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Post by brucie24 on Nov 10, 2008 16:57:22 GMT
Hi All, really need some advice. I am and always have been totally opposed to PC/Windows/MS et al call it childish or what ever but just can't stand the lot. However my Son's school only do PC's and despite me directly asking when he went into yr7 if having only a Mac at home would be a hindrance (answer was NO) looking at his report for IT (yr9) it would appear the opposite is true So what to do? He has a first gen Intel Imac. Do I go out and buy VMWare Fusion or Parrallels plus Vista, Office etc and put that on the iMac or bite the bullet and go get a CHEAP PC. It p***es me off I need to do either but accepting that I do any advice would be really welcome.
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 10, 2008 17:02:19 GMT
Would it be possible for you to explain a little more what is happening that is disadvantaging him?
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Post by brucie24 on Nov 10, 2008 18:25:39 GMT
Basically its lack of MS Acess, MS Office, Publisher and gen fam with Windoze environment. I know Office is available for Mac but I have read it's not exactly the same. I am sure there is also a slight bit of hidding behind a good excuse going on! Our thought is if he has a basic PC environment with the limited no of apps that he needs then no one has a get out... I know I'm sounding like a nurotic parent but am also feeling like one right now
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Post by HeatherKay on Nov 10, 2008 19:36:19 GMT
Ah, this sounds like the fabled ICT, where kids are brainwashed by using "standard" MS software so they become docile drones for the office workplace.
I can recommend the Parallels route, because although it will be running full-blown Windows in a virtual machine, it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing, with the added safety net that the Mac is just hiding behind the curtain.
Still, it's a lot of cash to splash on software, but don't forget there may well be educational discounts to be had. If someone else here can offer advice, that's great, but it might be worth asking the school what offers they can get. A trip to an Apple Store might be worthwhile, too, because although they sell Apple stuff, most of them seem to know something about The Dark Side as well.
Hope that helps, and good luck.
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Post by timark_uk on Nov 10, 2008 19:52:40 GMT
Well, I'd cal up the principal/Head of the school and explain the situation. They may be able to offer assistance.
Mark
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 10, 2008 19:55:36 GMT
If you have time make an appointment and go it to see the head teacher to discuss the "progress being made with you son". If you explain your concerns to them they may well offer some kind of solution.
For example they may offer you a school copy of Microsoft Office that you can install on your machine and maybe a copy of Windows too. Most schools do this for their teaching staff and they may well extend it to the "concerned" parent.
I would chat with the Head teacher first then ask if the Head of ICT might offer some solution. If you do this you are flagging up the oversight in the system and maybe saving yourself a few pounds in the process.
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Post by Ian Moffatt on Nov 10, 2008 19:58:15 GMT
Interesting thread this. My other half is a teacher and has a winblows laptop.
The school is all winblows.
The head/assistant head/senior 'management' are all getting new laptops - MBPs!!
I can't wait to see how this all pans out
Ian
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Post by CyberChimp on Nov 11, 2008 0:01:10 GMT
I'd probably recommend speaking to whichever teacher is responsible for teaching ICT (as opposed to the headteacher) initially - and certainly before spending any money on anything.
Apart from anything else, different versions of Windows / MS Office could be significantly enough different that buying the 'wrong version' (ie one that isn't identical to that being used at the school) may leave you in a situation which is similar to the one you currently find yourself in anyway.
To the best of my knowledge Microsoft offer no discount routes (ie for NHS staff, student edition, etc) to actually buy Windows itself - they only offer *upgrades* of Windows at these discounts. MS Office is however available at a discount several different ways. A new (OEM) licence for Windows is likely to set you back at least £50. The chances are that you can get a refurbished ex-corporate PC which includes a legit XP licence (and possibly also Office) these days for the same sort of price.
One other thing which may be helpful to your son with continuing to use his Mac, but without using a PC being quite as different could be to use a 'PC based' USB keyboard whose (Mac OSX) software includes a system preference pane allowing traditional Windows shortcuts to be used rather than the traditional Mac ones.
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Post by wierdostomps on Nov 16, 2008 7:59:45 GMT
I wonder which curriculum the school is following? I also wonder about the facilities the school is offering. My daughter is in a PC only environment - but on the rare occasions she needs something which is not available for the Mac, she can go to the Learning Resource Base (or LIBRARY as it was in my day) and access it there. This stays open until 5pm). But this really only applies to a few things - MS Publsher and MS Access being the two biggest ones. And in the case of Publisher, as soon as she discovered my copy of Adobe Indesign, she rapidly decided to forget all that she had been taught in school anyway and use a decent design programme. For the most part, she has spent so little time on each aspect of the curriculum that it would not have been worth going out and spending money on specialised kit to fill what are very small gaps.
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 16, 2008 10:12:58 GMT
But this really only applies to a few things - Hmm, just to add to this. Is this push coming from you or from junior? I have just had the inkling of a thought that maybe someone wants a computer not to do work on but to play "Death Rattle 7 the Lemming Years" on another über cool game that is doing the rounds at the moment.
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keith
Senior Member
Posts: 269
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Post by keith on Nov 20, 2008 21:24:09 GMT
have a look at Virtualbox, a free application that does a similar job to VMWare or Parallels.
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 20, 2008 23:30:52 GMT
have a look at Virtualbox, a free application that does a similar job to VMWare or Parallels. Oh, you are a smart dude. There is CROSSOVER too. You pay for it but it will run the MS Windows version of Office, including Access and more at native Mac speeds.
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keith
Senior Member
Posts: 269
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Post by keith on Nov 21, 2008 6:27:56 GMT
I use Crossover but it's only really suited to certain applications. They take an app, work out what Windows calls it needs and tweak Crossover to provide the correct responses. It's far from being proper virtualisation but if you need to use a supported application then it's very good.
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Post by Forum Cat on Nov 21, 2008 9:39:21 GMT
It's far from being proper virtualisation but if you need to use a supported application then it's very good. The OP only wanted a few MS applications, so it should be perfect for that. Also because there is no Windows on your system there is no virus threat either.
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Post by Steven W on Nov 24, 2008 11:53:30 GMT
Fusion is definitely the way to go...although I recommend a bare minimum of 1GB RAM (expect bottlenecks) and would use 2GB RAM if you can. Then just get a cheap office disk off eBay or somewhere for the PC and away you go...
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