“Browse-based Teaching:” shyeah, right:
Thin clients. Network PCs. Internet Appliances. We’ve heard it all before, but apparently someone in the Sun Microsystems PR department has convinced some Australian IT magazine that an environment where “both teacher and students access information via browser-type devices, or appliances, which are just windows to content” is a good idea. Even has the requisite “We can computers as simple as using a phone” blurb.
When are the hardware companies going to get it through their noggin that people do more with computers than access content? Crikey, it’s not a $2000 web browser, mate. Why would I cough up several hundred dollars for an “internet appliance” when I can cough up a little bit more and get word processing, spreadsheets, internet telephony, and The Sims, all in one package?
Does news really travel to Australia this slowly?