Apple Leadership Event 19th October : Questions please

[GrumbleDook]

Apple are holding the West Midlands Leadership Event on 18th October and repeating it on 19th.

I have been invited along to 19th October and I am looking for questions to put to Apple about managing Apple hardware / software in schools. I already have some (as mentioned in another thread) but it is unrealistic to try to ask more than 5 questions across the day ... so ... please feel free to raise some questions here, merge them in with questions from others and I will get a final list up a day or two before the event. The more real life we can make this the better. Examples like "I have been handed 30 iPads as an alternative to a set of laptops so how do I install software and use them in a multi-user environment ... not a 1:1 scheme" is good.

In the interest of keeping things fair, can we make sure that questions are along the positive / constructive criticism line ... we all know how some folk feel about Apple, their hardware, their OSes, etc ... and we have to remember that the stuff is out there in schools and many members have to deal with it on a daily basis.

[stevenwba]

If i have a site license of iworks and have it on disk, how do i go about installing it on ipads?

Now everything is geared towards to app store, as a school, we are finding it diffcult to go about buying apps, and using apple id/id's to roll out apps to multiple hardware ipad/macbook/imac.

Questions on licensing, of apps, maybe a volume feature, so one apple id can buy and get discount on large numbers of apps.

I can think of some more, but for me, the most urgent now, is the whole software issue, and purcashing from the app store, because we can only buy via PO, it means getting itunes vouchers every time we want something.

[nephilim]

I have a suite of Mac minis that are using bootcamp to dual boot with windows, when running the bootcamp windows, why do the mac mini's drastically overheat and power down compared to when OSX Leopard is running? (No upgrade to snow leopard on these things!)

[GrumbleDook]

Had a few more things. Some folk might already have answers or partial answers on these. I've put together some general areas to think about.

Management of Desktop / Laptops, including deployment of images and software, managing of users and connecting into Windows domains.
Management of iDevices over a wireless network
Management of software on iDevices in a multi-user environment
Infrastructure changes needed for 1:1 schemes
Charging of iDevices
Licensing changes due to iTunes Store / App Store

Feel free to use these to flesh things out.

[GCB]

Perfect timing! I have just been asked by our Board of Directors to look into iPads for all of our senior school and I am a little worried about the effectiveness of using them in the classroom, how best to manage them from an IT point of view and as an educational resource. I think that you have covered all the points that are on my mind, especially about how to install and update software/apps on 30+ iPads! As I am sure we have all seen in the Apple Stores, using iPads as info points shows how far an iPad can be locked down and controlled – a useful feature in the classroom(!?!) I won’t mention Flash…

[Chris_Cook]

* Whats happening with 10.7 and active directory? When will it work?
* Can they make it so we can install osx server virtually on non-mac hardware? (I mean legitimately, not just technically)

[nephilim]

Question 2 is going to be a no....they've said they want it on MAC hardware only.

[Arthur]

If I have a site license of iWork and have it on disk, how do I go about installing it on iPads?

You can't. iWork for OS X and iWork for iOS are two separate products. The site license for the former doesn't cover the latter.

Can they make it so we can install OS X Server virtually on non-Mac hardware? (I mean legitimately, not just technically)

As Nephilim said, this is never going to happen.

[teejay]

How do you get an iPad to work with the vast majority of educational software and VLE? content which is Flash based?

[GrumbleDook]

How do you get an iPad to work with the vast majority of educational software and VLE? content which is Flash based?

I think we all know the answer to this one already ... VLE and resource providers which use Flash will not be friendly to iOS devices, but can still be used on notebook / desktop devices, and that there are a number of workarounds (remote desktop services, etc) which can be used. Perhaps the question could be "What are Apple doing to work with existing suppliers of educational resources and VLEs to make sure that any developments will be iOS friendly?"

[pete]

How committed is Apple to ensuring Macs can continue to integrate with site-wide Directory Services (be they OpenLDAP/Kerberos/AD) for single auth. The Lion security problems are worrying and might suggest a lack of care in implementation.

[teejay]

I think we all know the answer to this one already ... VLE and resource providers which use Flash will not be friendly to iOS devices, but can still be used on notebook / desktop devices, and that there are a number of workarounds (remote desktop services, etc) which can be used. Perhaps the question could be "What are Apple doing to work with existing suppliers of educational resources and VLEs to make sure that any developments will be iOS friendly?"

Ok, reword the question - 'Are Apple prepared to fund the costs of educational software providers to rewrite any Flash based software to be compatible with iOS so the upgrade can be provided to their existing school customers free of charge?'

[GrumbleDook]

Ok, reword the question - 'Are Apple prepared to fund the costs of educational software providers to rewrite any Flash based software to be compatible with iOS so the upgrade can be provided to their existing school customers free of charge?'

Again ... I think we all know there answer to this one. It will be something like "When a new system comes onto the market there are often changes which need to be made to software to ensure it runs on it. This happened with going from Win98 to W2k / WinXP, and we look at the move to users accessing resources and VLEs via an iOS device in the same way. When Windows 8 comes out, if that also means that educational software needs to be changed then we would not expect to see Microsoft being asked to pay for companies to redevelop their products".

And yes ... that is paraphrased from answers I have had previously from both MS, Apple, Capita, Serco and Adobe.

[GrumbleDook]

Ok, so fine tuning the questions then.

1) What are the plans for making integration of OSX.7 and AD actually happen and stay as something reliable?

2) Can Apple give examples, case studies and instructions about how to employ iOS Devices in a multi-device, multi-user environment ... taking into consideration accessing and saving files, security, patch management, application deployment and configurations settings for accessing the network infrastructure?

3) Can Apple be clear about how Apps are now to be licensed on iOS and LionOS devices, taking into account that this is for devices that are multi-user and users who will access multiple devices, especially in the light of recent changes to the iTunes ToS in the UK.

4) Can Apple be clear about what work they are doing with suppliers of educational resources and tools to help them provide stuff that will work across the range of Apple devices? If you can get Flash to work it would be a start!

5) When will Apple start giving information to people in schools instead of just saying "Go ask an ASE" ... who are wonderful, but people in schools also want to learn and deploy things themselves (or have to, depending on the budgets).
(Sorry if it seems that I want to do ASEs out of some business ...)

Reserve questions (in case anyone else asks one of the above or if there is a clear demonstration of it at the event)

6) Any chance of knocking another 20% off the price for schools?
7) When are you coming back to BETT instead of just being done by ASEs? (who are wonderful people ... yada, yada, yada)
8) When can we stick OSX on kit other than Apple kit? We'll pay! Honest!

Anything else? Any re-wording needed?

[nephilim]

Question 8 is the biggest IMO. If I could install Lion OSX legitimately on my laptop I would be very very happy as it would give me a base to play around with the functionality more than just using VMs!