[MACEP] crossing the platform divide

[Richardson, Jim]

Quentin,

Both post were right on.

Thanks,

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: macep-bounces at macep.net [mailto:macep-bounces at macep.net] On Behalf
Of Quentin Hartman
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 3:31 PM
To: A discussion list for educators interested in integrating technology
into teaching.
Subject: Re: [MACEP] crossing the platform divide


On Thu, 2005-03-17 at 12:17 -0800, Mike Ely wrote:
<snip>
> Suffice to say that while I think some standardization is appropriate,

> taking it too far results in diminishing returns.

I started a point-by-point response to your comments, but I kept coming
back to the same core point of "It Depends...". I probably should have
prepended my comments with something like this, but alas, it is too late
for that: Anything taken too far is bad, and it's up to the individual
administrator to figure out how far they need to go given their existing
environment and needs. It has been my experience that in education there
has historically been far too little standardization leading to an
overly diverse and fragile IT environment. There are "special cases",
but I'd wager that most of them don't justify breaking a standard,
especially one that is well crafted and not overly zealous. In my
experiences in education the "exceptions" aren't exceptions at all, the
entire system is just one big ugly mass of exceptions. To get back
somewhat to the original posters' query, if they currently have a
homogeneous environment that is meeting their needs, I would suggest
caution and much thought before allowing that to break down. The costs
of a heterogeneous desktop environment are higher than a homogeneous
one, I think that is a simple fact that they need to be aware of. How
much higher, and whether that increase is justifiable will vary widely
from one situation to another. In my situation, my current environment
is far _too_ diverse, and that diversity is directly increasing my
support and deployment costs.
  
-- 
-Best Regards-

-Quentin Hartman-
Technology Coordinator
South Lane School District 45j3
Cottage Grove, Oregon
(541)767-3778
http://www.slane.k12.or.us

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