rjlewis@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Richard J. Lewis, Jr. - Hacker@Large) (12/19/90)
All, How many Apple II systems are still active in schools today? Are they fairly common in grade schools but much rarer in secondary schools? Or have most schools switched to MS DOS machines by now? What systems do YOU all think SHOULD be used in schools? Which systems have decent educational software today? Curious, - Crash /--------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Rich Lewis A.K.A Crash rjlewis@MIAVX1.acs.muohio.edu | | | | "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help | | them become what they are capable of being." | | | | - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | \--------------------------------------------------------------------/
mcgu5464@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ronald J Mcguire) (12/20/90)
In article <3168.276ece1c@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> rjlewis@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Richard J. Lewis, Jr. - Hacker@Large) writes: >All, > > How many Apple II systems are still active in schools today? Are they >fairly common in grade schools but much rarer in secondary schools? This is going to sound REALLY bizarre, but at MY school (No, I'm not at UWM) Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee we don't have a SUN or Unisys or any other neat toys. We have an AppleII lab, a Mac lab, and a Zenith lab. Why? CSC is an educators school, not an engineers school so we try to remain in touch with what the schools have. Apple convincing schools to switch to Macs? No way in hell, unless they abandon Apple2 hope all together! Most schools don't even have enough money to buy texts or art supplies - much less even CHEAP computers every time a company wants to change how it feels. Remember there are many private schools out there who only recently with the big price drops were able to afford a computer lab at all - even if all they did was buy used ][es. Some even went out and bought whole labs of GSs when the R3 machine came down to $2200. Now that the Mac is cheaper, you think they're pissed? You know it. Getting a 3rd party hardware 'co-op' of students together here would be wonderful. I would consider buying the MMU creation were it priced reasonably (ie parts, labor, shipping and not packaging $1000000 development etc) under the same premise of shareware etc. Of course there must be some custom hardware so maybe have them made to order with a 1 month construction time. Pre-pay would reduce the startup capitol, and just include the MultiFinder (GS/OS??? Moded) with the package. Even schools would go for something like this. I REALLY REALLY know they would if the Appletalk nets were able to take advantage of idle processors on the line (i.e. Multiprocess over Appletalk) I could see the headlines now "MACS CALL ON GSs TO DO PROCESSING" he he... Apple will never do it - at least I doubt it, so go ahead! Just don't make the same mistake Apple has with many of their products - leave room for expansion! Leave room for a bigger casche, zip or TWGS upgrades, software openings to multiprocess across the AT net etc... > Or have most schools switched to MS DOS machines by now? Most schools never had Apple or IBM to begin with... Remember the TRUE low cost systems? Commodore 64 and TI99/4a. This is what most schools had because they could be picked up for ~$150/station. Many schools still use them even though the "lack of support." Other schools just bypassed the Apple line and went right to IBM or like a local HS here that runs a VAX! Washington - It's where John Pinnow, another reader of this group is. > What systems do YOU all think SHOULD be used in schools? Which systems >have decent educational software today? At CSC we had a discussion about this. It should be 1) compatable with whatever students have at home if anything 2) Cost effective so as not to strain the budget. 3) Easy to use. Well, the first 2 probably rule out most Macs and 486 machines. NeXT cubes and the like are out under #3. A student wants to be able to run all that //e software at school, and yet still have the desktop environment to work in. This is why the GS is popular (or was), but parents really could never afford it. The LC w/ //e board is a JOKE! no student <12grade will figgure that out! Select and click on an icon and it runs. THAT they understand. Remember - not everyone goes to college, or will ever bother to learn to use a computer unless it is very forgiving and very friendly. Im sure all of you were exceptions,as was Sculley, who doesn't seem to understand that if he upgrades the hardware that will be great for You and me today, but you've just BLOWN AWAY tommorows customers. Moral of the story: You can cut out the rungs of the ladder underneath someone. While they may get to the top, no-one will be able to follow. As an educator, I hate to see tommorows youth get alienated again as machines become too complex. It was that way once, but nothing got done. So they made the machines easier. Everybody jumped on and a new wave of Ideas went up the ladder. Now maybe its time to take on some new students. If you don't know what I'm talking about yet --- Who will design, build etc these machines tommorow? When we're gone? Who will they build them for? Themselves? Oh well, down off my Soapbox now... > Curious, > - Crash Daniel E. Gross -- _________ ________________ / \ / \ // Long Live the \ / \ / \ Daniel E. Gross! [||Apple ][! I cant| ( \ ^ / ) All opinions expressed [|| afford a NeXT! |