Failure to Upgrade

There was a funny movie out a few years ago called Failure To Launch. It tells the story of a man in his mid thirties who still lives at home. He doesn’t want to take the next step and move out, get into a serious relationship and “launch” into the greater world. He is safe and comfortable. He doesn’t want to step out and move forward. I see some parallels to educational technologists.

Many people are happily using older versions of software. They are using Windows XP or Windows 2000 for example. Or they are using Office 97 or maybe Office 2003. They are using Visual Basic 6.0 to teach programming rather than move to the latest versions of Visual Basic that use the .NET Framework. Why? Several reasons.

One is of course that they are comfortable. Like the character in Failure to Launch they are comfortable with what they know. Moving forward involved change and change can be scary. In the case of new software there is a learning curve – new ways to do things and new tools. Occasionally there are features that go away as well. Almost always there are replacements for those features but, well, it is still a change.

In some cases, there is a perception that the change is for the worse as well. Windows Vista got a bad reputation early on and that scared a lot of people away from it. Despite better security, ease of use improvements and many other good features the perception was that the benefits did not outweigh the costs.

And in many cases money for new versions of software is an issue as well.

But - and you knew there was a but coming – are we often short sighted in these decisions? What about the students and preparing them for the future?

Students and their parents are not slow on the uptake of new software. Windows Vista came out in November 2006 and most computers sold since then have had it installed. Windows XP is not only not generally available but regular support is all but terminated. Windows 7 which much improved over Windows Vista has been out in retail since October of 2009. Given how different XP is from Vista and Windows 7 I would imagine a lot of students get a bit confused moving back and forth between their newer computers at home and the old OS on the computers at school. Ease of use (if it is really there) for tech support and teachers is likely to be adding unnecessary confusion for students. And honestly with the new features for system administrators, tighter security and general ease of use one would think administrators would be pushing hard to upgrade from XP. Especially as the hardware requirements for Windows 7 are very close to those for XP and less than Vista.

With Office the confusion is often much worse. Office 2003 is seven years old and the user interface has been greatly changed starting with Office 2007 and continuing with Office 2010 (announced as available this week). Now yes, to some extent a spreadsheet is a spreadsheet and a word processor is a word processor. Concepts matter more than specific implementations of those concepts. But at the same time students are going to be using newer software at work and in higher education and on computers they buy themselves. Do we really want them to start behind on these tools?

But the one that really gets to me is people still using Visual Basic 6.0 or older. Now sure I understand some of the attraction. If you are used to it then it is easier. But it is no longer supported and you can’t easily get copies for students to use at home. With the current version of Visual Basic there are free express versions, Dreamspark for students (professional software for free) and for schools MSDN AA which is licenses for the whole lab for very little money. Or stick with the VB Express edition. Visual Basic 2010 is a real honest to goodness object oriented language. The IDE is powerful and opens the whole world of the .NET Framework.

Of if that is too much (and I imagine for some it is) take a look at Small Basic. Simple IDE, Simple language and smooth upgrade path to Visual Basic when students are ready. And its free!

Yes I’m biased and yes the company wants you to upgrade. But there are some good practical reasons for school to want to upgrade as well. Thinks about it ok? Thanks!

Comments

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2010
  Really? I mean, I know you're employed by Microsoft, and I therefore tolerate the bias towards using MS languages. But this? Not only would I rather not have an advertisement like this pop up in my RSS feeds, but you miss the whole point. The biggest reason people don't upgrade is this -- there is nothing compelling in the new version!

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2010
  Improved security? Ease of use? Improved administrative tools? I was a sysadmin for years and would have found these compelling. If you don't, fine. I think a close look at Windows 7 show a lot of good reasons to upgrade. Likewise with Office especially from 2003 and earlier versions.

• Anonymous
  May 15, 2010
  I do update to newer versions of the Express, but there always seems to be issues that I have to overcome.  Fortunatly my children are now all out of college so I can spend the hours making things work in the lab and creating exercises because my administration will not purchase new books.  I am using a Visual Basic book from 2005 and an A.P. Computer Science book from before for-each loops.   Our entire school is still using WindowsXP and I don't expect that to change any time soon.  Once again, there is NO money. We are laying teachers off in California because there is NO money.   If we are to teach students the current version then there needs to be a way to upgrade to the new version without costing an arm and a leg and burning the midnight oil.