theycallmesteve Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I was at St Ninian's when Alex went off to do this. Great to see this... http://www.apple.com/30-years/1998/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Little to no internet access in 1998? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theycallmesteve Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 A litte hyperbolic. But, hey, Pizza Hut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 "with a fair amount of internet access but it costing the earth and the locals suspecting it was the work of the devil Alex and his pals took the only logical step possible. Put Computers on a bus. No one suspected for a second that they were were all off their fucking tits on drugs when this idea was concocted." "1998 - when there was no downloading on games night so you had to go on a bus" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerboy Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Do all the islands schools use apple products? Are they forced to use MAC OS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Primary schools all use Apple. I know Ballakermeen is a bit more in the real world and uses mostly Windows based PCs, not sure about the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyconcrete Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I have never been convinced by the use of Macs in schools. Even if there was an argument for the use of Macs back-then, surely in years gone by the educational ICT strategy would have been revisited? I started my first IT job at 16 proficient in Hypercard and able to create birthday cards.... Thank god I bought/built myself a PC and taught myself IT. I left 'A' levels and did an IT course at the college, whilst I was using Windows 3.1/95, programming and learning computer science, my friends at school were.... doing the same old duff. Nowadays, if indeed Windows is to be ruled out as an option; any argument for the use of Macs over Windows also holds true for the use of Linux over Windows (and/or Mac). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticallyChallenged Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I have never been convinced by the use of Macs in schools. Even if there was an argument for the use of Macs back-then, surely in years gone by the educational ICT strategy would have been revisited? I started my first IT job at 16 proficient in Hypercard and able to create birthday cards.... Thank god I bought/built myself a PC and taught myself IT. I left 'A' levels and did an IT course at the college, whilst I was using Windows 3.1/95, programming and learning computer science, my friends at school were.... doing the same old duff. Nowadays, if indeed Windows is to be ruled out as an option; any argument for the use of Macs over Windows also holds true for the use of Linux over Windows (and/or Mac). Backhanders started it all off, or so I've heard. Macs are used nowadays because maintaining them is easy. And they don't want to have to change that. The IT department covering all the schools consists of 3 or 4 blokes responsible for thousands of machines. Plus, Macs are what the teachers are used to, plus they're more locked down. (I remember the days of RGS and games being secreted into network shares). Swapping out bad hardware is easier too. Oh your 2006 MacBook has conked out? We'll stick your hard drive into a 2010 MBP and it'll boot right up. (They tend to keep all machines on same version of OS X). I've seen this system for myself, and it works pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahc Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 It's possibly the only thing stopping the IT dept being sucked into ISD, and that's got to be a good thing surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 I've heard Apple do a bulk buy deal for govt educational depts. Apparently they get them cheaper than they could get windows PCs. Apple presumably push this to get kids hooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slim Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Nowadays, if indeed Windows is to be ruled out as an option; any argument for the use of Macs over Windows also holds true for the use of Linux over Windows (and/or Mac). Don't understand what you're getting at here. I agree the original macs weren't great for teaching kids computing but OSX is a solid choice. I worry that a school could buy 4 linux desktops for the cost of a macbook, but I'm not sure how good the educational discounts for mac stuff is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyconcrete Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 It was felt Apple was the best option (back then) and this seems to have remained the same ever since. I am guessing its not just about money (I don't know the scale of Apple educational discount either). TCO perhaps as some articles quote two people look after the entire Mac infrastructure on the Island. My kids primary classes have iPads and Macbooks.. I don't have any particular agenda as to whether its Windows, Mac or Linux - as long as it provides value for money and assists with their education. Backhanders started it all off, or so I've heard. Quite a brutal standpoint ! I recognise it may have been one person who made the call at the time, since then - it must be a departmental strategy/view-point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticallyChallenged Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 It's possibly the only thing stopping the IT dept being sucked into ISD, and that's got to be a good thing surely? Network is already part of the Government's. Makes it interesting for college students trying to research stuff, and finding every webpage under the sun is blocked. TCO perhaps as some articles quote two people look after the entire Mac infrastructure on the Island. Backhanders started it all off, or so I've heard. Quite a brutal standpoint ! I recognise it may have been one person who made the call at the time, since then - it must be a departmental strategy/view-point. Four did, last time I was aware, in terms of end-user support anyway. Though, they are big on promoting the wiki and suchlike, with some more occupied with doing that. Plus, there's more that goes on up at St George's court where everything is (was) hosted. You may call it brutal, but Apple most likely give good incentive to keep the Island in their palm, and like to use us as an example of where Apple kit works well together. You ask why the department hasn't changed since? As long as Apple keep giving, the DoE will lap it up, and it works well for the Island, kids are coming out pretty IT literate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2bad Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 As long as Apple keep giving, the DoE will lap it up, and it works well for the Island, kids are coming out pretty IT literate. Apple are not giving them away, as far as I am aware its just a standard educational discount. What makes me laugh is that most teachers have to lug around heavy expensive macbook pros just so they can access first class which is a pile of poop on any computer. If they are bothered about support costs then surely they could give them all chromebooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticallyChallenged Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 They've all been issued with brand new Macbook Airs. Latest generation of course, and they are rather nice machines. Of course, the DoE seems to have learnt from the past as all the machines are now in plastic cases to reduce the amount of damage they take. I've heard that Apple will send freebies to the DoE on occasion (think unibody white macbooks when they came out or newest gen iPads for their perusal). I wonder how quickly the schools will be filled with that iPad Pro that is rumoured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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