Out of laziness I switched to Google Reader. Now out of laziness I don't feel like switching back. I'll bet most people are in this boat (switched already.) So much for a last-minute save for Bloglines.
Has it ever occured to you that maybe Microsoft has a monopoly because users don't want more variants of OS's?
By that, I mean, the market tends to a monopoly because end users don't want confusion.
I'm sure the very concept that users don't want 500 choices of something is hard for you to comprehend.
I was right with you up until that.
How are you explaining the 500 different versions of Vista?
Sunde said he received an e-mail from Facebook justifying the action because of the legal proceedings against Sunde and three others. The men are awaiting return of a verdict on April 17 from a trial that concluded early last month in Stockholm.
Seriously, I don't understand the fascination with in-place upgrades. Why not clean install?
I use Windows (have to for work) and support it, and it's so much better to do a clean install. In fact, I recommend wiping Windows* every year or two and starting with a fresh clean install anyway.
*Anticipating the obligatory "fixed it for you" response: "In fact, I recommend wiping Windows and starting with a fresh clean install of Linux." If only everyone thought the same way...
I had the same experience, except that xenix box was running a custom app that the client didn't have the install media/files for. Fortunately it turned out the MB went bad, so I slapped the hard drive into a doorstop 486 I had lying around and it worked fine. Just started cloning the 250MB hard drive as a backup mechanism.
and I simply laugh when I hear a story about computer labs going away. That's not going to happen. They will likely (and should) evolve to meet the needs of the users, but they will never disappear.
I found the OP's comment about collaborative space was very insightful. More and more we are seeing shifts from traditional computer labs (with distinguishing characteristics being "number of seats") to collaborative group spaces that incidentally have computers. I have seen students *waiting in line* to use one of the computers in a collaborative group space rather than walk over to the other lab which has several open seats (and incidentally, the same type of PC). In the Engineering college at least (where I am), it's more of a social endeavor to go to the computer lab. Especially since most engineering students have decent computers at home they can usually fall back on.
The other huge factor, as some commenters pointed out, is the printing. That's the #3 use (after email and web browsing) that our computer labs see.
Other factors include the ability to make use of specialized engineering software that students wouldn't normally be able to have on their home computers -- either their computers aren't powerful enough to run it, or they can't afford the software (of course, pirated software is all too common with this crowd). This is probably less of a factor now that we have a Virtual Lab -- a web-based remote connection service we offer that allows students to connect to a virtual lab PC and run the software installed there.
A student-owned laptop is just fine in our program -- so long as it's used as a supplement to the university's computing resources. Any computer can be used to websurf and type up school papers. Not every computer can run 3D combustion engine models and compute fluid dynamics.
Oh yeah, and if that student-owned laptop fails... don't expect us to fix it, please. We're strapped enough for resources to keep our own efficient labs running. Trust me, having one or two OS's to support in our labs instead of the dozen or so that could be on your laptop IS efficient and IS making best use of your student tech fees. If one of our PCs or thin clients goes down, we can hot-swap a spare or grab a repair part from our hardware closet in the time it would take to even determine if your laptop's problem is software or hardware related. Oh, and we buy from trusted manufacturers with certified model lines and reliable components -- not the daily special from Best Buy, so our machines won't go down as much. (My department may be atypical in this regard, true.)
If universities are looking for ways to save money on computing (and we are, all of us), they need to start looking at efficiencies. Use thin clients for basic computing needs, automate turning off PCs at night and holidays, use power saving features on computers & printers, purchase Energy Star efficient equipment, track & survey lab usage and pragmatically fund what will be USED (not what's sexy), etc.
I spotted my 2-yr old do this the other day, hard but not so hard as to provoke screaming. He spent the next minute carefully proving that it was hitting his head on the table that had caused the pain, and then hitting it again a couple of times very gently and then a bit harder to see when it hurt. I was astounded at the level of reasoning going on as he worked out what had happened to his head and how it had been caused.
Wow, that sounds like trying to administer Solaris. Except for the screaming part; that definitely happens with Solaris.
I'm pretty sure that, no matter what, you can't authorize anything other than another human adult to act on your behalf.
Do you have any automatic monthly deductions on your credit card? Do you have one of those devices that automatically deducts toll payments when you drive through a toll reader?
Our network admin here likes to use cute anime character names for his servers. Problem is, he put up several linux compute servers that users need to ssh into. Our American users had a lot of trouble remembering how to spell the Japanese anime names, so we requested he use CNAMEs to make it easier for the users. So his typical user-friendly response was to come up with the aliases 'lnxcmpsvr1', 'lnxcmpsvr2', etc. Guess how many times the users fat fingered those names? Ironically he's a notoriously bad speller so he goofs up on them all the time too.
Don't spend any decent amount of money on the hardware. If you have spare machines lying around, even an old PII laptop, use it. It's going to get banged on and slobbered on. IMO, the best hardware to use is not a laptop, because they're just not sturdy enough. Use a desktop and an old solid keyboard, and plan on replacing and keyboard a few times. Same with the mouse, but don't plan on the kid using the mouse much at first.
I was in the same place that you are, with my youngest. He had a PC keyboard from 1 year old onward. At age 2 he actually got a computer attached to it, because in truth, he was just as happy banging on a keyboard attached to nothing for a while. I used some old clunker I had in my garage, threw Windows XP on it, and loaded some baby games (plenty of them available as freeware for whatever OS you have). I set his computer up next to mine because most of the time, he just wanted to do what I was doing. At the time I didn't have a spare (or any) laptop, but even so I would not have used a laptop, much less a brand new one -- it would be wasted on one so young and probably broken to boot.
I agree with you, the 'Learning Laptops' are really limited. However since they are plastic, portable and cheap, and much less complex to operate, they can be fun for the little tyke too. Consider getting both a plastic box that's flashy and beepy as well as a real PC.
Your question was mostly about hardware so I won't go into detail about what software to put on, but there are a ton of educational games and activity software, some free, some not. Keep in mind that the best toys for children are often the simplest -- let your software be the equivalent of the cardboard box that came with the new fridge. Use MS Paint (or equivalent) for hours of entertainment (and then print it and put it on the fridge!). There was this great little freeware program I had that simply did random fireworks displays when any key was pressed. He loved it. One of the other things he loved best was a Powerpoint that I put together that simply had various images of butterflies on it (he loved butterflies). He would watch it for hours while playing!
Your kid may or may not be a prodigy, it doesn't matter, exposure to technology will simply further encourage him if he that tendency, or bore him if not. It may be a passing phase so don't invest too much into it at first. My kid has had his own computer since age 2 and he has gradually developed more affinity for it. He's learned to navigate the menus (he's used both Windows and Linux and is comfortable in either) and long ago learned to open his own programs, save files, etc. He's now 7 and surfing the net regularly (learning to spell really was a breakthrough with computer usage!), of course with parental supervision. (His PC is still next to mine and in the family room -- in fact the home rule is any kid's computer, desktop or laptop, has to be in a public place to be online. Yes I have teenagers too and yes, their activity is monitored infrequently, communication happens frequently, and nothing is blocked.)
The interesting thing is that he's to this day much more interested in legos, creating his own superhero costumes, scissors and glue and cardboard than with the computer.
I don't have a degree (in fact dropped out during my second year), but now work for the IT department of the university I went to, and I like to think my prospects for the future are good. But it did take a little while in a shitty job to get some experience to get this far.
Seconded. That's exactly my situation, except for the "prospects for the future" part. I've been told by my boss that there is a glass ceiling at the university for those without even a Bachelor's. I understand the position; this is, after all, an industry whose product is degrees, and hiring someone without one for a highly-placed position undermines the value of the company's own product. It'd be like Microsoft hosting Hotmail on linux servers... oh wait, didn't that happen?
This "it might suddenly vanish" argument is a strawman.
Although the OP didn't explicitly state this, and was really talking about the data, there is a valid "it might suddenly vanish" argument here. Not about the data; that's easy to back up as numerous people have mentioned. But the service itself can vanish without warning. That's a large inconvenience to an individual who then has to find a new email account and email-blast everyone they know with their new email addy*, and potentially fatal to a business that relies on that now-defunct email addy to do business**.
*Yes, the smart way is to have your own domain name and thus permanent email alias and redirect it to whatever your current email account is, but how many individuals (especially, say, my mother, whom this just happened to) have the ability to do that?
**Yes, a business that doesn't take those steps I just mentioned is doing business foolishly. But plenty of small/home businesses do anyway.
We ordered a large batch of equipment from Sun (same number of Sun Rays & LCD monitors). The Sun monitors come packaged with monitor, 1 power cord, 1 DVI cable, 1 VGA cable, 2 DVI-to-VGA adapters. The Sun Ray (2FS, which has 2 DVI ports) comes packaged with 1 power cord and 2 DVI-to-VGA adapters. In addition, we are separately shipped the same number of 2x2x2 boxes containing nothing but a power cord. And for these intentionally lightweight, low power devices, these are THICK heavy-duty power cords. Heavy, so that must have increased the cost of shipping.
All of the above comes with various manuals in 17 languages, as well. Not to mention each manual and CD (a CD for the monitor, which contains THE MANUAL on PDF) are individually plastic bagged, styrofoam, and boxes within boxes...
We end up having to dispose of 100's of extra video cables, power cables, and DVI-to-VGA adapters. (Costs to us: Staff time, proper disposal fees, cost to the environment, etc)
Part of the reason we go with Sun Rays is to be environmentally friendly. I would say that we lose the environmental edge by all the packaging, but for the fact that nearly all computer vendors have the same excessive packaging.
This is going to remain a problem as long as the cost of packaging labor & shipping is cheaper than management's time to review packaging/shipping procedures. Which it is, for now.
It's even worse at the university level, in some cases. At the university I work at, there are accredited courses with "Microsoft" in the titles. Things like databases, spreadsheets, web design, etc. And I can tell you from having to support them, most professors do have PowerPoint (tm) presentations which they haven't substantially changed in years tailored to specific Microsoft products.
I work for an Engineering college. Our current Windows build has us install 81 different software package. Many of these are not common elsewhere, but some are standard engineering apps. I recently did a test install on Vista and found that 26 of these simply didn't work with Vista.
Due to the economies of the situation -- some of these apps were one-time purchases of $15k or more that are updated anywhere from every 5 years to never -- I don't see us moving to Vista within the next couple of years at least.
This is really nothing new. The university where I work does throttle (though not completely suspend) Internet bandwidth during night hours. While officials here didn't look at students' hard drives, they did examine the packets for a period of time and determined that most of what was being transmitted was gaming related.
It makes sense from a financial standpoint. From the students' perspective, University Internet access is free, but in reality, someone pays for it, and they pay more when there's more of it.
Since we're just throttling the bandwidth instead of taking it away entirely, the argument against using online resources to finish homework is a moot point. Text (and a few pictures) don't take up much bandwidth.
Slashdot Mirror
Out of laziness I switched to Google Reader. Now out of laziness I don't feel like switching back. I'll bet most people are in this boat (switched already.) So much for a last-minute save for Bloglines.
Maybe in your world $20 doesn't make a difference to someone's budget, but there are many, many people to whom it does.
I was right with you up until that.
How are you explaining the 500 different versions of Vista?
Don't you just love guilt by accusation?
Seriously, I don't understand the fascination with in-place upgrades. Why not clean install?
I use Windows (have to for work) and support it, and it's so much better to do a clean install. In fact, I recommend wiping Windows* every year or two and starting with a fresh clean install anyway.
*Anticipating the obligatory "fixed it for you" response: "In fact, I recommend wiping Windows and starting with a fresh clean install of Linux." If only everyone thought the same way...
I had the same experience, except that xenix box was running a custom app that the client didn't have the install media/files for. Fortunately it turned out the MB went bad, so I slapped the hard drive into a doorstop 486 I had lying around and it worked fine. Just started cloning the 250MB hard drive as a backup mechanism.
...write a better one. :)
and I simply laugh when I hear a story about computer labs going away. That's not going to happen. They will likely (and should) evolve to meet the needs of the users, but they will never disappear.
I found the OP's comment about collaborative space was very insightful. More and more we are seeing shifts from traditional computer labs (with distinguishing characteristics being "number of seats") to collaborative group spaces that incidentally have computers. I have seen students *waiting in line* to use one of the computers in a collaborative group space rather than walk over to the other lab which has several open seats (and incidentally, the same type of PC). In the Engineering college at least (where I am), it's more of a social endeavor to go to the computer lab. Especially since most engineering students have decent computers at home they can usually fall back on.
The other huge factor, as some commenters pointed out, is the printing. That's the #3 use (after email and web browsing) that our computer labs see.
Other factors include the ability to make use of specialized engineering software that students wouldn't normally be able to have on their home computers -- either their computers aren't powerful enough to run it, or they can't afford the software (of course, pirated software is all too common with this crowd). This is probably less of a factor now that we have a Virtual Lab -- a web-based remote connection service we offer that allows students to connect to a virtual lab PC and run the software installed there.
A student-owned laptop is just fine in our program -- so long as it's used as a supplement to the university's computing resources. Any computer can be used to websurf and type up school papers. Not every computer can run 3D combustion engine models and compute fluid dynamics.
Oh yeah, and if that student-owned laptop fails... don't expect us to fix it, please. We're strapped enough for resources to keep our own efficient labs running. Trust me, having one or two OS's to support in our labs instead of the dozen or so that could be on your laptop IS efficient and IS making best use of your student tech fees. If one of our PCs or thin clients goes down, we can hot-swap a spare or grab a repair part from our hardware closet in the time it would take to even determine if your laptop's problem is software or hardware related. Oh, and we buy from trusted manufacturers with certified model lines and reliable components -- not the daily special from Best Buy, so our machines won't go down as much. (My department may be atypical in this regard, true.)
If universities are looking for ways to save money on computing (and we are, all of us), they need to start looking at efficiencies. Use thin clients for basic computing needs, automate turning off PCs at night and holidays, use power saving features on computers & printers, purchase Energy Star efficient equipment, track & survey lab usage and pragmatically fund what will be USED (not what's sexy), etc.
I spotted my 2-yr old do this the other day, hard but not so hard as to provoke screaming. He spent the next minute carefully proving that it was hitting his head on the table that had caused the pain, and then hitting it again a couple of times very gently and then a bit harder to see when it hurt. I was astounded at the level of reasoning going on as he worked out what had happened to his head and how it had been caused.
Wow, that sounds like trying to administer Solaris. Except for the screaming part; that definitely happens with Solaris.
Eudora and Thunderbird have had this for some time. Probably Outlook too, not like I touch that thing.
Do you have any automatic monthly deductions on your credit card? Do you have one of those devices that automatically deducts toll payments when you drive through a toll reader?
If you are the legal guardian of your kid, you can be held legally responsible for his/her actions.
Same with the cat, presumably.
If you're going to count all those in the Ubuntu column, you'll have to count all the different Windows OEM versions in the Windows column.
Our network admin here likes to use cute anime character names for his servers. Problem is, he put up several linux compute servers that users need to ssh into. Our American users had a lot of trouble remembering how to spell the Japanese anime names, so we requested he use CNAMEs to make it easier for the users. So his typical user-friendly response was to come up with the aliases 'lnxcmpsvr1', 'lnxcmpsvr2', etc. Guess how many times the users fat fingered those names? Ironically he's a notoriously bad speller so he goofs up on them all the time too.
Don't spend any decent amount of money on the hardware. If you have spare machines lying around, even an old PII laptop, use it. It's going to get banged on and slobbered on. IMO, the best hardware to use is not a laptop, because they're just not sturdy enough. Use a desktop and an old solid keyboard, and plan on replacing and keyboard a few times. Same with the mouse, but don't plan on the kid using the mouse much at first.
I was in the same place that you are, with my youngest. He had a PC keyboard from 1 year old onward. At age 2 he actually got a computer attached to it, because in truth, he was just as happy banging on a keyboard attached to nothing for a while. I used some old clunker I had in my garage, threw Windows XP on it, and loaded some baby games (plenty of them available as freeware for whatever OS you have). I set his computer up next to mine because most of the time, he just wanted to do what I was doing. At the time I didn't have a spare (or any) laptop, but even so I would not have used a laptop, much less a brand new one -- it would be wasted on one so young and probably broken to boot.
I agree with you, the 'Learning Laptops' are really limited. However since they are plastic, portable and cheap, and much less complex to operate, they can be fun for the little tyke too. Consider getting both a plastic box that's flashy and beepy as well as a real PC.
Your question was mostly about hardware so I won't go into detail about what software to put on, but there are a ton of educational games and activity software, some free, some not. Keep in mind that the best toys for children are often the simplest -- let your software be the equivalent of the cardboard box that came with the new fridge. Use MS Paint (or equivalent) for hours of entertainment (and then print it and put it on the fridge!). There was this great little freeware program I had that simply did random fireworks displays when any key was pressed. He loved it. One of the other things he loved best was a Powerpoint that I put together that simply had various images of butterflies on it (he loved butterflies). He would watch it for hours while playing!
Your kid may or may not be a prodigy, it doesn't matter, exposure to technology will simply further encourage him if he that tendency, or bore him if not. It may be a passing phase so don't invest too much into it at first. My kid has had his own computer since age 2 and he has gradually developed more affinity for it. He's learned to navigate the menus (he's used both Windows and Linux and is comfortable in either) and long ago learned to open his own programs, save files, etc. He's now 7 and surfing the net regularly (learning to spell really was a breakthrough with computer usage!), of course with parental supervision. (His PC is still next to mine and in the family room -- in fact the home rule is any kid's computer, desktop or laptop, has to be in a public place to be online. Yes I have teenagers too and yes, their activity is monitored infrequently, communication happens frequently, and nothing is blocked.)
The interesting thing is that he's to this day much more interested in legos, creating his own superhero costumes, scissors and glue and cardboard than with the computer.
I don't have a degree (in fact dropped out during my second year), but now work for the IT department of the university I went to, and I like to think my prospects for the future are good. But it did take a little while in a shitty job to get some experience to get this far.
Seconded. That's exactly my situation, except for the "prospects for the future" part. I've been told by my boss that there is a glass ceiling at the university for those without even a Bachelor's. I understand the position; this is, after all, an industry whose product is degrees, and hiring someone without one for a highly-placed position undermines the value of the company's own product. It'd be like Microsoft hosting Hotmail on linux servers... oh wait, didn't that happen?
I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd what were some other really neat, interesting gadgets?
Girls. Girls are really, really interesting gadgets, especially to a young teenage boy.
I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet.
I wanted to ask the Slashdot crowd
Oh wait, that explains it.
This "it might suddenly vanish" argument is a strawman.
Although the OP didn't explicitly state this, and was really talking about the data, there is a valid "it might suddenly vanish" argument here. Not about the data; that's easy to back up as numerous people have mentioned. But the service itself can vanish without warning. That's a large inconvenience to an individual who then has to find a new email account and email-blast everyone they know with their new email addy*, and potentially fatal to a business that relies on that now-defunct email addy to do business**.
*Yes, the smart way is to have your own domain name and thus permanent email alias and redirect it to whatever your current email account is, but how many individuals (especially, say, my mother, whom this just happened to) have the ability to do that?
**Yes, a business that doesn't take those steps I just mentioned is doing business foolishly. But plenty of small/home businesses do anyway.
We ordered a large batch of equipment from Sun (same number of Sun Rays & LCD monitors). The Sun monitors come packaged with monitor, 1 power cord, 1 DVI cable, 1 VGA cable, 2 DVI-to-VGA adapters. The Sun Ray (2FS, which has 2 DVI ports) comes packaged with 1 power cord and 2 DVI-to-VGA adapters. In addition, we are separately shipped the same number of 2x2x2 boxes containing nothing but a power cord. And for these intentionally lightweight, low power devices, these are THICK heavy-duty power cords. Heavy, so that must have increased the cost of shipping.
All of the above comes with various manuals in 17 languages, as well. Not to mention each manual and CD (a CD for the monitor, which contains THE MANUAL on PDF) are individually plastic bagged, styrofoam, and boxes within boxes...
We end up having to dispose of 100's of extra video cables, power cables, and DVI-to-VGA adapters. (Costs to us: Staff time, proper disposal fees, cost to the environment, etc)
Part of the reason we go with Sun Rays is to be environmentally friendly. I would say that we lose the environmental edge by all the packaging, but for the fact that nearly all computer vendors have the same excessive packaging.
This is going to remain a problem as long as the cost of packaging labor & shipping is cheaper than management's time to review packaging/shipping procedures. Which it is, for now.
Let's see if it actually lands. (In one piece, that is.)
It's even worse at the university level, in some cases. At the university I work at, there are accredited courses with "Microsoft" in the titles. Things like databases, spreadsheets, web design, etc. And I can tell you from having to support them, most professors do have PowerPoint (tm) presentations which they haven't substantially changed in years tailored to specific Microsoft products.
Just to be a devil's advocate, that's 10 million new jobs for Americans. Quite a boost to the economy!
(No, I don't actually espouse the brute force approach as you put it, but there would be a silver lining.)
I work for an Engineering college. Our current Windows build has us install 81 different software package. Many of these are not common elsewhere, but some are standard engineering apps. I recently did a test install on Vista and found that 26 of these simply didn't work with Vista.
Due to the economies of the situation -- some of these apps were one-time purchases of $15k or more that are updated anywhere from every 5 years to never -- I don't see us moving to Vista within the next couple of years at least.
This is really nothing new. The university where I work does throttle (though not completely suspend) Internet bandwidth during night hours. While officials here didn't look at students' hard drives, they did examine the packets for a period of time and determined that most of what was being transmitted was gaming related.
It makes sense from a financial standpoint. From the students' perspective, University Internet access is free, but in reality, someone pays for it, and they pay more when there's more of it.
Since we're just throttling the bandwidth instead of taking it away entirely, the argument against using online resources to finish homework is a moot point. Text (and a few pictures) don't take up much bandwidth.
That's basically been done.