Laptops...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

As I was writing my last post on Devon IT's Safebook, and ways in which it can force students to use the computer as a tool more than a toy, a feed from Slashdot caught my eye. Pointing to a post on ComputerWorld, the headline referred to our love-hate relationship with laptops. In this case, "our" refers to IT folks in general, who now have a host of problems to address with mobile users that are absent for desktop PCs.

This certainly applies for student laptop programs as well. While students need greater and greater access to computing resources, 1:1 initiatives can turn into management nightmares for the information technologists that must maintain these computers, now exposed nightly to the outside world (and to students, away from their teachers' watchful eyes).

Could a product like the Safebook and a more server-centric approach help solve these problems?

[poll id=25]