X computers), and none of our techs know anything about PCs. none of the monitors are set to native resolution (except the ones i changed), and they didn't block the command prompt, thus undoing all the other blocks they did. (task manager, display settings, ect)
@Agigulz(whatever)
Haha, /gratz nub.
L2 revise school network so blocker does not exist! :p
Wow Aguiluz, you can go to proxy.org. I set up my own proxy with Apache on my home PC, turned off all of the security, cracked passwords, made my own account, ect. They even tried to intimidate me (when they didn't know if I was doing something wrong - before somebody talked) by bringing a cop to my computer class and explaining what NOT to do.
I do not want to be around when this kid burns out. MOVE!
he's moving them too Windows 2000?
IF he knew a thing about computers, he'd go for Linux
:-p
I think they need Win 2000 for the grade recording things..
(Am I overposting?)
yeah because it WOULDNT be a nightmare for every teacher and student in that department to learn how to use linux when they're used to 98 at school and xp/vista at home right? right?
Probably can't really go to Linux. Don't forget- these kids & teachers are going to be MS for most all applications- Word, Excel, etc.
They probably use Windows for grading software, that is what schools I have seen use.
That being said, learning linux is not too difficult if you have a good Distro (Ubuntu, Suse) and have everything set up correctly.
As for needing MS Office? Try OpenOffice.
http://www.openoffice.org/
I use OO for all my office needs. It looks almost exactly like Office 2003, so that is what teachers are used to. It can read all the windows formats, save into the windows formats, just like Office 2003.
It doesn't look like Office 2007, but that is because MS changed the interface completely. But since people using these computers, and most other computers start with the 2003 look, that is what they are used to, and that is what OpenOffice supplies.
Long story short, 2000 works fine and is needed for grading tools, but if properly set up Linux is easy and you can use OpenOffice for all your office needs.
Oh, btw. OpenOffice works for Windows too ;)
my school used a mac based grading software... too be honest, it crashed alot. we would always laugh when we would hear over the intercom "Attention teachers, powerschool is down again"
lol
That's like saying "Why don't they get Macs?".
It's just not possible for one reason or another.
While Linux may be free and oh so wonderful, it's just not practical for an educational establishment.
why not use OO for the grade keeping too? a grade tool like that is essentially a spreadsheet.
freetard.
:P
Most businesses and enterprises will still continue to use the MS Office suite in the future. There is a reason why Office is popular you know. The features, the way it works across servers, and all the other things make Office a way better office suite to go for.
My school has a class on mastering Office apps. so that if you happen to work in an office, most like using MS Office, you're prepared. OO is ok, but many people still find it to much of an inconvenience, less features, and I get the feeling it's not exactly the "quality" solution to MS Office.
@Dean
The powerschool server runs on Windows servers....
lol you are jealous about the boy and now proved that you are stupid than him
Doesn't this break some US labor laws or something?
It may not break labor laws though I know that I have friends who during high school basically got told that they and another adult volunteer could no longer help out on the network because of sensitive student information that was accessible (from grades to health forms). Needless to say the system defiantly suffered without their help.
Bureaucracy FTW... not
I think not because the kid is learning and they not force him to work like grownups do.
His mom is there with him. Underage worker has to have at least a parent/guardian present. Thats the same for the little girl dental assistant.
They have little girls working in dentist offices now?
Oh, would you look at that, I'm due for a checkup.
windows 98 to windows 2000? i dont get it...
install ubuntu and your computers will forever be free of spyware and shit.
The computers are outdated so they can't do big jumps.
And... Its used at school so the students and even teachers themselves will be dazed on linux when the comps they used at home are XP/Vista.
And... The school grade recording programs use MS OSes.
And free of applications that kids need to learn how to use...
You are talking about an 11 year old Also his MOM is supervising him .HE needs to install something that his mom can understand also. I do not think his mom will be able to understand the linux command prompt.
Maybe because they want the kids to know how to use the computers that they will come across after elementary school.
Or maybe because worrying about interoperability is a pain in the twat.
Or maybe because, and I'm sorry if this seems troll-is, but it is something that a lot of Linux proponents have to understand... Linux isn't the answer for everyone, no matter what the creepy german man says.
I'm sure he could. But most of the lab's students are there to learn real life skills.
Yes. He is there to just practice on some comps and learn by trial and error. That's how I learned to use comps the power user way.
Must... Resist... Posting! *gnah!*
OOps... that comment of mine was supposed to be a reply to Zap.
Sounds like all the kid actually did was install some antivirus software, and not much else. Cute puff piece, but I don't think the kid is going to be landing contracts with Google anytime soon.
Wow! good for him! I remember kinda doing the same thing, 12 and tinkering with MS-DOS... those were the days.
I just hope the kid is being paid something for this, otherwise talk about exploitation and child labour, etc.
Kudos to the lil' kid, though... I'm double his age and I can't admin and maintain a network that large on my own.
re: installing linux, even though the os is free, it'll take too much resources to train the plebs - err, I mean teachers to use it.
And don't forget when the kids actually leave school, they're going to have to know how to use M$ products cos that's what the majority of businesses use, I mean how many businesses do you see that actually run Linux or Mac software outside of specialist IT stuff
@jamie
QUIT PREACHING MICROSOFT DOGMA
He's planning on moving UP TO Windows 2000? Please.
Either get Vista or Linux. One is a nice corporate solution for those who like buggyness and such, the other will a) work well with your old computers as you can find it without to much system overhead, b) be unbearably secure, and c) cost absolutely nothing. You can even get OpenOffice and such to run your normal program needs.
Common kid, I give you props for doing what most trained IT men can barely handle, but really, Windows 2000? You might as well upgrade to "fails at life."
"Either get Vista or Linux..... fails at life."
Read the dang article! They used computers dating back a few years ago! How can it handle Vista? Linux is complicated to use too and far too hard for the regular "cool kids" at school who don't know a bonk about linux.
Please read the article... Otherwise that "fails at life" crack will snap back at you. :P
You should be ashamed for not reading the article. The computers were really old. The prob cant handle vista or xp for that matter.
Plus if you read he also installed a virusscan/firewall gateway:
“We spent $2,158,” says young Penn, describing how he picked out the McAfee Secure Internet Gateway Appliance after evaluating it in a 30-day trial. He also looked at the Barracuda box — a tad more costly — and tried the Untangle open source product, which he said didn’t meet the school’s needs as well.
Also windows 2000 was FREE from MICROSOFT. So thats why they upgraded to 2000 because it was free.
"These computers are so old they don’t support all antivirus programs,” Penn says. The school took advantage of a Microsoft effort called Fresh Start that offers free software upgrades for schools with donated computers, switching from Windows 98 to Windows 2000. "
Some people should stop bashing the kid and actually read the article. By bashing him without reading the article you are showing how smart the kid really is.
if you read just Engadget's piece and looked at their picture, you would know that he's working with some ancient Gateways with Win 98 on them. Please tell me how you expect to get Vista running on those?
Seriously? Vista? Linux? Check those 'state of the art' CRT monitors in the background...obviously these machines aren't even CLOSE to new. Not to mention its Arkansas... Not everyone needs to rock the latest and greatest. Give the kid his props for doing what he did with what he had.