Well, I guess my prediction they'd be discounting the Surface within a year didn't turn out to be off the mark...
Education can save a hundred or so with the Surface RT on the purchase, and then have all that money to spend on the support costs -- if they haven't learned their lessons from the last time they SAVED money with Microsoft.
The selling point for education getting Office and Microsoft Windows in the past decade was this was what people would be using when they got in the job market.
Why would you buy these for a school? Serious question. Is there any any class room appropriate software? Are text books available on them? I haven't heard of any big software releases for the things. So $200 for a calendar/datebook, that can browse the web? Even at that price I can't see why schools would do a large order of them.
For all we know, the IT administrator may very well just lock down those devices, making them for little better than running Office and surfing the web.
At least, that's what my school did. Yeah, they bought real tablet laptops (those swivel screens with styluses) and turned them into glorified chromebooks.
So, for $249 you will still get a device for which there is no software, and nobody is really working on any. They could as well buy a PlayBook, I am sure BB would agree to $99.
Microsoft needs to ask themselves a question: How did that work out for HP with the Touchpad?
Exactly. I would take one if it was given to me. I would use it to surf the web, email, Netflix, and to use Word.
...
They aren't that bad (if you get one for free), but they certainly aren't worth paying for. Your plan to use a Surface RT for Word might have a glitch however, in that the thing is so slow one can type faster than the processor can put words on the screen, which gives you a really weird "out of time" feeling when trying to use it. It might be okay for kids to type on, but anyone who can touch type will be able to easily outpace the processor.
To be fair, the iPad mini has this same problem to a lesser degree. If you use Pages a lot and type fast, you can fairly easily move your fingers faster than the keyboard is able to register them. For instance, it's easy to type short words like "the" so fast, that all that registers on the screen is "e". Depending on memory conditions you can sometimes get off two or three words before the system realises you are typing.
It also has a sort of quasi-memoryleak in that if you type a large block of text with Pages on iOS, the cursor and the typing will get slower and slower as the system memory fills up, eventually forcing you to back out and let the app save your work before continuing.
This is all down to the very, very, very limited system memory on the iPad mini which should hopefully be fixed on the next version.
This is the first time that hardware is included in a discount program. Charity and Donation programs have always existed for phenomenal pricing for non-profits. Cynical me says they're unloading in whatever channel they can. Beware 1st gen buyers. I do believe this will improve and there is a use case for Windows in education obviously but I know that early Surface adopters will be burned.
Standard MS playbook. Can't really compete in the free market, so dump product on the market below cost, or give them away for free. Lose money on the device for 5 years or more (Xbox anyone?) until you can control a segment, then ramp back up the monopoly machine.
Unlike Windows (and the Xbox to some extent), methinks the "Surface" will end up more like the Zune.
Don't educational institutions have standards that have to be met for tech equipment used by minors? Using such devices would surely be detrimental to childrens education. :no:
To answer your question...not always. Sometimes tech decisions are made by people who don't know the you know what from a hole in the ground about technology. They see its from Microsoft and runs Windows and will buy a bunch of them. And, its cheaper! You'd be surprised the decisions that are made without asking either the Tech Directory and/or the IT department. I work in a school and see this all the time. Luckily, I've very vocal about what technology goes in to the district so as far as this goes, I try to make sure were an iPad school only. It gets very hard to manage multiple platforms at once.
That being said, I would hope that most would pass on this. As we all know, there's nothing compatible between the iPad and Surface. I would hope IT and school administration would recognize this. Using a tablet is more than just being able to log on to your network account and run MS Word. If you're buying tablets for that, then you bought them for the wrong reasons.
To answer your question...not always. Sometimes tech decisions are made by people who don't know the you know what from a hole in the ground about technology. They see its from Microsoft and runs Windows and will buy a bunch of them. And, its cheaper! You'd be surprised the decisions that are made without asking either the Tech Directory and/or the IT department. I work in a school and see this all the time. Luckily, I've very vocal about what technology goes in to the district so as far as this goes, I try to make sure were an iPad school only. It gets very hard to manage multiple platforms at once.
That being said, I would hope that most would pass on this. As we all know, there's nothing compatible between the iPad and Surface. I would hope IT and school administration would recognize this. Using a tablet is more than just being able to log on to your network account and run MS Word. If you're buying tablets for that, then you bought them for the wrong reasons.
Here's hoping there are a lot of folks out there in education like you. When I think of the potential of an iPad in education compared to what was available in my days teaching it almost makes me want to go back to teaching. A single penny wasted in education on Windows based crap is a crime.
This is the first time that hardware is included in a discount program. Charity and Donation programs have always existed for phenomenal pricing for non-profits. Cynical me says they're unloading in whatever channel they can. Beware 1st gen buyers. I do believe this will improve and there is a use case for Windows in education obviously but I know that early Surface adopters will be burned.
Do you really believe that the surface will ever get to gen 2?
That's what school kids need, a sorry cheaply made rotting in the warehouse tablet. Let the young suffer with them. They should have given them away as a total loss they are.
That's what school kids need, a sorry cheaply made rotting in the warehouse tablet. Let the young suffer with them. They should have given them away as a total loss they are.
Agreed but it's hard to know who should suffer, certainly not children. It would be disingenuous to say the least if Microsoft claim they are doing this to help education. It is either an attempt to buy their way in to the mind set of young, impressionable minds (which certainly should not be tolerated) or worse they are dumping crap and will use it as a tax write off. I suspect a mix of both.
That's what school kids need, a sorry cheaply made rotting in the warehouse tablet. Let the young suffer with them. They should have given them away as a total loss they are.
As terrible as the surface is, I don't think it's fair to call it cheaply made. From all accounts the hardware is actually nice. It is the software that lets it down, which is ironic seeing as Microsoft is a software company.
Here's hoping there are a lot of folks out there in education like you. When I think of the potential of an iPad in education compared to what was available in my days teaching it almost makes me want to go back to teaching. A single penny wasted in education on Windows based crap is a crime.
I think what would be the nail in the coffin for Microsoft is if Apple offers iWork for the cloud free, if not free for everyone, free for educational institutions. If Apple can offer a free solution that works in the cloud, that also opens and writes to MS Office file formats Apple has a killer suite. iWork does everything 99% of what students and teachers need. My school was continuously waiting on an iOS version of MS Office. I think I'm just going to suggest they start using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I wish this iWork for the cloud thing came out sooner.
I really push for Apple products. I run the entire Apple system in my school, from determining if Apple products will suit the needs, to speccing them out, making sure they get ordered, unboxing them, inventorying them, setting them up, using Deploy Studio to get them imaged, and testing to make sure they're all setup properly. I also administer the Mac server with OS X Server 2.2 running on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. We currently have 4 Mac labs, 2 MacBook labs in the Distance Learning rooms (1 in HS, 1 in ES), 1 regular iMac computer lab, and were getting a new Mac lab in the STEM lab (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) when that is complete this summer...hopefully with brand new 27" iMacs, a 3D printer, a professional photo printer, and some professional scanners.
We also have 2 iPad carts, one for the HS and one for the ES, along with many for teachers in various departments.
Comments
Microsoft undercuts Apple in education, selling pricing Surface RT at $199
Well, I guess my prediction they'd be discounting the Surface within a year didn't turn out to be off the mark...
Education can save a hundred or so with the Surface RT on the purchase, and then have all that money to spend on the support costs -- if they haven't learned their lessons from the last time they SAVED money with Microsoft.
The selling point for education getting Office and Microsoft Windows in the past decade was this was what people would be using when they got in the job market.
That dynamic has changed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigdaddyp
Why would you buy these for a school? Serious question. Is there any any class room appropriate software? Are text books available on them? I haven't heard of any big software releases for the things. So $200 for a calendar/datebook, that can browse the web? Even at that price I can't see why schools would do a large order of them.
For all we know, the IT administrator may very well just lock down those devices, making them for little better than running Office and surfing the web.
At least, that's what my school did. Yeah, they bought real tablet laptops (those swivel screens with styluses) and turned them into glorified chromebooks.
Microsoft needs to ask themselves a question: How did that work out for HP with the Touchpad?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
Exactly. I would take one if it was given to me. I would use it to surf the web, email, Netflix, and to use Word.
...
They aren't that bad (if you get one for free), but they certainly aren't worth paying for. Your plan to use a Surface RT for Word might have a glitch however, in that the thing is so slow one can type faster than the processor can put words on the screen, which gives you a really weird "out of time" feeling when trying to use it. It might be okay for kids to type on, but anyone who can touch type will be able to easily outpace the processor.
To be fair, the iPad mini has this same problem to a lesser degree. If you use Pages a lot and type fast, you can fairly easily move your fingers faster than the keyboard is able to register them. For instance, it's easy to type short words like "the" so fast, that all that registers on the screen is "e". Depending on memory conditions you can sometimes get off two or three words before the system realises you are typing.
It also has a sort of quasi-memoryleak in that if you type a large block of text with Pages on iOS, the cursor and the typing will get slower and slower as the system memory fills up, eventually forcing you to back out and let the app save your work before continuing.
This is all down to the very, very, very limited system memory on the iPad mini which should hopefully be fixed on the next version.
This is the first time that hardware is included in a discount program. Charity and Donation programs have always existed for phenomenal pricing for non-profits. Cynical me says they're unloading in whatever channel they can. Beware 1st gen buyers. I do believe this will improve and there is a use case for Windows in education obviously but I know that early Surface adopters will be burned.
Unlike Windows (and the Xbox to some extent), methinks the "Surface" will end up more like the Zune.
To answer your question...not always. Sometimes tech decisions are made by people who don't know the you know what from a hole in the ground about technology. They see its from Microsoft and runs Windows and will buy a bunch of them. And, its cheaper! You'd be surprised the decisions that are made without asking either the Tech Directory and/or the IT department. I work in a school and see this all the time. Luckily, I've very vocal about what technology goes in to the district so as far as this goes, I try to make sure were an iPad school only. It gets very hard to manage multiple platforms at once.
That being said, I would hope that most would pass on this. As we all know, there's nothing compatible between the iPad and Surface. I would hope IT and school administration would recognize this. Using a tablet is more than just being able to log on to your network account and run MS Word. If you're buying tablets for that, then you bought them for the wrong reasons.
Here's hoping there are a lot of folks out there in education like you. When I think of the potential of an iPad in education compared to what was available in my days teaching it almost makes me want to go back to teaching. A single penny wasted in education on Windows based crap is a crime.
Do you really believe that the surface will ever get to gen 2?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
I thought it was hilarious that they used a bunch of dancing and juggling to try telling us it's a serious product.
...or how their 'office' tablets all have only one app prominently displayed on the screen... Netflix.
Agreed but it's hard to know who should suffer, certainly not children. It would be disingenuous to say the least if Microsoft claim they are doing this to help education. It is either an attempt to buy their way in to the mind set of young, impressionable minds (which certainly should not be tolerated) or worse they are dumping crap and will use it as a tax write off. I suspect a mix of both.
As terrible as the surface is, I don't think it's fair to call it cheaply made. From all accounts the hardware is actually nice. It is the software that lets it down, which is ironic seeing as Microsoft is a software company.
I think what would be the nail in the coffin for Microsoft is if Apple offers iWork for the cloud free, if not free for everyone, free for educational institutions. If Apple can offer a free solution that works in the cloud, that also opens and writes to MS Office file formats Apple has a killer suite. iWork does everything 99% of what students and teachers need. My school was continuously waiting on an iOS version of MS Office. I think I'm just going to suggest they start using Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I wish this iWork for the cloud thing came out sooner.
I really push for Apple products. I run the entire Apple system in my school, from determining if Apple products will suit the needs, to speccing them out, making sure they get ordered, unboxing them, inventorying them, setting them up, using Deploy Studio to get them imaged, and testing to make sure they're all setup properly. I also administer the Mac server with OS X Server 2.2 running on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. We currently have 4 Mac labs, 2 MacBook labs in the Distance Learning rooms (1 in HS, 1 in ES), 1 regular iMac computer lab, and were getting a new Mac lab in the STEM lab (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) when that is complete this summer...hopefully with brand new 27" iMacs, a 3D printer, a professional photo printer, and some professional scanners.
We also have 2 iPad carts, one for the HS and one for the ES, along with many for teachers in various departments.