Microsoft Losing the School Markets To iPads and Chromebooks 219
dkatana writes Microsoft's licensing scheme, the high cost of support and difficult management of devices are the key factors making schools drop Windows for better alternatives as iPads and Chromebooks. Google is making a dent in the education market with Chromebooks. The internet giant has been promoting the use of Chrome OS with specific tools for schools to manage the devices, their apps and users. Its Chromebooks for Education program is helping schools deploy large numbers of devices with an easy management system. While Google is successful with Chromebooks as school laptops the clear winner on tablets is Apple. iPads are a the preferred platform for schools deploying tablets as digital learning devices.
Microsoft losing to the school what? (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft losing to the school what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Here here. I'm not a fan of either MS or Apple but I'm even less of a fan computers in the classroom. Computers do have their place for research and writing papers but I just don't think they need to be used every day in the classroom.
Now I may be an old fuddy-duddy, but I still haven't seen conclusive evidence that they make learning any easier or better.
But that's only my 2 cents.
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I still haven't seen conclusive evidence that they make learning any easier or better.
I've seen studies that have shown that they interfere with learning, but none (that weren't sponsored by someone trying to sell stuff) that showed they improved learning.
Re:Microsoft losing to the school what? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've seen studies that have shown that they interfere with learning, but none that showed they improved learning.
Warning, anecdotal evidence ahead:
I regularly volunteer at my kids school, and have worked with their "special needs" kids, including several autistic students. These are kids that have difficulty with human interaction, and don't do well in a regular classroom. But they seem to interact well with tablets, and there are some apps that are specifically tailored to autistic kids. So tablets do seem to have a niche. But for "normal" kids, I agree that tablets are a distraction and a waste of resources.
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My son is on the mild side of the autistic spectrum, with sensory/motor issues, particularly fine motor skills.
He has used a computer since 1st grade as his ability to write with a pencil is compromised. Writing assignments that are in class are done on the computer, and then sent to the class printer.
I have a hard time finding a fault with computers in the classroom. I spend 8 to 12 hrs a working day on the computer, he will probably follow that path.
How much better it is to integrate it into his skill set
Absurdity Itself (Score:2)
I've seen studies that have shown that they interfere with learning, but none (that weren't sponsored by someone trying to sell stuff) that showed they improved learning.
It all comes down to what software is used on them, not the mere factor of having them, and with the right software it seems silly to think they cannot improve learning.
They improve learning for me as an adult, why can the same be impossible for a child? Even if it's just for learning still assisted by an adult, why can it not be better?
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Here here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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There, there.
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They're their there.
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if he had a Chromebook while he was in school, he might've learned how to spell Hear Hear properly...
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in general you're right...
i'd want a "tech cart" with laptops for all of them so they can take quizes and such...instant grading for multiple choice quiz...which frees up the teacher to focus on students with special needs
but yeah, inherently you're right
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Never took a scantron test in school I take it? All the benefits of near-instant grading of multiple choice exams, none of the distractions or expense of having a computer in front of the students while they're taking an exam.
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Here here.
Where, where?
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"Here, here" is widely regarded as a misspelling, although it is a common one, and there are ways to logically justify its use. But for what it’s worth, "hear, hear" is the original form (the
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That's right, children should not be taught to use the single most important innovation in communication and content creation to be invented since the pencil and paper.
Oh. Wait.
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Well, it's still early days as far as education and computers go. There are some amazing resources out there though. For example, my kids regularly use Khan Academy. For some reason, the way he explains things just clicks with them.
For anything Khan doesn't cover, Wolfram Alpha is an unbelievable tool.
For writing, some kids are going to do better on a text editor or word processor. I know I can no longer sit down with a pen and an empty page and just write.
I'm glad to see schools trying new things though. Y
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or with an ipad...
Re:Microsoft losing to the school what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Economics fail: analysis of probabilistic expenses need to factor in the probability of occurrence. Expected cost = (multi-thousand dollars in medical costs) * (near-zero odds of such an accident occurring) $600. And don't forget the alternate risks of mugging you're subjecting children to by having them carry around a $600 thief-magnet rather than some books nobody wants.
And your use case may sound good, but we all know what will usually happen is that most students will spend their time chatting online, playing video games, etc. and get less out of the experience than if they had no supplies at all. And what's wrong with carrying a paper and pencil and an applicable textbook? Much cheaper when inevitably lost or destroyed, and they'll even get a bit more exercise in the bargain, and lord only knows they probably need it.
There may be a niche for integrating computers computers into general education for normal children, but it would probably have to be a purpose-built machine: everything I've seen to date is worse than useless for the purpose.
Re:Microsoft losing to the school what? (Score:5, Funny)
well if you don't want them stealing your kids iPad, buy them Microsoft Surfaces instead. Problem solved.
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but we all know what will usually happen is that most students will spend their time chatting online, playing video games, etc.
Now only if there was some way to manage [air-watch.com] a device to not allow ad hoc app installs, or disable functionality [apple.com] you don't want the user to have...
Do you really think that people haven't thought of that years ago when they first started doing this?
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And don't forget the alternate risks of mugging you're subjecting children to by having them carry around a $600 thief-magnet
While I don't disagree with your general point, theft rates started dropping [arstechnica.com] as soon as Apple added Activation Lock to iOS 7. There's not a lot of street value in a device that can't be used, and they're not the thief magnet they were even a year ago.
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Certain classes do not warrant an iPad, eg PE
There are a number of sport performance monitor apps that exist for the iPad, some that make use of the camera to record and monitor form... a tablet can actually be very helpful for sports being a computer and camera integrated.
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It's worse than simply who provides computers to schools. Big companies, like Pearson, see dollar signs when it comes to schools. They write curriculum for the schools to use (using Pearson textbooks, of course) and tests to make sure that the students are learning the Pearson lessons the right way. Of course, passing students don't have more monetary possibilities, so they make the tests to show that the kids are failing. This way they can sell courses to the teachers/administrators, more textbooks, et
Nonsense (Score:2)
Microsoft licensing isn't really an issue, the OS is free on certain profiles such as small tablets and mobile devices and with everything hinted at with Windows 10 it appears that the OS will become further more affordable to consumers/end users. Schools also get incentive programs, discounts and free student/teacher licenses. If anything, Microsoft is embracing Android & iOS more these days so the biggest loser stands to be ChromeBooks in the end. Windows devices are price point competitive with Chr
Re:Nonsense (Score:4, Informative)
With a network of hundreds of tablets that need to be locked down, managed, protected against malware, needing to access content etc. you'd better want them to join a Windows domain. The free Windows version won't allow that.
I think the idea sucks anyway whatever the OS is. A tablet has less display estate than A4 paper and an open book. Bright screen stealing attention is especially worrying. Wifi is a nightmare, but a USB plug on each desk that gives wired ethernet access could remedy that.
Moving, overbright (with bad black levels) crap don't believe in a classroom. Give the kids something with a keyboard and a monochrome LCD.
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what is A4? what is monochrome? what is USB wired ethernet? Your concepts are strange to me.
Re:Nonsense (Score:4, Informative)
USB-wired Ethernet means reverse tethering. Unfortunately, it really isn't practical on a classroom scale, because of the distances involved, not to mention that general-purpose computers aren't really all that great at handling high-speed network routing for thirty or forty machines to begin with, and USB's excessive CPU overhead just piles on top of that.
It would be cheaper and more reliable to install a dedicated Wi-Fi hot spot in every classroom with a fairly directional antenna on the ceiling, and set the maximum transmit power really low so each classroom acts like its own microcell that is roughly limited to the bounds of the room. Chances are, a single shared Wi-Fi connection is plenty fast enough for a single classroom, and in my experience, as long as you aren't doing tethering, Wi-FI works very well on iOS (the recent WPA2 Enterprise networking authentication changes in iOS 8 notwithstanding). It's only a nightmare on Windows, which is probably one of the reasons that Microsoft is getting stomped into the ground in school markets.... But I digress.
BTW, does anybody else find it odd for an article to say that MS is losing the market? Normally "-ing" verbs imply that something is happening right now. I was under the impression that they had pretty much lost the K-12 market to iPads years ago.
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I am thinking of a semi-hidden USB networking card, quite simply! if we can have the USB device (NIC) feeding the host power.
You then merely need to run CAT5 to each and every desk and it all goes to a switch (that has 1Gb/s uplink to the school network). Use Power over Ethernet and 100Mb/s, micro-switches to reduce the cabling.
It's perhaps a mess : bury cables in the floor, use a raised floor, cables descending from ceiling, floor cable protectors as seen on the ground in concerts? But it would seem to be
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Wifi is a nightmare
How so? Seems to work fine at my Kids primary school and intermediate school.
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The assumption that you need to lock down student's devices is the root of all of your issues.
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the OS is free on certain profiles such as small tablets and mobile devices and with everything hinted at with Windows 10 it appears that the OS will become further more affordable to consumers/end users.
Everyone knows the real cost is the CALS. The endpoint OS may be free, but the management comes at a hefty price.
Re: Nonsense (Score:2)
School under Education License agreements pay about $34/year per desktop for the current OS, current edition of Office, and CALs to access Exchange & SQL Server (both also current edition)... And all that goes with it (Active Directory). The only 'gotcha' is that the computers need to have some form of current Windows OS (as low as Win 7 Starter if buying new hardware).
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I avoid all non-free software from BSA member organizations. If the BSA comes knocking, they get the door slammed on them until they com
Re:Nonsense (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, for certain consumer/BYOD scenarios, on rather crippled devices, MS has succumbed to the inevitable and cut prices to the bone. However, if you still want things like 'laptops with keyboards' or 'Active Directory for credentials handling and some semblance of management', it's a punch in the wallet. More so if you go for a full Office/Exchange setup, and if you need to go into System Center, or a third party equivalent (Altiris used to kick ass; but Symantec purchased it and has been ruining it lately) for imaging and more robust control than pure AD.
MS doesn't have the pricing power of Big Blue in the Days of Yore; but even with educational discounts it adds up uncomfortably fast.
Chromebooks are, admittedly, rather limited; but chromeOS + Apps for Education can do credentials, a fair amount of configuration, and get students typing away impressively quickly and cheaply compared to the alternatives. There are things you simply can't do, full stop; but within their scope those things are damned efficient.
iPads are slick, and have all the 'apps' and iBook-only textbooks and similar stuff; but management might as well have been designed to remind you that Apple hates enterprise and institutional customers. They aren't as bad as they used to be; but even with a full MDM setup, it's a massive pain in the ass(Though, while chromeOS is absurdly better, Android is even worse).
Actual OSX devices are much better behaved, as are Windows systems with enough licenses in place for a full AD setup; but the hardware is either more expensive or less portable and doesn't offer the exciting finger-painting action that users crave for some stupid reason.
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Based on what I am seeing at work, a good bit of this IBM/Apple unholy alliance is centered around IBM management tools and OSX devices.
We shall see if it flys...
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A marriage of Hypercard and Lotus Notes?
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I remember using Hypercard to help with some classes in grade school in the late 80 and early 90s. It was magic. The students (4th and 5th grade) used it with something called Jasper. It was amazing how much faster the entire class (even the typically slower children) grasped not only the lessons, but the new tools. They excelled more with that tool set than other tool set I had ever seen. The children developed their presentations using the Hypercard stacks and then presented them to the entire grade
Re:Nonsense (Score:5, Insightful)
Chromebooks ... There are things you simply can't do, full stop
As a school oriented laptop that is probably a plus. Email, browser, google docs, ... plus the education focused classroom stuff ... that sounds highly capable. Being "locked down" doesn't seem like a negative here, probably solves more problems than it creates.
Re:Nonsense (Score:5, Interesting)
Having worked for a school district, I can tell you that licensing was a major issue but, not for the reasons that most people think. It has nothing to do with cost even though the licenses were pricy. The problem was the technical solutions that Microsoft instituted to try and enforce their licensing that was the issue. We either had to do limited activation licences that were use and loose which is a major problem when you're doing network imaging as you burn through the licences like they're tissue paper or you had to run clunky and unreliable "activation servers" with severe technical limitations and were even more problematic with people with laptops. In the end, we had to do a hybrid solution on both methods to try and keep our copies of Windows and Office activated and even then it wasn't 100% effective. We were looking for ANY alternative to this nightmare that we could make work; even if it wasn't ideal.
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Microsoft licensing isn't really an issue
It must be the crap software itself that is the deciding factor then.
Re:Nonsense (Score:4, Funny)
Too little, too late - especially with such a crapfest OS that continues to use the biggest piece of shit interface since people wrote with dried manure.
Look, I'm no fan of Android, but it's not THAT bad.
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he was obviously talking about Windows 8 and Metro.
Cut to the chase... (Score:4, Informative)
This is what should happen everywhere...
http://www.linux.com/news/feat... [linux.com]
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I fully agree with this. The part I liked about this article is that they encourage students to install software, run webservers etc etc. You simply cannot do that in a Windows environment. As for IPads, I shake my head. Yes they are useful for some special needs kids, no argument there, but for teaching about computers and sparking their interest and creativity a Linux laptop or Raspberry Pi's in a lab would make for a far more vibrant learning environment.
What do you think Windows 8.1 with Bing is for? (Score:2)
and all those ~$100 tablets. If Microsoft didn't lower the cost of Windows to zero those would all be Android tablets.
Compromise combos don't work (Score:4, Interesting)
Basically while both bikes were perfectly good people either wanted a touring bike or a sport bike; and in the second case wanted a sport bike or a Harley like bike.
Over the years I have seen similar products arrive with much hype but then sort of wither away and die. Go to any hardware store and someone has combined an Axe and something else. Or a screwdriver with a flashlight. Yet go back a year later and these sorts of products are gone only to be replaced with another bunch of doomed combo products. Once in a blue moon something like the Swiss army knife comes along that does combine things well but again it doesn't really replace a good kitchen knife, good scissors, or a good screwdriver it thrives on its portability and the fact that you get so many tools for a fairly low price.
Then there all kinds of similar failures like the El Camino. Basically it won the hearts of movie Latino gangsters and that is about it. Or all those promotional office supplies that try to shoehorn a calculator in. Binders, pens, etc. I don't think I ever did a single calculation on a promotional calculator integrated into some office supply. And sometimes there are those products that won't die. All in one printers. For most people those things just suck. Their drivers ruin machines, none of the features are that good and most people just end up using them as printers. Or TV DVD/VCR players... junk.
The surface is a perfect example of one of these compromise combos. It is a laptop, that is a tablet, that runs windows, that costs a pile of money. When I use my tablet I use it for tablet stuff like playing simple games, surfing the web for specific information, watching videos, but not for programming, writing books, or anything that it would do terribly. But my laptop literally has no games and I don't even watch many videos on it, it is purely for work when I am on the go.
Last Christmas I tried to buy a Chromebook for my mother in law because she needs a lightweight (powerwise) laptop that she can't screw up. She primarily needs it for email. There were a bunch around $250 which would have been perfect had they not been all out of stock. So basically I was viewing the chromebook as a really cheap underpowered laptop; but still a laptop.
So when looking at the surface I just don't see where it fits into a need that customers have. If they need a laptop there are plenty of laptops that are far cheaper than the surface that are only a little bigger. If they want a tablet there are far better tablets for far less money. If they need a powerful laptop then again there are far better laptops for far less money. In fact a good laptop and a good tablet will cost less than a surface.
But then there is a whole other reality. Most people don't really need a laptop or desktop any more. I suspect that this does not apply to most slashdotters but out in the wild most people create very little content and barely need a keyboard; hence the huge demand for large tablet like phones as these are often people's primary interface to the internet. But if they do need to type a bit more than the average bear then they can get an older used laptop or a chr
Re: Compromise combos don't work (Score:2)
A Surface 2 (running Windows RT) costs $449 - I question the quality of a 'good' laptop and 'good' tablet you can get for less than $449...
A Surface Pro 3 starts at $749 - list price, less in qty. - that gets you close to 'good' laptops and tablets.
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It is doomed, but that is not why. If MS chose to unlock it, you could rebuild native x86 apps for RT no problem - that's how they did Office. But MS didn't want to allow that, they wanted a go at the 30% of everything sold in the app store model - the fact that that failed is IMO good.
The real reason RT is doomed though is that it was built to give Intel a kick to get better performing low power x86 chips out (or alternatively to hedge their bets on mobile hardware platform). Since Bay Trail atoms came
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It's also not clear if Intel can succeed in making x86 chips save power. At leas
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The surface is a perfect example of one of these compromise combos. It is a laptop, that is a tablet, that runs windows, that costs a pile of money. When I use my tablet I use it for tablet stuff like playing simple games, surfing the web for specific information, watching videos, but not for programming, writing books, or anything that it would do terribly. But my laptop literally has no games and I don't even watch many videos on it, it is purely for work when I am on the go.
And you've just described the perfect education device. A device suitable for single handed consumption which can effortlessly be converted into a full fledged content creation system in a flip of a keyboard. Mind you I still struggle to see how the Surface Pro 3 is a compromise. It well outdoes most full laptops, but I guess you're generally speaking out of hate for the form factor rather than putting critical thought into what applications such a device may be used.
My own story. I haven't touched my Andro
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Which isn't an issue for schools thanks in part to educational discounts. That's also why the Surface Pro 3 is a serious contender. Not to mention that only a few years ago students at many private schools were already being forced to use such tablets which at the time cost closer to double what the Surface Pro 3 does now.
You have to remember, price is no issue when someone else (parents and tax payers) are footing the bill.
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That and in Australia we don't need a $100k school shooting detection system.
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Another anecdote is the school where my wife teaches are about to dump iPads in favour of a convertible laptop (Not decided on a Surface or a Transformer or which specific device, but it will run Windows and it will be a full laptop / tablet convertible), and the private school across the road already did last year and went with Asus Transformers.
The iPad is a shit device for learning.
The ASUS transformers are awesome little beasts, but they don't have the camera capability which seems to be a major use case for tablets at my kids' school. I'd also question if the surface "cover" or even the transformer are rugged enough for schoolkids on their own, and getting ruggedized cases that accommodate the convertible feature may be tricky. Tablets are relatively easy to ruggedize.
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You are Bennet Haselton AICMFP.
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The surface is a perfect example of one of these compromise combos. It is a laptop, that is a tablet, that runs windows, that costs a pile of money.
Once you get the keyboard cover for the Surface Pro, it looks and behaves much like a regular laptop. It's similar weight and spec to a similarly priced MacBook Air, or in fact any of the 11 inch ultrabooks.
There's some variation, some have touch screens, some have more USB and other ports. One has a proper stylus pen.
If they need a laptop there are plenty of la
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Surface is actually pretty good as both a tablet and a laptop. It would suit a school or work environment where people move about a lot well, and integrates with all Microsoft's enterprise management stuff nicely. The only thing hold it back is the cost. It it was $200 they wouldn't be able to make them fast enough.
Huzzah (Score:2)
This news is pleasing. I hope it is the start of many more such reports.
Who is ubmfuturecities? (Score:2)
Having said that, my son's school uses Chromebooks to replace all text books and paper homework/assignments. I have to say I am very impressed. I like that all homework and assignments are available to the teacher at any time and the teacher can intervene if they detect the student is falling behind or doing poorly. I have some worr
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I don't see the usefulness of an iPad in a classroom unless it comes with a keyboard
You say that but apparently kids are so used t otyping on phones that theyb don't appear to be bothered by the lack of a physical keyboard. I've even heard of kids typing entire essays on a phone when the iPad broke at the last minute.
Sure it might be completely suboptimal and generally awful but they seem to not care, or not know better. Also, probably too young to have started getting RSI from hammering a completely rigid
free market (Score:2)
that's what happens when consumers are not locked into M$ products: they abandon them for better alternatives
M$ products are awful, and when they have to compete in the free market, they lose
how much of M$ profit is from US Federal and State level government contracts? that's your tax dollars
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Linux isn't a total solution for education/academia but it's definitely in the mix all over the place
at my last university, all the computer labs were iMacs that could boot into windows or the reverse...keyboard and mouse were standard on all...it really was just preference
it also depends on where you tried to implement Linux...for graphic design as much as i hate it they have to use Adobe CS which doesn't reliably run on Linux...obviously GIMP should be part of the cirriculum, but you can't go in there wi
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"We have to teach the students what they will be using".
How is this stupid? Seems pretty sensible to me, Linux vs. Window notwithstanding.
Apple is fucking atrocious
In what way?
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"We have to teach the students what they will be using".
How is this stupid? Seems pretty sensible to me, Linux vs. Window notwithstanding.
Because at best it is a self-fulfilling argument. If not at best, it is untrue, because in future people will be using Windows less and less.
Not surprising (Score:2)
My school had Apple ][ computers (don't remember if they were 2e or 2+), school manager had a 3.
Guess what I learned programming on? (that and my C64)
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i give up what
Without business support and OEMs they are dead (Score:2)
I guess OEMs are keeping them alive as big companies are switching to alternatives
Budget cuts (Score:2)
As a technology director for a K-12 district (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll weigh in on two different thoughts.
First thought: iPads vs. Chromebooks vs. Microsoft. At a recent technology director's conference, there's nothing but moaning & groaning about managing iPads. It's four year's running now, and Apple just does not get Enterprise management. No central management of Apple IDs, App management is terrible (Apple Configurator is lousy, buggy, and doesn't push apps, and 3rd party management tools keep breaking w/ every new version of iOS), the list keeps going on. And there's nothing but good things being said about Chromebooks. Affordable, simple, easy enterprise management, no more need for file servers...the only criticism is that they eat bandwidth. And Microsoft? Yesterday's news.
Second thought: regarding the criticisms about 1-1 and flooding schools with digital devices. I in much part agree that there's not a direct -need- for student digital devices. But digital devices do enhance learning by providing greater opportunities to communicate, manage classroom content digitally and make it accessible outside school, create video lessons and "flip" the classroom [wikipedia.org], and provide formative assessments [wikipedia.org] (i.e. frequent quizzing that is used to guide instruction & provide mnemonic enhancement) that have been proven to be a very effective learning tool [nctm.org]. But these are all -instructional- changes that need to start and continue with the teacher. It's foolish for a district to follow a blind "build-it-and-they-will-come" strategy of flooding a school with digital devices and utterly failing at supporting instructional changes. If districts aren't willing to provide both continual funding for a 1-1 program as well as instructional support to teachers, then they're wasting their money. But we all need to recognize that schools are responsible for teaching students how to effectively use the internet in the pursuit of knowledge. The internet is the new information paradigm of our society, making it a necessary part of the curriculum.
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Google taking Apple's playbook (Score:2)
Early in the PC vs Apple days, Apple was heavy into the education market as the theory went as kids lift school they would continue to use what they learned in school.
Apple faced the reality of aftermarket gray box PC's running DOS, then Windows at a lower price embraced by business. Microsoft rode in on commodity hardware.
Now Windows and the support structure is high priced and Google is doing the Apple playbook getting into schools with an easy to use, secure platform, but with a price advantage. This c
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The point is after the education market, business is mostly non Apple. The exceptions are media production and related fields. Mobile media (tablets) should belong to Apple, but Android at lower price points has higher unit sales.
Google Chrome is poised to do to MS PC's what Android did to Apple Tablets and phones.
Right tool for right job (Score:2)
Thin client with a keyboard is perfect for K-12 education. As students join, leave, or spill coke on their laptops, you can just redistribute $200 clients and replaces damaged ones without draining your finances. Schools can not afford highly skilled administrators that would keep data backed up and secure enough to match cloud storage run by company that specializes in this kind of thing.
Microsoft could have joined this market and been fairly successful at it. I played with POSReady 2009 in a VM recently.
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Better alternatives? (Score:2)
My only anecdotes actually are the exact opposite of the article. My own experience aside my wife taught at 2 schools in the past 2 years, one which dropped iPads form all students in favour of Asus Transformers, and the other which currently uses iPads and have approached Microsoft (not been approached by) for an RFP.
At the former school on the Asus tablets everything worked. Students were able to watch all content provided to them, run all applications, take notes, print, etc and pretty much do anything w
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Actually it's a $1000 cost that would get past on to the parents. Only the teachers will be issued them for free, and they will be paid for by the school.
Yes it's a discount since it includes the keyboard but that doesn't make your rant even remotely relevant.
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Err you don't get a choice of what to bring into a school. Heck you often don't get a choice of what software to install on the device the school provided either.
You thinking I'm being a dick is not just an issue with proof-reading (which by the way consider doing a 3rd time next reply) it's also a failure of your reading comprehension.
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You've never actually used a tablet convertable have you? I have one as my secondary machine. That, along with a phablet-sized phone (iPhone 6+/Note4 size) has made me drop my iPad entirely. Content creation on the iPad is just too challenging, and a convertible Win machine means being able to flip from regular laptop mode (like a MacBook Pro) to tablet mode, where I have pixel-accurate pen input for sketching, or just a full-fledged browser that can run flash (yes, flash sucks...but it also controls signif
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MacBook Pros are a different league altogether and would be an ideal device if it could be afforded. This wasn't an anti-apple point I was making, it was an anti-mobile/tablet OS point. Your point about product placement is not relevant. CNN anchors don't have a need for any kind of computing power in their jobs, likewise the football coaches. They use function specific apps in primarily a consumption mode.
This is quite a bit different from a school scenario which requires consumption AND creation. I used a
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Not really... (Score:3, Interesting)
I work in a school. We've been through the whole "every pupil gets a computer" phase and it was a disaster - we used eeepcs running Xandros and initially there were complaints about how crummy the programs were. (IE people expected Office, but they got OpenOffice instead).
Then after a few days the breakages started - minibooks left in bags, being dropped, screens smashed, drinks spilt on them etc. So that meant that teachers couldn't rely on everyone having one any more and the whole point of them was lost. They stopped being used and we ended up getting about 30% of them back after the year was out, the rest were damaged or lost. It was an absolute waste of money and it still goes on with other schools today (those who are foolish enough to give tablets to all their pupils, anyway!)
We still use desktop PCs running Windows and Office, as it's what the real world uses (for now, at least). We provide access via UAG to our network for staff and pupils to access their documents remotely.
Google Docs, OneDrive etc are blocked for pupils. Chromebooks are pointless from our point of view due to Google Docs being blocked and lack of intergration into a Windows domain. They also don't run the programs which pupils use in school (which include some digital textbooks, additional educational needs programs, maths programs, Photoshop etc). iPads are beyond useless for our needs, as it's a faff to create spreadsheets or word process on them. Yes, it can be done, but a real keyboard and a decent PC make it much more pleasant.
So, like most schools around this part of the UK, we have several IT rooms with desktops. We have a media suite running Premiere (having phased out Macs a few years ago), a music suite running Cubase and a DT suite running SolidWorks. We have a couple of hundred staff laptops and a couple of hundred curriculum laptops, safely locked away at night.
We are looking at at BYOD implementation, but the powers that be aren't overly keen to have teenagers running around with expensive laptops, tablets etc. And there's the whole network file access issue, we can't add the machines to the domain so they'd have to go through the somewhat clunky UAG system to access their files. There's also the line of who has responsibility to ensure the machines accessing our network are patched and up-to-date, as we don't have the resources to look after people's personal equipment.
All in all, there won't be much change in the school where I work for the foreseeable future: Office and Windows look like remaining the main platform for a while yet. It's the same in the other schools in the area, Chromebooks and the like are simply not useful to the way that schools work around here.
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IE people expected Office, but they got OpenOffice instead
I've always been astonuded why people care about this in schools. When I was at school, we had Word for DOS. I never used it since. I remember none of the F-keys to use it, because by the time I finished, the world moved on.
Nowadays, there seem to be some smaller, new companies which use nothing but google docs for internal documents. Learning Microsoft (r) Office (tm) for Windows (r)(tm) won't help there any more than learning OpenOffice or somethi
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We still use desktop PCs running Windows and Office, as it's what the real world uses (for now, at least).
Even if the "real world" is still using Windows and Office by the time your kids get into it, do you seriously believe that that they will still be the same versions and have the same UI as they do today? Look back ten years and see how things have changed since then. Even the concept of files and directories has changed.
True, some things have not changed, but those things (the Internet, keyboard layout) are common to all systems anyway.
Besides, I think you are seriously under-rating you pupils' a
Schools should never be dependend on a single vend (Score:2)
Finally! The Year of Linux! (Score:2)
Linux has finally become the dominant operating system and nobody knows it.
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No one wants a surface, unless it's to use as a stand for an iPad.
AC is making a reference to recent CNN coverage of the US elections. MS paid the network to have all their anchors visibly use surface tablets. But some of the anchors were busted for having ipads propped up behind the surface. Link, bitch. [9to5mac.com]
brawndo (Score:2)
Chrome, Surface, iPad, they all have Brawndo, it's got electrolytes!
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Enlighten us. What is the reason?