Comments on: Apple Can’t Wait For Bureaucracy

by: iPhones in education at Aus Mac Ed

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:26:11 +0000

[…] Unfortunately, being able to access rich media via the school WiFi network changes the boundaries for school ICT resources yet again. With the new wireless capabilities of hubs like AirPort Extreme digital portability enters yet another dimension - can our school infrastructure and systems keep up? This sort of change in expectation displays the need for scaleable network and storage solutions. Instead of portable notebook trolleys will we see racks of iPhones in the library? I’ll check back on this post in 2008 to see where we are at. […]

by: Paul Reid

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 13:46:19 +0000

You raise some important considerations for network maintennance in schools Steve, especially those using Windows profiles for student/staff movements on the network. In reducing user profile size network speeds may suffer a little less, and it seems certain the more exact profiling of an OSX workgroup manager is more suitable to a modern schools storage and transportation needs. I would have thought that by now be heading in a direction where students do have their own notebooks so that the cumbersome file sizes of the multimedia work is not shared across a network. In some of the 1-to-1 programmes I am sure this set-up has proven more favourable.

On another tract for a while now I have been pushing the use of digital cameras in schools of less than 4megapixels simply because they can print in good quality up to A4 and higher megapixel cameras are really only of use if A3 is required. Increasingly, some of the digital cameras can produce decent quality 16:9 QuickTime video for easy import into iMovie etc. These still/video devices ensure the content of student work comes to the fore not the weightiness of the tool.

by: Steve Adcock

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:20:23 +0000

Windows profiles (these are the files that are copied onto the server or files sent back and forth while logging in from a Windows machine) lack the same precise tools that workgroup manager in OSX server have for dealing with wireless logins. There are scripts and other software that you can use to help with reducing the profile. Thats not to say Apple is not immune as some of its software natively bypasses the workgroup manager rules that you set.
Lets have a look at Office for instance as this is often used by schools under both operating systems. All office documents make a temporary duplicate of the file and this is on the server for network logins. This file can be huge if it is powerpoint and both operating systems suffer under wireless conditions. There is a lot to be said about old digital cameras as their file sizes were quite small while most newish cameras create pictures that are 4 to 5Mb in size now. A few of these in Word can slow it down due to the continual transfer of this information across the wireless network.
You basically can’t use programs like Garageband, iMovie, and to some extent iPhoto with wirless accounts but a much faster adapter will improve things although iMovie and iDVD will never be usable until the connection hits the gigabyte stage.
Windows profiles create desktop, documents, pictures, temporary files (heaps of these), etc on the server and the server files always take precedence over the computer files which already causes issues for a lot of teachers when their Windows login does not synchronise properly. Profiles are becoming so large for many teachers that normal cable connections are struggling to manage. Many staff are always being told not to put lots of files in particular places because of these profile issues. I say what is the point in having this kind of login if it is a pain for staff. I could answer this but I have already said a lot.
Hopefully the new windows server when ever it shows up will have a solution to its profile issues.
Apple also have bugs in its sychronising as even if you only ask the Documents folder to sychronise it works for a while and then the music folder suddenly appears on the server and so on. So hopefully Leopard will address this.
The wireless world is not an easy place for network logins, if only students had their own laptop.

by: Paul Reid

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:52:55 +0000

Hi Steve, the new AirPort Extreme is potentially a very useful device for school network support managers. It prompts quite a shift in the ways schools will use their network. As far as schools showing forward thinking - the adoption of the forthcoming 802.11n standard should be high on their to-do list. One consideration when factoring in the cost of Intel based Apple hardware will be the as yet undecided cost for 802.11n wireless card upgrade. At the moment it seems the price will be nominal at US$2:

The possibility of students working outside or moving between classes with wireless access to a server full of relevant multimedia resources with a set of iPhones is very exciting to me also.

I’d definitely be interested in hearing more about the ease/difficulty we will have in integrating Windows profiles into this environment.