4 ms·

All this could be done by a local server at the school without providing all the data and information to Google. If Google was altruistic, they would provide th

by aw3c2 13y ago

All this could be done by a local server at the school without providing all the data and information to Google. If Google was altruistic, they would provide the software and technical guidance to do so.

weavie 13y ago
That would probably cost them a lot more than just setting aside a few of their servers (of which they have millions) to be used by schools. What they are doing here is utilizing resources that they already have, so low cost to them. These kids will then grow up using Google apps and many will likely continue to do so outside of school.
noisy_boy 13y ago
Unfortunately the trend across the world in education is to cut costs (typically at grave cost to students, no pun intended). Privacy concerns aside, this has the following advantages for the school (I write school from the point of view of smaller educational institutions where this is likely to make a bigger impact and has better chances of adoption): - Cost (sometimes this trumps everything) - Ease of use for teachers (automatic generation of assignment etc. means lesser work for teachers) - Availability anywhere; typically teachers take work home and this means they can have it available outside the school servers - No need to worry about backups etc. Also easier lookup/search (which is Google's strength) e.g. for older assignments instead of trawling through old folders For Google: like every company they want to get their users when they are young since that means a lifetime of usage once they get used/comfortable/dependent to/with/on it. Nothing is better than capturing minds when they are in school when young people are forming their habits which will last for a lifetime. This was also seen in banking industry when some banks introduced kids's saving account etc (not saying learning to save when you are young is a bad thing).
jimhefferon 13y ago
Where I am (typical US place) no one at any school, elementary, middle, or high school (including the IT people), has the technical sophistication to responsibly administer local servers, or is remotely interested in gaining it.
- ronaldx 13y ago
  Generally in the UK, IT teachers are hired primarily for the ability to act as a sysadmin and tech support (for the whole school) - and are frequently called away to fix the principal's printer, as a facetious example. The content of high school computer science courses is significantly influenced by this: the preference is for admin-heavy or Microsoft-heavy courses, which can be easily covered by non-specialist staff, and traditionally feature zero programming skills. This is changing, but in my opinion teaching in computer science field is still impeded by teachers needing to be sysadmins first.
nemothekid 13y ago
If you think thats possible, you should be altruistic and apply for a job at your local school district to work at below market rates for people who don't understand your job and will always see you as a cost center and/or tech support. Everything dropbox does can be done by a local server, and is already easy (ownCloud, BitTorrent Sync), but there is a reason why Dropbox is still doing so well. It would be thoughtful to figure out why consumer facing companies who manage everything are doing so well, before assuming overloading an already underpaid, understaffed, and sometimes underqualified IT staff with more software, hardware and ops is "altruistic"
- aw3c2 13y ago
  I am not a multi-billion company. If I had free time and such resources, I would love doing something like that.

by aw3c2 13y ago

weavie 13y ago

That would probably cost them a lot more than just setting aside a few of their servers (of which they have millions) to be used by schools. What they are doing here is utilizing resources that they already have, so low cost to them. These kids will then grow up using Google apps and many will likely continue to do so outside of school.

noisy_boy 13y ago

Unfortunately the trend across the world in education is to cut costs (typically at grave cost to students, no pun intended). Privacy concerns aside, this has the following advantages for the school (I write school from the point of view of smaller educational institutions where this is likely to make a bigger impact and has better chances of adoption): - Cost (sometimes this trumps everything) - Ease of use for teachers (automatic generation of assignment etc. means lesser work for teachers) - Availability anywhere; typically teachers take work home and this means they can have it available outside the school servers - No need to worry about backups etc. Also easier lookup/search (which is Google's strength) e.g. for older assignments instead of trawling through old folders For Google: like every company they want to get their users when they are young since that means a lifetime of usage once they get used/comfortable/dependent to/with/on it. Nothing is better than capturing minds when they are in school when young people are forming their habits which will last for a lifetime. This was also seen in banking industry when some banks introduced kids's saving account etc (not saying learning to save when you are young is a bad thing).

jimhefferon 13y ago

Where I am (typical US place) no one at any school, elementary, middle, or high school (including the IT people), has the technical sophistication to responsibly administer local servers, or is remotely interested in gaining it.

ronaldx 13y ago
Generally in the UK, IT teachers are hired primarily for the ability to act as a sysadmin and tech support (for the whole school) - and are frequently called away to fix the principal's printer, as a facetious example. The content of high school computer science courses is significantly influenced by this: the preference is for admin-heavy or Microsoft-heavy courses, which can be easily covered by non-specialist staff, and traditionally feature zero programming skills. This is changing, but in my opinion teaching in computer science field is still impeded by teachers needing to be sysadmins first.

nemothekid 13y ago

If you think thats possible, you should be altruistic and apply for a job at your local school district to work at below market rates for people who don't understand your job and will always see you as a cost center and/or tech support. Everything dropbox does can be done by a local server, and is already easy (ownCloud, BitTorrent Sync), but there is a reason why Dropbox is still doing so well. It would be thoughtful to figure out why consumer facing companies who manage everything are doing so well, before assuming overloading an already underpaid, understaffed, and sometimes underqualified IT staff with more software, hardware and ops is "altruistic"

aw3c2 13y ago
I am not a multi-billion company. If I had free time and such resources, I would love doing something like that.