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Microsoft and MIT Team Together
tomreagan writes "The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft has teamed up with MIT to launch a joint research initiative on educational technology. " It's the largest alliance to date of institution and company, to the tune of 25$US million with a strong focus on "instructional technologies." The feeling at MIT is "mixed" regarding the new project, called I-Campus.
Oops, sorry.
9pm-midnight.
Please moderate this up!
It is also interesting to note that studies have shown that there is little instructional benefit in computers as currently deployed. In fact, some people decry the increasing commoditisation of education. The biggest problem I see is that while information in books can last for decades, computer technology is outdated within 3 years, leading to increasing reinventment of time to update teaching material, often at a higher penalty. Hence the interest in OpenSource which is human readable and can be adapted for whatever technology is likely to arrive. The ongoing costs, both operational and replacement is an invisible overhead that is ulimately bourne by the students, whether in fees or additional staffing overheads. The open question is whether this leads to "superior" pedalogical benefits. While neater essays (downloaded from the web) may be easier on the marker's eyes and encyclopedias can be more compactly stored, highly technical or professional areas are dependent on the understanding and mastery of quite difficult concepts and I've yet to see any technology that can accelerate this task. Also what computer can teach creativity, curiosity or the love of learning?
As for the role of corporations in universities, the issue is that either the individual pays (through loans or parental support), industry chips in with scholarships or the state subsidises (through regressive taxes). Thus education can be funded through future, present or past income (with endless policy debates among the funders). The increasing elimination of low-end blue and white collar jobs lost to automation and computerisation means that a larger bulk of the population shifts onto the higher education system which was never designed for massification. The question still remains is who gets to pay for this education? If the army could sponsor people through the GI Bill, why not corporations? If RedHat or TransMeta sponsored internships, would people be complaining? If so, then you could shift to Britain or Australia where studies have shown it is 30-40% cheaper. Given the increasing global mobility and availability of choice, there's probably a place somewhere that fits people's desires and budgets but ultimately you only get out what you invest in sweat.
Besides, there are many ways to learning about the world, backpack through Europe/Asia, raid a library, chat with your grandparents abour the lessons of their youth, or listen to the great speeches of past leaders. Given the wide variety, there's no need for formal schooling to get in way of an education.
LL
From the article:
Under terms of the agreement, the intellectual property financed by Microsoft but done at M.I.T. will belong to M.I.T., but Microsoft will have the right to license it without paying royalties. But for research done jointly at Microsoft and M.I.T., Microsoft will have the first option to patent it.
First off for those of you who don't see this as a threat, Think of it this way...
The penguin (funny example right?) has evil plans for Batman. He steals lots of money in his latest scam and buys the mountain the Batcave is hidden in. He takes over the Batcave and uses all it's gadgets for evil.
Come on People this is stuff movies are made of! They make movies about this kind of thing because the right and wrong are clear. Kinda like the social Lowest Common Denominator.
ATTN: Bob Young
Enough analogy, this is a GREAT PR opportunity for Redhat. I say Redhat should offer to match M$'s "donation" dollar for dollar. With just one minor string attached. All software created under the funded GNU program should be GPLed and all patents should be made to the public domain. This would be excelent for Linux, Red Hat, GNU, MIT students and staff and the best part is...
It would turn this M$ PR stunt in to a PR disaster!!! ;)
I've got to go diagnose an XFREE86 problem for a newbie now, but please if you work for Redhat foward this to the man. Before they come after my university.
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
We *know* that? Really. Good to see you're unbiased. :->
As for what folks get for their donations, I'd say either your too skeptical, Anon, or not enough. Fear not, 'ol Ted will be seeing the benefits of his donations. He basically bought himself good PR for life, possibly in history.
Exactly what will M$ get out of it? Better software? Oh, the horror! M$ stuff that works! Domination of young minds? PUHLEEZE. Give the kids SOME credit!
You're just afraid of not having something to complain about, I think. M$ put $150M into Apple, and I think you'd be hard pressed to say that Mac users love Microsoft for it...
Sheesh. People aren't that dumb. And, believe it or not, Bill Gates isn't the anti-christ. Not that I'm putting him up for sainthood either though.
But Andrew Carnegie was considered a robber baron scum in his day. Today? Hmm... Time will tell.
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
For all intents and pruposes, Microsoft bought out the computer science department here at Cornell back in 1996. Some of the faculty were so angry, they replaced the department's web page with a "Weclome to Microsoft" web page for a few days as a joke.
It has had some adverse effects. In particular, the undergraduate computer lab is all NT machines, with default networking capability. So you cannot do graphically-oriented programming assignmmets remotely from them like you could in the old days when you just set your DISPLAY, or (preferably) used ssh.
That's pretty key on a big compus like this when students have accounts in multiple departments (As a logician, I have four) and want to centralize. And graphical assignements are (enter value judgment here) becoming the norm these days.
It also cuts the undergraduates off from some of the cool research (like NuPRL and its applications to code optimization) being done at Cornell, because they were geared towards Solaris and the faculty refuse to bring them over.
The graduate students are largely unaffected. The computer science graduates have access to every machine imaginable; they are just behind the firewall where the undergraduates cannot touch them. The hybrids like myself all switched to the Ultra Sparcs in the Center for Applied Math.
So the end result? The undergraduates get screwed. They pay (a lot) to come to one of the top computer science departments in the country and get access to the same resources they could get anywhere else.
I'm am now writing "Why don't you suck up to Bill Gates some more, I'm sure he could spare $100 more than I can."
I'm am placing it in an envelope...
I am applying a stamp.
I am feeling good.
Hmmmm - I can recall the days when introducing CALCULATORS into the edu environ was cause for alarm - "How will we get kids to learn math when they can just punch a few buttons and get the answer" instructors asked. "Teecher, why do I have to learn long division now that a box can do it for me?" Ditto's when 'interactive' computers took over - instead of having to punch a stack of cards, submit the program and wait several hours to get a printout back - there was no longer an incentive to weed out bugs the FIRST time.
:))
Like someone else mentioned, M$'s Raison d'etre and chief source of revenue is packaging complex software concepts so the uneducated layperson can utilize it - like Ford making the Model-T affordable to many people and raking in profits doing do, it didn't raise the quality of the average driver; contrarywise, it made it possible for any, ahem, idiot to become a menace to his or her fellow beings.
So, I'm fantasizing about M$ coming out with packages like "M$ TermPaper" - you pays you $95, put in the CD, it autoruns setup, it leads the 'student' thru a few generic menu selections and then spits out a 'paper' that is statistically unique but errily similar to the all other output it produces, in the way that all PowerPoint presentation kinda looks like all the canned example presentations, etc. Thus all the students are above average, dont' have to make much effort, gets a superficial idea of the process in case they'd ever have to really research something, M$ makes more, stockholders happy, alls right with the world, don't worry be happy, Ignorance is bliss.
Yours ever optimistically
Chuck
Little boxes
running windows
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I give Slashdot too much credit by calling this a knee-jerk reaction; that implies that, somewhere, there are nerve cells near a knee. As typical free software false prophets (the same people who were praising Bill Gates three years ago, and who will happily follow corporate marketing to idolize Sun three years from now) you have the usual naive view that the world's software can be developed by a bunch of hackers sitting at home and writing code. No one seems to consider that free software constantly plays a game of catch-up, and why is that? Because research and development (not cloning) costs money. Sure, it's easy to write things like Gnumeric after the tough issues have been worked out -- at considerable expense -- by commercial software packages that came out ten years ago. So Microsoft gives MIT a pile of money and says, "Go play." Good. The money has to come from somewhere -- and I don't see VA Linux, RedHat, or any of Slashdot's favorite companies making any donations.
Project I-Campus: MIT-Microsoft alliance
including the
MIT Press Release
- Seth Finkelstein
I'm currently a junior at MIT. As you might guess, this announcement is making me a little worried. What you're missing in your post is, Stallman and Berners-Lee and the rest have NO INPUT in these decisions. Financial soul-selling deals like this are made by our incredibly bloated, inept and indecisive administration, which has a significant track record of flailingly covering up their mistakes and being unwilling to listen to input from the people affected by their decisions (faculty, students, parents, etc).
There's a "Future Fest" party at MIT tonight (10/5), in Walker Memorial dining hall (check out the map at web.mit.edu or at http://web.mit.edu/jmorash/www/images/map.gif). It's sponsored by the Microsoft "Research" Propaganda Department, so if any Boston-area anti-M$ people feel like showing up, I highly encourage it.
OK, if you found this article a little upsetting, just wait for Phase II:
"Today the US Department of Education announced passage of a bill which requires that all students be instructed in using a computer, it's operating system, and basic applications such as word processing. Students will be required to take one class per week from 4th grade through high school graduation.
'It is imperative that our students have the computers skills that they will need to survive in the 21st century,' said the President, 'and we're very fortunate to have such support from the technology industry.'
Such support comes from Microsoft who cut licensing costs for all their products in half, including educational software co-developed at MIT to show students the proper way to use operating systems and applications. Microsoft's and MIT's educational software is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system and the Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) making it the perfect choice all around for the classroom. The educational software will also provide a universal interface to other educational programs on subjects as varied as Automotive Repair, Citizenship, and Art Appreciation.
'We're very proud that our software has become the standard, to the point that it will be on every computer in every classroom in the US.' from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. 'I've always felt that it was important to start teaching our children about computers as soon as possible. What they learn as children will guide them for the rest of their lives--and I can't express how happy we are to play a role in that!'"
uh, this is purely fictitious (at the time of posting...) Writing this I realized that getting Linux into the classroom (asap) is probably more important than I'd thought.
numb
I attend MIT and I can attest that there are many negative feelings towards Microsoft's encroachment (btw: there is an anti-MS rave tonight... who knows... maybe they will be handing out X11 pills?) ... however, $25 mil is $25 mil, even if the person giving it away writes shitty software. One thing that won't fly is any requirement that we start using their software...
dan
For another perspective on the way MIT has changed, you might be interested in visiting the ILTFP home pages. I don't know how widespread the ribbons are.
--
Xenu loves you!
A lot of posters seem to have concluded that MIT sold out or that MS
will corrupt the school. The worry seems to be that because MS
provides the money, they will dictate how the money is spent, forcing
MIT students or faculty to do something they wouldn't otherwise do.
For example, MS would restrict MIT's ability to share the results of
its research.
I think these worries are mostly misplaced. The amount of money is
non-trivial, but a relatively small part of the MIT budget. MIT also
has a long history of doing research with corporate money and freely
distributing the results.
MIT's annual research budget is mostly likely more than $700 million.
So a company spending $25 million over a few years probably doesn't
get to dictate a lot. (It's a little mind-boggling to think, though,
that Bill Gates's personal wealth could fund all the research for a
good number of years.)
A good historical example to consider is Project Athena. MIT got
millions of dollars from IBM, DEC, and Xerox to explore new uses of
computing in the curriculum. The freely available fruits of that
effort include X and Kerberos. It's worth noting that it presumably
wasn't the companies pushing the free distribution of that software,
because the Andrew window system, developed with funding from some of
the same companies, withered because of licensing restrictions.
Read "Killing off Linux: It's all academical" by B. Pfaffenberger in the Linux Journal. Very enlightening in this respect.
I shuddered when I saw this. I'm a freshman at RPI right now - I decided to come here instead of MIT due to monetary concerns [read: didn't want to owe $75,000 at graduation]. Right now...I'm terribly happy that I made this decision. I would have gone mad if I had to put up MS propaganda for four years in a place that was supposed to a very open environment.
:) ), has licensed itself off to the largest, most predatory corporation in the world. The administrators at this school have sold their souls to the devil. (I actually don't have _that_ big a problem using MS software or anything, but..when it is forced down my throat I will scream bloody penguin murder).
/.] has to stay together and be vocal, with one voice. Linux isn't going to win based solely on its techincal merit, I'm sad to say. It's the things like this we must work hardest to fight.
I have a problem with this article itself..particularly the paragraph that states that MS products have become the "de facto standard" among universities. While there is a slight overreliance on Excel and Powerpoint by much of the faculty, IRIX and Linux, as well as Macs and at least one other flavor of Unix, are a very large part of this campus. This I like. If Microsoft tried to move into this university, there would be very vocal opposition from any number of clubs and societies.
While I don't have that big a problem with MS software itself, I think this is a totally inappropriate move on their part. I can't believe an institution like MIT would, essentially, let Microsoft hire all of its students. I can see it now - no more *nix servers on campus, free copies of windows to make sure it's on every desktop, extreme pressure on the Linux community, the pushing of MS development tools...this literally makes me sick. MIT, perhaps the most respected technical university in the world (don't flame me if you're at Caltech..I'm a little resentful because i didn't get in
Anyway, I got 5 hours of sleep last night, and this is probably totally random, so I'm going to shut up while I'm ahead. None of you need to be told how horrible this is. The non-MS using public of this country [ie
Good day.
May I have my MS Education(TM) now, please? When I get my MS Diploma(TM), I will get a really good MS Job(TM) that pays lots of MS Bucks(TM) (I couldn't do MS Money(TM), that is already taken.) Then I'll be MS Happy(TM).
This is nothing new really. Universities have been doing this for a number of years. It's a good way to get money for your school, especially if it is a public school facing budget cuts. As people have mentioned, sponsoring companies always want something in return. Companies are not philanthropists. The shareholders wouldn't tolerate it. The portions of the agreement I saw sound typical to me, with MIT and microsoft sharing the rights to what is discovered, more or less.
I don't see universities turning down many deals like these. They don't often apply any moral or philosophical ideas when considering these type of things. If they do, they are considered to be "biased", "having an agenda", etc. Basically they don't want to make anyone mad. As long as money is flowing in, everything is ok. Sounds a lot like a corporation, doesn't it?
MIT has other "questionable" partnerships as well. At the most recent job fair at my school, they had a rep from their Lincon Laboratories. From the literature I read, they're basically a cutting edge technology lab for the department of defense. Now, you might argue that defense is a necessary evil. But I though universities were supposed to be a place of life, enlightenment, learning, etc, not an agent of mass destruction.
Deep down in my idealogical heart I wish the arguably best technical university in the world wouldn't participate in stuff like this.
This is not philantrophy. This is drug-dealer marketing.
Look what is being given. Windows, and money. And you have to take the Windows to get the money. The last sime I saw somebody pay to give something to somebody else, it was hazmat.
If Microsoft made a simple grant, that would be philantrophy. But instead, they attached all these strings--Windows gets to infiltrate.
Is the dealer down the corner being philantrophic by giving away packets of crack to newcomers? No, he knows that this is how you get and retain paying customers (i.e. junkies).
Watch what Microsoft gives away. It often "contributes" huge amounts of resources for a project--in the form of software. Software which costs Microsoft nothing except the media costs. And while there is an opportunity cost associated with it (that is, it keeps them from charging license fees), this is outstripped by the licenses bought by those who get hooked on Windows early.
--The basis of all love is respect
Any large company would never invest that
kind of money without expecting something in
return.
You can expect this I-Campus (I'm surprised they
didn't use a small i) to use boxes with Microsoft
software installed. That's how they do business.
So.. of course the feelings are mixed.
Speaking as one who has been a part of the on-line education craze, I welcome? Microsoft's involvement. I say this because it scares me whenever Microsoft becomes involved and the word "patent" comes into play. Could this mean that Microsoft is trying to move to patent on-line education (or parts of it). I think about the only thing worse than software patents are Internet software patents.
Will Microsoft again try to propriatize something that doesn't belong to them?? I am growing afraid that the answer is a resounding YES.
I hold out a lonely hopeful flame however, maybe with Microsoft's involvement in EDUCAUSE, there can be some sort of collaboration to make both the IMS standard (one of EDUCAUSE's offerings to the on-line education arena) and on-line education in general more accessible to everyone. The field really needed some big bucks from somewhere to get it a kick in the pants, unfortunately (or so it seems) that money came from the reigning king of closed non-standards.
Please Microsoft, for once, do the right thing and make on-line education an open (and thus pervasive) standard.
The "Top 10" Reasons to procrastinate:
10.
Althought not a grad of MIT (or CS from anywhere for that matter) I believe we are not giving enough credit to the Faculty and students at MIT. MIT houses (correct me if i am wrong) Tim Berners-Lee, Richard Stallman, and a host of other standards or open-source evangelists. I do not think that MS can fool, or coax, or bribe MIT into becoming a satellite of Redmond. It is in MIT's best interest to fund itself, and if it is with MS, or Sun, or any other corporation so be it. MIT has helped develop standards, and I believe they will continue to do so, despite the MS marketing juggernaut.
First big shots like Ted Turner blast Gates for not being philantropic enough. Now, M$ decides to actually GIVE SOMETHING BACK to society, and we're railing against it. C'mon now. If it were Apple or Red Hat, I suspect folks would be cheering.
;-> College is all about growing up and being open minded. I don't that believe today's undergrads are sheep.
Despite whatever misgivings we may have, the fact is that this money will help students by funding research. This EMPLOYS students. At least 5 years ago when I got my undergrad, getting an in-major research or even "gopher" position was like finding the holy grail!
If you're being brainwashed in college, you probably aren't smart enough to run a computer anyway.
So let M$ fund some research. Maybe it'll give other businesses (Hello... calling Sun and HP) to do more for higher education.
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
AAAaaaaAAAAAaaaRRRRGGGHHH!!!
I already have the sinking feeling that this will get moderated down to a troll but I simply can't go on without saying this, hopefully for the benefit of Slashdot but certainly for my own sanity.
The dollar sign goes in front of the number. Five dollars is $5, not 5$. I see this all the time and I'm starting to wonder how many people learned punctuation from MS BASIC.
Thank you for your time.