Got myself a new computer.
Went up to the Frisco Microsoft Store to see the Surface. Was disappointed that they don’t run Legacy programs and they had some Sony Vaio Touch Screen computers that felt nice so I went home with one.
Using it now.
6 gig of memory
500 gig hard drive
Feels good in the lap
Liking it so far.
So I’m blogging with Office 13 and Windows 8
By the way, this was the computer that I was going to get this summer, but didn’t because Windows 8 was coming out.
Lanschool works! Just annoyed my Advisory group with Windows 8, so I’ll be showing it off today and tomorrow.
So Office 2010 appears to work. I downloaded it as I need a way to read the file attachments I get on my school email account. Twinbox also appears to work, and is still better than any Twitter client though I do like their web interface.
I’m not missing the Start Button though I am pinning a ton of stuff to the task bar.
Writer and Outlook for example.
However, I prefer Windows 8 mail to Outlook but I like Twitter through Outlook the best. Go figure.
Not much too it though. Gives me easy access to my Iomega file server. Installing Office 2010 right now.
Went out to the Best Buy site to look for the Microsoft Surface, and rethinking that purchase. To be honest, there are several notebooks at a lower price point that would give more back for the buck.
I think $199 is the best price point for tablet – I have an Amazon Fire and an Nexus Table that went for that.
But having a bit of trouble uploading to Screencast and don’t have time to deal with it right now.
Probably going to use my anniversary money towards a Windows 8 Tablet, depends on their feel. Will be going by Best Buy Friday evening.
Here's an image of my Start Screen from SnagIt. Love SnagIt and it works well.
I live Live Writer and it’s my favorite way to blog. I actually was able to download Live Essentials and install them on my Windows 8 Machine. The only thing I haven’t figure out how to do is to have more than one app showing on the screen at the time, but it may be due to the screen resolution.
I have my beta version of Wheel of Wealth, KeepPass and Filezilla installed and can get to my email accounts.
One of my absolute favorite machines is a Lenovo X61. Unfortunately it's aging. I think I have had it for 5 years.
I just put Windows 8 on it and it's running decently. A lot of features aren't working, but they don't work in Windows 7 either.
I'll have to see if Lenovo is doing any drivers for any of the buttons.
I'll let you know what I think of Windows 8 as I go.
Something I had seen but hadn’t really done anything with in recent years until the IBM summer camp. They had the students download the VMPlayer and do all their development there, in an Ubuntu box, which was brilliant. Even more brilliant to is set up the machine in advance, that way you don’t have configuration problems – an issue I had at an SMU workshop on developing Android apps.
The cool part for me, is that I can almost duplicate the computers at school so that when I make videos at home, the computer looks more like the lab computers. Not quite as confusing for the students.
VMPlayer is free. At http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ I did break down and by the educational version of VMWare Workstation.
Oh yes, you can play with Windows 8 now without breaking your PC.
Another thing I like it for is software development. You can set up and save your whole development system for a project on a virtual machine and then put it on a USB drive and carry it around. Wouldn’t put it on the cloud,but they do have servers for that. Download time is a bit slow.
Depends
On the student and on the teacher.
I have had students come through my AP Computer Science program, pass the test, major in computer science and do really well.
I have had more not do as well.
I keep up with the local colleges and I keep up with the training as much as possible. I have even graded.
My kids don't pay full price for the exams and they get an incentive for passing, as do I. So they personally are not impacted by the costs.
I do recommend that they use the CS credit as elective and as an opportunity to be ahead of their classmates. Being in the introductory class of the major is invaluable and gets you contacts. However, having spent two years with me gives them an edge and
it should be an easy A an and opportunity to make tutoring money.
That's how I got through and ahead of college. If you are the kid that knows the answers and does well, you are first in mind for part time jobs, internships and other cool opportunities which has happened for me and my former students.
So I say take the class, most high school CS programs are AP driven but only take the test if you can afford it.
Sent from my Windows Phone