Technology Integration » Platforms http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org Educational Technology Integration Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:56:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Ubuntu, Edbuntu, Linux, Unix, et al http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/05/02/ubuntu-edbuntu-linnux-unix-et-al/ http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/05/02/ubuntu-edbuntu-linnux-unix-et-al/#comments Sat, 03 May 2008 01:38:32 +0000 Brad Edwards http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/05/02/ubuntu-edbuntu-linnux-unix-et-al/ I’ve been receiving listserv items this year that are full of comments about these different operating systems.  There’s a lot of excitement in these posts, and the authors are enthusiastic, positive and seemingly determined. I wouldn’t call them evangelists, but some posts seemed to be “over the top” to me.  I’m reminded of the platform “wars” of the 90’s when I see some of these posts.  But it all got my attention, and today I began some “serious research” about their claims. Is free really better? 
It doesn’t matter if the software is free or not.  It only matters to me that it works, works well, consistently, does what I have come to expect and doesn’t leave me frustrated. If we as technology coordinators and technology specialists have to spend time tweaking the darn tools we use, we’ll never move forward. And the users we support will quickly head for the foxholes, head for the hills, build the brick walls, when we ask them to tweak the tools they would otherwise just use. “I don’t have time for this,” they will say, and you know what? They’re absolutely right.  

 

Popular programs like Inspiration aren’t written for platforms other than Mac or PC. Good thing there’s Freemind   from Sourceforge.   And if the school can’t afford, or doesn’t want to pay for Photoshop Elements, there’s always Gimp. But I find it’s not as easy to use as Elements, especially running on a Mac.

 I would love not to send money to Microsoft,Apple Adobe, etc. by using these free software programs, desktop systems and server systems. The question for me is still: Is doing this better? And are we seeing the beginning of a second platform war?  

 

  

 As school budgets are squeezed more and more due to rising fuel costs, insurance premiums and building maintenance, these alternative routes to technology are becoming more and more popular.  

]]> http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/05/02/ubuntu-edbuntu-linnux-unix-et-al/feed/ 3 Platform Wars? http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/04/28/platform-wars/ http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/04/28/platform-wars/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:32:19 +0000 Brad Edwards http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/2008/04/28/platform-wars/ A few years ago, technologists would often get into discussions on the appropriate platform (PC or Mac) for schools.  For some, the argument centered around the platform that the students would soon be using “out in the real world.” For others, the argument was how easy or intuitive the system was. Teachers who had PC’s at home, would sometimes struggle with Macs, and vice-versa.  In the last few years, however, I haven’t heard as much about the “platform question,” and would like to assume here that the discussion has diminished.  Now that I’ve had some time using Web 2.0 apps, google docs, google web pages, I’m wondering if the advent of Web 2.0 has been partially responsible for quieting this discussion?

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