Covid-19, Work and Free Software

Year 2020 started with an unexpected rage.  The spread of Covid-19 has caused lots of deaths, fear, job losses, and an enormous uncertainty.

Anytime I turn on the news, my heart hurts.  Seeing so many people struggling, governments totally lost, and medical services collapsing sometimes makes me lose hope.

Here in my country we haven't had such a bad time as bigger nations, to which I send my best thoughts.  Still, the chaos is evident everywhere.  The authorities have instructed us not to leave our homes unless it is strictly necessary and thus, I (as many other people in the world) ended up working from home although I was totally unprepared for that.

My university literally sent us home with the command "work from there" and nothing else but an institutional platform that cannot hold such a heavy traffic.

Anyway, I am lucky if I compare myself to many of my colleagues.  They were much less prepared for the drastic change and some were heavily against online classes.  The same is true about most students here; they are not used to self learning and are very dependent on teachers telling them what to do. (*sigh*)

Fortunately, I can always count on Free Software.  Thanks to the army of tools available as Free Software, I can plan and make my online classes, even if I am totally inexperienced.

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Coronavirus has really changed the way we live... many people are gone or will pass away due to this virus. I am deeply thankful to the great heroes who work long hours trying to assist the sick. Those of us who are not medics, nurses or workers in hospitals can help by staying home and following the safety measures.  I'll do that while I work from my house.  Please, let's all help by staying home!