ZDNet Education

Christopher Dawson
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So, Dawson...not eating your open source dogfood anymore?

By | September 8, 2010, 9:52am PDT

Summary: Sure I love my Mac, but will Apple really power an Ed Tech revolution? I don’t think so.

Larry Dignan wrote about his ongoing debate with Sam Diaz yesterday over Google TV. The post highlighted what will become an increasingly important debate over content-rich interactive TV vs. traditional couch potato TV (I’m with Sam, by the way). This, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with education. Don’t worry…I’m getting to a point here.

While Larry’s post was interesting in and of itself, what was far funnier was wizard57m’s talkback, finishing the debate between Larry and Sam with Sam getting himself fired and working his way through the ZDNet bloggers looking for a way to get his job back. One excerpt in particular caught my eye:

Sam Diaz: in attempt to lift his spirits, contacts a few contemporaries at former employer ZDNet, namely Garret Rogers and Christopher Dawson…
Garret: Don’t worry bro, just “google” for a new gig! Have you updated to Froyo yet? I mean it is just so way much cooler than RIM!….
Sam: Ehhh, thanks anyway, later!
Christopher: Hey bud! Come and look at my new Apple gear!! I’ve given up the open source mantra, and Steve Jobs promised me a new propellor beanie! Look at all this way cool expensive stuff! Wow! I can browse the web on my Macbook Pro! Sure glad I leased this kit!
Sam: No, no, Chris…I need help! How can I get back in Larry Dignan’s good graces? Sheesh, you used to be somewhat helpful, now it’s all “Mac this, Mac that”. I need an inexpensive solution here!
Christopher: You Windoze/Linsux LOOOOSER!

Now hold on a minute there, @wizard57m. I’ll be the first to admit that the Mac love flowing from these fingers may have gotten a bit thick the last few days, but we all love our new toys, right? And in my case, I think I’ve really figured out how to tap some important productivity boosters on my Mac that work well for me. Professional musicians will often swear by a particular instrument manufacturer. Just because one guitarist refuses to use anything other than late 60’s Fender Stratocasters, while another will only use new Paul Reed Smiths doesn’t mean that Epiphone doesn’t make some great guitars.

Now here’s where I swing this all around to Ed Tech (even though I’m going to persist with this guitar analogy). If you want every student to learn to play an instrument, giving them all Paul Reed Smiths at $2500 a piece won’t make it happen. They could, in fact, learn just as well on an inexpensive Strat copy. Everyone will learn to read music, improve eye-hand coordination, reinforce math and language skills, and exercise creativity, regardless of what kind of guitar they hold in their hands every day. Some may go on to become professional and will purchase high-end guitars and amps. Others will take their inexpensive guitars and modify them with new pickups, scalloped fretboards, and custom paint jobs.

Next: No, really, keep reading…there’s Ed Tech ahead! »

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Topics

Larry Dignan, Debate, Open Source, Christopher Dawson

Chris Dawson is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems. In 2011, he became the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network SaaS provider.

Disclosure

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson is the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., by day and a freelance writer and educational technology consultant by night. Well, most of his colleagues at WizIQ are based in India, so really he's working with them whenever he can stay awake. He has worked for his local school district as a teacher and technology director, for the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and for Biogen, Inc. (now Biogen-IDEC, Inc.). He has also consulted with STATNet and Cytyc Corporation and retains close ties with X2 Development Corporation (now owned by Follett Software, the supplier of the student information system he administered for several years). Follett is paying him a monthly honorarium to act as a presenter for their "SIS Voices for Student Achievement" community (he produces occasional blog posts and hosts a monthly webinar on the use of student information systems to inform data-driven instruction and school-wide change. He regularly purchases and/or recommends Dell hardware. This is because Dell makes good hardware and has truly committed itself to education in innovative ways, particularly with their "Connected Classroom" initiative. It isn't because he has dealings with the company through his role at WizIQ (which he does) or because they have provided him with long-term loans of a variety of equipment for in-depth testing (which they have). Intel (reference designer for the Classmate PCs he has implemented in his local schools) has provided him with long-term loans of Classmate PCs for testing, as have Dell and Lenovo with their educational offerings. He may report on any of these companies as his experiences with them have direct bearing on educational technology; positive reports are not necessarily an endorsement and he receives no direct financial compensation from these companies or any others. Intel paid all expenses for his attendance at the 2009 Intel Classmate PC Ecosystem Summit which he attended as the sole representative of the technology press. He was invited to attend in 2010 but his wife would have killed him if he spent 3 days in Vegas geeking out and left her home alone with a new baby. Acer provided him with a 50% discount on an Aspire One netbook in early 2009 after he tested it for 30 days through their educational seed program. He liked the netbook at the time but it has since broken and sits unused in his office. Canonical sent him Ubuntu lanyards, t-shirts, and mousepads for his kids. He stole one of the lanyards and proudly hangs his keys from it and occasionally features his 8-year old wearing an oversized Ubuntu t-shirt on his Facebook profile. Gunnar Optiks sent him a pair of computer glasses to evaluate for a holiday gift guide. He is wearing them now as he types this because they never asked for them back and they rock out loud. Seriously - they work brilliantly and make it much easier to spend 20 hours a day staring at an LCD. If they ever asked for them back, he would fork over the $99 and buy a pair. Microsoft gave him 2 free copies of Office 2010 professional, a desktop clock, and a useless book on Office 2010 when he attended the launch of Office/Sharepoint 2010. He occasionally uses the SharePoint lanyard they gave him instead of the Ubuntu lanyard for his keys, but feels dirty afterwards. Adobe provided him with a pre-release version of the CS5 Master Collection for evaluation and ultimately provided a full, licensed copy for ongoing testing of educational applications of this admittedly expensive software. Like the Gunnars, if the license expires or they come out with CS6, he'd actually go out and buy it himself. Which is saying something, because he's actually pretty cheap. Any other companies wishing to send him cool things to evaluate, wear, or otherwise adorn his kids are more than welcome to; he promises to disclose it here if he keeps any of the stuff. Finally, because WizIQ is a virtual classroom and learning network provider, Chris, as VP of Marketing, frequently interacts with, seeks out deals with, and directly or indirectly competes with a whole lot of LMS, SIS, and other Education 2.0 companies. In general, he'll limit his reporting about these companies to news that does not impact his relationship with them or with WizIQ. If he reports on them, it's because what they are doing is newsworthy or worth the attention of his readers and not because he's trying to broker some deal, damage competition, or otherwise advance his position in his day job. LMS and SIS companies, along with other online learning communities, are a pretty important part of Ed Tech. If he stops reporting on them completely, there won't be a whole lot left. He'll be sure to call out any overt conflicts of interest if they are unavoidable. Finally, Follett Software Company pays him a little tiny honorarium every month to present on their SIS Voices webinars and to write the occasional blog or discussion thread for them. Since Follett recently bought X2 (maker of an awesome web-based SIS that Chris just happened to have used, served in advisory groups for, and frequently reported on), this is probably also worth disclosing.

Biography

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson grew up in Seattle, back in the days of pre-antitrust Microsoft, coffeeshops owned by something other than Starbucks, and really loud, inarticulate music. He escaped to the right coast in the early 90's and received a degree in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University. While there, he began a career in health and educational information systems, with a focus on clinical trials and related statistical programming and database modeling. This focus led him to several positions at Johns Hopkins, a couple-year stint in private industry, teaching high school math and technology, and 2 years as the technology director for his local school district. Most recently, he started his own consulting business and is now the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network provider. He lives with his wife, five kids (yes, 5), 2 dogs, and a hateful cat in a small town in north-central Massachusetts. Although he is no longer teaching, his roles with WizIQ and ZDNet allow him to continue helping students and teachers add value to education with technology rather than merely adding to the bottom line.
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RE: So, Dawson...not eating your open source dogfood anymore?
jfreedle2@... 21st Sep 2010
I would really hate to be forced to downgrade to either Open Source Operating Environments or the Apple Macintosh. Neither would be sustainable for my future computing needs.
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Welcome back!
wizard57m@... 8th Sep 2010
Hehe...yes, open source and closed source, proprietary and free, can peacefully co-exist! I've been doing it that way for a long time.
ps...glad you enjoyed my little frivolity!
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However...
wizard57m@... 8th Sep 2010
your guitar analogy works more to the point that many make, namely it probably makes more sense to teach students how on less expensive, readily replaced items rather than the more expensive!
You can make a few "demo" setups of more expensive gear available for those with the aptitude to care, use and respect them once they have shown that level of responsibility with the less expensive kit.
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Can they coexist? Absolutely!
itpro_z 8th Sep 2010
The key is to not develop a religious preference (or bias) for one platform, but rather embrace each for the merits that it brings to the table. Whether it be in education, public sector, or private sector, we should each evaluate and use the tools that make us more productive.

Where I get bent out of shape is when someone starts preaching to me about their particular favorite platform. "Macs are so wonderful that anyone who does not use them is an idiot!" or "Ubuntu is the best! Everyone should ditch Microsoft and switch to Ubuntu!" I use them all (well, not Macs so much anymore, as I can't stand Apple and their cult following), and can see why FOR SOME one choice or the other makes sense, and do not begrudge their choice. For me, a Windows machine does everything I need, something I cannot say about a Mac or linux machine. It is interesting to me, though, that some claim to support choice, but only if my choice matches theirs. Whatever works for you is fine with me, just don't waste your time and mine trying to convert me.
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RE: So, Dawson...not eating your open source dogfood anymore?
nfhsystems@... 8th Sep 2010
Chris: I think it is great that you attempt to share an "open" view on all of the options! (Microsoft, Apple, Linux,) Microsoft, and Google are attempting to make it easier to move to Linux with their Online applications and email. Our school has a limited budget for technology each year, and we would rather spend the money outfitting the classrooms and students with the best equipment other than spending it on licensing fees. Currently we are using Microsoft, Apple, and Linux without any issues, so yes they can coexist in an educational environment quite well. We believe, for our school that open source is the way to alleviate spending all of our budget on licensing fees and more money on the tools needed for us to move in the 1 to 1 direction.
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Bottom line
s_souche 8th Sep 2010
is that adobe pricing model is bogus.

My 13 year old step daugther is crazy about mode designer games which are just crap. The other day I told her whe could just have a wonderfull time designing with photoshop, and from that time looked at student rates for the product. It's way out of proportion.

While $200 is a correct price of a graphic designer student already paying a $20.000 tuition, it's unreasonable for that kind of usage.

While the $700 price is correct for a full time graphic designer making is revenue on the software it's unreasonable for a non productive usage where the software is a source of expenses and not a source of revenue.

Software pricing is independant of the kind of usage of the software and is directly evaluated based on profit generating usages. As a result whole domains where the software could be used are none market for adobe, or just source of piracy.
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Uhhhh, somebody please make him stop...
Dietrich T. Schmitz, ~ Your Linux Advocate 8th Sep 2010
nt
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RE: So, Dawson...not eating your open source dogfood anymore?
olddogv 9th Sep 2010
The idea is to teach. They have to learn the best way to nail two boards together with a hammer, then if/when they go to a nailgun they will know where, how, and how many nails are needed. Opensource is quite good enough for most things, they learn, and because it may not be quite as efficient, they may learn a bit more & better. And when they get to the real world, they will be ready, and, if blessed with an employer with a big budget, they will be happy, and if with one that runs older or bare-bones stuff, they won't be pissed off or lost. I worked construction years ago, we built 3 houses and half a dozen barns before I ever saw a skill-saw. When learning and developing skills, keep to basic,( but quality) tools, and train tool maintenance also. Same with a computer or a handsaw.
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RE: So, Dawson...not eating your open source dogfood anymore?
jfreedle2@... 21st Sep 2010
I would really hate to be forced to downgrade to either Open Source Operating Environments or the Apple Macintosh. Neither would be sustainable for my future computing needs.

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