[senit] Safari on PC

Mark -

There've been a few things in the techie news (such as Slashdot)  that 
mentioned recent security issues with Safari for Windows - They popped up on 
RSS feeds and I didn't read them as I don't use it - but they might be worth 
a look if you do. This is one of them : 
http://blogs.computerworld.com/sadly_apples_safari_security_safe

I found Safari a pretty, if somewhat basic browser - I'm a Firefox devotee 
I'm afraid. I did like the way that Safari handled RSS feeds though - very 
slick

What I don't like about Apple Software on PC's is how the programs all try 
and install an extra bit that never goes away - like for instance the person 
who related their experience of downloading iTunes and inadvertently 
installed Safari as well. I'd imagine that Quicktime was installed too, and 
that it updates automatically, and that there are little programmes called 
things like "iPod helper", and Bonjour - which are nigh on impossible to 
uninstall (this on my home PC which runs the gauntlet of my teenage 
offspring, rather than the school network). I've wondered whether this 
happens with the same programs on an Apple and whether they see that as a 
security issue on the supposedly safe as houses Apples - personally I think 
that software you can't prevent from installing or uninstall easily is a 
problem.

As far as browsers go I always used to find that Internet Explorer was the 
best - then they went to IE7 and I just couldn't believe how bad it was. I 
moved over to Firefox, and wondered how I'd ever lived without it. It felt 
like a quantum leap in software development.

Firefox is open source software and as such the source code should be able 
to be compiled on any platform that has a suitable compiler - so all the 
versions should be pretty similar - whether on Windows, Mac or Linux

Similarly if software is open source then it should work pretty much across 
any platform (I know it's not that simple in reality but should be true for 
most straightforward applications.) Obviously this isn't a particularly 
straightforward option if you're trying to make money from your products - 
but you can of course produce applications which run within higher level 
environments  - such as dare I say it ' Flash' - which shouldn't really 
worry too much whether it's on a PC or a Mac (or in some cases on a mobile 
phone)

I've never found Macs as intuitive and user friendly as some people think 
but also I've never particularly liked Windows - I am a former Acorn 
afficionado - who moved into backing the market leader (PCs) when Acorn 
finally crashed out of the educational computer arena some years ago

I think PCs undoubtedly have a far wider range of software applications 
available for them than any other platform - and I guess this as true in the 
SEN sector as it is in any other. But that isn't to say that this 
necessarily means that you'll get what you want. Garage Band for instance is 
a program that comes as standard on a modern Mac; but although there are 
plenty of available programs that acheive the same ends available on the PC, 
none of them achieve it with quite the aplomb that Garage Band does. At the 
moment I'd also say that Macs look far cooler than PCs and handle some of 
the flashy graphic desktop tricks far more effectively.

I find Windows a huge and clumsy operating system - there are still bits of 
DOS in there in XP for instance - , which seems to have a deliberate slowing 
down mechanism as it gets older. Presumably because of the myriad of 
different remnants of old programs which build up, and are more or less 
impossible to completely get rid of. Does a Mac do the same ? I don't know - 
I've never used one long enough. I know the old Acorn RiscOS never had this 
problem - you wanted to get rid of a program you simply deleted the 
directory that contained it. I'm also increasingly finding that Windows 
(Vista seems particularly prone to this) is increasingly rail roading the 
user into doing or not doing particular courses of action - you have to be 
really "sure" that you want to do things like turning the firewall off for 
instance. And how many times do you have to tell Windows that "No !" -  you 
really don't want to tidy up your relatively unused desktop icons, so please 
stop nagging me about it.

I've heard in the past that Apple have a fairly dominant position in the US 
in the SEN field - I've no idea whether this is true or not. Is anyone from 
Don Johnston on this list ? I'd guess they could give the lie to that myth 
one way or the other. [ Or looking more closely perhaps Ira could (and 
perhaps already has) - sorry Ira I didn't realise where you were posting 
from, and what your background was - I'll try to read before I compose my 
emails in future - at least I spotted it before posting]

Finally much as I don't like Windows I can't say I've been radically 
impressed with the Linux alternative, which has also been fervently and 
almost evangelically touted by its loving fans - I do enjoy messing around 
with it and getting it to do what I want - but teachers in classrooms don't 
need Geekware, they need to just click and run  - They've far more chance of 
that with Windows or MacOs

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ira David Socol" <socolira at msu.edu>
To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [senit] Safari on PC

> Mark -
> That "wider selection of software," I would argue, is a direct result of 
> corporate and programming decisions made by the two companies. as I just 
> noted, Microsoft - and I'm no MS-loving fool - has gone out of their way 
> to embrace this kind of software development. Apple simply has not.
> Ira
> webmaster at aylesburyvale-sec.bucks.sch.uk writes:
>> From: "Ira David Socol" <socolira at msu.edu>
>>>as with most Apple
>>> products - accessibility is an afterthought,  if thought
>>> of at all.
>>
>> Whilst I agree that Firefox is a more accessible browser
>> than Safari (if slower) I must say that your last sentence
>> is complete nonsense. Apple have always striven to make their products 
>> very user
>> friendly. This benefits everyone regardless of your
>> 'ability'. A 'typical SEN' student (if there is such a
>> thing) finds 'Pages' easier to use than 'Word' but then so
>> would a 'non SEN' (again if there is such a thing) user. There are a 
>> number of features built into the OS which are
>> specifically designed to increase accessibility. I use both Macs and PCs 
>> (though modern Macs are PCs, the
>> main difference being that the are capable of running OSX)
>> and you couldn't really persuade me that windows is more
>> accessible other than in the sense that there is a wider
>> selection of software available on the Windows platform. Mark --
>> Mark Norwood
>> Assistant Headteacher
>> www.avssc.org 
>> ========================================================================
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>
>
>
> Ira David Socol
> Special Education Technology Scholar
> CEPSE
> College of Education
> Michigan State University
> socolira at msu.edu
> http://speedchange.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
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