[iOS] iOS 7 and Enterprise

[SovietRussia]

It was announced today that iOS 7 is finally getting in-app VPN along with streamlined MDM Enrolment and Managed app configuration.

 

What other feature do you hope that iOS brings for us administrators of these devices in education?

[SovietRussia]

 

Screenshot of up-coming stuff

[synaesthesia]

There's some irony in how much it's looking and behaving like Windows 8.

[Edu-IT]

Well, the UI is a huge improvement. Wasn't this what they'd wanted to do for a while but that Scott guy stopped them?

[tj2419]

Anyone else jumping up and down with glee that the apps update themselves?

 

The sharing files wirelessly looks like it could be useful!

[JonThompson]

Anyone else jumping up and down with glee that the apps update themselves?

 

No, but I think half the auditorium was...

Edited June 11, 2013 by JonThompson

[howartp]

It was announced today that iOS 7 is finally getting ... streamlined MDM Enrolment and Managed app configuration.

 

What other feature do you hope that iOS brings for us administrators of these devices in education?

 

For the above reason, I'm kinda gutted that iOS7 isn't being release imminently - we're getting a large quantity of iPads soon and the one reservation I have with them is the various mechanisms for app deployment - none of them fits nicely with large-scale deployment in Education. (Please don't turn this into a 'you can do it x, y, z way' thread - I'm aware of them all) However it looks like those two features might well (begin to) address this for us.

 

By the time iOS 7 is here, we'll have deployed our apps to the users so even if the new way is the best way, we can't undo our deployment.

 

Peter

[Tricky_Dicky]

I'm the same howartp.

 

We will get all the iPads setup to deploy this summer and then a month after the kids come back iOS7 will come out

[howartp]

I'm the same howartp.

 

We will get all the iPads setup to deploy this summer and then a month after the kids come back iOS7 will come out

 

Yeah. On the plus side, AirDrop does look useful though.

 

Peter

[howartp]

Yeah. On the plus side, AirDrop does look useful though.

 

Peter

ps, I think when it's released we'll put a block in our internet proxy to stop them upgrading until we've tested it and also monitored the forums to see what it's broken.

 

Peter

[Edu-IT]

No, but I think half the auditorium was...

Jumping up and down AND clapping!

[Tricky_Dicky]

Yeah. On the plus side, AirDrop does look useful though.

 

Peter

AirDrop looks brilliant. From a teaching point of view it would be great if you could send it to a group.

 

ps, I think when it's released we'll put a block in our internet proxy to stop them upgrading until we've tested it and also monitored the forums to see what it's broken.

 

Peter

Why would you block it? Are your iPads in a 1:1 scheme? If so, I wouldn't dream of blocking it as by letting the children discover/maintian and update their own devices is part of learning.

[psydii]

SSO for webdav shares across apps, set up as easily as Exchange integration.

 

Unified sharing to specific targets (think student work hand-in folders).

 

User switching/profile roaming. <- yes I know they are a 1:1 device. However most places are never going to fund 1:1, so a pragmatic solution is called for.

[Tricky_Dicky]

SSO for webdav shares across apps, set up as easily as Exchange integration.

 

Unified sharing to specific targets (think student work hand-in folders).

 

User switching/profile roaming. <- yes I know they are a 1:1 device. However most places are never going to fund 1:1, so a pragmatic solution is called for.

 

Are these things that exist or you would like to see?

[SovietRussia]

Are these things that exist or you would like to see?

 

SSO is announced, but the other two have not been. But Apple have not said in much detail about SSO, and I wouldnt be surprised if they removed the WebDav feature from Pages and Keynote, its so legacy.

[psydii]

One more: Folders to store related stuff in. Folders are an inevitability.

 

Enterprises need to have control of their stuff. icloud for storage of corporate data is not acceptable.

 

Also from a user's point of view you can't do a serious amount of work without a filing system. Google already tried a new paradigm with tags instead of folders. It didn't work for the masses, they went back to folders (which is really a hierarchical tagging system). Tags are great, but not a replacement for filing.

[JonThompson]

Jumping up and down AND clapping!

 

I stand corrected.

[SovietRussia]

One more: Folders to store related stuff in. Folders are an inevitability.

 

Enterprises need to have control of their stuff. icloud for storage of corporate data is not acceptable.

 

Also from a user's point of view you can't do a serious amount of work without a filing system. Google already tried a new paradigm with tags instead of folders. It didn't work for the masses, they went back to folders (which is really a hierarchical tagging system). Tags are great, but not a replacement for filing.

 

Point is, is that iOS does not have a proper readable file system - Its all inside the app's themselves. They would have to re-write and add a file system capable of actually supporting folders and proper enterprise level stuff, but they won't do this because they have a vision for all the shiny iOS devices to be used by consumers, people who do not care what file system they have, but at the same time - They also love pushing this stuff into Education. Madness.

[howartp]

AirDrop looks brilliant. From a teaching point of view it would be great if you could send it to a group./QUOTE]

That, it can do.

 

You can send to anyone in the room with AirDrop on (if you choose).

 

Why would you block it? Are your iPads in a 1:1 scheme? If so, I wouldn't dream of blocking it as by letting the children discover/maintian and update their own devices is part of learning.

I did say 'whilst we tested it'.

 

There was an iOS 6 update last year (or was it even iOS 6 itself?) that had a bug in where most people who had installed it chose to restore the previous version. I'm not doing that on 130 devices.

[mac_shinobi]

WiFi Hotspot 2.0 !!

[seawolf]

Point is, is that iOS does not have a proper readable file system - Its all inside the app's themselves. They would have to re-write and add a file system capable of actually supporting folders and proper enterprise level stuff, but they won't do this because they have a vision for all the shiny iOS devices to be used by consumers, people who do not care what file system they have, but at the same time - They also love pushing this stuff into Education. Madness.

 

Actually, iOS already has a "proper" file system, it is just organised by App (app silos) rather than the traditional desktop, documents, etc. hierarchy and most app data is in private/var/mobile/Library or private/var/mobile/Applications. iOS shares much with OSX under the hood including HFS+ file system and a UNIX architecture.

 

These things are just hidden from users unless you jailbreak or use other tools to view them. However, as Apple seems to be adding more and more higher level functions to iOS over time, it will begin to have more parity with OSX feature-wise even while OSX begins to look in appearance more like iOS.

 

Why not up just provide all of this power to users right from the start? Because just slapping OSX in a phone or tablet wouldn't have done anything to simplify computing for the average person and it would have required greater processing power than was possible for an iPhone size device and battery life would have been non-existent. People seem to forget that everything in life is a compromise. Choosing what can be compromised and what cannot be is never easy.