Maine buys 38,600 ibooks for Public Schools

Anderson Silva writes "I just found this piece of news on MacSlash, and since I live in Maine, and I own an ibook, I thought I would pass the word along: The Maine Learning Technology Endowment has announced today that Apple has won the bid to provide Maine 6th, 7th and 8th graders with Apple iBooks and Airport wireless connection points."

Comments

Well, this might be the way to go

[UserChrisCanter4]

I posted regarding this story back when it was first announced. I still stand by my assertion that this money could be better spent to pay teachers/repair schools (but that might just be because I'm majoring in English with plans to teach).

But, if Maine wanted to go with a laptop solution, I'd have to say that the iBook was a wise choice. I own an iBook, and I can say that this thing would be my primary choice for a situation like this (except for maybe Panasonic's Toughbook, but those cost far too much). Take note school districts:

1) Durability - While I haven't actually dropped my iBook, it does live in my backpack when it isn't in use. I have dropped the whole backpack (no damage), and it has flown off the passenger seat when idiots pull out in front of my car (still no damage). I have walked with it under my arm in a hard rain (no damage).

2) Heavily integrated - yeah, this isn't a good idea most of the time, but broken dongles will no longer be an issue. Neither will stolen NICs/Wireless NICs.

3) Lightweight - As far as I know, the iBook has the lowest weight for a laptop in its price range. $1,299 retail for a 4.9 lbs. laptop is a helluva deal.

4) Sort of bastardized security through obscurity - 95% of these 1337 7th and 8th graders don't know enough about Mac OS/mac hardware to cause serious damage. I can just see some jerk setting BIOS passwords or messing with clock frequencies or IDE device settings on little Suzy's PC laptop when she got up to go to the bathroom.

5) Useable UNIX - escape the MS tax AND teach the kiddies some UNIX all at the same time (that was my requisite karma whoring). I could actually see this being fairly useful, though. Only give the kids user privileges in OS X, and make them find someone with root access in order to install programs. "Okay little Billy, tell me again why you need Starcraft for school use...". This also solves any problems that might stem from some jerk trying to erase important parts of the system.

Overall, I think buying laptops is a waste of money, but I'd say that iBooks are probably the way to go.

Re:Worse than pointless

[corr]

"...gives you nothing but slashdot trolls."

Don't be so quick to assume that the trolls are stupid. I assure you they are not. Think of trolling as a type of expression - I myself have trolled before, and it does provide a mechanism to release anger.

This is not a joke. The /. trolls are not stupid, and denouncing them as though they were shows ignorance on your part.

This is a free forum, and all the trolls are using it to do what they wish. You may see /. as a place to exchange information - they see it as a place to spam as much as they wish.

Seriously, think about it for a second. Do you really think the trolls are "stupid" or "idiotic" or are they just fucking around for the fun of it, laughing their asses off when it gets to you. They know they aren't stupid, so its a weird sort of game. Granted, sometimes they can get out of hand (as with that page widening fiasco), and when they aren't making me laugh out loud they can be annoying, this does not mean they are in any way stupid.

It is their freedom to post whatever they like - and it is your freedom to moderate them down as such. Just because their recreation may seem pointless and strange does not make them idiots.

Just keep that in mind.