Does the original question remotely claim to want to teach kids how to program? No, it specifically says "internet/email/word processing and whatever other apps come with edubuntu" so your tirade about programming is irrelevant to the topic.
It is also woefully misguided. Programming is not a trivial task. That's why there is a trillion dollar commercial market for it. In the workplace, if your task is not programming, you don't have the time to program anything that is not trivial and whatever you can cook up in "a few minutes" is not worth doing.
It seems to win on price. From my perspective, assuming they both meet the student's needs, the one last question would be how easy they are to manage. Things like lock down, etc.
I fail to see how a tablet is different than a laptop with regards to learning how to write. They are the same fine motor skill deniers.
iPads are not silver bullets and they present different tradeoffs vs. laptops and netbooks. My original point is that the OP should consider his tradeoffs and his customers, not his choice of OS.
My personal experience has shown that children can do much more with an iPad than they can with a keyboard and mouse. Tablets are generally so easy to use that toddlers can pick them up and do meaningful things with them while they still can't make heads or tails of a mouse and keyboard.
I fail to see how comparing any of this to blocks is a useful analogy as blocks are not the alternative, a laptop is. If you are equating the tactile feedback of blocks with that of a laptop keyboard then, one it's superfluous, why not just talk about laptop keyboards? Two, I think we'll just have to disagree about that...
Finally, after iPads replacing airline pilot paperwork and replacing airline entertainment systems and popping up all over 500 fortune companies, how many millions of tablet sales will it take to convince you it is not a fad? Let's put a number on this skepticism so we can bury it with dignity when the inevitable number rolls around.
From a form factor perspective is it imperative that the kids have laptops and not tablets?
If budget is a real world concern then iPads either cost as much or are, more typically, cheaper than a decent laptop/netbook. Any potential software to be purchased can be purchased with Apple's education discounts. Tablets are easier for IT to manage (reducing TCO) and have a more portable form factor which the kids will probably prefer. In addition, kids will probably prefer tablets as they are more fun to use and the accommodate a kid's work habits (away from the table and perched upside down from the furniture).
Bottom line, I think you are asking yourself the wrong question. Instead of asking yourself what Linux laptop you can afford, you should be asking yourself what serves your customers - the kids - best given your budget?
Rubbish. Quote from wikipedia: "The N8 became the product with the most customer pre-orders in Nokia's history up to the point of its release. Despite those high pre-order numbers sales for the N8 have been lagging."
It was not a successful device and Nokia's Windows Phone announcement didn't happen until 5 months after the N8's release - once it was clear the N8 was not going to save the ship.
Apple is proving neither is relevant outside of their patent portfolios.
Nokia is using Windows because its own software stack is worthless and it has been having trouble producing a credible handset. The Lumia is nice but is not really competitive.
RIM's software stack is notoriously bad - hence the death march to BB 10. Its hardware is woefully not competitive and its business phone moat seems to be evaporating very quickly as Apple is demonstrating that it is taking security and enterprise deployment and provisioning very seriously (the recent security white paper as a case in point) - convincingly enough that Fortune 500 companies are dumping BB in favor of iPhones.
Given that Microsoft is already in bed with Nokia it is likely cheaper and less risky for MS to bankroll Nokia for a while in the hopes that it lifts off the ground than to buy it outright. RIM on the other hand, offers nothing.
HTML5 is a fatal architectural design mistake for developing anything other than web sites. HTML+CSS+JavaScript is a clunky necessary evil born of the nature of web development - not a desirable development environment.
HTML for mobile will always be slower and clunkier than an platform using C or Obj-C or C++ or even Java.
There is an unfounded myth that by using HTML, a wide audience of developers can be tapped while Apple has proven that the only thing that taps developers is a platform they can make money on - developers will learn whatever they need in order to eat.
Finally, using HTML does not guarantee automatic portability across devices in the same way that Android can't guarantee it across devices - there is a limit to how much hardware variation can be abstracted away and when hardware vendors compete on features there is a very strong force working against portability.
Palm failed because of this mistake, among others, and those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
"Shut up, moron, and don't you dare placing your words into someone else's mouth ever again." "Seriously, kill all your friends, then yourself. That will be the first and the last decent thing you will do in your life."
Wow! Talk about bitterness. You seriously need to get a grip on life and go get a breath of fresh air, perhaps you should find a diety to worship to calm you down. Atheism is clearly not doing it for you. It is only Linux being discussed and you are advocating mass murder. Lunatic.
"and now I need to find a new distro that actually works on the Macbook Air."
Even he needs to spend time searching for something that will work. That is not an acceptable answer for anyone who just wants to write an e-mail and browse the web and doesn't really know how to do anything else.
Please spare me the "of course, it's a Macbook Air. He'd be fine if he had machine X with distro Y" line - users don't have the knowledge, inclination or time to fiddle and match machines to distros.
If Linus Torvalds says he can't cope with a fairly popular and mainstream distro which is supposed to be one of the friendlier ones how can anyone else be expected to cope with any of them? And this is but the tip of the iceberg.
Now you may down vote me for challenging your precious world view.
"because this is (yet another) bug in the ASN.1 parser"
This is because ASN.1 is an insanely complex, wasteful and redundant standard that should have never been adopted for security related standards where simplicity is an important contributor to writing secure code.
ASN.1 has been the bane of all the standards that ever adopted it (SNMP anyone?) and should have been shot years ago.
The cost, speed and secrecy in which this deal occurred could indicate panic. Panic that would not bode well for the future prospects of Facebook. If Mr. Z perceived Instagram to be a threat justifying the valuation and shadowy dealing, it shows how easily FB can be supplanted by its own recognition.
Apple is openly betting (so far correctly, I might add) on a post PC world where a large majority of the population opts for a PC free existence and an iPad (or equivalent) as their primary computing device. Nearly all those iPad users are using/will use iCloud as their backup which is a far better backup solution than their nonexistent PC backup solution.
Get used to it. Everybody does it and much of what you think of as news (especially tech news) is networked people astro turfing for each other.
If you think some of your friends will find it interesting, why not? Just serve your friends well. Use the app and be honest about what you like about it. If you can't stand it, just mention the app without saying you like it. It is somewhat self serving and it may feel dirty but you are helping your company and yourself and informing your friends who may be interested and so everyone benefits. This is how the world works.
If this is an open and closed case of the app being yanked, the app authors should open source it as a big F. U. Turn it into Mutually Assured Destruction.
For data to last it has to live. Data lives by continually replicating itself. For quite a few years now hard drives have been the only economical and practical backup solution for mere mortals (enterprise is moving there too). The best way to work around drive failures is... more replication. Right now my setup involves continual backup to a RAID 1 drive with Time Machine (use whatever works on Windows/Linux) which is then rsynced to a remote server I setup at somebody else's house as burglar backup (after an initial local rsync on the source machine and sneaker netting the hard drive). This gives my data 4 drives to live in and I'm not sure I'm happy with that.
The iPad now has all the technical bits in place to become the household computing center for most people. It has built in e-mail, web, video consumption, photo and video management, music, basic document creation and, critically, built in always available cheap broadband internet connectivity (via LTE). The final nail for the iPad is to get decent dependable TV and movie programming. Once that is in place, iPad covers most people's media needs and the Apple TV is an accessory for the iPad like the Camera Connection Kit but for displaying content on a traditional TV.
Assuming Apple gets its programming, the cable (and DSL) companies are going to get wiped out without ever realizing what hit them.
Slashdot Mirror
Does the original question remotely claim to want to teach kids how to program? No, it specifically says "internet/email/word processing and whatever other apps come with edubuntu" so your tirade about programming is irrelevant to the topic.
It is also woefully misguided. Programming is not a trivial task. That's why there is a trillion dollar commercial market for it. In the workplace, if your task is not programming, you don't have the time to program anything that is not trivial and whatever you can cook up in "a few minutes" is not worth doing.
I agree, another possibility.
It seems to win on price. From my perspective, assuming they both meet the student's needs, the one last question would be how easy they are to manage. Things like lock down, etc.
I fail to see how a tablet is different than a laptop with regards to learning how to write. They are the same fine motor skill deniers.
iPads are not silver bullets and they present different tradeoffs vs. laptops and netbooks. My original point is that the OP should consider his tradeoffs and his customers, not his choice of OS.
My personal experience has shown that children can do much more with an iPad than they can with a keyboard and mouse. Tablets are generally so easy to use that toddlers can pick them up and do meaningful things with them while they still can't make heads or tails of a mouse and keyboard.
I fail to see how comparing any of this to blocks is a useful analogy as blocks are not the alternative, a laptop is. If you are equating the tactile feedback of blocks with that of a laptop keyboard then, one it's superfluous, why not just talk about laptop keyboards? Two, I think we'll just have to disagree about that...
Finally, after iPads replacing airline pilot paperwork and replacing airline entertainment systems and popping up all over 500 fortune companies, how many millions of tablet sales will it take to convince you it is not a fad? Let's put a number on this skepticism so we can bury it with dignity when the inevitable number rolls around.
Have you considered iPads?
From a form factor perspective is it imperative that the kids have laptops and not tablets?
If budget is a real world concern then iPads either cost as much or are, more typically, cheaper than a decent laptop/netbook. Any potential software to be purchased can be purchased with Apple's education discounts. Tablets are easier for IT to manage (reducing TCO) and have a more portable form factor which the kids will probably prefer. In addition, kids will probably prefer tablets as they are more fun to use and the accommodate a kid's work habits (away from the table and perched upside down from the furniture).
Bottom line, I think you are asking yourself the wrong question. Instead of asking yourself what Linux laptop you can afford, you should be asking yourself what serves your customers - the kids - best given your budget?
Rubbish. Quote from wikipedia: "The N8 became the product with the most customer pre-orders in Nokia's history up to the point of its release. Despite those high pre-order numbers sales for the N8 have been lagging."
It was not a successful device and Nokia's Windows Phone announcement didn't happen until 5 months after the N8's release - once it was clear the N8 was not going to save the ship.
Apple is proving neither is relevant outside of their patent portfolios.
Nokia is using Windows because its own software stack is worthless and it has been having trouble producing a credible handset. The Lumia is nice but is not really competitive.
RIM's software stack is notoriously bad - hence the death march to BB 10. Its hardware is woefully not competitive and its business phone moat seems to be evaporating very quickly as Apple is demonstrating that it is taking security and enterprise deployment and provisioning very seriously (the recent security white paper as a case in point) - convincingly enough that Fortune 500 companies are dumping BB in favor of iPhones.
Given that Microsoft is already in bed with Nokia it is likely cheaper and less risky for MS to bankroll Nokia for a while in the hopes that it lifts off the ground than to buy it outright. RIM on the other hand, offers nothing.
Music at work is very distracting, especially when I'm ripping it.
The other half, being average PC users, didn't realize they were doing it.
True men of leisure don't require watches as they have all the time in the world.
HTML5 is a fatal architectural design mistake for developing anything other than web sites.
HTML+CSS+JavaScript is a clunky necessary evil born of the nature of web development - not a desirable development environment.
HTML for mobile will always be slower and clunkier than an platform using C or Obj-C or C++ or even Java.
There is an unfounded myth that by using HTML, a wide audience of developers can be tapped while Apple has proven that the only thing that taps developers is a platform they can make money on - developers will learn whatever they need in order to eat.
Finally, using HTML does not guarantee automatic portability across devices in the same way that Android can't guarantee it across devices - there is a limit to how much hardware variation can be abstracted away and when hardware vendors compete on features there is a very strong force working against portability.
Palm failed because of this mistake, among others, and those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
It seems it's only a matter of time before streaming from Netflix and similars is hit in the same way.
Agreed. I should have qualified it by saying it "sucks on the desktop".
FreeBSD makes it look bad everywhere else :)
"Shut up, moron, and don't you dare placing your words into someone else's mouth ever again."
"Seriously, kill all your friends, then yourself. That will be the first and the last decent thing you will do in your life."
Wow! Talk about bitterness. You seriously need to get a grip on life and go get a breath of fresh air, perhaps you should find a diety to worship to calm you down. Atheism is clearly not doing it for you. It is only Linux being discussed and you are advocating mass murder. Lunatic.
Linus' last sentence is revealing:
"and now I need to find a new distro that actually works on the Macbook Air."
Even he needs to spend time searching for something that will work. That is not an acceptable answer for anyone who just wants to write an e-mail and browse the web and doesn't really know how to do anything else.
Please spare me the "of course, it's a Macbook Air. He'd be fine if he had machine X with distro Y" line - users don't have the knowledge, inclination or time to fiddle and match machines to distros.
Because it sucks.
https://plus.google.com/102150693225130002912/posts/1vyfmNCYpi5
If Linus Torvalds says he can't cope with a fairly popular and mainstream distro which is supposed to be one of the friendlier ones how can anyone else be expected to cope with any of them? And this is but the tip of the iceberg.
Now you may down vote me for challenging your precious world view.
Above a certain size, it makes business sense to start evading taxes legally and Apple or MS are not unique.
I personally heard the CFO of a $14B tech company boast that the company's effective tax rate was 0%.
"because this is (yet another) bug in the ASN.1 parser"
This is because ASN.1 is an insanely complex, wasteful and redundant standard that should have never been adopted for security related standards where simplicity is an important contributor to writing secure code.
ASN.1 has been the bane of all the standards that ever adopted it (SNMP anyone?) and should have been shot years ago.
The cost, speed and secrecy in which this deal occurred could indicate panic. Panic that would not bode well for the future prospects of Facebook.
If Mr. Z perceived Instagram to be a threat justifying the valuation and shadowy dealing, it shows how easily FB can be supplanted by its own recognition.
Apple is openly betting (so far correctly, I might add) on a post PC world where a large majority of the population opts for a PC free existence and an iPad (or equivalent) as their primary computing device. Nearly all those iPad users are using/will use iCloud as their backup which is a far better backup solution than their nonexistent PC backup solution.
Get used to it. Everybody does it and much of what you think of as news (especially tech news) is networked people astro turfing for each other.
If you think some of your friends will find it interesting, why not? Just serve your friends well. Use the app and be honest about what you like about it. If you can't stand it, just mention the app without saying you like it.
It is somewhat self serving and it may feel dirty but you are helping your company and yourself and informing your friends who may be interested and so everyone benefits. This is how the world works.
Go Obama!
If this is an open and closed case of the app being yanked, the app authors should open source it as a big F. U. Turn it into Mutually Assured Destruction.
For data to last it has to live. Data lives by continually replicating itself. ... more replication.
For quite a few years now hard drives have been the only economical and practical backup solution for mere mortals (enterprise is moving there too). The best way to work around drive failures is
Right now my setup involves continual backup to a RAID 1 drive with Time Machine (use whatever works on Windows/Linux) which is then rsynced to a remote server I setup at somebody else's house as burglar backup (after an initial local rsync on the source machine and sneaker netting the hard drive). This gives my data 4 drives to live in and I'm not sure I'm happy with that.
The iPad now has all the technical bits in place to become the household computing center for most people. It has built in e-mail, web, video consumption, photo and video management, music, basic document creation and, critically, built in always available cheap broadband internet connectivity (via LTE).
The final nail for the iPad is to get decent dependable TV and movie programming. Once that is in place, iPad covers most people's media needs and the Apple TV is an accessory for the iPad like the Camera Connection Kit but for displaying content on a traditional TV.
Assuming Apple gets its programming, the cable (and DSL) companies are going to get wiped out without ever realizing what hit them.