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Robert Pogson reports:
Recent news about the popularity of Chromebooks with schools may seem puzzling.
Schools in Hillsborough, New Jersey decided to make an experiment out of its own program. Beginning in 2012, 200 students were given iPads and 200 students were given Chromebooks. After receiving feedback from both students and teachers, the schools sold off their iPads and bought 4,600 Chromebooks.
After all, a keyboard is a great input device and writing is one of the three "Rs" but why not just [buy] a notebook PC? The answer is that the high cost of maintaining the legacy PC is too great. Keeping content on the server makes the job easier and with Chromebooks, schools don't even need to own the server.
...then there's the malware, the slowing down, the re-re-rebooting with that other OS.
That makes the ChromeBook a winner in education and probably a lot of organizations large and small, even consumers. Of course, they could get those benefits with GNU/Linux but it would take more technical knowledge. Again Chromebooks win.
See iPad vs. Chromebook For Students
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Lagg on Wednesday August 13 2014, @12:32PM
What kills me is that we're starting this whole loop all over again. People thinking mainframes are godly without realizing the fact that in being a thin client you're offloading control to whoever has the server. This shit is why we deprecated them in the first place. But now some asshats are propagating a new name for it: "The Cloud (TM)".
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday August 13 2014, @01:01PM
Perhaps we should have a closer look at the proponents of cloud stuff.
"Hey I have a new cloud server..! it's so small it fits in inside this magic stick. I think it's called USB memory.." ;)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Wednesday August 13 2014, @01:40PM
Lameframe-type thin client setups (can you tell I've used these?) are far easier to administer, but are quite crippled. Full-blown thick client computers are hard to administer. Using a thick client that has reduced capabilities (which both the ChromeBook and the iPad are, natively) is a nice compromise. The Chromebook would tend to be better for any task requiring creation of content, and the form factor is also better for long term use.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @03:33PM
Very much. I have a cluster of diskless systems that get their whole system and configuration as LTSP 'thick' clients. I maintain one system image. Anytime I can afford to expand the cluster, I only have to plug it in: DHCP tells it everything it needs to know. Same thing with MythTV clients at home. You only need to make sure you have the bandwidth to support it.
Which, I think is one of the big things contributing to the first death of the mainframe - people started wanting pretty graphical displays, and the network just wouldn't handle it. It'll be interesting to see what happens when all of those chromebooks start trying to watch the podcast of the lecture they're sitting in.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday August 14 2014, @01:07AM
Thin client setups are great. When they are used for a specified purpose and all participant has a choice in the matter. Like switching employer or doing private stuff on another computer because you know the implications. Kids don't get these implications.
The major issue here is that Chromebooks is in essence tied to a nationwide mainframe. That's a whole another ballgame than an in-house mainframe where you actually may meet and dine with the systems administrator.
Before students are let on to these data-collection-laptoys. They should be given a sufficient introduction into that they can't trust others with their private data ever. And that these devices store everything in a way that's available to most people around them and future employers and fucked up governments. And that too many people just can't handle actions or thoughts of others they don't personally approve of. Should they want to be private, they must be told to only use secure devices that are in their total control.
(Score: 2) by mojo chan on Wednesday August 13 2014, @05:29PM
Controlling your own machine was fine when most computer users had some expertise. When desktops became common IT staff quickly realized that users were incapable of looking after themselves, so they started taking back control by locking things down and re-imaging machines every night. They also centralized things like file storage and backup, because users never backup.
For most users the centralized "cloud" model is a benefit, as long as the person in control can be trusted. In a corporation or school that isn't too much of an issue. Where it matters is with things like Facebook where the people in control really can't be trusted and don't have the user's best interests in mind.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday August 13 2014, @06:50PM
What kills me is that we're starting this whole loop all over again. People thinking mainframes are godly without realizing the fact that in being a thin client you're offloading control to whoever has the server. This shit is why we deprecated them in the first place.
I think you are begging the question about whether mainframes are actually worse.
Did we get rid of them because they were worse in general. Or, did we get rid of them because local computing resources became much less expensive than networked computing resources.
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Wednesday August 13 2014, @09:43PM
Both really. Thin clients became pointless and the cost of mainframes was no longer worth it as well as the fact that thick clients are simply easier to deal with for specialized tasks, they're technically and economically superior. They still are too since even chromebooks have been proven to not need "The Cloud" and run just fine given a decent linux distro or even Windows. This Cloud nonsense is mainframes without the technical or economical advantage. It's stupid marketing for stupid people, and yet it's being bought into.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿