http://www.apple.com/education/districtlicense/
I thought this would be of interest to you educators out there.
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Mac OS X District Liscensing Program ...
- Thread starter Fender2112
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I think our district (Los Angeles Unified School District) would qualitfy for such a thing... but you need to upgrade EVERY compatible system.
Problem is it doesn't include Office. We need Office. Plus, upgrading all those machines would be a huge hassle, assuming the powers that be at the district would even do such a thing.
Problem is it doesn't include Office. We need Office. Plus, upgrading all those machines would be a huge hassle, assuming the powers that be at the district would even do such a thing.
Speaking as a "power that be" at San Diego Unified, our users had their chance when Apple was GIVING away OS X to teachers. The promotion flopped, because there's a lot of older machines, and people were afraid of jumping to X on a machine that was even capable of it due to unfamilier territory.
So when my Apple rep told me of this latest "offer", I told him "Great. How about throwing in a 2 hour Intro To OS X training session?" He said he'd work on it, but unless and until Apple steps up to the plate with some kind of OS X "101" for our users, who are mostly teachers that have way too much to do as it is, I'm going to allow OS X to be rolled out in a natural progression...as new machines are purchased.
Education is a hard nut to crack...and its partly Apple's fault. If the dang machines didn't LAST SO LONG and keep running those "ol' favorites" like ClarisWorks 4.0 and all the other dozens of little programs that teachers have got used to through several operating systems, from OS 7.6.1 all the way up to 9.2.2, they wouldn't be in the situation of having to nearly give away OS X.
We just don't have the resources anymore to keep having training classes for operating system upgrades and the like. Apple needs to pick up the ball on this, and a few other things, to prop up that all-important Education user base. We've created an "image" for Macs that are purchased after April 2003 that includes pre-set user log-ins (Teacher, Student, Admin, Other - for internal use) and when a new machine boots up, you click and go - we've pre-installed Office and all the common programs that any student or teacher would need, so OS X on THOSE machines is pretty much a snap. But we can't run around and "make" those older machines act and perform like the April and after editions...we just don't have the resources.
Turning a culture like teachers to the "newest and latest" is a tough thing. If they're used to something and it works for them, they tend not to "fix" it. And they all learn in their own ways...sure, there's mavericks out there galore, running the latest and greatest and deriving the benefits. But there's a lot MORE out there would WOULD learn in a classroom setting, and would change - if Apple provided the classroom.
So when my Apple rep told me of this latest "offer", I told him "Great. How about throwing in a 2 hour Intro To OS X training session?" He said he'd work on it, but unless and until Apple steps up to the plate with some kind of OS X "101" for our users, who are mostly teachers that have way too much to do as it is, I'm going to allow OS X to be rolled out in a natural progression...as new machines are purchased.
Education is a hard nut to crack...and its partly Apple's fault. If the dang machines didn't LAST SO LONG and keep running those "ol' favorites" like ClarisWorks 4.0 and all the other dozens of little programs that teachers have got used to through several operating systems, from OS 7.6.1 all the way up to 9.2.2, they wouldn't be in the situation of having to nearly give away OS X.
We just don't have the resources anymore to keep having training classes for operating system upgrades and the like. Apple needs to pick up the ball on this, and a few other things, to prop up that all-important Education user base. We've created an "image" for Macs that are purchased after April 2003 that includes pre-set user log-ins (Teacher, Student, Admin, Other - for internal use) and when a new machine boots up, you click and go - we've pre-installed Office and all the common programs that any student or teacher would need, so OS X on THOSE machines is pretty much a snap. But we can't run around and "make" those older machines act and perform like the April and after editions...we just don't have the resources.
Turning a culture like teachers to the "newest and latest" is a tough thing. If they're used to something and it works for them, they tend not to "fix" it. And they all learn in their own ways...sure, there's mavericks out there galore, running the latest and greatest and deriving the benefits. But there's a lot MORE out there would WOULD learn in a classroom setting, and would change - if Apple provided the classroom.