Compatibility With Other Systems
A closed system works as long as it stays within itself. A district can use a closed system--the question is, should it? A manufacturer of a closed system platform "has a greater ability (and incentive) to close off proprietary environments," as Jonas P. Herrell (2011) states in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal (p. 441). In 2013, I discovered first-hand the frustration of this potential incompatibility with other systems. The teachers in my school district (Ladue, Missouri) had been using, as part of Apple's closed system, a proprietary Web creation tool called iWeb. The tool was introduced by Apple in 2006. Soon thereafter, the teachers in the district used it to create their Web sites for students and parents, but in 2012 Apple stopped all development and support for the product. The staff in my district had used the tool for years, and our support staff, including me, scrambled to find a solution. We discovered several tools that could replace iWeb, but eventually settled on the open system tool called Blogger. Unfortunately, no matter what tool we used, iWeb used a proprietary environment for generating Web pages, so none of the data from it could be extracted to use with another tool. Essentially, my staff had to rebuild all the infrastructure and content of their sites. They collectively have spent hundreds of hours in this transition, time that could have been spent on instruction or preparation for teaching students. I spent over 100 hours last school year as an Educational Technology Coordinator just helping these teachers move out of the incompatible closed system of iWeb to an open system solution; truly, I could have better spent that time directly helping students or staff with actual instruction. Apple created the program iWeb so that a user could not migrate to any other tool since its system was incompatible by design. The move to the open system tool Blogger was a decision driven largely by two factors: the ease of use for teachers and the ability to move from the tool in the future if a better one presented itself. Since Blogger is an open system, teachers can take the Web site they create and move it to another tool with two clicks of a mouse. In addition, being an open system tool means Blogger works on MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iPads, iPhones, Chromebooks, Windows laptops, and even Android tablets and smart-phones; conversely, Apple's iWeb was only usable on their Macintosh OSX operating system.
Lower Cost
A school district has an ethical obligation to spend the taxpayer's money in the wisest way possible. While a closed system would work for a one-to-one solution, the unit cost is immensely different. As Daniella Diaz reports in The Monitor, when the Mission Consolidated Independent School District decided to implement a one-to-one program, it did not go with a closed system, but instead with an open system, partly because the open system "Samsung Chromebook retails at $250, which makes it less expensive than an iPad or laptop" (Diaz, 2013). In fact, the cheapest closed system solution (an iPad Mini) retails at $399. In fact, to get something closer to a Chromebook, with a keyboard and other laptop-style features, the only closed system solution available is the MacBook Air for $899. While this may seem to be purely financial issue, the ethics of a decision like this arise in a case like this in which a public school district's board of education is entrusted with being a good steward of its residents' tax money. (Note that all the closed system prices come directly from Apple's Web site, as of 21 July 2014.)
Non-standardization
The dilemma of a non-standard, open system arises at the highest and lowest level of decision making. If a district decides to implement one-to-one with a closed system, its only realistic choices are Apple's Macintosh OS and iOS. If a district decides to implement one-to-one with an open system, the choices only multiply. A district could choose Microsoft's Windows OS or Windows Mobile OS, and within these open systems are a bewildering variety of choices of styles and versions. A district could choose Google's Chrome OS or Android OS, and again have to face a host of manufacturers (Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, etc.) providing a variety of hardware and variety of operating systems. Much more time has to be expended in sifting through the choices available. Even once a district chooses an open system, the dilemma continues. The end-user has to buy in to a technology for it to succeed in the long term. While Chrome OS and Android OS have deeply penetrated the consumer market, researchers Alma Leora Culén and Andrea Alessandro Gasparini (2012) at the University of Oslo (Norway) have found that the current generation's "iPad use as an educational tool has shown clearly that positive attitude towards the iPad as an educational tool comes from perception that the iPad is really cool for entertainment and leisure" (p. 125). This perception created by Apple comes from its ability to provide a limited set of features that it can explain and market consistently to mainstream consumers, whereas the fragmentation of choices in the open system world can make it more difficult to adopt due to its non-standard nature.
Culén, A., & Gasparini, A. (2012). Situated techno-cools: factors that contribute to making technology cool in a given context of use. Psychnology Journal, 10(2), 117-139.
Diaz, D. (2013, December 24). After delay, Chromebooks to be delivered to Mission CISD students in January. Monitor, The (McAllen, TX).
Diaz, D. (2013, December 24). After delay, Chromebooks to be delivered to Mission CISD students in January. Monitor, The (McAllen, TX).
Herrell, J. P. (2011). The copyright misuse doctrine’s role in open and closed technology platforms. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 26(1), 441-489.
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