Views on the raspberry pi

What are your guys views, on the raspberry pi? Tons of kids in my school are like "OMG IT'S LIKE A COMPOOTER YOU CAN PROGRAM YOURSELF LOOK I MADE IT SAY HELLO WORLD IN PYTHON" now don't get me wrong, everyone needs to start somewhere, it's just why with this, what's wrong with just installing linux on your laptop, it's just a slow linux computer. As far as I can tell it's only use is teaching intermediate programmers lower level stuff when they start using the GPIO pins and such.

I think the expectations students have of a Raspberry Pi vs a regular PC is an important part of the potential value for teaching.

Kids see a generic PC, get upset that it isn't running Windows, and immediately want to hop onto the internet and start looking at Youtube.

Kids see this weird tiny little thing and have no preconception of what it can and can't do, or how the interface should work. That might be enough to pique their curiosity long enough to start messing around with Lua or something.

Also to the people saying "why not just have them install a compiler on their home or school computer":

1. Those school computers running Windows are insanely locked down.
2. Not everyone owns a computer at home. Some kids' only exposure to the internet is through cell phones.
3. If they do have a computer at home, it's running Windows, which is not exactly a comfortable environment for anyone to learn to program in. They sure as hell won't be allowed to put Linux on the family machine.
4. Thus the need for a cheap computer that the kid (or the school) can put Linux on. Netbooks are cheap, Raspberry Pis are cheaper.

Sure, a good parent would give their kid an old computer running Linux at a young age to screw around with, but not everyone has good parents. Same deal with reading to your kids, which is enormously helpful for their development, but not everyone does for some reason. Same reason why people use their TVs as babysitters.

Jesus, why is the average parent so bad? I have no idea how I would properly handle temper tantrums and whatnot, but these kinds of opportunities for bonding and mental development seem like no-brainers to me.