HP awarded $83Million Contract by KAMLA

[teems1]

As much as T+T trying to be first world, and this is a move to push them in that direction, our mentalities are not in the right place yet.

While there are some who would like to see this change and the Government has the money to do so, the vast majority (parents and young adults) are not willing to invest the time/effort required.

For every student/parent who uses to laptop for the right reasons, there are more who would look to parts it out and sell the parts to make a quick buck.

PNM made the mistake of trying to be first world by 2020, PP may be making the same mistake.

T+T should simply yearn to be the best developing nation, like Barbados, because to become a first world country requires discipline, and lord knows Trinis do not have that...

[honda_soldier]

Allyuh! Goopey have a 5G network coming. Wonder how he do that.?

The minister said all schools would have secure computer labs for all students and bandwidth connections were being upgraded from 3G to 5G. He dismissed claims that Tobago students were not getting laptops.

Huh? I don't even know how to comment on this...

Laptop specs
Gopeesingh said the laptops had been outfitted with the following enhanced specifications:
• faster processing speeds;
• improved wireless capability;
• bluetooth connectivity;
• larger internal storage;
• faster hard speed;
• extended batter life;
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007; and
• Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office.

Ok... As opposed to..... ?

Where are the real specs?!

Fail... Epic.. Fail..

[Trini Hookah]

i don't agree on the increased storage...160GB at MAX, nothing more.

[RASC]

............

An election promise fulfilled though ......

That's EXACTLY my problem: "Well we did do sumtin, so allyuh cyar say we never deliver...ent?"

That's stupid and backward on part of the PP. Stop living in political FEAR

Fear of a backlash from the people, and fear of a lambasting from the opposition. You have the majority for a reason. Don't rush serious things like this. Ok I may come here and bash you from now til tomorrow, that doesn't mean you should succumb to my pressure and just do it, cause you don't wanna seem "bad".

It just shows poor political fortitude and no backbone. They have all the political leverage in the world yet they don't use it. Makes no sense.

This idea was rushed before the 120 day mark, just so they can say "whew we did it...allyuh glad now...we give allyuh bread now eat"

[Snags]

Lol, how are they going to share the 24, 000 laptops?

[SR]

well if yuh make secondary school then it should be distributed thru them

[Rx]

17000 kids [approx. figure] wrote the SEA ...

how come they ordered 24000 laptops ? Like somebody selling the extras

.................

RASC: I hear ya.

[RBphoto]

When questioned, Tim said "by god honda_soldier , i'm a doctor not a computer scientist".

The press have some semi literate reporters too, so don't doubt if they miss quote the man as well.

[Snags]

^They probably catered a bit over for "just in case", which is probably understandable, which makes me wonder, what happens to the other students who just left form one and are going up to form 2 or any other form for that matter? And are they going to order another set of laptops when next year's batch of SEA students head into form one? Is this going to be an on-going thing?

[buzz]

Well done minister. I have to say, comming from a not so well off family, I got to use (not own eh) a desktop for the first time when I was 21. Laptops have certain advantages such as it being an integrated unit, no cords, mouse, screen to maintain separately. Maintaining a workstation is the bane of many IT departments, and companies are switching to giving their employees laptops to improve efficiency of their IT departments, ehether the person is mobile or not. With a workstation environment, each school would need an IT professional to run a "computer lab". I don't know what actual machine they will be using, but HP has corporate grade machines that perform well, not like the DV series. I have a DV7 that working for a few years just fine "knock on wood". As for hacking the computer, I have used corporate laptops, and ifyou tamper with any aspect of the software, you get an e-mail ffom IT telling you to bring it in immediately (In my case installing windows messenger in an automatic update). They know what you did and when you did it. If any student attempts to hack these machines, they will be denied by the software. The corporate security program is quite strict about internet use as well, no matter what connection I use, but I guess I am OK till they block tuner

The move to mobile computing in companies cannot be compared to the user that is using the system for research, small presentations and creating small documents i.e. school children forms 1 - 5

companies gain efficiency in that regard due to:

mobility
lower cost of networking
office space
to name a few

wrt to an integrated unit consider this one example for argument's sake

the event some beverage falls onto a keyboard vs a notebook (since after all we're talking about kids here)

another issue: who's gonna prevent them (again kids) from carrying it, well, everywhere ? We as adults stash these items during our day to day commuting as if they were illegal for obvious reasons (hey an exposed laptop case can cost you your windscreen)

Now consider the "lab" environment, you don't need someone with a degree in computing to maintain it, so the cost of labour here wouldn't be an issue (pffft A+ and and a III in O level IT for christ's sake). Also it provides a good avenue for noobs to gain some work experience for those who wish to further their career in the IT dept.

Or consider the the Workstation @ home option, we can negate the cons i previously listed, the value for money is increased (could just be me but IMO $5000 spent on a desktop > $5000 spent on a laptop wrt to performance ) for eg 3 years ago i spent 2K on a system i still use @ home today with no issues, it does everything i want it to do hence i budgeted and i built it for a specific reason... internet browsing, microsoft office and light applications, burn a DVD here, watch some porn there. Considering that Moore's law haven't failed us for so many years i believe 2K today can get you much more bang for your buck than when i bought mine...

So my take on the issue - wasted money, good idea but very very wrong approach,

I honestly believe its either 1) no research done

or 2) woo hoo wow the uneducated public with something fancy, votes FTW :RaWr:

on that note, when something happens to them, who's gonna bear the cost to repair em' ?

and don't get me started on that "firewall"

[Snags]

loool, someone is going to get screwed somehow, someway. They will either pass the laptops down, in which case you use the laptop for your first year of secondary school and then well ggg goodbye or they keep spending 83million dollars each year to buy new laptops for the students, or they have some pretty clever plan for properly distributing the laptops to the classes or students in the schools that need to use it, maybe they have some system in place so that it's equally shared, maybe the students writing cxc need it more than those just entering form one, maybe, well, just maybe there is some order in here, someone should know what happens to everyone else.

[RBphoto]

Now about that firewall...

[ek4ever]

I would really like to see how the apologists make up stories for their support in this.

The gov't has NO vision. It just does things, to appease the public. Mainly the lower/poor ppl, while the MAJORITY middle class is left with the tab.

Same strategy the PNM has always had....except they do things to appease the rich

[RASC]

I would really like to see how the apologists make up stories for their support in this.

The gov't has NO vision. It just does things, to appease the public. Mainly the lower/poor ppl, while the MAJORITY middle class is left with the tab.

Same strategy the PNM has always had....except they do things to appease the rich

That's why they're not in power anymore. The people voted for change. Not more of the same BS re-packaged.

Legalised PH is another example of baiting votes from "de poor man" without an ounce of recognition for law abidding, hard working middle class citizens. They just don't care.

[RASC]

...anyway let's get back on topic.

[toyota2nr]

This is the first time I could agree with RASC

But I still think he's speaking from a PNM point of view just trying make the government look bad when during their 8 or 9 years in office the PNM couldn't even begin to come up with ideas like this. LeGendre was a total rock while in office. Just shame and guilt over their non-performance.

I agree with the idea of leaving the laptops in the schools. Imagine a child in Beetham having to travel home with a laptop or any other area for that matter.

They should have bought netbooks though. Did Digi Data really win the contract? You guys know anyone there?

[honda_soldier]

Now about that firewall...

Good question.
Are they gonna setup a WAN?
Who is going to be in charge of this infrastructure?
A domain?
Email access. Exchange?

Somebody. Somewhere. Gonna be making real money.

Or they cud just get some 10mb from flow. Throw on routers. BAM! Use d Wi-Fi.

[Trini Hookah]

My high school had Public wifi throughout

[honda_soldier]

Boom. Facebook and stream porn whole day in class.

[silent_riot]

I think the students will be carrying home the computers. Laptops obviously have the advantage of mobility.

If it were only for school use, it would have been easier to implement thin clients (more than 24000) in labs and connect to the school's network where content is centrally controlled and bandwidth is shared. This could be extended to have a WAN connecting all schools, and that being managed by fewer, better skilled staff. 24,000 laptops is a huge administrative task to manage. Have your thin clients in schools and offer a few hours lab time after school for those who need the access. The children who need it will stay to use them.

My opinion is that the provision of laptops shows the governments recognition of the relevance of students actively using technology. However, I think there are easier and safer ways to do this in the long run. Laptops seems to be the inefficient, short term approach in my opinion. Having seen how highly paid staff in top IT & Telecoms Caribbean companies abuse desktop computers, it really isn't a surprise how children will deal with generally more fragile laptops.

[RBphoto]

Boom. Facebook and stream porn whole day in class.

With a properly implemented VPN, going on forbidden sites will be impossible.

[Snags]

I lol'd@security specialists , I lol'd at properly implemented, I lol'd at forbidden, I lol'd at impossible, I lol'd at everything and okay, if the students get to take home the laptops...what about the rest of students in the schools? Are they handing them down or keeping them throughout their schooling? If they carry them from form to form, will the government be buying a new set of these laptops every year? If they hand them down, what happens to me after I get used to using this thing for my first year and then I go back to my books after?What's the plan? What happens with the present kids now?

[AllTrac]

Boom. Facebook and stream porn whole day in class.

With a properly implemented VPN, going on forbidden sites will be impossible.

nothing is impossible within the Matrix.

[Bezman]

i think every child will cherish their laptop like a piece of gold, they understand how valuable it is to them HP is probably custom fitting the software to limit its internet access/OS features etc and surely fit it with tracking via GPS and Wifi (http://h30458.www3.hp.com/us/us/ent/764765.html)

I doubt they will give the students ability to take to laptops home... its not for personal use, and in essence belongs to the gov't/school.

Easily each student can have an account on the laptop with his/her data that can be stored online to be accessed anywhere..

the gov't most def has thought this through and will announce how the plan to handle all issues raised here, dont take on the conspiracy theorist and propaganda spreading, we all know where the motivation for this coming from.

[RASC]

I lol'd@security specialists , I lol'd at properly implemented, I lol'd at forbidden, I lol'd at impossible, I lol'd at everything

[RASC]

i think every child will cherish their laptop like a piece of gold, they understand how valuable it is to them
.

You have GOTS to be kidding!

[Bezman]

i think every child will cherish their laptop like a piece of gold, they understand how valuable it is to them
.

You have GOTS to be kidding!

no i am not, i have donated computers to the kids in the lil poor area in my neighborhood, the boys laughed and said they will sell them for bikes etc, and years later, guess what, they still used to stop me and ask me for software or extra keyboards etc.. they look like lil bandits and theor older brothers do nothing all day and sell weed and drink stags, but the computers still there

[*$kїđž!™]

this was always, and still is a stupid promise...

x1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Most ridiculous ---this fool Dookeran instigated this just for COP to become popular.....

This will cause more chaos in schools more than anything else... widespread stealing!!!!!

Teachers prepare yourself!!!!!!

Imagine we running a deficit and they gonna spend $83 million?!?!?!

The hospitals are in a bad state......public servant are underpaid,,......roads are horrible,,,,
police have no cars and $83 million is gonna be wasted just like that!!!!!!!!!!

No blasted crime plan up to NOW!!!!they just skinning they teeth.........

WASTE as usuallll----all govts in trinidad --------PP and PNM same blasted thing - WASTE!!!!!

[saxman642]

To answer a lot of the questions and issues raised:

1. The laptops will have 14 inch screens. I have no further details on teh specs. I just suspect it is extra weight for children.

2. The students will be allowed to take them home. If they want to leave it in school, the school will have to provide the necessary security and storage for them.

3. This laptop distribution will be an annual event. Every new set of form 1s will get a laptop.

4. The laptops will NOT be joined to any domain environment. Thus it appears to be on the school (outside of the content filtering software already on the laptop) to regulate internet access.

5. IT technicians have been working at nearly all secondary schools since January 2009! (I am one of them)

6. I just cannot for see the idea of a class with all the kids laptops out and the teacher teaching from a laptop

7. Digi-Data get contract (as i read from the comments on the online Express article)

8. Laptops will have a 2 year warranty which includes accidental damage

9. The 'extra' laptops will be given to staff

10. The laptops have Computrace installed for anti-theft and recovery

Any other issues/questions?

[- Rovin's car audio -]

... WTN !