Maine News Updates

One reason that Apple products work so well and have fewer virus problems is that the pinheads that spew high tech vandalism at Windows haven't bothered to create viruses to attack Mac products since there are so few in use. If it was 50/50 , Apple would have the same problems.

Grab your ankles folks!!!  They're all getting Itunes on YOUR DIME!

All the schools have network servers that can be wireless. All the students need are netbooks at $100 each or less in bulk. State planners have their heads in the sand and blinders on as usual.

-These should make libraries now obsolete.

-Why should we pay for a book at a library and also on line?

It does sound like there are cheaper options, but computers for kids are not a bad thing.

The biggest part of state budget by far though is MaineCare.  They do need to look at eligibility, even know all teh usual nonprofit lobbyists will do the usual mobilizing @ Civic Center. I suppose it would never go anywhere in Maine, but West Virginia has different levels of benefits accoridng to whether you actually try to improve your health.  Most of costs in ME are caused by a small pool of people.

I also wish someone, anyone woudl look at some of the consultant/contract costs at state.  Could we actually have some investigations?  DHHS hired an expensive consultant year or so ago to look at performance improvement using "report cards."  How much has that accomplished, if anything? 

Finally, could we PLEASE look at what other states are doing to make their states more business friendly? That is the only solution for ME.  Montana has improved its business friendly rating so much in recent years that it is now #4...and it's a lot more rural than ME.  The governor out there (a D) actually talks about personal responsibility!  They have a super part time legislature.  What a concept.  Instead we have legislators saying the people should not have a voice in referendums, since they dare to disagree with Those Who Know What Is Best for Us.

All 64,000 should be shoved up Gendron's you know what. Save a few for Baldaccci, too. Budget crisis? What budget crisis. Let's just run out and buy two tractor trailer trucks of computers. What an outfit.

If the laptops are  of such a value in teaching, fine.. lets get more laptops, and reduce the number of teachers. No need for having both.

Why does the state education dept keep paying an exhorbitant price for Apple?

If I went to BEst Buy to buy one it would cost me 2500.00 bucks

I can buy an e machine for 259.00 each which is all that these kids need.

Stop wasting our taxes on Apple.,

What a waste of money.  Your property taxes are going up based on the fact that the state refuses to look into lower cost alternatives--or even better, having those who do not have a computer utalize the school's computer lab or the one at the local library that you pay taxes to support already.  I am not against having kids get used to this type of technology.  Lower income families most likely do not have the ability to get a computer, and this is a great chance to allow them to have access to something that is never going away.  But why do we need to waste millions on a computer from a company that is basically only still producing computers because of schools (and people who want to spend a thousand dollars more on a toy to appear cool).  The actual business world uses Microsoft products and operating systems.  If this state is so dedicated to giving these kids computers, then go through a much cheaper alternative and get them netbooks.  That would also prevent them from using them for gaming and downloading tons of music and movies as they have more limited processing power and space, but still allow the needs for websurfing/researching and word processing, which is really only what they need them for.

71,000 macs at $242 each????

Who is actually paying the $17 million plus bill for these?

Why do I continue to buy calandars and other crappy stuff from students who are selling these for the school?

Does anyone know the price total for the 7,000 MacBooks?  Last I knew, Apple was giving Maine a VERY good price for these machines, making them more than competitive with their PC brethren.

And if that is the case, what difference does the OS make?  Windows ripped off Macs for years, so if you know one, you know the other.  Microsoft makes its Office suite for both operating systems.  Most work is now done on-line.

Oh - and one last thing.  Apple also has a lovely little application called Boot Camp.  Guess what this does?  It allows Windows to be installed and run (very well, I might add) on Macs.  In other words, anything you can run on a Windows machine, you can run on a Mac.

So if the price is good, the applications are not an issue, and we have faith in our children that they might, just might have the brains to figure out more than one operating system in their lives, perhaps we get on with the process of living our lives and thinking about issues of much greater importance in Maine.

What ever happened to the "cumputer clusters" in our schools? This is needless spending as most families today own their own towers and/or laptops!

computer literacy is great. i learned how to use a computer back in grade school on an apple II that was shared in a computer lab.

but this is not where the state should be spending their money during a crippling economy. and it is even more offensive given the budget cuts to communities that are struggling to make ends meet across the state.

when my neighbor loses their house due to rising property taxes and forclosures, rising unemployment and cost of living and doesn't have a place to go because the emergency shelters and soup kitchens are above capacity, at least their high school kid will have a brand new macbook. the governor's priorities are in the wrong place. he should be hung out to dry.

The raw fact is less that 10% of people utilize the Mac OS and in the real world business community the divide is significantly larger.  We are supposed to be teaching our kids, not providing them with the easy way to do things.

Knowledge of what the world uses is an important component of the education process.  If we want out children to be more computer literate and not simply application adept we have just made an extremely expensive error in judgement.

So what is it was put out to bid...   Mac controls their own stuff so that is a straw man argument.  Heck, I even have an Outbound computer which was a much earlier generation Mac clone and I have been dealing with IT issues for 25 years...  This was a bad decision for the kids and an easy decision to spend money and look good without looking at the larger purpose.

Of note...  I walked through my town's library yesterday afternoon and notice probably 30 computers available for use with only three of them busy...  This is a huge drain on resources with less gain than could have been realized...  In other words, a significant mistake.

Fact: the new high school MacBooks are NOT being paid for by the state. Each district opted in or out and is being paid for by local money which is voted on locally. Fact: most students in the state are NOT going to be getting MacBooks because the cost had to be picked up locally. Voters got the final say here! Fact: the MacBooks are $242 per student for 4years. This includes a 4 year warranty including batteries. Yes you can get a laptop for less than $399 but at most a 1 year warranty that does not cover accidents. You get what you pay for. Fact: many business don't even use Windows so why argue for Windows against Mac? Opinion: can schools teach without technology? Yes, but don't expect a lot of $15+ hour jobs to come to the state. We can all live without much of what we have but we choose to because it makes our lives better.

Maybe they picked Macs because they build a better product. The Mac OS is far better than any version of Windows and is known for having less issues. My first Mac from 10 years ago is still working fine. Can't say the same for my Windows machine.

It's frightening to see how many people don't understand the importance of teaching kids how to use computers to their fullest capacity.  In many aspects, it's like saying they don't need to learn to spell or write or do math.  Computers are now that important to education and especially to getting a good paying job.  Money spent on teaching kids to use computers in gaining information is money well invested.

My kid has had one for 2 years now - and YES, they can get onto ANY website they want - at home. I caught mine and a friend going to places that made my jaw hit the floor - and that was the end of the laptop at home. And then I saw the broken hinge...which took place at school, which of course nobody knows how THAT happened.

The state has to stop treating the kids like they are responsible, reasonable co-equals to the adults.

Kids will be kids.

MACS for all the high school kiddos, whether their parents are able to afford to buy one for their own kids, is an obscene waste of other taxpayers' money! WHY MACS??  Something doesn't smell right about this; too bad there are no investigative reporters left in this state without kool-aid stains on their lips.....regular tax paying Mainers, unite, fight, or move to the Live Free or Die State - Maine is going to KILL your retirement plans.

We have a fifteen year old who finished his freshman year at MDI. There was a macbook with him in a backpak that had a special interior sleeve for it. He is active in sports, popular, and got "highest honors".

Yes, he used facebook, found a popular music site..but the bottom line is he used it as a skills builder for educational purposes.

As an ex salesman, it smells like a nifty commision too...I used to know the woman who had this account. TR6?

The State just can't help themselves.

Spend Spend Spend    Unbelievable.

You guys are wrong on the price.  The state got a pretty good deal on these and it stands to reason, Mac will give a good deal because the more people who are used to Mac, the more people who will buy a Mac later.  The cost was not any more than a windows based system and, in theory, there should be less hardware issues because Mac actually tests and certifies the hardware that goes into it's systems and makes sure that it is compatible with the OS, something PC makers typically do not do.  And, FWIW, I dont use macs, dont really like macs but iirc, this wasnt a bad deal for the state (and they did put it out to bid when they did the original program and apple came back far below anyone else.).

This is an absolute waste of money.What happend to  paper and a pencil.Whom ever dreamed this up should be fired Gov.And how much will this cost in the long run for repairs?,give me a break.Maybe if this states hould produce more jobs and pay better than $12:00.

My kids have used laptops in school, they cannot get to facebook, myspace etc.  Mac's are used because of the compatability to the schools network, they crash less often, less of a chance of viruses.  Computers are a part of life these days, its going to happen.  Apple also gives extensive support to the schools.  In the old days, there were encyclopedias, many different types of assorted books and now the internet is the resource.  The money is being used in different ways thats all.  People can complain all they want, its a fact of school life now.  Its not going to go away get used to it.  There are many many jobs out there where you are required to know how to use a computer, word programs, spreadsheets, powerpoint etc.  Computers are a large part of the employment world in one form or another.   Gripe all you want, I think its great and they do learn alot on them, go sit in a computer class in kindergarten then go and sit in a high school class and look at the evolution. 

We can lay off 9 firefighters in the city of Portland, however, we can buy all these laptops in order for these kids to ruin them in .2 seconds????  where are the priorities....I guess laptops are more valuable than peoples lives???? go figure

They placed an order to 64,000 mac laptops. I wonder how much money that costs us? Especially when you could buy an IBM compatible notebook for about 1/3 of the price of a mac. Not to mention that as a rule of thumb software for IBM is cheaper than Mac. Upgrades are less expensive also. So can someone please explain to me why the state is buying MAC's??? Who was Gov. Anus King in bed with? How much stock does he have in Crapple? How about Ol Gov. Balljockey? He must be getting a kickback somewhere along the lines.

Why are we teaching our kids to use a technology that less than 10% of the world uses?

So what's wrong with HP/Compaq Presario's at $399 each? How much for MacBooks?????

$2000 each?????    Why only one supplier? Is this favoritism????? Special interest? I smell a rat.

So all the kids will be getting Macbooks so they can tweet back and forth, surf myspace and facebook and cam all day. All at the cost of tax payers. Great!

IMPEACH BALDACCI !!