One of the most interesting things that I learned was that when bidding, warranties are part of the picture. I always just thought 'lowest price gets the bid', but although that is somewhat true, I never thought that warranties were part of bids. I also learned how to save money (go for items that are freshly off of lease, refurbished items, items that other organizations upgraded but are not obsolete or broken, etc.) All of these are great ways to save money for a district.

In terms of ergonomics, I never thought of having document holders for students, and that some chairs are designed for adults that are used for students. Having hanging feet never occurred to me to be a health problem, and neither did glare, lighting, etc. This was a very interesting section to read in terms of things to think about when setting up a 'healthy' working station for both students and teachers.

For the licensing, the consortium was a good idea. Since everything is run by the almighty dollar, saving money is key, and because software is so expensive, it is a good idea to buy at a lower rate. Also, having software come standard on the equipment means that you don't have to purchase a license separately, and it cuts down on installation time and manpower. Installing free-ware would most likely have to be done after the computers are installed, which is done many times through a clone. There are different types of licenses, which includes a SITE LICENSE which means that the whole school has the license. This is different than a single computer license, or even a whole lab license.

For viruses and spyware, I learned to have users change their passwords frequently. Also, the book listed two sites for free adaware and spyware software (lavasoftusa.com and safer-networking.org). Backing up files was a good suggestion, and simply having the users be informed on what emails to open, what ones not to open, what sites to visit, etc, and what to do when they think that the have come into contact with a virus. I'm sure that a virus would do tons of damage to a network if the right desktop software was not installed.

Although I have never received an email that had a virus in it, I know that I would not open it up. I think that I may want to switch my desktop structure around a little bit because my eyes are not at the same level as the top of my monitor, which means that my chair is too low (or my desk is too high). I do know what it is like for wrist problems because I have had to bring my own keyboard in last year because my left write was hurting when I would type for too long. I have an ergonomic keyboard for carpal-tunnel syndrome that I use when I'm typing for long periods of time. I think that I would like to get different chairs for my homeroom computers that the students use because the ones that I have now are wooden and not ergonomic at all. I do advise teachers to be leery of wheels because students sometimes are too fidgety to be on a 'wheely-chair' and I have had students fall. Having a swivel chair is definitely more comfortable than one that doesn't, and I would want those for the students instead of stationary ones.