School admin: Microsoft only?
I've been having all sorts of trouble with the attitude of people at our LEA. First was that for PLASC returns they have decided to use RM Securenet which requires MSIE and associated junk. They got upset when I told them "sorry, we don't support that software". Then we have the situation of the latest replacement for the SIMS STAR module "superSTAR". For which Capita have decided to base around Microsoft .NET. (Assuming they don't change their mind yet again.) They recommend workstations with Windows XP, P4/AMD Athlon XP, 1/2G memory, 10G free hard disk, 17" monitor. To meet the kind of specs which the LEA are giving to us would mean spending up to 20 thousand pounds for little, if any, improvement. My overall feeling is that various people have completly lost the plot and really don't understand that the priorities for schools are other than having the latest and greatest toys to play with. Let alone that this spec is completly overblown for a machine to lookup data on database. Sometimes also to do some wordprocessing, email and web browsing. The only way of using something else would be if we could also persuade the majority of secondary schools in Devon to drop SIMS. What are other peoples' experiences? -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763
East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS. Regards Bill
I've been having all sorts of trouble with the attitude of people at our LEA.
First was that for PLASC returns they have decided to use RM Securenet which requires MSIE and associated junk. They got upset when I told them "sorry, we don't support that software".
Then we have the situation of the latest replacement for the SIMS STAR module "superSTAR". For which Capita have decided to base around Microsoft .NET. (Assuming they don't change their mind yet again.) They recommend workstations with Windows XP, P4/AMD Athlon XP, 1/2G memory, 10G free hard disk, 17" monitor. To meet the kind of specs which the LEA are giving to us would mean spending up to 20 thousand pounds for little, if any, improvement.
My overall feeling is that various people have completly lost the plot and really don't understand that the priorities for schools are other than having the latest and greatest toys to play with.
Let alone that this spec is completly overblown for a machine to lookup data on database. Sometimes also to do some wordprocessing, email and web browsing.
The only way of using something else would be if we could also persuade the majority of secondary schools in Devon to drop SIMS.
What are other peoples' experiences?
-- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763
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East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS.
We bought CMIS last year: it is definitely by far the best system there is. (Against an extremely poor field, that is, and if you have oodles of money. I reckon we've spent twice a long trying to adapt CMIS to our needs than we would have spent writing a complete new system from scratch with MySQL) -- Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3JG 01371-822698, mobile 07816 821659 cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk
On Wednesday 18 Sep 2002 3:17 pm, Christopher Dawkins wrote:
East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS.
We bought CMIS last year: it is definitely by far the best system there is.
(Against an extremely poor field, that is, and if you have oodles of money. I reckon we've spent twice a long trying to adapt CMIS to our needs than we would have spent writing a complete new system from scratch with MySQL)
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then. (Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm that way out today) -- Gary Stainburn This email does not contain private or confidential material as it may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown and undisclosed purposes - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000
On Wednesday 18 September 2002 14:37, Gary Stainburn wrote:
On Wednesday 18 Sep 2002 3:17 pm, Christopher Dawkins wrote:
East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS.
We bought CMIS last year: it is definitely by far the best system there is.
(Against an extremely poor field, that is, and if you have oodles of money. I reckon we've spent twice a long trying to adapt CMIS to our needs than we would have spent writing a complete new system from scratch with MySQL)
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then.
(Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm that way out today)
What is the spec of this system? What are the chances of forming a purchasing group to fund my developing an OS system? <plug> Were I to address it I would use http://www.melati.org/, which is db agnostic. </plug> cheers Tim Pizey
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then.
I am well aware of that. I was planning to do so. But others here preferred a non-DIY solution, on which we have spent many months of DIY to make it work.
(Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm that way out today)
I'm that way out every day.
What is the spec of this system?
www.ccmsoftware.com, not that that will enlighten you much.
What are the chances of forming a purchasing group to fund my developing an OS system?
I tried to arrange that fourteen months ago, without success. Now the megabucks have been spent, the opportunity from my POV has past. However, you might be interested to know that the CMIS system has left plenty of room for any currently unanticipated results of future evolution of the human race. The "Sex" field on this system is CHAR(2). But the programmers (who hail from Dublin) created an import system that strips apostrophes from names. -- Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3JG 01371-822698, mobile 07816 821659 cchd@felsted.essex.sch.uk
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then.
I am well aware of that. I was planning to do so. But others here preferred a non-DIY solution, on which we have spent many months of DIY to make it work.
This appears to be a common problem, as an LEA school we have this even worst than you do...
What are the chances of forming a purchasing group to fund my developing an OS system?
I tried to arrange that fourteen months ago, without success. Now the megabucks have been spent, the opportunity from my POV has past.
There are generally more useful things which can be done with megabucks.
However, you might be interested to know that the CMIS system has left plenty of room for any currently unanticipated results of future evolution of the human race. The "Sex" field on this system is CHAR(2).
Or you could make it double as a student ID :)
But the programmers (who hail from Dublin) created an import system that strips apostrophes from names.
I though Irish jokes wern't PC :) -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763
If someone would like to develop a SIMS/CMIS equivalent in MySQL I would be happy to market it to schools. Regards, Grahame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grahame Leon-Smith, Principal Consultant Tele-School Education Consultants Tel 01932-874067 Fax 01932-874068 mailto:grahame.leon-smith@tele-school.org HAVE A LOOK AT OUR WEBSITE AT < http://www.tele-school.org> 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN EDUCATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: Tim Pizey [mailto:timp@paneris.org] Sent: 18 September 2002 17:54 To: suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] School admin: Microsoft only? On Wednesday 18 September 2002 14:37, Gary Stainburn wrote:
On Wednesday 18 Sep 2002 3:17 pm, Christopher Dawkins wrote:
East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS.
We bought CMIS last year: it is definitely by far the best system there is.
(Against an extremely poor field, that is, and if you have oodles of money. I reckon we've spent twice a long trying to adapt CMIS to our needs than we would have spent writing a complete new system from scratch with MySQL)
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then.
(Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm that way out today)
What is the spec of this system? What are the chances of forming a purchasing group to fund my developing an OS system? <plug> Were I to address it I would use http://www.melati.org/, which is db agnostic. </plug> cheers Tim Pizey -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.386 / Virus Database: 218 - Release Date: 09/09/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.386 / Virus Database: 218 - Release Date: 09/09/2002
Grahame and all, I am experienced in collaborative, distributed development of software. I would be happy to host a CVS tree and development lists at http://www.paneris.org/ I would propose writing the system using http://www.melati.org/ (java) which is DB agnostic and works with MySQL, Postgresql and any other JDBC compliant db which implements transactions. I would have to rely on somone who has access to the existing system for requirements and data design, and I could not devote an enormous amount of time without being paid. Anyone else interested? cheers Tim Pizey On Thursday 19 September 2002 14:30, Grahame Leon-Smith at Free Computers wrote:
If someone would like to develop a SIMS/CMIS equivalent in MySQL I would be happy to market it to schools.
Regards, Grahame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grahame Leon-Smith, Principal Consultant Tele-School Education Consultants Tel 01932-874067 Fax 01932-874068 mailto:grahame.leon-smith@tele-school.org HAVE A LOOK AT OUR WEBSITE AT < http://www.tele-school.org> 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN EDUCATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-----Original Message----- From: Tim Pizey [mailto:timp@paneris.org] Sent: 18 September 2002 17:54 To: suse-linux-uk-schools@suse.com Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] School admin: Microsoft only?
On Wednesday 18 September 2002 14:37, Gary Stainburn wrote:
On Wednesday 18 Sep 2002 3:17 pm, Christopher Dawkins wrote:
East Sussex are looking into CMIS, mainly driven by a group of interested schools who wish to move away from SIMS.
We bought CMIS last year: it is definitely by far the best system there is.
(Against an extremely poor field, that is, and if you have oodles of money. I reckon we've spent twice a long trying to adapt CMIS to our needs than we would have spent writing a complete new system from
scratch
with MySQL)
Just think how much money you could have saved if you'd used PostgreqSQL then.
(Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm that way out today)
What is the spec of this system? What are the chances of forming a purchasing group to fund my developing an OS system?
<plug> Were I to address it I would use http://www.melati.org/, which is db agnostic. </plug>
cheers Tim Pizey
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help@suse.com --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.386 / Virus Database: 218 - Release Date: 09/09/2002
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participants (6)
-
Bill Antonia -
Christopher Dawkins -
Gary Stainburn -
Grahame Leon-Smith＠FreeComputers -
Mark Evans -
Tim Pizey