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Henrico County Schools Dumps iBook Program After 4 Years, Ge...

T

the_mole1314

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 16, 2003
774
0
Akron, OH
Henrico County Drops Apple, Adopts Dell

http://richmondtimesdispatch.com/se...TD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031782431108

Looks like the first iBook program is going away, being replaced by Dells. Even though this is bad news, I hope this shows them that this was a bad decision every time some kid types in googke.com....

And with the amount of money spend on AirPort Extrems, Apples in the classrooms and librarys, tech support training out of the wazoo, and XServes, if they replace all of that they must be idiots.
 
seriously sad news. I feel sorry for the kids in the schools looking forward to a positive computer experience and instead getting a Dull.

For shame, Henrico, for shame.
 
That's weak for those students. Now they will get a lesson on dealing with customer support because dells break down, M$ crashes and loses your data.
 
I feel bad for some people, but mainly just the kids, teachers, parents and taxpayers.

I don't feel sorry for Apple, since we'll have some great reverse-success stories coming out of Henrico in the coming year...
 
What the story forgets to mention is the millions spent on AirPorts, Xserves, and other hardware that Dell would want to replace but dosn't need replacing! Don't forget about all the new tech service people that are going to be needed at each school.
 
oh, this is going to annoy some people...I feel sorry for the kids. And I'd love to hear the reasons for their making the switch to Dell - who's going to support the things and what about viruses? You have that many machines, there are going to be some serious issues eventually when one virus gets in and infects 50% of the machines..... :(

D
 
Despite what everyone believes about computers making students smarter, I believe quite the opposite. And have for a long time. Writing with pen or paper or doing math calculations by hand increases a students ability to learn.

I'd probably put the money that went into the Dells into a better lunch program or more phys. ed activities.
 
I'd put it into teachers first--then computers--then lunch--then new window trim--then phys ed ;)

I think a computer can help a child to write, if the school uses it the RIGHT way. It can free them to organize their thoughts.

That's assuming they are taught to think--not popular these days :D

Anyway, Apple just won a much BIGGER school contract I think, so that softens the blow!
 
That sucks, poor kids. I'm sure someone in Apple EDU sales is a little worried about losing their job... Ouch! :eek:
 
What's interesting to me is that Apple maintains the middle school program for another year. So these kids will learn everything Apple - then have to go to high school and start using the Dells.

Also, I suppose, it gives the school a year to determine the issues associated with the Dell devices. As for viruses, it may not be as big an issue since those laptops are pretty well locked down. One of my neighbors administers the iBook program at the local school district, and those kids can't even get onto the internet with the iBooks, and can't install any applications.
 
I think a lot of parents complained originally about the use of Apple computers and it's likely that the school board had changed in the meantime to end such use.

I think they'll find that their decision to change to Dells won't be a great thing. If my experience in a large corporate environment is anything similar to what the school system will see, 3 out of every 5 machines will be returned. Maybe, they'll be lucky and only have to return 2 of every 5.
 
LOL

Off Topic..

But in my high school.. before they got a bunch of lame dells, I was in the library, and figured I would change the "hand" icon in Netscape with.. damn.. forget the name.. Hexedit? The hand in question is like the little hand with the finger pointing up when you go over a link. I went into the preferences for Netscape, and found its icons where I changed the hand with the index finger pointing up, to just the middle finger pointing up.

/god I was lonely in high school lol
 
Lacero said:
Despite what everyone believes about computers making students smarter, I believe quite the opposite. And have for a long time. Writing with pen or paper or doing math calculations by hand increases a students ability to learn.

I'd probably put the money that went into the Dells into a better lunch program or more phys. ed activities.
Click to expand...

Sing it, brother!
 
Just FYI, Dell educational support is quite good. The school I work for over summer/winter breaks has a ton of dell laptops (as well as iBooks), and whenever there is a serious issue Dell is more helpful than one would expect. They will send you new hard drives if one fails, replace missing keys, etc etc. Even on laptops a couple years old. It's pretty impressive.
 
Phatpat said:
Just FYI, Dell educational support is quite good. The school I work for over summer/winter breaks has a ton of dell laptops (as well as iBooks), and whenever there is a serious issue Dell is more helpful than one would expect. They will send you new hard drives if one fails, replace missing keys, etc etc. Even on laptops a couple years old. It's pretty impressive.
Click to expand...
Its called a three warranty, if a part breaks they send you a new one, Apple does the same thing, if your HD fails they give you a new one.. etc...
 
bousozoku said:
I think they'll find that their decision to change to Dells won't be a great thing. If my experience in a large corporate environment is anything similar to what the school system will see, 3 out of every 5 machines will be returned. Maybe, they'll be lucky and only have to return 2 of every 5.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have also had experience with Dell in a large corporate environment. It is truely shocking the number of machines that need replacing. However I agree with Lacero here anyway, computers should not be a priority for schools in the first place. Less heat coming out of computers and more coming out of their ears please...
 
Eugh. Guys. Everyone is throwing a hissyfit expecting that the school district is going to be screwed. A couple points from someone experienced with rolling out semi-massive architecture upgrades and hundreds of system rollouts at a time.

1. The core architecture is prob NOT going to be replaced. Even the most foolish Superintendent isn’t just going to take Dell’s word on it. You can be sure that they will upgrade what is necessary and that doesn’t include access points, servers, switchers, routers, etc.
from the standpoint of the laptops themselves. It really depends on the model. I have a Latitude CS X that has been rock solid over the last 4 years I’ve had it. Its hardly a speed demon but its stable, reliable, thin and light. The thing is I’ve seen Dell’s latest and greatest and they’ve gone downhill big time. They have tipped the scales between trying to cut cost and making it look and feel cheap. Right now. Eugh. Cheapness a side. Viruses aren’t an issue as long as the holy four are used:
lock down the desktop, antivirus, FireFox, and Firewall. Assuming they are going to have someone build a standard image for the system. (Prob one image for students and one for teachers.) If you get the initial image setup right support should be minimum. Remember that X out of the box needs hardly any tweaking. Windows does but if you get it setup right its pretty solid. Example. Patches. Not nearly as important if you have a solid firewall enabled and if security is locked down students won’t be able to disable the firewall or dink around with the settings. My money is the possibility that the district will enable SUS. System Update Server on a single standalone system that will push patches to the user when they come onsite.
This can be setup correctly. The problem is I’ve seen this **** before. If they are already cutting costs by going to dell they are prob going to end up cutting corners with the implementation and FUBAR that as well so in the end you guys are prob right. Support hell. :rolleyes:
 
emw said:
What's interesting to me is that Apple maintains the middle school program for another year. So these kids will learn everything Apple - then have to go to high school and start using the Dells.

Also, I suppose, it gives the school a year to determine the issues associated with the Dell devices. As for viruses, it may not be as big an issue since those laptops are pretty well locked down. One of my neighbors administers the iBook program at the local school district, and those kids can't even get onto the internet with the iBooks, and can't install any applications.
Click to expand...

Yes but remember that Windows PCs are the only computers in the world, every computer in the world gets viruses and there is NO software available for the Mac ;) > :D :rolleyes:
 
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