Generations of student hackers try to demonstrate their prowess by disabling school work stations or networks, installing games on network servers, broadcasting obnoxious messages, hacking the supervisor's password, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Network security under Windows 95 and Windows NT is a nightmare. At a recent NT training session, I graphically demonstrated a breach in NT security and asked the instructor for a strategy to preclude this breach. He indicated that there was no foolproof system to secure NT workstations or servers. Windows 95 is even less secure.
Networks are vulnerable to virus infiltration from floppy disks, CDs, and cartridges.
As long as students can access systems with removable media of any sort, the network will be at risk as will individual work stations. Think Different, Think NC Clearly, in the field of K-12 education, we have to rethink how we deliver computer services to kids. The closest we can come to the perfect educational computer system is a descendant of that 'appliance' that Apple introduced in 1984. The Mac NC could offer possible relief to schools in terms of expense, installation and maintenance, and security. The only expansion capabilities built into these systems might be to allow replacing the processor, adding RAM, and upgrading the system ROM along with a Firewire or SCSI interface for those instances when a peripheral might be needed.