Atomic Testing

So, I’m currently typing this blog post on the first test machine that we’ve actually spent money on (as opposed to getting a temporary eval. model from a reseller).

It’s a Samsung Ativ Smart PC.  The entry-level Windows 8 tablet from Samsung running on a Clover-Trail Intel Atom platform, with a 64Gb eMMC (more on that later) and 2Gb RAM.  The dual-core Atom immediately felt like it was in a totally different league to the old Atom-based HP Mini netbook I used to have.

[caption id="attachment_259" align="aligncenter" width="567"] Samsung's Ativ and Intel's Roadmap for the Atom.[/caption]

It’s probably a testament to Microsoft’s work on keeping the system requirements for Windows from getting ridiculous like they had in the days of Windows Vista.  The overhead for Windows 7 and 8 isn’t really that different, which has allowed the lower-level hardware to catch up a bit.

There's a very tiny jitter in the start-screen when scrolling back and forth, probably due to the lower-power integrated graphics chip.  But said jitter is occasional, and so hard to notice that you have to point it out to people, and even then you can blink and miss it.  So no big deal there.

I’ve typed a few pages on this device and I' have to say, for a small machine the keyboard is fantastic, I’m able to type at the same speed as I would on my expensive desktop PC keyboard (sadly, it can’t help my poor spelling though).

It’s actually not shy on connectivity options either.  For those of us who don’t share the iPad’s “less-is-more” design ethic, there's welcome inclusion of one full-size USB port on the tablet and two on the keyboard.  Real work requires USB, so that’s great.  The tablet also sports a micro HDMI port and a MicroSD slot.  The other bonus feature is the S-Pen, a proper active stylus that’s pressure-sensitive and as accurate as a Wacom digitiser.  It lacks the eraser found on some, which is a small shame.

It’s got some bad that comes with the good though.  The buttons on the touchpad have nothing to indicate where the left button and right button meet.  The charger is tiny, which is great, except so is the connector, it’s one tiny pin isn’t very kid-friendly, and is likely to get bent.  The biggest disappointment though, is the way the tablet docks to the keyboard, the bizarre clip mechanism fails a lot on this test machine.  More often than not, you’ll pick up the tablet and the keyboard will fall off.  You have to be quite forceful to be sure it clips securely.

But this test machine wasn’t as much about the individual features of the Ativ as it was about giving one of these new Atom-based tablets a thorough test.  Which isn’t going so bad at the time of writing.  Nothing I’ve tried to do has made the device seem horribly underpowered, although it’s mostly been simple content creation and web surfing so far.  I don’t think it’s going to be quite so pretty when I try Photoshop on it, or try to edit a video.  But I’m happy to be proven wrong.

UPDATE: - Actually, I might be at least partly wrong, editing in Photoshop is doable with Web-sized images, and short video editing in Movie Maker can also be done.

Either way, I’m feeling positive about these little tablets.  We’d prefer our chosen machine to be an Intel Core i based unit, but if economic realities force us to look at the little-brother (or sister) from Intel, I don’t think it’ll be so bad.

It's All About the Pentiums

Well, it's not about the Pentiums and if it were it'd be all about the Core i5's, which makes that Weird Al song sound even more geeky (if that's possible).

What it is about actually, is the very fast and slick hardware we got our teachers this year.  That extra spend has made them eager to receive their new computer, and the brief but important introductory tutorial that goes with it.  That tutorial is key to making a Windows 8 rollout work.

Past the halfway mark with our Windows 8 rollout, and there's been no negative reactions to Windows 8 or Office 2013.  I firmly believe that's because we chose the hardware well, and understood the training that was needed.  The training has ranged from a simple 5 minute intro by the I.T. Dept. to a more comprehensive introduction by our E-Learning person.  Neither is particularly onerous, but the effect has been that Windows 8 and Office 2013 have been well received to date, and any comments we have received were positive.  Most of the positivity relates to the light and easy to carry form-factor of the Dell convertibles.  I hope that optimistic outlook continues.
So, I think we've proven something here; that Windows 8 is an easy switch with just a little bit of thought given to the user, and the right hardware (anything with a touchscreen, really).  It also proves that large amounts of the tech. press don't know what they're on about.  They might do well to stop judging Windows 8 on the old crappy desktop or Virtual Machine they're testing it on and get something it's made for.

Finally, this tentative success couldn't have been achieved without Apple and Google (and probably wouldn't have).  The acceptance they've created for touch-first interfaces lead to the initial reaction we saw quite a lot from teachers.... "oh, so it's a bit like a phone then?"

Spicks and Specifications

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignright" width="300"] The Bee Gees talk Devices with old Monkey Boy.[/caption]

It's probably a little late to be getting started on our Year 7 device rollout, but with everything else we've been asked to do, this is the absolute earliest we could expect to get things underway.

When I say "getting started" what I really mean is beginning the process of looking at devices, and as usual the first step is to work out what we want exactly, and get some quotes.  That, followed by; seeing some physical machines, establishing a shortlist, showing off the options internally, then picking something is roughly the process we'll go through.  It's worth sticking around to see that process, as over the years we've got it down to a fine art, particularly the part of assessing the candidate machines.

This time I've made one change though.  We'll be producing a serious and complete Request for Quote document to lay our our requirements fully.  One of the biggest problems we've encountered over the years is getting machines to meet a spec, a price, and receiving them on time.  I will not haggle this time, nor will I accept delivery weeks late.  I don't have that luxury when the program is being funded by parents who expect to get what they're paying for when we say they will.  I expect resellers and manufacturers to put up there best most reliable option first and expect no second chances.

The process of arriving at a machine spec. is an interesting one, and can be difficult when the industry is in such a state of flux as it is now.  Luckily we've been keeping a close eye on the Windows 8 device market since this time last year, and we now know what we can expect for roughly what sort of money.  We used that knowledge plus input on preferred features from our teaching staff to arrive at this specification:

That probably lends itself to one or two types of machine, but if we're to get something that matches the above, we've got to work with that.  Which we will do, I suspect I know what models the quotes are likely to bring, so it'll be interesting to see if I'm right.

I'm Too Sexy For My Laptop

The BYOD program we're starting this year is a bit of new territory for us.  We've allowed students to BYO for a while now, but it's only been ad-hoc supplementation of the machines we already provide.  Students had embraced that quite well, but making BYOD a compulsory requirement is a different thing altogether.  To begin with, we didn't even know how many students were going to take the new requirement seriously and start the year with a machine that met the minimum spec.  So when we ran our 'setup sessions' in the holiday break we had no idea what to expect.

More on the setup sessions later, I mentioned the minimum spec, so I should probably point out what that was, and the thinking is behind it.  Here's the parameters parents and students were given for the device:

So, none of this "BYOD, but only the platform we like" business.  We've opened it up to any device that we feel a student can do work with.  We haven't allowed small tablets like the Nexus 7 because we've found they're too small to achieve serious work, but we have allowed 10" tablets because of the variety and market maturity of that size.  We haven't allowed students to connect their phones and iPod touches at this stage.  I wont say we're closing the door on that completely, but for the moment most students only want to connect that sort of device for non-educational purposes, and the sheer number of those devices is an overhead we can't deal with right now.  I'll be prepared to go back on that as soon as I have a teacher come to me with a genuine need (which is possible, but not probable).

So now that you understand the parameters of BYOD, lets look at what we experienced in our 'setup sessions'

The setup sessions were two days we set aside during the school holidays for students to come and join in a short workshop lead by the I.T. staff which was aimed at getting them connected to our network, to learn how to print, access file shares, use the internet, configure their browser, access their email and to overcome any problems before the year began.  We covered all those topics and also offered a selection of free software that students might not otherwise have known about.  The software was aimed at helping them meet the requirements above (if their computer didn't already) and encouraging them to go a bit further than that as well.

We'd allowed half an hour for the sessions, figuring we'd get small workable groups, but overall that we'd just see the most conscientious students, rather than any large number.  What we actually got in terms of attendance was both heartening, and surprising.  Over half of the entire senior cohort (all of year 11 and 12) turned up over the two days.  Some of the sessions were that full we really struggled to get through everything in the time allowed.  It was hectic, and at times stressful, but as we later found out it was very much worth the effort.  Nearly 150 students went away after those days with a machine that worked on our network, knowing how to access what they needed on our network, and with the confidence to learn unhindered.  I was proud of our efforts, particularly with the number of problems we fixed for students, and the variety of problems and computers we successfully connected.

students with laptops running Windows 8 featured heavily, and they appeared entirely unfazed by the new UI

That brings me to the next interesting point.  We allowed for a vast array of devices to be connected under the BYOD program.  When you look at the tech. specs above, we could've received anything from the most expensive Alienware gaming laptop to the cheapest generic Android tablet.  We didn't see a anything like the former, and only one of the latter, but to my surprise what we did see was a lot of laptops.  I could've counted the iPads on one hand, which was a surprise being that we knew for certain that at least two dozen students already owned them from a program they were involved in the previous year.  What really surprised me was that Windows laptops outnumbered anything else 20:1, and new Windows laptops probably accounted for half of those.  What's more, students with laptops running Windows 8 featured heavily, and they appeared entirely unfazed by the new UI.
It wasn't all Windows though, there was a happy and proud contingent of Mac owners, some of who came with the misconception that they'd in some way have to accept a secondary status to the Windows users.  I'm happy to say however, that their choice of Mac meant they'd receive the same level of connectivity and service that a Windows user would, despite us being an otherwise Windows shop.
The only users I think might possibly remain a little second-class, at least for the moment, are the iPad and Android users.  Particularly the iPad users where printing is concerned.  At the time of writing (February), we have no printing solution for iPads.  Not because we can't (although doing this while maintaining the ability to charge students with Papercut is a little tricky), but because there's a cost and time factor involved, and I've deemed it not justifiable for what amounts to about 5 users.  They've been asked to email assignments, and print by using one of our desktops for the time being.  If it becomes a problem, I have a proper solution drafted.

Finally, I'll say one other positive thing.  The students look happy.  They're proud of their machines in a lot of cases, and I think to them this is proper "personal" computing.  It's nice to see that, and I hope it continues.  In fact some are so proud of their machines they've taken to decorating them.  I'll leave you with one such example below, which when I see it leads me to imagine the lyrics to Right Said Fred's "I'm too Sexy":

Happy New Beer!

Well, a belated one.  The season of revelry is long forgotten and now it's down to business, sadly!



The return to work has been unbelievably busy but now that we're a few weeks in I can report on the progress of our Dell XPS-12 rollout.

Firstly, I'm happy that I actually have something to report.  Last year I gave Dell something of a hard time for being hapless with their model lineup, delivery of demo machines and poorly communicated information.  I'm happy to say they've redeemed themselves with delivery of these machines.  The turnaround was roughly 6 weeks between ordering and delivery including imaging by our local reseller.  Not bad at all for 80 machines over the Christmas period, particularly when you consider these models are only a couple of months new themselves.

So, delivery was a bit of a win for us.  I also have to say that imaging was as well, once we knew what to expect.  In having all our machines rolled out with our own software image, we hit a few problems initially (while preparing the master image machine), but it seems the process of duplicating that image was almost identical to Windows 7 machines.

Probably the biggest issue we hit was with getting sysprep to run on the master machine prior to committing it to be duplicated.  A word of warning to anyone else needing to do this - whatever you do, don't update the system Metro apps (video, people, news etc.) before sysprepping.  We had to start again from scratch after doing this, as it completely breaks sysprep.

Other issues we found were to do with customisations (like customising the Start Screen for users), we found ways around all of them with a bit of Googling, and they translated well into deployment en masse.

So the machines are here and we've handed some of them to teachers.  Now we wait to see what the reaction to them, and Windows 8 will be!  In the meantime we have to get prepared for the coming year and our new BYOD'ers!

Pre-Christmas Update

Well, a little while has passed since my last update and a fair amount has happened.  So much so that it's hard to detail it all here.  For that reason I'm going to dot-point list the goings-on for the last month and a half.

- it turns out Dell salespeople wouldn't know an active stylus from an active volcano

• The big news is that we've chosen the Dell XPS-12 as our staff computer for 2013.  Samsung couldn't produce a decent machine in time (or at all) and all the other options were either problematic in some way or just plain awful.  It turns our however that there is no support for an active stylus with this machine, so we're going to have to go without or use a capacitive stylus (it turns out Dell salespeople wouldn't know an active stylus from an active volcano anyway).  A shame, but not the end of the world.  The upside is that the XPS-12 is a really nice piece of kit, it's very fast, light and small.  Our teachers seemed quite impressed with it when we demoed it to them.  So we're quietly confident that we've chosen the right device considering the options.  Now we just have to get them delivered on time and get the staff used to Windows 8!


• We'd already decided we weren't interested in the Dell XT3, but it's worth noting here that Dell shipped us a demo that was not only heavily used, but broken.  It was also an awful clunky looking machine.  It's probably best if they don't keep that line going.


• We've been in communication with our parents about the plans to run two new programs next year.  Year 11's and 12's will need to supply their own computer next year, and year 7's will have a hybrid Windows 8 tablet supplied to them.  Parents of 11 and 12 students have been told they can supply a range of devices, basically anything that's a computer or a 10" and above tablet.  We'll set them up with network access at the beginning of the year, as well as some other tips and information.


• Our iPad group will continue into 2013.  I mention this because it's relevant as I was recently accused of being anti-iPad by an influential individual associated with the school.  I find this interesting because we run an iPad program with one particular group of students, and it was my interest in the iPad that got it going in the first place (I have two iPads myself).  Rather than unsettling that group by making changes, they'll keep plugging away with their iPads into next year.  The program was a trial, and it hasn't exactly set the world on fire, but it's not terrible either.  I quite like the idea of a multi-platform approach, as long as it doesn't put to much strain on the teachers or the I.T. Department.


• Finally, after much in the way of shenanigans, we've decided on a new Learning Management System (LMS).  Originally the decision was made to delay this decision until sometime in the future, however after coming to their senses the College leadership went with the recommendation of their 1:1 Working Party (or sub-group thereof) to implement the Scholaris LMS.  This is a widely used platform run on Sharepoint which can integrate well with our existing student data systems, making it something of a logical choice.  The Working Party went to great lengths to assess varying LMS options, create a comparison matrix of features and justify their preferences.  I'm quite glad that the recommendation was taken onboard, I only wish it had been immediate, rather than second-guessing the skilled and experienced people who arrived at said recommendation.

I think that's it, now it's off for a nice and hopefully relaxing Christmas break.  I say hopefully relaxing, because with the usual workload plus a 1:1 program, BYOD program, staff tablet rollout and a new LMS 2013 is going to be a HUGE year.

Dell Roadshow II - Try Harder

And try harder they have, but still not hard enough.

I got to attend yet another Dell Roadshow where they're showing off their Windows 8 devices again.  This time they actually had the newly released XPS-12.  I was able to play with it and ask all the hard questions about the supposed support for pen input. They tell me it will support an active digitiser, like the one on the Latitude 10.  I'll believe it when I see it.  Other than that, aside from being a little expensive the XPS-12 is a neat device.  It's robust and manages to pack that swivel screen into a package much the same size as the slimmest Ultrabooks.  Dell tell us that the swivel mechanism had been tested for 20,000 continuous repetitions and kept on going past that, and looking at it, I can believe that.

Other than that, Dell showed how expertly they've misunderstood Windows 8.  They have a couple of "companion" tablet offerings, The Latitude 10, based on Windows 8 running an Intel Atom processor, and the Windows RT based XPS 10, on Arm.  They've chosen to offer the latter with a keyboard dock and the former without.  This makes no sense.  Of the two, if I want one to be a primarily touch based experience with an onscreen keyboard, it's the RT device, as I'm going to be using Metro apps and they're made with touch in mind.  My Atom based tablet however can run legacy Windows software, which will benefit greatly from more traditional input methods.  So as you can see, they've got it backwards.  Way to go Dell!

[caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Dell's new Windows 8 tablets, shown side-by-side. XPS-12 on the left and Latitude 10 on the right.[/caption]

Finally, the saga of the XT3 demo unit continues.  Dell have apparently sourced one for me, but the nice man at the Dell Roadshow informs me that they don't support it running Windows 8 and don't plan to.  In fact, they seem to think it and any successors may not have a future as a device anyway, so we can just about can that line of inquiry right now.