I've taught in both the UK (3 years) and the USA (2 years so far), and it really depends on the school and the culture of the surrounding community. As a new teacher, I found that I was forced to teach every year group and as a result I had to prepare lessons for 7 distinctly different classes and age groups every week. I also had to stand outside during breaks and lunch, and also cover for sick teachers during my free hours.
Other teachers viewed this as the way things were, and wouldn't negotiate with me for less of a variety of classes. I work best when I can focus on one topic and make it fun. I couldn't keep up in the UK, and I was seen by many parents and other teachers as not doing enough even though I was putting in 60-70 hour weeks. I ended up quitting and returning to the USA.
Back in America, I am teaching math, and English. Even with teaching two subjects, I'm only preparing lessons for 4 distinctly different groups of students (my math classes are all 7th grade). This is a lot less work for me, and I can put a lot more effort into teaching interesting and fun lessons. I actually feel like I'm teaching instead of babysitting for the first time in my career.
It sounds like you have a good situation in the UK. I wouldn't suggest switching schools too easily. While I do prefer some aspects of the English education system, my overall experience favored the American system over the English one. YMMV
The UK has a set curriculum to teach computer literacy which is actually defined as not just how to use computers but more about how to handle information, improving your work, and audience.
Yeah, but when you want to relax on the front porch, you want to be protected. There's nothing like enjoying the view on your aluminum covered...oh wait.
A pund of crack is still functional to a user. Part of a file isn't as functional to a user though. A better analogy might be that someone is trying to sue you for stealing their car when all you have is their hubcap.
Sure, the hubcap is stollen, but it's not the whole car.
One of the arguments I've heard is that students have a greater chance of encountering Windows than any other OS out there in the "real world" after they graduate (high school), and so that is the operating system that they should have installed at the school.
Ideally, a school should have a mix of systems and teach students how to use each of them so that they can be prepared at whatever is thrown at them down the line. Having all three systems in place, however, would be a bit more expensive for the schools. And, to put it mildly, schools aren't the richest organizations out there.
For schools, I wish it wasn't just about money, but instead it should be about teaching students. Many of the higher-ups, however, subscribe to the one-system-type-for-everyone belief because maintaining one OS is easier than two or three. Since Windows is the most popular OS out there right now, that's what the administration wants in their schools.
Nah. I like to think of it as the pope going to the next version. Pope v.265 or v.266 depending on what list you go by. I just hope they don't have to release too many service patches to the next pope. I've had almost enough papal news for a while.
For me, all the volume controlls were turned all the way down after install. This happened on two systems I installed it on. The first time I boot I have to load up Kmix (for KDE) and turn up the volume and everything is fine. If you get some static, go mess with the options under the switches tab in kmix.
Yes, I agree. The only problem is convincing the owners of said 3% of farmland to change it to wind power. It can be done, sure. But it's a definite obstacle.
There's this little natural windmill-like thing called a tree that blocks the wind somewhat. Yes, in large numbers they do change weather patterns, but to say that the system of life can't compensate as easily as your extra carbon scenario is pushing it rather far.
If you caught what I wrote, I didn't say that they would listen necessarily.;-)
It all comes down to who you know in the end. That's how the world works. I can't deny it. But I also must say that if enough people wanted a feature, and requested it, they would begin to listen if they knew what was good for them.
You offer very good points. Thanks for taking the time to type them out. I was honestly curious.
I couldn't find a GOOD screenshot of MyIE2/Maxthon without some serious digging. But I did eventually find some better ones. I used to use it back in its early days. Security/standards issues threw me over to firefox from any sort of IE+wrapper months ago. I learned to ignore the problems and they HAVE been slowly going away.
The text size on the tabs is something that is definitely true. I never had really thought about it. If I were a better coder, I'd try to come up with an extension to take care of that or maybe try to figure out what value in about:config takes care of that. Meh, Oh well.
I guess this means that it's not the browser for everyone...not yet.
If you're talking about Firefox, then I'm really not sure exactly what about the UI you don't like (you never really specified). If you are talking about non-firefox mozilla then I agree. But then take a look at Firefox. It's going to replace the Mozilla suite relatively soon (I think), and may be the UI update you're looking for.
Everyone else: Take a look at a Maxthon screenshot or three. I see a few shots that are extremely cluttered an horrible, some are good though. Nothing really head-over-heels better than firefox. At best I'd say they may be about the same.
Seriously though, I'm curious as to what parts of the UI you don't like. This is open source, if you don't like something, suggest changes! The reason I would consider your post troll or flamebait is that you never justify your argument with parts of the UI you don't like.
One thing I see different is that some of those shots have the tabs on the bottom of the browser window. That's interesting. I wonder if you can do that with firefox... I'm sure someone could figure it out if they really wanted to.
*BARF* You don't have creative products for the most part. You have cookie-cutter talent that you create and promote. You cut their chances at survival by overplaying their one-hit-wonders via your controlled outlets.
This reminds me of a certain thing going on with Fiona Apple's new album. Instead of artistic talent, it's all about the money. They only seem to be able to promote a CD when it has a 'sure hit' included in its track listing.
So you're saying that, as educators, we should ignore everything in space? After all, everything is so far away, and we don't know anything about any of it really. So why teach it in a classroom?
I, personally, remember being fascinated by the idea of planets around other stars. It helped increase my interest in science in general. Granted, such topics shouldn't become a huge deal in the classroom (i.e. no testing on the atmospheric contents of planet 12327843653), but they should still be taught if only for the idea of it.
A kid hearing about the possibility of a planet ten times larger than Jupiter around another star that has some characteristics of a star isn't always useless. It might be eye-opening for some.
Ok, valid points, it may seem straight forward, but I've worked tech support for years, and it does take people I've dealt with a while to realize that "My Computer" is now in the start menu, that "Programs" is now "All Programs" and in a different location, that the control pannel is missing options and you have to hit "classic view" to see them, etc. Maybe I'm just dealing with a different user base.
I'm not trying to flame Windows either, I'm a windows user half the time myself, and have learned to deal with its temperments. I'm just saying that there have been a lot of layout changes in between windows versions, and that requires retraining.
No kidding. I can't tell you how many people were totally confused the first time they saw the Windows XP start menu for instance.
But here I think by training costs they mean it is less expensive to train a Windows 2000 user on Windows XP than it would be to train the same user on a linux distro. At least initially. Microsoft, as usual, is probably trying to spin numbers in their favor. And what company wouldn't? It's all about PR.
When talking about training a linux user how to use new linux versions or different distros versus different windows versions, I agree with your argument. Microsoft, however, is probably not talking about that.
I work tech support that is multi-tiered in a university. There was one internet connectivity problem I just couldn't figure out on my end so I figured it was something in their end of things. So I called the main university tech support
Me: It does... Them: Oh, it's a virus. Me: No, antivirus is up to date, scans return nothing. Them: Go get all the windows updates Me: They're all up to date, besides it happens on our linux computers too Them: I think it's a virus. do you want me to come down? Me: Uhm....no thanks (hanging up the phone)
(I get a resolution in the mail: cause: virus)
I suppose I understand with all the windows problems lately, but wow. Now it's the universal solution.
That'd be interesting. I was agreeing with the parent's (well, parent of the parent) humor about Blackcomb's name. I even like Firesomething more (yeah, not the real name, but you know...).
Here's a list I found while browsing google of all the windows codenames (if anyone cares). They are, of course, many taken from cities, but does anyone live in British Columbia? I'd be interested to see if maxbang (parent) is right about the ski area thing.
I have an IBM Thinkpad 300MHz Pentium (no, not Pentium II). It has recieved various power surges, falls, mishandlings, etc. at the place I work at. As tech support, we were going to throw it out, but since I am a bit of a glutton for punishment, I decided to try and fix it.
Besides the broken USB port, and the fact that the battery won't charge (wouldn't in Windows either). Windows didn't run that well on it, but it's been happily running various linux distros for a year now. I tell ya, if you can get linux running on a hardware minefield like that and have it be rock-solid stable, then I'd say Linux works pretty well. Granted, it wasn't easy to do with many distros. On the plus side, however, I really learned how to use Linux that way. Talk about a crash course.
And yes I know a laptop without a working battery isn't much, but hey, it gave me a platform to switch to Linux.
"So, the story is that androids go mad and try to conquer the world (and pretty much succeed) the son of a brilling scientist which collaborated constructing the androids becomes a cyborg to save the world..."
Why does this sound oddly familiar to Mega Man? Or, at least, the original concept. Sure, Mega Man was a lab assistant robot originally, but still. It even has an android dog (i.e. Rush). But, of course, this anime came out before the Mega Man games used the concept (over and over and over...).
I would definitely like to see the anime sometime. I doubt there are any other similarities. I'm just being a dork because I've played WAY too many NES and SNES games.
I disagree. Not that I don't want Linux to hold off the Microsoft Monopoly, but Microsoft is known for it's moving in later on and taking over (console market, web browser, etc). Granted, much of this was just because they included stuff in their OS and people are lazy (use the browser that's sitting in front of me instead of downloading something secure like Mozilla or Opera).
The point is, don't discount them just because Linux already has a good foothold. I'm sure Microsoft realizes that there's a huge market in China and will eventually (if not already) try and make it a point to offer some good competition.
Slashdot Mirror
I've taught in both the UK (3 years) and the USA (2 years so far), and it really depends on the school and the culture of the surrounding community. As a new teacher, I found that I was forced to teach every year group and as a result I had to prepare lessons for 7 distinctly different classes and age groups every week. I also had to stand outside during breaks and lunch, and also cover for sick teachers during my free hours.
Other teachers viewed this as the way things were, and wouldn't negotiate with me for less of a variety of classes. I work best when I can focus on one topic and make it fun. I couldn't keep up in the UK, and I was seen by many parents and other teachers as not doing enough even though I was putting in 60-70 hour weeks. I ended up quitting and returning to the USA.
Back in America, I am teaching math, and English. Even with teaching two subjects, I'm only preparing lessons for 4 distinctly different groups of students (my math classes are all 7th grade). This is a lot less work for me, and I can put a lot more effort into teaching interesting and fun lessons. I actually feel like I'm teaching instead of babysitting for the first time in my career.
It sounds like you have a good situation in the UK. I wouldn't suggest switching schools too easily. While I do prefer some aspects of the English education system, my overall experience favored the American system over the English one. YMMV
The UK has a set curriculum to teach computer literacy which is actually defined as not just how to use computers but more about how to handle information, improving your work, and audience.
/ ictframework/yearly_teaching_objectives/
There's more here:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3/respub
Yeah, but when you want to relax on the front porch, you want to be protected. There's nothing like enjoying the view on your aluminum covered...oh wait.
A pund of crack is still functional to a user. Part of a file isn't as functional to a user though. A better analogy might be that someone is trying to sue you for stealing their car when all you have is their hubcap.
Sure, the hubcap is stollen, but it's not the whole car.
One of the arguments I've heard is that students have a greater chance of encountering Windows than any other OS out there in the "real world" after they graduate (high school), and so that is the operating system that they should have installed at the school.
Ideally, a school should have a mix of systems and teach students how to use each of them so that they can be prepared at whatever is thrown at them down the line. Having all three systems in place, however, would be a bit more expensive for the schools. And, to put it mildly, schools aren't the richest organizations out there.
For schools, I wish it wasn't just about money, but instead it should be about teaching students. Many of the higher-ups, however, subscribe to the one-system-type-for-everyone belief because maintaining one OS is easier than two or three. Since Windows is the most popular OS out there right now, that's what the administration wants in their schools.
Nah. I like to think of it as the pope going to the next version. Pope v.265 or v.266 depending on what list you go by. I just hope they don't have to release too many service patches to the next pope. I've had almost enough papal news for a while.
For me, all the volume controlls were turned all the way down after install. This happened on two systems I installed it on. The first time I boot I have to load up Kmix (for KDE) and turn up the volume and everything is fine. If you get some static, go mess with the options under the switches tab in kmix.
Yes, I agree. The only problem is convincing the owners of said 3% of farmland to change it to wind power. It can be done, sure. But it's a definite obstacle.
There's this little natural windmill-like thing called a tree that blocks the wind somewhat. Yes, in large numbers they do change weather patterns, but to say that the system of life can't compensate as easily as your extra carbon scenario is pushing it rather far.
If you caught what I wrote, I didn't say that they would listen necessarily. ;-)
It all comes down to who you know in the end. That's how the world works. I can't deny it. But I also must say that if enough people wanted a feature, and requested it, they would begin to listen if they knew what was good for them.
You offer very good points. Thanks for taking the time to type them out. I was honestly curious.
I couldn't find a GOOD screenshot of MyIE2/Maxthon without some serious digging. But I did eventually find some better ones. I used to use it back in its early days. Security/standards issues threw me over to firefox from any sort of IE+wrapper months ago. I learned to ignore the problems and they HAVE been slowly going away.
The text size on the tabs is something that is definitely true. I never had really thought about it. If I were a better coder, I'd try to come up with an extension to take care of that or maybe try to figure out what value in about:config takes care of that. Meh, Oh well.
I guess this means that it's not the browser for everyone...not yet.
If you're talking about Firefox, then I'm really not sure exactly what about the UI you don't like (you never really specified). If you are talking about non-firefox mozilla then I agree. But then take a look at Firefox. It's going to replace the Mozilla suite relatively soon (I think), and may be the UI update you're looking for.
Everyone else: Take a look at a Maxthon screenshot or three. I see a few shots that are extremely cluttered an horrible, some are good though. Nothing really head-over-heels better than firefox. At best I'd say they may be about the same.
Seriously though, I'm curious as to what parts of the UI you don't like. This is open source, if you don't like something, suggest changes! The reason I would consider your post troll or flamebait is that you never justify your argument with parts of the UI you don't like.
One thing I see different is that some of those shots have the tabs on the bottom of the browser window. That's interesting. I wonder if you can do that with firefox... I'm sure someone could figure it out if they really wanted to.
*BARF* You don't have creative products for the most part. You have cookie-cutter talent that you create and promote. You cut their chances at survival by overplaying their one-hit-wonders via your controlled outlets.
This reminds me of a certain thing going on with Fiona Apple's new album. Instead of artistic talent, it's all about the money. They only seem to be able to promote a CD when it has a 'sure hit' included in its track listing.
So you're saying that, as educators, we should ignore everything in space? After all, everything is so far away, and we don't know anything about any of it really. So why teach it in a classroom?
I, personally, remember being fascinated by the idea of planets around other stars. It helped increase my interest in science in general. Granted, such topics shouldn't become a huge deal in the classroom (i.e. no testing on the atmospheric contents of planet 12327843653), but they should still be taught if only for the idea of it.
A kid hearing about the possibility of a planet ten times larger than Jupiter around another star that has some characteristics of a star isn't always useless. It might be eye-opening for some.
Actually it will be more like "Micro$$$$$$$$$oft"
Yeah, bad joke, I know...
Ok, valid points, it may seem straight forward, but I've worked tech support for years, and it does take people I've dealt with a while to realize that "My Computer" is now in the start menu, that "Programs" is now "All Programs" and in a different location, that the control pannel is missing options and you have to hit "classic view" to see them, etc. Maybe I'm just dealing with a different user base.
I'm not trying to flame Windows either, I'm a windows user half the time myself, and have learned to deal with its temperments. I'm just saying that there have been a lot of layout changes in between windows versions, and that requires retraining.
No kidding. I can't tell you how many people were totally confused the first time they saw the Windows XP start menu for instance.
But here I think by training costs they mean it is less expensive to train a Windows 2000 user on Windows XP than it would be to train the same user on a linux distro. At least initially. Microsoft, as usual, is probably trying to spin numbers in their favor. And what company wouldn't? It's all about PR.
When talking about training a linux user how to use new linux versions or different distros versus different windows versions, I agree with your argument. Microsoft, however, is probably not talking about that.
From what I see Opera is in the 3.5 - 5 MB range on Linux depending on which version you get. So the "twice the size" argument may hold for Linux.
I work tech support that is multi-tiered in a university. There was one internet connectivity problem I just couldn't figure out on my end so I figured it was something in their end of things. So I called the main university tech support
Me: It does...
Them: Oh, it's a virus.
Me: No, antivirus is up to date, scans return nothing.
Them: Go get all the windows updates
Me: They're all up to date, besides it happens on our linux computers too
Them: I think it's a virus. do you want me to come down?
Me: Uhm....no thanks (hanging up the phone)
(I get a resolution in the mail: cause: virus)
I suppose I understand with all the windows problems lately, but wow. Now it's the universal solution.
That'd be interesting. I was agreeing with the parent's (well, parent of the parent) humor about Blackcomb's name. I even like Firesomething more (yeah, not the real name, but you know...).
. asp
Here's a list I found while browsing google of all the windows codenames (if anyone cares). They are, of course, many taken from cities, but does anyone live in British Columbia? I'd be interested to see if maxbang (parent) is right about the ski area thing.
http://www.phm.lu/Documentation/Windows/Codenames
I have an IBM Thinkpad 300MHz Pentium (no, not Pentium II). It has recieved various power surges, falls, mishandlings, etc. at the place I work at. As tech support, we were going to throw it out, but since I am a bit of a glutton for punishment, I decided to try and fix it.
Besides the broken USB port, and the fact that the battery won't charge (wouldn't in Windows either). Windows didn't run that well on it, but it's been happily running various linux distros for a year now. I tell ya, if you can get linux running on a hardware minefield like that and have it be rock-solid stable, then I'd say Linux works pretty well. Granted, it wasn't easy to do with many distros. On the plus side, however, I really learned how to use Linux that way. Talk about a crash course.
And yes I know a laptop without a working battery isn't much, but hey, it gave me a platform to switch to Linux.
"So, the story is that androids go mad and try to conquer the world (and pretty much succeed) the son of a brilling scientist which collaborated constructing the androids becomes a cyborg to save the world..."
Why does this sound oddly familiar to Mega Man? Or, at least, the original concept. Sure, Mega Man was a lab assistant robot originally, but still. It even has an android dog (i.e. Rush). But, of course, this anime came out before the Mega Man games used the concept (over and over and over...).
I would definitely like to see the anime sometime. I doubt there are any other similarities. I'm just being a dork because I've played WAY too many NES and SNES games.
Yeah, I remember that. BUT, I also think "never say never" is a good phrase to throw around.
But, in the end, like you said, time will tell. I know which side I'm on. And it doesn't start with Micro-.
I disagree. Not that I don't want Linux to hold off the Microsoft Monopoly, but Microsoft is known for it's moving in later on and taking over (console market, web browser, etc). Granted, much of this was just because they included stuff in their OS and people are lazy (use the browser that's sitting in front of me instead of downloading something secure like Mozilla or Opera).
The point is, don't discount them just because Linux already has a good foothold. I'm sure Microsoft realizes that there's a huge market in China and will eventually (if not already) try and make it a point to offer some good competition.
Yeah, I've been dying to find ways to put nasty phrases in the menus and help of Microsoft Office in Swedish Chef. Now I may finally get my chance.
Bork Bork Bork!