re: Windows 8 Wins Maine Schools
Win7 may be more common today, but we're talking about K-12 students, by the time they enter the workforce after high school or college Win8 (or 9 or 10) will be very common and Win7 will be on the way out. Also, iToys and other toy tablets are not enterprise ready today and won't be for many years compared with real computers. It's too bad that writers like Mr. Endler have been suckered by the consumer-grade tablet craze that still cannot produce a decent PowerPoint presentation, manage a 100MB spreadsheet, can't be used to develop code for corporations, or do much of anything else other than read e-mail or type the most basic of memos (yes, I know they can do more than e-mail & memos, but in the end, real business is done on real computers).
As for touchscreens being necessary for Win8, that's a joke too. How exactly do you manage data in a huge spreadsheet with a touch screen? You don't. How do you build multimedia presentations? You don't. You need a keyboard and pointing device (either a mouse or pen and yes a pen can be used on a touch screen but you still need real input devices). Touchscreens are great for, again, e-mail and the basic memo, Facebook, browsing the web, but in the end, even the mainstream tablets, including the iPad, all have keyboard options and Win8 tablets all can use a mouse. Again, writers whinging about a non-issue. Computer literate users with a keyboard and mouse can get 10x the work done in 1/2 the time than even the most well-versed tablet user. I'd love to see any study that says otherwise.
Regarding Apple's devices. From iToys to Macs, they are simply not found on the majority of businesses for mainstream business applications. Apple's draconian controls over software make them business-UNfriendly and anyone who sees that changing anytime soon is dreaming. Apple will go out of business before they release their stranglehold on their customers' devices.
Maine made the right decision. Business friendly devices to train our future employees.
The State of Cloud Computing - Fall 2020
Download this report to compare how cloud usage and spending patterns have changed in 2020, and how respondents think they'll evolve over the next two years.
2021 Top Enterprise IT TrendsWe've identified the key trends that are poised to impact the IT landscape in 2021. Find out why they're important and how they will affect you.
Tweet This
User Rank: Apprentice
5/3/2013 | 3:03:14 AM
Our local county bought 1500 Dell Latitudes 3 years ago for the local high school (we have only one) and bought them with WinXP, insufficient RAM, and no MS Office. The school system's IT folks had no idea what they were doing, budgeted woefully insufficient funds, and now they're stuck with laptops that were supposed to last 5 years (a year after XP is retired). I hope Maine hasn't made similar poor decisions. If the idea is to train middle school kids on what systems they'll likely see in 7-11 years, their decision to go with 7 will be as shortsighted as my county's. Honestly, I think ours did it because the IT staff wasn't up to speed on Win7 (and clearly not on XP either given how they spec'd the systems). One can only wonder if Maine is in the same boat. Gotta love governments and their decisions.
Thanks again...