Ditto

My charity has been purchasing laptops, approximate spec, 17", 16GB, reasonable size SSD and around about a current series i5. A while ago my LMs, LM switched to HP (had a contact) in part as he found the Dell voucher code unwieldy and unconvincing. I think last time I heard they were coming in for around £700-800. We have now decide we need two devices in the office and defaulted to HP. They came back and their least expensive proposal was HP SFF 400 G9 Business Desktop - specs being 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, i5-14500 just over £1000. The idea was dropped at that point! All prices are incl. VAT. I have resurrected ithe topic! I have agreement to consider other manufacturer's, and a first, willingness to consider a refurbished device with 3 year warranty. @ICTDirect_Dave, this maybe your chance! Just 2 devices though and I will need to understand the output conncetions as they will want to reuse current monitors - I can find out what they have, could be VGA! Hopefully though, HDMI or DisplayPort.

White ticks on green background! ChatGPT or Co-pilot!?! I'm all in favour - but it's proving a struggle to convince some of my colleagues to use AI - with care of course!

Resurrecting an old thread. Our Head of finance is presenting to all staff in our weekly team meets. We are a charity. She has decided to play music at the beginning of the meeting and even took a request. Additionally she has played a YouTube video for educational purposes. With a school experience background, l have compliance concerns. Do I raise the question and be labelled as the killjoy or turn a blind eye?

Or another way - it was all spent on CEO salaries and teacher pay rises (don't begrudge them) 😛

Sustainability topic on the TPM 2.0 issue - see https://www.edugeek.net/forums/topic/221193-windows-11-e-waste-mountian-this-year/ I have searched widely, but have struggled to find a real world example that shows having TPM 2.0 over TPM 1.2 would have prevented a cyber hack. Certainly no articles saying millions of users impacted! For sure TPM 2.0 is better and addresses a number known issues/design flaws, but TPM 2.0 is already known to have it's flaws. Sure better to move forwards on security matters, but enough the justify the massive e-waste mountain, especially for domestic users. Maybe better still, make it a requirement of manufactures to have a replace TPM device solution.

Honesty from the outset - this is largely ChatGPT thinking, but.... Changing the licence triggered a system/activation refresh, which coincided with Windows Update working again. —not: “EDU licences enable updates that Pro blocks”. A suggested idea is Start with Pro (unsupported hardware) Confirm “no updates” Without changing edition, try: Reboot “Check for updates” multiple times Reset Windows Update components (or even just wait for next Patch Tuesday) Then: Switch to EDU → note behaviour Then (this is key): Switch back to Pro See if updates now still work What this would show If updates continue working after switching back to Pro: → That disproves the “EDU unlocks updates” theory If updates stop again only on Pro: → That would be genuinely interesting (and unusual) - but given the amount of users out there, would be reported on in the real world. Now, my thoughts, with no AI input - take note of the previous post. Bounce it up the management chain, stop trying to spend your time trying to make a silk purse out of pig's ear and spend the time instead telling your SLT the need to invest in IT and make them aware of DfE guidelines. Too many of us in edu try to hard to do the ridiculous with diddly-squat investment. We as an industry sector need to break the cycle. And the old 'we don't have the budget...'. Pah! There's plenty of budget (maybe I'm pushing it here!), but ultimately it's a choice of priorities on where money goes, and IT has been bottom of the pile for far too long. Surmon over 😂

I was thinking more colour matching, but gold leaf would add a certian style 😄

A few pots of mini-paints gives you an opportunity to give a little bit more of a clean finish to the fix, but it is purely cosmetic. I believe Humbrol are still around those of you that did a bit of model building back in the day.

Moderation - hmmm I remember that was something we did when I worked in the examinations industry...

Just need to find the article that reveals the benefits of a glass of wine to two now

@6Foot2 - that was quick 😂

Drinking a pint (or two) is good for you - official! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvglqw709k1o All is right with the world again - if only!

As always, excellent commmentary at https://bringmoredata.blogspot.com/ on MIS market.

I went for a walk via a common and woodland to collect some train tickets for a trip to Manchester tomorrow. I for fun decided to put Merlin app on. It picked up: Blue Tit Robin Great Tit Wren Wood Pigeon Chiffchaff Blackcap Jackdaw Blackbird Crow Magpie Goldfinch Collared Dove Meadow Pipit Dunnock Firecrest 16 bird varieties in less than 30 minutes, with the Meadow Pipit and Firecrest being new ones for me.

I've just bought a Humpty Dumpty toy from Aldi, it's brilliant. It comes with Aldi King's horses and Aldi King's men.

Gotta laugh - https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-ii-microsoft-outlook-problems/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr71rng8zz4o - when the fine is cheaper than the parking - you just gotta laugh!

Challenge accepted!

Agree with above views with it being a facilities issue, but.... Whilst a governor, we trained our facilities chap up to standard and had him do the work and then hired him out. Worth viewing the following and see if the recruited service meets the requirements. Or, facilities should do this!

Thought I'd pop this in here - I guess I am 80-90% aligned with the messaging.

Welcome and the 'stupid cars', well lets say your find some soul mates here too. We also have some very passionate EV supporters - I'm sure you'll come across both types in your time here - we're a diverse bunch 😄

Not sure I've known of an IT Governor before! So, given you have one, the role should be purely strategic, so if the strategy is to stay on old kit and increase risk of IT infrastructure collapse, then all's well.

My wife told me I need to embrace my mistakes. I gave her a hug. Actually, the original version of this was the other way around, but I'm all for equality.

On re-reading, yes I can see that now. Classic click bait headline - tut tut BBC! Will those in the senior salary roles remain as they are I wonder?

£0.5m on the topc 6 salaries with, approx a £10m income and expenditure and 168 staff is spicy. But what is the estate worth - looks outside my budget! I have to wonder how they provide education for public benefit after closure.