John D. Dieter

This is what happens when we simply accept that "doing it" with a computer will be better. It just isn't so. Too bad we have to spend tons of money to come to the realisation that there is no proof for:

anything + computer = better

We used to make things. We had machines, lathes, mills, drills and foundries and we spent all our time making things. Now we have sold all the tools to China - and all we do is mess around with Computers all day. Begging the question: "is what I'm doing right now with this computer worth anything?"

I bet the answer for 99% of users is no.

Are you wasting time messing with power point - or are you actually doing something that helps?

An engineer can draw a bracket by hand on a drawing board in 30 minutes. It takes him 2 hours to do it in auto cad. If you add the "change control system" and all the "documentation control" and all the other computer crap that has to go on to get the bracket out to market - you discover quickly why China can make and sell brackets better than us. (I just bought a part for my 1964 Ford truck. It was "made in China")

Teachers simply accept as fact that doing something "on the computer" is better - or even that it should be done at all.

I know a repair facility that has 6 technicians working - and 26 people in the front office messing with computers.

Almost no one does a cost benefit analysis of anything any more - especially comparing computer to non computer.

Just look at the Japanese. The most tech savvy nation on earth. They don't have one single computer on the auto manufacturers shop floor. They have little cards they stick in little slots when they get low on parts, and a guy picks up the cards and takes them to the truck driver - who takes them to the warehouse where a card goes to the manufacturer and more parts are delivered - and the cards come right back to the shop floor along with the parts the worker needs.

Add a computerized inventory system to that shop - and you just gave them the death nail. They will not be able to compete any more.

So, power point - yes or no - is a cost benefit question. Sure - slides look cool - but CIT is about IMPROVING communications, not making it look cool. Computer Games look cool. Are we all playing fancy computer games 90% of the time? and calling it a job?

(PowerPoint: There is an open source version in openoffice that opens and saves as MS powerpoint.)

Has anyone experience of using Microsoft Agents...

Microsoft agent is cartoon characters. (like clippy in word)

You "play" with cartoon characters. Can we please concentrate on serious technology - and not play animations and cartoons?

If you want games - there are plenty of open source game engines you can use.

If you are serious about computer technology - leave the games alone. They are a waste of time.

I just looked at my business website’s hit counter,

Feb 2005 : firefox 20%

Keep in mind that almost all firefox users load the "user agent switcher" extension so that web sites will "think" we are using IE, and therefore won't boot us out - telling us we are using an unsupported browser.

browser usage stats

So the actual number of firefox users is much higher - and I blame the WILD success of firefox on the "ad-blocker", "popup blocker" and developer tools. Ad blocker is AMAZING. you block an ad server and ALL your sites load ten times quicker because the ads don't need to load.

Also firefox is w3c compliant - xforms and css level 2. Anyway - the fact that schools TODAY could replace ms office, windows, ie on every desktop with free versions that work better - cannot be ignored.

I use this analogy to describe why people still buy Microsoft:

I can buy 6 - 12oz beers at the grocery store for $3.50 US

But I go to the bar and spend $2.00 US per beer, because that's where everyone else is.

"On the other hand, when one aims to reach a mass audience one has to take into consideration what the majority of people are using out there - for compatiblity reasons alone." ...

"I keep a careful watch on the hits at our business website to see which browsers and operating systems our visitors are using (our hit counter records this data). A massive 86% are still using IE5 or IE6."

Great points.

Firefox alone has 20% - all open source browsers together are at 25% right now:

Browser Statiustics

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) open source development contains no secrets - and therefore no one can force you to rewrite a perfectly good program because the "old version" isn't supported any more. This site is a php site. An open source language. Cool huh?

The only reason it is difficult to make web pages "cross browser" compatible, is because Microsoft IE and IIS are NON STANDARD! While you may believe that the "other browsers" are Non-standard - in fact - Microsoft is the one NOT conforming to w3c standards such as css level 2. For example - Mozilla will do a css input:hover - but Microsoft will not! Why? Because Microsoft wants to sell me .net and c# script - and does not want me using html and javascript.

Look at these open source products. Compare MS to the empire IBM used to have. Remember how quickly IBM fell. Technology takes no prisoners!

My advice: sell MSFT quick.

>it just gives all of the good online practice that is out there a really bad name<

"Interaction with a machine just doesn't pass muster if that's all there is available."

David:

In the use of this forum, do you feel you are interacting with machines, even though you know there are real people at the other end of your keyboard?

(as opposed to an artificial intelligence program )

I actually hold the opposite view, that blog like written interaction is much better and more desirable, more concise - as it removes personality and inhibition. Imagine the shy student who fails miserably at spoken communication.

I ask, because I have been developing a scaled indexing system that would organize the sum of all human knowledge: The "Weighted Scales Indexing System" does away with Universities, Professors and Degrees.

This is an indexing and categorizing system with many scales. The scale values are set by "experts" who vote in a forum similar to educationforum. Data is

categorized in the same manner. Imagine the sum of all human knowledge

reduced to memes and indexed and rated by the experts. One becomes an

expert in a particular field - by taking tests on line and by peer

review and acceptance. The better your knowledge, the higher "weight"

your votes have.

Here is an example. Imagine a scale for truth - with one end of the

scale being fact - and the other end fiction.

If it is appropriate to apply the "truth" scale to a meme

<(what is a meme)

then the forum would address and debate challenges to the truth value.

Even the system by which individual thoughts are strained out of their

containing book, lecture, etc... into memes would be controlled by the

experts.

Given this system: One would become an expert, not by paying money and

attending classes, but by simply participating in the system, taking tests, and surviving peer review.

This shift from a static (when you attend a University you get a

snapshot of knowledge at a particular point in time) to a dynamic

knowledge base not only does away with Universities (all traditional

schools for that matter) but also does away with all Governments.

Think about it. This is the next logical step in the evolution of mankind..

Not a "pure Democracy" but a Democracy that gives the "smart" people (experts) more votes. (weighted)

I believe the problem with online education is that it tries to enhance or replicate the current educational system, acting more as a communications tool than the "mega brain" that the human race should be evolving toward.

Education caused mankind to evolve. He taught language, history, and trades to his children, and made the next generation "smarter" than the previous generation. Education has evolved into what we have today: schools. I say to you, that Schools and teachers shall soon be obsolete, replaced completely by an information technology I call the "Weighted Scales Indexing System".

Brief overview:

This is an indexing system with many scales. The scale values are set by "experts" who vote in a forum similar to educationforum. Data is categorized in the same manner. Imagine the sum of all human knowledge reduced to memes and indexed and rated by the experts. One becomes an expert in a particular field - by taking tests on line and by peer review and acceptance. The better your knowledge, the higher "weight" your votes have.

Here is an example. Imagine a scale for truth - with one end of the scale being fact - and the other end fiction. If it is appropriate to apply the "truth" scale to a meme http://cscs.umich.edu/%7Ecrshalizi/formerl...d/memetics.html then the forum would address and debate challenges to the truth value. Even the system by which individual thoughts are strained out of their containing book, lecture, etc... into memes would be controlled by the experts.

Given this system: One would become an expert, not by paying money and attending classes, but by simply participating in the system.

This shift from a static (when you attend a University you get a snapshot of knowledge at a particular point in time) to a dynamic knowledge base not only does away with Universities (all traditional schools for that matter) but also does away with all Governments.

Think about it. This is the next logical step in the evolution of mankind.. Universities and Governments will resist. But resisting progress is futile!

I am also told to "use windows" - BUT - I use the open source program for Linux "rdesktop" to connect to a windows terminal server. So, If I am forced to use a MS application - I can do so without ever installing MS.

As an aside, the open source version of office mentioned in this thread (openoffice) opens and saves all Microsoft format files. Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc...

It works better than Microsofts own software. IT help desk professionals use OpenOffice to "save" corrupted excel files. OpenOffice is the only program that can open corrupted Microsoft files, fix them, and save them back as excel!

Also - open office can "save as" every past version of MS - and MS can't even do that either.

Why my children are FORCED to learn one particular commercial computer product (MS) and schools pay millions for Windows when BETTER SOFTWARE is available for free?

It's got to be the administration - and not the actual Educators that made that decision!

Born 8/4/1964 in Houston, Texas.

Education: S.P. Waltrip High School (HISD), Houston Community College (associate degree data processing) and University Of Texas At Austin (BS CS).

Over 22 years experiance in Information Technology. Invented the telephony server. Invented telephony control language and telephony scripting language. Invented SKIS (Scaled Knowledge Indexing System) where information is rated on relevant scales by experts defined by a credentialing system. Working as a consultant for MacroEnterprises.