43 posts tagged “information technology”
At the same time, perspective must be taken. While there are absolutely systems that require it (I would want at least five nines for an ICU), other things are simply annoyances.
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From the design to the features, what should the perfect kid-friendly laptop include? What would you leave out?
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This is a hard one. "Kid-friendly" could mean friendly to a toddler, or to a pre-teen. It's going to be something they will play on, communicate with the world on, and do school work. I suppose some common features to both would be:
- Intel-based, so it can run either Windows, UNIX, or a UNIX-based operating system.
- I would rather it be UNIX (specifically OS X), as it is generally less prone to malware, viruses, etc. Right now, however, compatibility with Windows is probably needed for a lot of things (from school work to games that come with Chick-Fil-A). An acceptable compromise, for me, would be dual-booting or virtualization. It should be a mostly-mainstream operating system, rather than something limited (i.e. LINUX rather than Plan 9). The fact is, while they will be using the computer to learn "reading and writing," they will become familiar with the practical application of a tool they will use when they get out into the real world.
- A fair degree of toughness. I would anticipate this beast to be dropped once or twice, or have something spilled on it, etc.
- Either a very low cost, or enough capacity to be viable for at least four years.
- To that end, components such as batteries, hard drives, and RAM that can be upgraded painlessly. Other components (such as screens) should be able to be replaced (for repairs) with relative ease and minimal unavailability.
- Plenty of USB ports (at least three)
- In an ideal world, all of these devices---regardless of manufacture--would have a common AC adapter. Odds are, someone is going to leave it at home.
- A good keyboard. The one on the ThinkPad I was just issued at work is aweful.
- Some degree of parental controls. While I would not want to be totally draconian*, I would want the ability to exercise controls as required. This can include ensuring the child is not playing when there is homework to be done, to keeping the kid safe online.
- Relative to the "last four years" notion, I could see multiple sizes, at least for things like keyboards. I bought my daughter a kid-specific keyboard. The spacing of the keys is smaller--I can't touch-type on it easily, but it is perfect for her.
- Make it look fun (cool colors!) but not branded (i.e. I would not buy a Disney Princess or Transformers laptop). I want this to last four years, so I don't want someone to object because they've fallen in love with a new character. Stickers can bridge the gap between a pink laptop and a pink Hello Kitty laptop.
- I want to pick it, and ideally determine some of the core software (operating system most notably). If it is going to be on my network at some point, I don't want the school district putting the network I communicate with the office at risk.
- There would need to be some way to hard-set some settings. For instance, I would want the ability to set some sort of volume limitation on the headphone jack.
- The original iBook had a handle. This seems like a good idea.
- Perhaps I'm a bit of a retro-grouch, but I think it would need an optical drive.
- While I don't see it being a full-on tablet, the ability to flip the screen around (like the OLPC) strikes me as a good idea. Put a couple of buttons on the front, and it can be an eBook reader (think textbooks).
- Stupid little thing: my prior laptop for work had a slot on the bottom where I could slip a business card. This pleased me, as I could just flip over the laptop to see which one was mine. I would like to see this.
- Thoughtful arrangement of ports. I would rather the laptop not be prescriptive as to how I arrange my desk.
- Minimal use of dongles and pigtails (little cables that convert one port type to another (think the Mini-DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter I had to get for my MacBook). Most of the time, it should be good-to-go with only the laptop and the AC adapter in the bag. In other words, minimize the amount of things that can be lost.
Truth be told, most of this would be on my personal wish-list (or at least appreciated). Truth be told, I'd rather get a good laptop than a less-good-but-kid-optimized one. I'm a bit of a Mac zealot right now, and I would rather get that. In fact, of the things on my list that are truly important, a MacBook would fit quite nicely (fitting about half of what I list, and about 80% of what I would regard as key requirements).
*My personal approach would be to block sites on an very limited and selective basis, and with good reason. I also would not trust some of the services that create a blocking list, but don't share the blocking list.
I was issued a new laptop at work today. It is a Lenovo ThinkPad, which has immediately been nicknamed the BlinkPad. Like the handlebar tape earlier this week, it will clearly need some getting used to.
The keyboard is different than the old WorkTop, but that's typical of laptops in general. You get used to one layout, and it's hard when there is something new. It sounds different...louder. As I typed this, coworkers asked if I was angry.
The ports are in an odd place. The cables aren't quite long enough. It fits on my desk funny.
Don't get me wrong. The old WorkTop needed something--at the very least, a fresh OS load. My theory is that for truly personal systems, such as laptops (especially those running Windows), a fresh load every year or two is a must. So much junk gets added and removed, things get shut down improperly, etc, that a clean start is required.
The catch is that as of a few months ago, I would wind up getting Windows Vista.
The BlinkPad has Vista.
It is every bit as bad as they say. Every time I do something, such as install something, create a folder, or join a network, it asks me if I'm sure. If it was a quick dialog on critical things (like on OS X), it'd be OK. However, it is quite frequent (creating a folder?!?), and invasive. Instead of a quick dialog, the whole screen flashes like it is changing resolution, then, it greys out everything except a dialog. I click "OK" (yes, I want to create this folder), and the process reverses. Annoying.
The look is too cute, and you can't turn it off. OS X is cute, but subtly so. This is like "see, we can be fun too."
In any case, I'm stuck with this beast for a few years or I find a new job. So, let's welcome the BlinkPad.
The easiest description of my job to another IT person is that I'm a "data center manager." It doesn't quite capture some of the nuances of exactly what I do, but it's good enough. It's perhaps the most physically-oriented job in IT. We are literally figuring out where computers sit, and making sure they have what they need to run. It often involves side things, like getting them moved in and out of the data center, arranging for people to get in to service them, and storing excess parts.
I got sent a link to a great article that gives a decent look at data centers, how they operate, and the challenges presented by the twenty-first century "cloud" model of computing.
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Here are a few choice quotes, but I encourage reading the whole article.
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VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet application for a computer. It was originally on the Apple II, but was eventually ported to many of the common computers available at the time (Commodore PET, TRS-80, Atari 800, and IBM PC to name a few).
Prior to VisiCalc, personal computers were mostly used by hobbyists. People would build them for fun, and see what neat things they could do with them. They might write a program to have it play music, or a game.
By and large, however, these folks were the first to hear one of the most common questions in computing. It was heard when people first started buying these machinese, connecting them to the internet, or typing 140-character statements: "Why would you want to do that?"
VisiCalc was one of the first answers to this question. It was something that made the computer useful for something, and not as and end to itself. Businesses would buy personal computers in order to run VisiCalc.
In other words, VisiCalc was the First Killer App.
Dan Brickman, one of its creators, has posted a detailed history on his web site. Even cooler, you can download a copy of the IBM version to try it for yourself. Windows users should be able to run it out of the box; others might need to do some virtualization (as well as a DOS operating system).
I see this happen all the time. The sad fact is, once you get above a certain size, it is the easiest way--not just due to transmission rates, but also the amount of massaging necessary to get the data into the database, as well as the impact of if something fails (i.e. if you have to start over again).
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This seems to be "old thing" day. I have two still-in-shrink-wrap copies of NT 4.0 on my desk. They have been here at least five, and probably seven or eight years. I have no recollection why I have them. I do remember who was the primary lead on the project.
NT 4.0 is significant to me personally. Aside from being one of the best versions of the Windows operating system, it was the one I worked with the most. I got certified in it. Ultimately, it is what got me with my current company.
The text in the yellow circle is a nice little time capsule. For those keeping score, Year 2000 (Y2K) was a big deal ten years ago (maybe this was on my desk longer than I thought). Ultimately, NT 4.0 got up to Service Pack 6.
There are UNIX-based operating systems--such as LINUX or some variation of BSD--and UNIX operating systems. These are OSes that adhere to a specific standard, and ensure interoperability. There are but four (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and OS X). This article is a simple explanation of this, as well as the implications it has for information technology.
