Home Access schemes a Joke

[TooNice]

Non educational perceived waste of time. A NES was part of many children's lives yet when my folks bought a TV, they made it clear that it was for education (language learning) purpose. Yeah I was disappointed that none of the boxes that came with the TV included a NES, beggars can't be choosers.

What I am wondering though, is how do they prevent non-PG games to be installed, or is that just some EULA? If they put some form of the protection, and the kids somehow manage to get around out by themselves (via some clever solution), I'd say fair play to them (call it a reward for problem solving).

Oh, and do they have Logo? They should

[finlay666]

Facebook is quickly becoming a part of most childrens lives. Same as Bebo and all other Social Networking sites.
My sister came home a few days after she got the laptop to say she wanted a Facebook cos all of her friends had one, and when I told her she couldn't get on it, she was pretty upset.
I don't really see a reason why Facebook is banned from the computer though.

Children of 8 years don't do dissertations.

Children of 8 years are too young to use Facebook as per the terms of use.
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1...elp/?faq=13455

Minimum age to sign up to Bebo is 13
Minimum age to sign up to Myspace is 14

So it's a parenting fail there for not monitoring their childrens internet use and keeping them from sites they shouldn't be on. The parental control software is doing what it is meant to, preventing children who are under age using sites they should not.

It was a figure of speech. And you've just contradicted yourself.

First part took it as a figure of speech, second was taken literally. To try and make a silly point that I contradicted myself seems petty. If you want petty why are you talking about the value to you when the laptop isn't for you, it's redundant.

The laptop is worth £400 though. If you aren't eligible for the Home Access Grant then you can purchase the exact same package for £400.

Yet in your own words you would NOT buy it at that price, and another one has a perceived higher value due to specification/build quality/materials/size of screen/whatever, so it's not worth £400. There is a difference between cost and worth, cost is the monetary value and worth is the perceived value from the buyers perspective.

I didn't say I didn't want it.

Then why are you so ungrateful?

I never once mentioned the internet, or ports for torrenting or my ping for gaming. We didn't receive the internet because we already have an internet connection.

Generalised comment for those who get the maximum they can legitimately (and illegitimately) from the government and still complain they deserve more

It's not, that's why my sister doesn't do any of that. And even if she did, it would be on the laptop I bought her, not the government.

If she already has a better laptop why leech from the government for things she does not need?

[matty-hodgson]

Children of 8 years are too young to use Facebook as per the terms of use.
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1...elp/?faq=13455

Minimum age to sign up to Bebo is 13
Minimum age to sign up to Myspace is 14

So it's a parenting fail there for not monitoring their childrens internet use and keeping them from sites they shouldn't be on. The parental control software is doing what it is meant to, preventing children who are under age using sites they should not.

Ok, it's doing its job with Facebook etc. But what about Miniclip and other games sites, surely they shouldn't be totally blocked?

First part took it as a figure of speech, second was taken literally. To try and make a silly point that I contradicted myself seems petty. If you want petty why are you talking about the value to you when the laptop isn't for you, it's redundant.

And you weren't being petty pointing out no-one works 24/7?

Yet in your own words you would NOT buy it at that price, and another one has a perceived higher value due to specification/build quality/materials/size of screen/whatever, so it's not worth £400. There is a difference between cost and worth, cost is the monetary value and worth is the perceived value from the buyers perspective.

What words?
Again, being petty. You knew exactly what I meant, you're just taking one word out of perspective.

Generalised comment for those who get the maximum they can legitimately (and illegitimately) from the government and still complain they deserve more

It seemed directed towards me, even thought I ticked the "already got internet" box.

If she already has a better laptop why leech from the government for things she does not need?

She got the laptop I bought her after the Home Access, she plays games (and everything else off limits) on the one I bought her and does her learning and spelling lessons and stuff on the HA one.

[finlay666]

Ok, it's doing its job with Facebook etc. But what about Miniclip and other games sites, surely they shouldn't be totally blocked?

And I suppose Miniclip is educational, despite the fact it features some pretty graphic games such as blowing people up with grenades for points, I suppose that is for mathematical skills in addition and trigonometry as well as projectile motion?

Again, being petty. You knew exactly what I meant, you're just taking one word out of perspective.

Far from it, an item you receive for free has no direct cost to you (indirect from taxes etc yes), so by harping on about how much it costs or the 'value' of it when you receive one for free is a moot argument when it's not your money that is paying for it.

[peterb]

Well Matty-H's sister is incredibly fortunate in having an elder brother who is taking an interest in her education and clearly spending a lot of time with her to ensure she gets maximum benfit from it. Like all other learning aids, it is an aid and IMHO requires adult supervision and interaction to get the most from it, and to educate about the risks from an uncontrolled internet connection - all part of growing up.

However other children will not be as fortunate as Matty's sister, and the open access computer will just be given to the child who will be left "to get on with it" without any supervision at all, or it will be 'hijacked' by an elder sibbling or adult, or in the worst case, taken down the pub and sold off. At least locking it down in some way might prevent it being sold off (it reduces its resale value) and the controls make it a little safer for a very youg person to use unsupervised.

It is (for those that remember it) a bit like free school milk. It was there if you wanted it, but if you didn't want it, there was no cash alternative, and yu couldn't pay more and get (say) a bottle of coke. Milk was provided for a purpose (to boost calcium intake in children) - just as the open access computer is provided for a specific purpose. But taking it is optional - and for those that genuinely can't afford a laptop, is probably a welcome offer.


(and how any of us that were born and educated before the invention of the PC ever completed our education is - quite frankly - a mystery! )

[TheAnimus]

wait a second, just wait one second.

Someone is complaining, that tax money, money taken from all of our pockets (unless your some kind of scum and don't contribute any) should be spent on kids having access to facebook at home and the like.

There are people starving in this world, get some bloody perspective.

Honestly, I think some of these posters really need to get a better view of them and their place in society and the world.

These computers are for learning, the more you lock down a computer the cheaper it is to administrate, the longer they last. If you want a computer that you can use facebook on, I suggest going to ebay, I've just seen a respectable dell go for £80.

[Mike Fishcake]

Free laptop for kids then. Can it run Mathletics? Yes? It's fine then.

You want luxuries - you pay for them with your own money.

[Disturbedguy]

wait a second, just wait one second.

Someone is complaining, that tax money, money taken from all of our pockets (unless your some kind of scum and don't contribute any) should be spent on kids having access to facebook at home and the like.

There are people starving in this world, get some bloody perspective.

Honestly, I think some of these posters really need to get a better view of them and their place in society and the world.

These computers are for learning, the more you lock down a computer the cheaper it is to administrate, the longer they last. If you want a computer that you can use facebook on, I suggest going to ebay, I've just seen a respectable dell go for £80.

Matty's point wasn't so much his sister can't use Facebook on the laptop, it was more to do with how locked down they are.

Matty, the following is no offense to you or your sister, so please don't take it that way.

I personally see it as a good idea to have the laptops locked down, because as mentioned they are for learning purposes and not playing games on and such, unfortunately for some, Facebook falls into the "non learning category" (which I agree with) and for good cause in my opinion. If you allow access to Facebook you are opening yourself and the laptop up to a world of hurt, if you put someone in experienced, with learning difficulties or whatever you are asking for trouble. Why?
The amount of app's on there and the amount of crap they come with.

As an example: -

Your sister could unknowingly download some malicious pile of crap software (other than most of Facebook itself anyway), infect the laptop and then not be able to do any learning at all. If its her own laptop, then fair enough, you can clean it up and sort it out, but if its one of the Home Access Scheme laptops, then as far as I am aware, you are slightly more restricted.

Matty, you work and go to college, you also have a social life so you can't be around 24/7, although from the sounds of it, you try to be around for her as much as possible and do as much for her as possible which is great and from when we have spoken on the MSN, you care about her, alot more than other family member do., such as buying her a laptop. However it could be that one time that you aren't there, when she downloads something, or goes on a website and unknowingly infects the laptop. Yes I know there is security software out there, but none of it is 100% perfect so you cant rely on that alone.

Matty, you seem to take a lot of what some people say personally, or as a direct attack on you. This isn't the case and you shouldn't feel that way. (I may be wrong but that is how I see things)

To add, Finlay and Matty, I know you two have issues for various reason's, but please try and keep the arguining/ one up manship or whatever, out of the public forum, if it really needs to be done, then PM's are the best way to go about it.

[Mike Fishcake]

A loosely related read:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06...sened_by_tech/

[The] evidence suggests that providing universal access to home computers and high-speed internet access would broaden, rather than narrow, math and reading achievement gaps.

[Georgy291]

i like the idea of the scheme, not interly read the posts before but:

can you not re install windows on one of those things? which would unlock everything?