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| Thread ID: 91622 | 2008-07-13 03:28:00 | Using Linux in Schools - an Australian perspective from the inside | vitalstatistix (9182) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 688452 | 2008-07-13 07:52:00 | I think we should all be keeping an open mind on future possibilities - I remember my wife being told that if you didn't know WordPerfect 5.1, you were a dodo. Thankfully some people thought different and I hope that we can still think of something different that may be better in the future. Well I don't or didn't use PowerPoint as I would prefer Keynote. I also use a lot more than just what I mentioned but that was from a design perspective rather than an "office drone" perspective. These days I would imagine that the use of video clips inserted into PowerPoint/Keynote presentations and the odd Podcast or two might not go a miss. I would figure that Excel and Outlook/Thunderbird would get a fair bit of use as would IE/Firefox and various corporate data base apps etc. |
vitalstatistix (9182) | ||
| 688453 | 2008-07-13 07:59:00 | As an employee of a rather large corporation, I can confirm the following: Bosses are as different as beer. The willingness and capabilities are more important than knowing how to use most applications. Companies tend to use a standard platform (eg Citrix) which leaves little room for variety. |
the_bogan (9949) | ||
| 688454 | 2008-07-13 08:07:00 | One of the bigger employers (Fonterra) uses Citrix from my personal knowledge. | Sweep (90) | ||
| 688455 | 2008-07-13 08:22:00 | One of the bigger employers (Fonterra) uses Citrix from my personal knowledge. Do they use it everywhere now? It was mostly fat clients when I did some work for them a couple of years ago |
Greven (91) | ||
| 688456 | 2008-07-13 08:38:00 | Do they use it everywhere now? It was mostly fat clients when I did some work for them a couple of years ago Let me say that Fonterra use Citrix at Lichfield as of a week ago. I can't say about everywhere. |
Sweep (90) | ||
| 688457 | 2008-07-13 08:44:00 | As an employee of a rather large corporation, I can confirm the following: Bosses are as different as beer. The willingness and capabilities are more important than knowing how to use most applications. Companies tend to use a standard platform (eg Citrix) which leaves little room for variety. Speaking as a contractor who has worked for a number of large corporates over the last ten years, I would have to agree with the_bogan: all of the above comments, as well as mix-and-match scenarios. Citrix mainly for geographically remote - from Auckland - sites or for users who have no need of a full-client (much less to go wrong on a Citrix client, less 'fiddlibility'), and full-clients for local and/or power users; Windows servers and/or Linux servers (various distros). Interestingly, the corporate I am currently with is investigating dropping M$ Office and going to Open Office, because the licensing costs for M$ Office exceeds the cost of the Winterms it runs on by a factor of at least 2!!! It doesn't matter a damn what people learn on, most environments have similar functionality, the main differences being look and feel. Many corporate decisions to go with, for instance, Linux, are based on money (server licensing costs aren't cheap), not on their "open-sourceness" or otherwise. I learned on Apples back in the early nineties and graduated to M$ machines - the learning curve was not great. My personal preference now is M$, but if I worked for a client on an Apple platform, there wouldn't be an issue - whatever gets the job done. Same for Linux, I've had a wee play with Linux desktop, but it's not a hell of a lot different (to use) than anything else... |
johcar (6283) | ||
| 688458 | 2008-07-13 08:54:00 | Linux isn't really any option in the administrative side of NZ schools. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Education has set strict guidelines for Student Management Systems (SMS). These suites which the schools are allowed to use are largely restricted to Windows or Mac Systems, with the exception of two which are Web Based. |
stormdragon (6013) | ||
| 688459 | 2008-07-13 09:06:00 | Linux isn't really any option in the administrative side of NZ schools. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Education has set strict guidelines for Student Management Systems (SMS). These suites which the schools are allowed to use are largely restricted to Windows or Mac Systems, with the exception of two which are Web Based. That is a very good point, but the main reason it won't work is because teachers will reject it. A lot of teachers I deal with are afraid of technology & even if they weren't, it would still create a lot of extra work for them initially. |
Greven (91) | ||
| 688460 | 2008-07-14 06:40:00 | That is a very good point, but the main reason it won't work is because teachers will reject it. A lot of teachers I deal with are afraid of technology & even if they weren't, it would still create a lot of extra work for them initially. To true, to true. I'm working with a school currently it seems some of the teachers have been living under a rock for quite a while. Makes me wonder how computers can be put to use as an educational tool, when half those that are supposed to be teaching them to use them have absolutely no clue themselves. |
stormdragon (6013) | ||
| 688461 | 2008-07-14 07:13:00 | Citrix mainly for geographically remote - from Auckland - sites or for users who have no need of a full-client (much less to go wrong on a Citrix client, less 'fiddlibility'), and full-clients for local and/or power users; Windows servers and/or Linux servers (various distros). Interestingly, the corporate I am currently with is investigating dropping M$ Office and going to Open Office, because the licensing costs for M$ Office exceeds the cost of the Winterms it runs on by a factor of at least 2!!! I learned on Apples back in the early nineties and graduated to M$ machines - the learning curve was not great. My personal preference now is M$, but if I worked for a client on an Apple platform, there wouldn't be an issue - whatever gets the job done. Same for Linux, I've had a wee play with Linux desktop, but it's not a hell of a lot different (to use) than anything else... It looks like OS X 10.6 aka Snow Leopard will have MS Exchange fully integrated when it comes out next year. The only comment I would make is that the Mac OS that you used in the early 90's was a totally different creature to the OS X of today. |
vitalstatistix (9182) | ||
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