JonWPS

Also, I think we now use the 'American' billion and trillion.

I like the idea of a Zimbra server just loitering. Waiting for its moment.

On the brink of ordering Asus Transformers for our new sixth form. Very impressed with them. Battery with keyboard attached is monumental.

Toshiba Satellite Pros here as well. Got the last batch with £100 cashback as mentioned. Almost identical as the C660 model posted above.

I feel the same. Much prefer the 'proper' winters, especially having lived in Canada for a while; much more interesting than drab, foggy, damp winter days that we usually get. However I don't enjoy the commute one bit when the snow and ice rolls in. Even if I manage to wind my way out of the estate from hell (mini stone roundabouts, cars parked up everywhere), many mornings even the A roads aren't gritted.

Only dealings I've had with them was one morning when one of their technicians spent a good 15 minutes sat in our reception saying he was here to do the 'outstanding' work on our system. I got called down and told him I'd never even heard of NS Optimum. End result was he was actually meant to be at the primary school next door, and has come into our reception instead. What a mistake-a to make-a. Great first impression.

Stewart Lee for me. This cracks me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGAOCVwLrXo

We're on Exchange 2003 here and I find it easy to manage. Sure the setup is harder to sort out, but luckily it was in before I arrived. 2010 looms on the horizon though, so that PDF a few posts up makes for interesting reading.

Just sorted out a IPSCA cert for our exchange server yesterday. No problems at all. Shame Firefox still don't support the certs though.

Our is locked....but the back is completely open as it had to be removed to fit our new MIS server in. Hoping to get a new rack and tidy the gaff up this summer.

Our students use print credits; years 7 to 9 get 50 per half term, year 10s get 400 for the year, and year 11s 450. For the younger kids it's not much of an issue if they go over and need more, as credits are then knocked off their next term's allocation, but it's trickier for years 10 and 11. We're not really too keen on charging students for extra credits, and funnily enough departments are willing to pay either. For staff, they should really be printing only on the photocopiers which are controlled by account numbers and billed annually to departments. However they can and do print to the network printers, so they have a fixed set of credits. Any additional credits are then charged to relevant departments as well. We're having a bit of a refresh of our copiers this summer and part of it may be some print management software coming in, so I'm hoping to be able to further refine this system both in terms of setup and effectiveness. As it stands we've printed as a school over 318,000 pages this school year. That doesn't include local office printers and of course photocopying. Scary really.

The iPad will surely be the cause of WWIII.

Don't seem to have got any. Probably should have applied.

Apple and others marketing technology as fashion irks me, but at the end of the day I'll look at anything purely on its merits and use in the various environments within school. We initially looked at iPads for our sixth formers, but we've managed to put forward a case for a different tablet that offers more functionality and ease of integration. Do agree about that iPhone advert though. Makes me want to smash the TV in.

Because they sell them in all sorts of colours!

Lots of love for the iPad this morning I see.

Recently purchased some Stone All-in-Ones and I'm/we're very happy with them. Having said that they are replacing nine-year-old RM 2200s and CRTs so they were hardly going to be worse.

Our media accounts have access. Safety mode is enforced across the site and the media classes have plenty of staff monitoring them, so not an issue.

I ended up doing voluntary work for a couple of weeks here three years ago. As it happened circumstances changed here shortly after that and I got the call, for the first few months on a temp contract, then eventually was taken on full-time. Got a bit of luck but like to think my little voluntary stint did me no harm.

Our teaching staff have laptops, so no fixed PCs in the classrooms. Truth be told I can see the benefits of going down the fixed route; no constant plugging and unplugging of VGA, IWB, audio connections, a fixed network connection etc. Having said that me and the AV tech don't have that many problems as it is; our wireless system is thankfully very reliable, and most staff are able to have personal use of the equipment without trashing the things. Use is backed up by a laptop agreement on top of the regular AUP.

We've got a sixth form starting up again from September, so piles of work to done to get the area designated for it ready in time. Bit of cabling to be done but thankfully not much, and also thankfully the build is directly under the main comms cabinet, but main work is bringing in 50 or so of those Asus transformers which the students will be using during their studies. Should be interesting. Additional wireless points and the creation of a new VLAN for that as well. On top of that I've got one suite of PCs to install and build, and the usual turnover of staff laptops to get through. Oh and I do believe RM are chucking RMVP 5.1 our way so that will need to be done as well.

Must say I never had a problem with their units in terms of spec or price, or indeed in terms of realibility. We did however have a few comical situations once orders were placed, which now in hindsight were probably cashflow issues at their end. Culminated in me being told that they were having a problem sourcing Microsoft or Logitech keyboards and mice.

The only dealing I've had with NS Optimum was when one of their engineers mistakenly sat in our reception for half an hour when he was meant to be at the primary school next door all along. Will be interesting to see what they're able to offer existing customers.

2007 Audi A3 1.6l Had it about a year now, only 35k on the clock and still feels like new. Previously had a 1.3l 2001 Fiesta.

Welcome to William Parker School - William Parker School Not really anything to do with me as it's designed and maintained by a third-party developer. Used to be done in-house by the previous technician plugging away on Dreamweaver, but like to think it looks much more professional now.