The XO laptop gets a Windows makeover

[Albert Cahalan]

On Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 7:57 PM, rihoward1 at gmail.com
<rihoward1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> File sharing is not an active real time collaboration tool by any means.

Right. Active real-time collaboration is nice, and I wish my
own editor had it, but I think you're overvaluing it greatly.

> In sugar multiple children can work on the same write document, paint
> document, etc. at the same time and a copy is saved locally.

Last I heard, this is not true regarding the paint program.
It's not true regarding most programs in fact. Peer-to-peer
collaborative software is far from trivial to do decently.

> Means of file sharing can be setup fairly easily in Sugar if you want to
> move raw files around. Currently file sharing is performed through activity
> sharing.

Right, it could be fixed. There has been recent effort,
but Windows is still way ahead in this critical area.

> Just because MS Excel is used by some for science, engineering and
> statistics does not mean it is the correct tool for the job.  There are too
>  many serious problems with MS Excel that have never been fixed and have
> caused serious problems with a number of scientific projects, etc., that
> relied on MS Excel.  I too can use a screw driver to hammer a nail into a
> wall but does not mean it is the correct tool.

It often is the correct tool, especially when you consider
things like ease-of-use and versatility. Turning your data
into pretty graphs in a report is easy with Excel. There is
even a built-in programming language, just in case you
should feel the urge to use one.

You can do your science while becoming familiar with a
typical business app. That's an excellent deal.

> I agree with you that there has been a dearth of decent educational software
> on all platforms.  There is a chance to start a fresh with a new platform
> that is not encumbered with a legacy of poor offerings in that area.

Many have gone down that path, generally resulting in
a fresh new legacy of poor offerings.