Dos_Box

Anyone overnighting on the Monday? If so, then please let us know and we shall organise a meet. And remember, LGfL will be hosting us all on Tuesday night for a social after the conf

Rob Faulkner will be here to deliver Smoothwall by Qoria expertise on the 27th October at the free EduGeek EdSec Conference with his talk - The Security Roundup: Underminr, ClickNix and what IT teams are doing about it. "Join Smoothwall’s Rob Faulkner for a rapid round-up of the cybersecurity threats facing schools, from new ways to slip past DNS filtering, to the gaps attackers exploit every day. This interactive session features a live quiz and poll on the security steps IT teams are taking, plus five practical actions they can implement to secure their networks." With 7 speakers from some of the world’s top security focussed EdTech companies, and an expo highlighting the best of the global EdTech sector it's going to be an amazing day of talks and networking, finishing up with an evening social kindly sponsored by LGfL where you can eat, drink, network and be geeky! For more information, details and tickets, please click here: https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugeek-edsec-2026-tickets-2000008399963

Yes, but you can still use the machine air-gapped, just on a newer supported OS, rather than on older 'puters which, whilst cheap to replace, can be getting quite unreliable. Yes, there are risks, but you can have AI produce the source code and have that checked. I think it would be a nice little project for someone to try and post the results up. There is a technical webinar here that goes through it in depth. Not had chance to watch it all yet, but does have some good points to note in it.

Just a quick question here, I recall some time back that many were saying they still use old PC's (not network connected) to run things like CNC and other machinery on as the original manufacturers had gone the way of the dodo or stopped support for the kit the school had bought, leaving them to work with no updates or drivers that would allow them to be used on newer operating systems. Given that AI has proven to be very good at various things code-wise, has anyone tried to have it write newer drivers for your old machinery, or even write a newer version of the (often very) old software you were using for it? It could be a very good way of harnessing the power of AI to extend the life of old devices and equipment, saving the school money on replacements for perfectly functional kit that would otherwise have been turned into e-waste. Just a thought.

Join us as we host Alan O'Donohoe (@Teknoteacher) from the EXA Foundation on the 27th October at the free EduGeek EdSec Conference for his talk - Project Zero Day: What If Your School Lost Its Digital Infrastructure for a Day? “What would happen if your school's digital infrastructure disappeared for an entire day? Schools invest in firewalls, filtering, MFA, backups and continuity plans, but few have tested whether they can keep running without them. In this practical closing session, Alan introduces Project Zero Day, a controlled exercise in which a school operates as though key systems are unavailable. It covers how to uncover hidden dependencies, why having a backup isn't the same as knowing you can restore it, and how to turn a written business continuity plan into a tested one. Attendees will leave with ideas they can try in their own schools.” With 7 speakers from some of the world’s top security focussed EdTech companies, and an expo highlighting the best of the global EdTech sector it's going to be an amazing day of talks and networking, finishing up with an evening social kindly sponsored by LGfL where you can eat drink and be geeky! For more information, details and tickets, please click here: https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugeek-edsec-2026-tickets-2000008399963

I suppose a 10 year account resurrection is better than a 10 year thread resurrection 😛

Having been lurking on a few Linux forums over the past couple of months, there is definitely a great reluctance to use AI for coding in a lot of cases. There seem to be a lot of purists out there, which may cause some friction in the Linux world in the near future I think. Saying that, I was having a play with some of their other offerings last night and there are some glaring bugs. In WordArt, fpr example, you can't change the font size. You can, but the second you click back on the doc it reverts to the default. That and a lot of other bugs too. If you take a look at their GitHub page for the various apps, you will page upon page of reported issues, but they do seem to be working through them quickly (I imagine they set AI on them). It'll be interesting to see what else starts to emerge over the next few months now people have had an opportunity to see the potential of AI coding. *And yes, most will be horrible.

If you haven't been keeping an eye on our socials, we have been promoting the EdSec talks recently in preparation for the final article. I'll start to put them up here and today we are very happy to announce our talk from Nellcote. You missed our London conf they did an excellent presentation on penetration testing (their speciality) and this year they are to join us with their session: "DfE Cyber Security Standards defined" So join us at Derby on the 27th October to hear this alongside a some of the EdTech industry's leading companies both speaking and exhibiting as well as a post-conf social organised by LGfL. You can get your free ticket here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugeek-edsec-2026-tickets-2000008399963

Interestingly, I was watching some US legal eagles on YT last night and one comment made me think. If Adobe had been using AI to code their products, does that create any possible IP issues on their part? I can't see it myself, but Imagine if company 'A' uses AI to create a product via a third party AI, and company 'B' uses that same AI to create a similar product at the same time, utilising almost identical AI generated code and there are legal fisticuffs, who would be judged as having the copied\infringed the other?

It certainly is one thing that many don't appreciate about AI, in that you need to know what you are doing in the first place to judge the output. AI is a great assistant, but a lousy creator.

You can guarantee that out there somewhere is a frustrated edtech trying to get AI to reverse engineer all of their subscription apps. At best it will be cathartic, at worse the entire school might like a word with them.

We don't often see hornets up here, and defo one insect I keep well away from!

As regards business, Adobe currently have an offer on for 50% off on Creative Suite, down from £66.49 per month for the first three months. Then you get locked in. Yes, it is decent pricing for education, but many in the private sector, particularly one-man-bands would consider the costs saving worth taking a punt with especially as the subscription goalposts keep moving, which does not generate goodwill from the end user. By all accounts, the ArtCraft 'creator' did this as he was so frustrated with his Adobe subscription. And never forget the way that some people will jump on any cause they think is worthwhile. And it's not that it's going to take that much of the volunteers time. Just their tokens.

For most here I imagine that you have been aware that have not been living under a rock and have been reading up on the current furore over the vibe coded Artcraft suite and Photon, whose aim it to provide free alternatives (whilst looking very similar) to Adobe products. Artcraft even has its own Office 356 Word\Excel and PowerPoint equivalents. Both have been coded via AI, and both, after some playing with this weekend in a VM, are not there yet. Not by a long way. However, they could well be with enough time, effort and tokens. I'm sure there will be plenty of legal and ethical considerations flying around in the next few weeks\months, but the genie, I feel, is well and truly out of the bottle. And where will this ultimately lead? Imagine a Linux based Office 365-alike setup, or tools that can mimic the functionality of Microsoft management and deployment tools and integrating with a current open source office suite? Admittedly, there is a lot more to the software and tools we use daily than telling an AI to code you one, there are often hard learnt lessons baked in there that AI may ignore, leaving you wide open to lord-knows-what, as well as near-do-wells looking to exploit the gullible\desperate. When it comes to interesting times, we are certainly entering them right now.

Try giving either @ICTDirect_Dave or @ICTDirect_Joe a bell, they might be able to help if the kit is in reasonable order.