How's Your Day? Archives

Well, I took yesterday off work.

Kill me now.

That is all.

 

Update: and less then 15 minutes later, it was covered in ice again....not good.

 

Talking to my Pop (HVAC man)... I'll be calling you in a moment.

 

Hey cool, I'll be waitin....whoa, wait a minute, I'm in the future! :happy102

 

Project!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrHFxscunOA&feature=player_embedded

 

I do so wish education could be a driver in changing the software market. There is absolutely no good reason schools shouldn't seriously consider open-source alternatives to Microsoft products. Libre-office is every bit as effective as its for-pay pal from Redmond, but we have to have Microsoft because "the world doesn't run on Libre-office, it runs on Microsoft."

Technically, Libre-office is more standards compliant, and more cross-platform compatible than Microsoft, and technically, we should be teaching children the concepts of computer use, not step-by-step instructions on how to use a specific software tool. I guarantee that the kid who graduates today, fully proficient in Office 20-whatever, isn't going to be using an identical office suite in 2 years. The buttons will be in different places and some of the tools will have different names. The concepts and general usage will still be the same, however. It's just like gimp vs. photoshop. Now, some people legitimately need the 2% of extra features that photoshop has that gimp doesn't. The rest of us plebs, however can get by just fine with Gimp. And truthfully, 90% of users could probably muddle along just swimmingly with picasa or paint.net or some other simple lightweight package. But if you take a person who learned how to manipulate pictures using the gimp, turn them loose on photoshop for half an hour, and they'll be able to sort out how to do what they want with relative ease (They've probably taught themselves the concepts of image editing) Turn that around, and put a photoshop user on the gimp, and watch them moan about how nothing is where it should be (They've been taught the tool.)

Sometimes this marketing think just floors me. We're raising a generation of tool thinkers and then wondering why nobody grasps simple concepts any more. Imagine if Ag classes only taught you how to use phillips head screw drivers---we'd be running around with stripped out screwheads everywhere.

Nobody wants that.

:angry037

 

Yeup. The good teachers teach concepts, foundations, how to think, not what to think.
The rest tend to be "this is what's on the test, so memorize the answers so you can get a good grade, the school can get high marks, and I can keep my job" attitude, and it ends up indoctrination, not education.
It's a tough balance, and I know I'm not cut out for it. I struggle enough just trying to teach my two offspring, much less a classroom full of ingrates, whose parents don't care and see it as a free childcare and food service, ...............ugh, gotta stop

I agree with you, though. Yes, 90% of the world *currently* runs on Microsoft, but amazingly Apple is getting a strong influential foothold on the device front (despite their high price point), and Google has been rapidly growing and getting more embedded in the school system, so the opportunities for wider variety of tools is available, it's just a matter of the ones making the decisions to take the chance

 

The exception to open source office suites being the same as MS Office is Excel. Granted, 90% of users, including 95%+ of Jr. High/High School students have no need of the advanced Excel features. But it's not a 5-10% addition, rather open source spreadsheet programs have 10-20% of the capability. I wish it weren't so, as Excel is the only MS product that keeps me tied into the Redmond system.

 

So you're saying Excel excels at spreadsheets? :happy102

Seriously though, I've heard the same thing too, that the spreadsheet and presentation functions of open source office products are leaps and bounds behind Microsoft's, though it seems they're catching up, slowly.

I've actually started putting a little more time into Google Docs, and starting to like it a pretty good bit, but there's no way I'm putting sensitive/private/personal info in it, and that's not a knock against GDocs, I don't back them up to Dropbox or anything else in the "cloud", either, though there have been times it would've been very convenient had I done so.

 

On the presentation front, I find the better open source programs do all the important stuff just fine. They're also closing the gap at a reasonable pace.

Spreadsheets, I could see them getting to the point of meeting enough need to make Excel a specialty product given a few more years. But we're looking at a couple decades to really catch up. The biggest help from my POV would be to add some simple programming interface similar to VBA that can both perform typical Macro actions and add spreadsheet function.

 

I really don't push any of the office products to the limits where Google docs or OpenOffice/Libre haven't been sufficient, I'm in the crowd where the alternatives are plenty sufficient 97.3% of the time.
I have run into a couple of occasions where I've needed MS's advanced offerings, but could've gotten by without.

Still, I know there's loads of examples, like yours, where only MS Office will work, either for compatibility purposes, or required features.

But Micah's assertion isn't that MS Office isn't necessary, but that rather that there are options available to us, and instead of teaching the product, teaching the concepts behind it, which I agree with

 

Jim - don't take me wrong, I'm not arguing with Micah's main point at all. I'm simply pointing out the one place where I'm aware that a reasonable argument could be made to go with Microsoft. I'd really like to see this addressed, along with some advanced simulation/calculation software being made for Linux systems (obviously not free here). Then, I could get away from Windows and really use the calculation power of the computer when needed. While Windows 7 is a welcome improvement, It's still designed for people writing reports in Word and playing games rather than for "power users". When computing power goes up by a factor of 100 and calculation time on a simulation goes from 20 minutes to 10 minutes, something needs work.

 

I do have to agree that libreoffice's spreadsheet offering isn't quite up to par with excel, but like Jim said, we're dealing with high school students here. Most of these kids don't know how to save a file in any format other than whatever the program defaults to, and I seriously doubt they'll notice the lack of features, unless some teacher specifically tries to force them to use those features.

What I'm going to enjoy, is when I do make the upgrade to Office 2007 (or is it 2010 now?) and the "I can't use this, everything is in the wrong place and it's too hard to get it to do anything" crowd sits down for the first time to be greeted by Microsoft's glorious ever-changing ribbon interface. I had opportunity to sit down at that today and man, it's a mess. I know some people love the ribbon, but gack, I found it horrible, unintuitive, and I hate the idea of an interface that moves things on me.

I'm going to laugh every time they complain about it, and every time I open my documents in LibreOffice and get things done.

 

Well, it does depend if the teacher is following a curriculum, like an Office certification program, that specifically teaches MS product, like our high school does, but at the same time, there should be some "wiggle room" for teaching the concepts of "spreadsheet", and not just excel, or the other office products.

So really, we're all right, we're just looking at different parts of the elephant....I just hate that I'm always the one with the giant garbage bag and a tail slapping me in the face....

...on that topic, just got back from Lowe's-Depot for coil cleaning foam, and finally noticed in hidden print on the can that it can be used on the inside coils.

So, quick spray and rinse, and I want to test it out, but I don't feel like putting all the stuff back on - I wonder if it will be okay to run it for a little bit with all the panels and stuff off?

 

well, fart in a dive suit, it's still borked.

Guess it's time to call someone who knows what they're doing....

 

Personally, I am completely in favor of open source office programs within schools. I can't say that I have ever run into a problem where there was a task that I wanted my students to perform (middle school level) that they couldn't have done on open office or similar software. On the other hand, for some of the spread sheets that I have done and the add-in modules that I need to work (such as remote responders), I am stuck with using the official Office products within my classroom. I really really hate the new versions of Office. But, I am stuck with them so I am forcing myself to use them instead of the more intuitive open source packages. If I don't force myself to use the bloated office suite, it will continue to be an annoyance when I have to use that bloat. In the year of using the newer bloated office, things have improved. However, I still to spend time at least once a week trying to find where an old function is hidden.

 

Today got of to a SUPER rough start and I hope it only gets better...

Last night was the U2 concert.. It ROCKED!!! too bad with 65,000+ people rushing the busses and trains, I got home at 1:30 (about 2 hours after it ended). Four hours of sleep later I am up walking around like a zombie fumbling and trying to get ready for work (stike 1- -I can fall asleep standing up). I go to shave and grab my muhle; as I start untwisting the handle, the black part of the handle (r106) had somehow come loose and I have no traction to take the razor apart!!:mad::mad::mad: (Strike 2 - favorite razor is broken).

Needless to say, I don't want or need a third strike...

Like I said...the concert was good!

 

Haven't shaved since Monday due to the well tank having a hole in it and the water being shut off. Just about to go crazy with no water, hopefully will be back on some time today.

 

I just can't help myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dZwXnMrRU


Seriously though, I like U2's sound, I just can't stand their frontman. Every time Bono stands up for a new cause I want to rally against it. But I do like their sound. They were especially great back in the day.

 

cupcakes anyone?