Apple Mac Computers will be in all Irish primary schools by 2007

Standard Toaster

http://www.apple.com/uk/education/profiles/fis/

**Timbuk2**

arghhhhhhhh

stupid apples :mad:

maidhc

It doesnt make any promises about apples being in schools though? Does it?

astrofool

So another pointless course for the real world (the other being Irish).

conzy

Genius, Put the most incompatible piece of hardware ever created in Primary Schools:rolleyes:

That should be educational:D

majiktripp

I really doubt this....working from a point where we set up broadband for primary schools under the governments initiative - ie. the have a broadband budget but the computers the schools have are sh1tty 'ol Windows 95's,98's etc but hey they have satellite broadband! I doubt very much that this will happen as the sheer cost of this is ridiculous unless being wholey sponsored but apple themselves.On a related note,heres an all apple american highschool.......I pity the techs setting it up....
http://www.damnfunnypictures.com/html/3000-iBooks-In-A-Room.html

netwhizkid

Ah a computer people can use without needing a degree to switch it on! Nice to the Irish education system giving Microsoft the the kick in the rear. My pojt being Microsoft produced good software, but man alive it is not easy to operate. Like I am faily good at XP now after 14 months of adapting and learning. Xp is about as reliable and as stable as a Religious Dictator in any banana republic. Microsoft sucks tbh.

SeanW

astrofool wrote:

So another pointless course for the real world (the other being Irish).

Lord jaysus Don't say that :eek: half the Gaeilge forum will come here to berate you in public!

Of course you are 100% correct on both.

SirLemonhead

netwhizkid wrote:

Ah a computer people can use without needing a degree to switch it on! Nice to the Irish education system giving Microsoft the the kick in the rear. My pojt being Microsoft produced good software, but man alive it is not easy to operate. Like I am faily good at XP now after 14 months of adapting and learning. Xp is about as reliable and as stable as a Religious Dictator in any banana republic. Microsoft sucks tbh.

You must be pretty terrible with computers if it took you 14 months to adapt to XP

Sparky

I would'nt mind now being called into that place. "Collect your iBook".
That's a lot of iBooks.

aidan_walsh

Here's a neat idea, lets have everyone who has made a derogatory statement at least back it up with something!

stupid apples

Sorry, what?

So another pointless course for the real world

Why?

Genius, Put the most incompatible piece of hardware ever created in Primary Schools

Riiiight. Because teachers and students will be pulling them apart on a daily basis...

How many of you even read the article, and are instead basing you comments on the thread title?

whippet

before people make stupid comments they should find out more about the FIS programme.

My understanding is that FIS is a government agency set up to develop multimedia training in primary schools. The agency needed to adapt a standard which they decided on the mac platform, mainly due to the iLife suite of software and the saving this afforded over the option of buying other third party software.

For about 800 quid you can get a fully loaded mac mini with all the software that you need to take DV and output to DVD etc.

As for the incompatability remark ... that is ficticous, the most commonly used file formats and software is available on the mac, .doc, .xls., .ppt, .pdf etc.

As for cost, the project only aims to have at least one mac in each school, which isn't massive.

In the uk there has been a few pilot schemes in educational districts which have exclusivley used mac and ilife which is by all accounts a great success.

conzy

First of all you get a whole lot more PC per euro than you get Mac.

The Government could spend the money on more useful things than shiny white overpriced Macs.

The thread title implies that schools were switchinhg to Mac, and I agree the macs are "multimedia ready" out of the box.

And as for incompatability, Im sure Muzzy and letterland are not available for Mac:D along with a lot of other educational software.

djmarkus

Stupid government, if they where going to go the non-microsoft route they could have used linux and saved a whole lot from not havinf to buy mac OS licenses(because their not worth it) and have a far more compatible architecture.

Laguna

**Timbuk2** wrote:

arghhhhhhhh

stupid apples :mad:

I take it from your comments you would suggest everyone completely enamors themselves with Microsoft and their software alone?. I've used Unix, various Linux distros, MacOS and XP (not mentioning 95, 98, 2000) in my time and I;ve found MacOS X to be far the most user friendly and hassle free OS I've ever used, just because XP is infinitely more popular doesn't indicate it's better quality.

It's good for children/young adults to be exposed to various and differing OS's and software as it teaches them to be adaptive and dynamic in a computing realm (i.e. the best way), if everyone only learned how to use XP/Vista and were thrown in front of a Mac on their first day of their job, they wouldn't be able to do anything - they'd spend the day looking for the 'Start' button.

SirLemonhead

Doesn't say much for the Mac OS ease of use then if they couldnt get started within a day

aidan_walsh

MasterOfSolos wrote:

Doesn't say much for the Mac OS ease of use then if they couldnt get started within a day

That says nothing about it. There are a few differences you need to get your head around when you change. Besides, I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to pick up any GUI system within a day.

SirLemonhead

Yes it was a joke

conzy

I used Mac OSX a few times and I dont see what all the Mac users are ranting about??

Its no more "intuitive" than Windows or any other OS for that matter, and as stability goes, it locked up while encoding a DVD:rolleyes:

I am not a windows "fan" but it is the standard and like it or not, most software and games are written for it, Would it not be better to teach children how to use a platform they are more likely to use in the future?

Laguna

conzymaher wrote:

I used Mac OSX a few times and I dont see what all the Mac users are ranting about??

Its no more "intuitive" than Windows or any other OS for that matter, and as stability goes, it locked up while encoding a DVD:rolleyes:

I am not a windows "fan" but it is the standard and like it or not, most software and games are written for it, Would it not be better to teach children how to use a platform they are more likely to use in the future?

You miss my point man, I'm well aware that Windows does and probably will continue to dominate the majority of the consumer/business OS markets, what I'm saying is, what harm is it to learn another OS?, if more people use Mac OS then you'll get more people buying Macs, all of a sudden Microsoft will sit up and take stock of the fact they can't get away with releasing bug ridden and shoddy software every three to four years (where they let the customers debug their software for them for the first year).

Anyway, when I was in College, looking at the future trends of Business and their integration of computing and the types of software we were taught indicates that a lot of companies are going to be migrating to other platforms than Windows in the future (mostly Linux), as the cost/benefit ratio of upgrading to Vista (price and training/integration) will be far smaller than it was from 2000 to XP. What will all the children do (who end up in IT) when asked to maintain a Linux server in their future jobs?, tell their boss to switch to Windows or else they can't do it?.

zilog_jones

For what they're using the computers for, Mac's are infinitely more easy to use and doesn't require any 3rd-party software. Any of you tried making a DVD from DV just using Microsoft software? Eh?

conzy

all of a sudden Microsoft will sit up and take stock of the fact they can't get away with releasing bug ridden and shoddy software every three to four years (where they let the customers debug their software for them for the first year).

Apple dont make perfect operating systems either, There have been lots of critical updates for OSX and they recently released a Browser patch to fix a very big secutity flaw.

Have a look at this video, It was made by an editor and a Mac user:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6553260189868317794&q=why+macs+suck

It summarises everything I am saying:D

Laguna

Jesus Christ, when did I say Apple make perfect OS's, I'll state again, it's good for people to be exposed to more than one set of software/OS's, variety being the spice of life no?. I'm wasting my time posting in this thread anyway, the high majority of people have this notion that Apple computers and software are pure **** and anything Microsoft spew out is the best(tm), I like this opinion best when it comes from people who've never used or encountered Macs in any form (all purchasing managers who're told to buy in a new set of systems and ask for consultation from the IT staff).

maidhc

Laguna wrote:

What will all the children do (who end up in IT) when asked to maintain a Linux server in their future jobs?, tell their boss to switch to Windows or else they can't do it?.

I dont believe it is a terribly common occurance that employees are asked to maintain linux servers Anyone expected to do so will normally have training other that what they picked up in primary school.

I live in a house full of teachers, and the reality seems that there is more to be done in schools that teaching children how to use computers. The best you can hope is that the computer is used as a learning tool.

If iLife is the best according to FÍS, then so be it!

Laguna

maidhc wrote:

I dont believe it is a terribly common occurance that employees are asked to maintain linux servers Anyone expected to do so will normally have training other that what they picked up in primary school.

I live in a house full of teachers, and the reality seems that there is more to be done in schools that teaching children how to use computers. The best you can hope is that the computer is used as a learning tool.

If iLife is the best according to FÍS, then so be it!

Ah yeah, I guess I overshot the mark saying people with a primary school education will be asked to maintain a Linux server, but I still reckon the earlier the exposure to difference in software, the easier the adaptation..

Oh yeah, iLife for the win!, it's great fun - even when messing around, Garageband especially (I'm so going to release an album)..

jesus_thats_gre

netwhizkid wrote:

Ah a computer people can use without needing a degree to switch it on! Nice to the Irish education system giving Microsoft the the kick in the rear. My pojt being Microsoft produced good software, but man alive it is not easy to operate. Like I am faily good at XP now after 14 months of adapting and learning. Xp is about as reliable and as stable as a Religious Dictator in any banana republic. Microsoft sucks tbh.

God christ your posts are getting worse.. If I even slightly thought you knew anything about what you are talking about I would entertain one or two of your points but in general your points stink of bandwagon jumping..

I have been using computers for 15 years and have a BSc in computing yet I find the Apple OS to be the most frustrating piece of **** OS I have ever used..

SeanW

As to why the hell anyone would use computers other than bog standard X86 or AMD architectures, especially schools, is beyond me.

Micro$haft Windows+Ofice is the most common software out there. So it's best that young'uns learn it.

And if screwing M$ and using alternatives is what floats your boat, then get Linux and/or one of the many Office alternatives. Really stupid decision IMO what the hell are these ppl thinking?

zilog_jones

You're all missing the point totally - they're using these Macs for DV video editing. Linux is seriously lacking in that kind of software, and whatever software there is you probably have to compile it or something needlessly complicated.

If I was doing proper professional/semi-pro video editing, like nearly everyone else in that field of expertise, I'd buy a Mac!

Have a look at this video, It was made by an editor and a Mac user:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...=why+macs+suck

Do you know how OLD that video is?! It's refering to Mac OS 9 (or older), which was a hideous mess of an operating system. OS X is vastly improved. Note how he has a first-generation iMac, which came out EIGHT YEARS AGO, when the OS 8.1 was new.

whippet

SeanW wrote:

Micro$haft Windows+Ofice is the most common software out there. So it's best that young'uns learn it.

QUOTE]

MS Office for Mac is the very same!! - if they don't want to use opensource 'office alternatives' they can use the very same product.

That 'why macs suck' video is about OS 9, which was rubbish, it has no context in relation to OS X.

Could someone please back-up the argument that you can buy much more windows for the price of an €800 mac mini. The spec you would need would be:

P-4 2.8Ghz
512MB Ram
Win XP Pro (home is no good)
80GB SATA Hard Drive
DVD+-RW
DV Editing Software
DVD Authoring Software
Multiple Track audio editing software
Photo indexing software
WiFi / Bluetooth
1000 BaseT Ethernet

A Dell Dimension with this sort of spec is coming in at about €1000 (incl VAT as schools have to pay VAT) with out the media software.