Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Torbay RTC: Free Software for Macs

Live blog from #torbayrtc

Simon Elliot from West Cornwall RTC started by saying that Penzance is not in the middle of nowhere, it's at the end of nowhere! :-)

First bit of software displayed is iWeb. He thinks that this is a much neglected piece of software and is dismissed by some because it is "not a proper web design tool". (Twets during this presentation included "iWeb = iWin" and "iWeb is the unsung hero of the iLife suite".) However, it has many advantages - not least the very low technical knowledge required to use it. Also thinks MobileMe is a very cost effective way of storing and sharing content. Can be used for backup too. Could just about be used as a distributed VLE. Parts of the iWeb site can be locked down. Makes it easy to allow parents secure active to children's work. It has a drag and drop interface that makes it easy to put a site together.

Other useful free software
Simon wanted to help schools justify buying Macs and so decided to put together a web page with a list of free software so that schools could get off and running at no extra cost after buying a Mac. He said, "It got a bit out of hand!" - I for one am glad it did. The Freemac.com site is brilliant! Stunningly brilliant even.

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