My post on the Guardian comment Blog about ICANN’s decision not to allow a .XXX domain for porn.
Daily Archives: May 12, 2006
An Apple a day keeps IT support away
The Isle of Man’s schools run on Apple, not Wintel, kit. Ian Yorston points to an intriguing article in today’s Times Educational Supplement about the Education Authority’s experience with their ICT infrastructure.
Graham Kinrade, school improvement adviser at the Isle of Man Department of Education, is responsible for technical issues across the island.
“To be honest our technical issues are limited. The hardware is very reliable and general failure rates are very low. The hardware failures I see are down to wear and tear. My personal view is that it’s down to good build quality and the tight integration of hardware and software. Each computer is robust and well designed for its purpose. We have a very high percentage of machines that have been in the field for 2 or 3 years and never had to be repaired by an engineer! This says it all. We never have compatibility issues with hardware and software.”
In total Graham is responsible for 3,900 client computers (desktop and laptop). As well as 115 servers, 40 networks, 300 wireless access points (Apple Base Stations) and numerous other pieces of equipment. This is all done with just two technicians.
Hmmm… I wonder how many IT Support people you’d need to keep an equivalent Windows infrastructure going?
Quote of the day
Michael Fabricant is back! These days he asks only sensible questions, which is disappointing, but yesterday he was wearing a tie in soft pastel stripes and his summer hair, bright yellow, lustrous and so spotless you could eat your dinner off it. I like to think he leaves it on a stand, and a team of Burmese cats licks it clean every night.
Simon Hoggart, writing in today’s Guardian.
Plant life
Photographed at the OU today. I’ve no idea what it is, but it looked delicious in the shade.
Every picture tells a story
This is from the New York Times web site. It’s the illustration for an article explaining how dire the French (state-funded) university system is. The focus of the piece is the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris, which apparently has very little student accommodation, and what there is did not meet with the approval of the NYT reporter. What intrigued me, however, was the way the picture was used. You can see that the verticals haven’t been corrected, so the buildings lean at an angle that would make even the inhabitants of Pisa feel seasick.
This is a cheap tabloid trick. Bet it doesn’t stop the Times being as pompous as it usually is about journalistic standards, though.