[ale] Cobb Laptop Deal

[Niel Bornstein]

I'd say it was a misguided attempt to get Cobb County schools back
into the "advanced" category after recent the evolution/creation
science stink.  Luckily it backfired before they could waste millions
on another doomed laptop scheme. As a Cobb resident, I'm glad the
project has been cancelled.

I've got nothing against Apple -- I've currently got an iBook and I've
used Macs since the Mac Plus came out -- but laptops in schools are
unsustainable in the long term.  They're almost always funded by a
huge initial grant, and when that runs out, the laptops just go away
because the schools can't afford to replace them when they inevitably
break or are stolen.

I work for Novell (although I am not speaking for the company here),
and I was involved in a project in Indiana to put commodity-priced
desktop computers running Linux in front of every student in the
state.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?P41021E9B

This is a much more sustainable model in the long run, and I think
other state and local education departments would be wise to consider
adopting a similar plan.

Niel

On 8/15/05, Jim Popovitch <jimpop at yahoo.com> wrote:
> OK, I've given a silent ear to all the recent noise on the Cobb laptop
> proceedings, mostly assuming it was normal political wrangling.  Anyone
> with an interest in Cobb have any good insight to this?
> 
> http://wsbradio.com/news/081505cobblaptops3a.html
> 
> thanks,
> 
> -Jim P.
> 
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