My Fellow PowerBook-philes and 'david',
This is interesting to me. Firstly, I am curious as to how the
"network" at your University is run. At my alma mater they had a
network which consisted of multiple layers and multiple input/outputs to
and from the WAN.
For instance, in the dorms we had, essentially, cable modems. This was
done for multiple reasons -- one, the cable wires were already dropped,
and two, they could outsource the network if need be to cut overhead in
times of budget crunch.
This was not initially the best set up, they allowed each modem to run
wideopen and had serious problems in some of the larger, high-rise
Freshman dorms (800+ rom buildings) with bandwith being used up,
bottlenecks and other such things. (The connection would drop every ten
minutes, almost like clockwork, except during the Georgia v. Florida
game weekend when everyone when down to Jacksonville.)
They have since fixed these issues. While these are by no means
Internet2 connections, they are more than sufficient for most, if not
all, students living on campus.
Next they have a layer of networks for each college and, in some cases,
specific departments within a college. Sometimes a department handles
the network in-house and sometimes they leave it up to UITS. This
allows the networks to work well with one another while limiting the
effects of a crash by one department/college.
The last "public" network are the Information Networks available at the
Library and in other computer labs as well as the WiFi network. The
WiFi works like the Cable Modem -- it is limted to only allow you to see
"out," not inward. If you're buddy next to you is connect your can't
access his computer through their WiFi, in other words. The Computer
Labs are (finally!) completely locked and require your Student e-mail
username/password to log in. They do use MS Windows, unfortunately, but
they are locked down so no one can install anything or alter the
registry. If you somehow do, then that drive is wiped and reinstalled
at next login.
The real piece-de-resistance is the e-mail network. While they do
receive a lot of spam, they have a very effective spam blocker.
Further, they do not use an exchange server (as I know one smaller
college did to disastrous consequences .... oi vey!) but, at last look,
an IMAP server that is quite flexible and fast.
Anyhow, I digress. It is interesting hearing how some other
Universities work. In some ways my alma mater was behidn the times (we
didn't get universal high-speed internet in all our dorms until 2000)
and in some ways seem to be ahead (Athens, GA has one of the wider free
WiFi areas in the nation, part of this is the University's).
I have friends who went to or are still at other Universities which
worked differently. I had one friend at a more northern University
who's network was one big LAN. That could wreak havoc, I'd imagine.
Oh, and my alma mater does provide tech help, but only limited.
Sometimes they'll have time to spend on an issue, sometimes they won't.
So, if you break it, you fix it. :-)
Faculty gets better treatment, of course.
The whole laptop for everyone thing is another interesting idea to me.
Honestly, I don't think laptops add much to a class if they add anything
at all. I mean, sure they could be nice, but honestly it is more likely
the student is playing solitaire while bored than trying to pay
attention. And the good students will be just as good.
This whole move to "interactive classrooms" is quite frankly useless in
my mind. In some specialty area, I'll grant, this could be useful. For
instance: Upper level math, science and CompSci classes could benefit.
Maybe even some upper-level business classes. Maybe. But I do not see
the humanities and arts being greatly affected.
I am curious as to how some other Unviersities work. Thanks for
engaging in the conversation with me. :-)
BTW, I am attending another university post-grad so maybe this time
August I'll have another viewpoint. I hope it isn't a doomsday one.
(G) Of course, I am using an Apple so it can't be that bad. And no, I
don't have to buy or rent a laptop from the school. It's a law school
-- a bunch of wannabe lawyers/politicans would be too much hassle to try
to force that sort of policy on. All we do is talk, talk talk ...
witness this lengthy post. :-)
Take care all!
Sincerely,
Pacer the Loon
david wrote:
Ignorance is such a wonderful thing. Instead of name calling, try to
understand why a university might develop policies - even poorly
thought out ones - that aren't part of some fascist money grubbing
agenda. For example, do you think it might be possible that
university techs are so bogged down by virus and adware attacks that
controlling what computers are used might be seen as a good idea to
control the virus attacks, adware, and zombies?
At my university EVERY YEAR for the last three years EVERY student
and professor has to have his or her computer inspected by a tech
before his account is unlocked and the computer receives an IP number
for the network. All students have to have virus software and to make
it easy to administrate students are provided that software by the
university. Students must also sign a waiver allowing a tech to
examine their computer at any time to ensure that the virus software
is being run and regularly updated.
This 'fascist' policy has cut virus related expenses to the school by
60%.
david
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