marc wagner and higher ed

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Evaluating thin clients from a position of strength

All too often our schools (and even our colleges and universities) turn to thin-clients as a 'last resort' to address severe budgetary constraints without regard for other alternatives which can also reduce costs without sacrificing needed computing resources.  Many view thin-clients as a one-stop solution which fixes easy-to-identify problems within an existing infrastructure.  Often...

Tags: K-12, Higher Ed, Funding, Emerging Tech, Education Technology, Classroom Tech

Blog posts 2007-07-27

Don't be fooled, Linux is not free

I just finished reading Chris Dawson's most recent piece Linux definitely has a place in education and I couldn't agree more, until he said ..."If the choice is arbitrary, then would you rather pay hundreds of dollars or many thousands or millions at the enterprise level or would you rather...

Tags: Open Source, K-12, Higher Ed, Education Technology

Blog posts 2007-07-08

You brought them along, kicking and screaming ... now what?

If you've been supporting faculty in a university IT setting for any time at all, you've found it necessary to drag some of them, kicking and screaming, into the information age while others have been on the leading edge (some would say 'bleeding edge') from the start, always challenging you and...

Tags: Education Technology, Emerging Tech, Funding, Hardware, Higher Ed, Information Systems

Blog posts 2007-06-18

Is your university IT department leading or following?

While K-12 decision makers are often not the ones who have to implement those decisions, many in K-12 settings still have the advantage of one or two experienced IT people who somehow figure out how to do more with less.  The importance of thinking like a CIO not a consumer should be clear...

Tags: Education Technology, Higher Ed

Blog posts 2007-05-24

Why do so many seem to hate Microsoft?

Chris Dawson's Why do I only get flamed when I support Microsoft? asks a really good question.  There are no simple answers to this question, which is truly multi-faceted but one thing is certain: a lot of the animosity directed toward Microsoft has nothing to do with Microsoft or their business practices. I think the lack...

Tags: Education Technology, Higher Ed

Blog posts 2007-05-18

When faculty say 'NO' to UNIX/Linux

Well, sooner or later, it was bound to happen. We are in the process of retiring our last two instructional UNIX/Linux labs. And guess what? Nobody seems to care! In fact, the faculty who have been using those labs for instruction have asked us to give...

Tags: Open Source, K-12, Higher Ed, Education Technology, Classroom Tech

Blog posts 2007-05-08

Leaving Education IT to clueless politicians

Well, theyre at it again! The proposed new law is called "The Curb Illegal Downloading on College Campuses Act of 2007 (H.R. 1689)" and it would provide Department of Education funding for anti-piracy software. (See Bill would free colleges to buy anti-piracy software.) Sound good? Well,...

Tags: Texts &, Materials, Research, Networks, Libraries, IT Management, Higher Ed, Funding, Education Technology, Digital Media

Blog posts 2007-04-06

Why Linux will not displace Windows

I firmly believe that, all else being equal, the differences between the Windows desktop, the Macintosh desktop, and the Linux desktop are negligible. With the proper applications, all three platforms will be capable of providing a satisfactory experience for any user. All three platforms have both free and...

Tags: Operating systems, UNIX, OPEN SOURCE, Desktops, Linux, Microsoft Windows, desktop

Blog posts 2007-03-12

There's no room for bias in academia

Whenever I sit down to review the comments posted about an article written by one of my fellow bloggers, I am struck by the level of bias that abounds among our readers. To be sure, there are zealots on almost every subject under the sun but sometimes our readers...

Tags: Classroom Tech, Education Technology, Funding, Hardware, Higher Ed, K-12, Policy

Blog posts 2007-03-07

Copyright infringement by your students is your problem

I was not the least bit surprised last week when I read RIAA cracks down on downloading at 25 colleges. After all, institutions are routinely notified whenever resources residing in their domain are associated with disruptive activity outside of that domain. For that reason, we take substantive measures...

Tags: Standards, Legal Issues, Social networking, Higher Ed, Policy, IT Management, Education Technology

Blog posts 2007-02-26

Penny-wise or pound-foolish?

While perusing "Between the Lines", I just came across "Do consumables notably ink matter to IT departments?" I was shocked that this question would even come up in an IT setting. The answer is... Of course IT departments need to pay attention to printing consumables! To ignore...

Tags: Education Technology, IT Management, Funding, Higher Ed, K-12, Classroom Tech, printer, printing

Blog posts 2007-02-07

Customer service -- university style

In his piece K-12, Higher Ed, Apples, Oranges… Chris Dawson reminds us that Education IT does not look the same from all perspectives. From the perspective of K-6, students are viewed as being the charge of the school district, who first and foremost, must be protected. While this...

Tags: Education Technology, Higher Ed

Blog posts 2007-01-20

And the battle rages goes on

I just finished reading Chris Dawsons article "Will your students be using Linux in 2007?" and, as usual, I agree with him 100% -- until he says "Businesses who have successfully made the switch to Linux often have a culture that caters to said enthusiasts and/or have dumped enough effort...

Tags: Linux, Apple, Hardware, K-12, Higher Ed, Funding, Open Source, Education Technology, Microsoft Windows

Blog posts 2006-12-15

Vacation time in education IT

In an educational IT setting, where tens of thousands of students may be dependent upon access to thousands of identically configured workstations anytime, day or night, the challenge to keep those workstations current and up to date can be daunting. Unlike Summer break, when student populations are down dramatically...

Tags: Education Technology, Policy, Higher Ed

Blog posts 2006-12-06

Adopting Vista won't be THAT simple

I just read with interest Universities consider Vista and I just had to laugh when I read that one IT person expected to start deployment of Vista as early as mid-2007. In truth, introducing Vista into a diverse academic environment where Windows XP Pro is firmly entrenched is no...

Tags: Education Technology, Higher Ed, Vista, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows Vista

Blog posts 2006-11-15

Shifting the costs of Education IT

As the cost of laptop and notebook computers has continued to drop (to within a $200 to $300 of the cost of a similarly capable desktop system), a growing number of colleges and universities have begun to require entering freshmen to bring a laptop/notebook computer to school with them. ...

Tags: Education Technology, Policy, Funding, Higher Ed, computer, Education IT

Blog posts 2006-11-10

Additional Resources

21 months later, Vista is still more secure than XP

Last October, roughly one year after the release to manufacturing of Windows Vista, I did a comparison of how well Windows Vista was living up to its promise of being more secure than its predecessor, Windows XP. My data source was the Microsoft Security Bulletin Search page, where I tallied...

Tags: Security, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott

Blog posts 2008-07-25

Talent development

Earlier this week I attended Fortune magazine's Brainstorm Tech conference which "aims to sharpen the thinking of the very well heeled attendees about the escalating impact of tech-driven change for all business and global society". There was a terrific menu of topics on offer:...

Tags: Talent, Collaboration, CEO, HCL, Workforce Management, Human Resources, Oliver Marks

Blog posts 2008-07-25

News to know: 'Spam king' dead; Microsoft's cloud; Dell;

Notable headlines: Ryan Naraine: Escapee 'Spam King' dead in apparent murder-suicide CBS Denver Video: 'Spam King' Inmate Dies Along With Wife, Daughter Mary Jo Foley: Ozzie foreshadows 'Zurich,' Microsoft's elastic cloud Microsoft to get more 'Apple-like' in PC,...

Tags: Larry Dignan

Blog posts 2008-07-25

Managing growth - a followup to yesterday's guest blog

Managing growth - a followup to yesterday's guest blogBusiness vs making a living.I'm 100% behind the guy who just wants to do what he does, sells it for enough to make a living for his family and employees, and treats his customers as if they were more important than some...

Tags: Financial accounting, Investment, guest blog

Discussion threads 2008-07-24