This list has been born out of a desire to get completely away from the fanatical Mac vs PC debate. Here we are in the twenty first century with several amazing computer operating systems. I’m not going to talk about any of the Linux variants out there (although there are some excellent options available ) but I am going to point out some of the high quality software that is available for use on both a Mac and a PC.
There are a few criteria for inclusion on my list. First of all, I am looking at programmes or sites that can be used in an educational setting. The software must work well – no beta stuff – and must work on a NZ Tela laptop.
We don’t know if this year’s Tela laptops will come out with Vista installed, but in anticipation that schools will be looking at Vista shortly, all of these software programmes have been tested on both XP and on Vista. The same software has been tested on an old skool Mac Powerbook running Tiger – no Intel goodness 
.
Many of the recommendations appear on TKI’s Software for Learning site.
Commercial Software
1. MS Office. In this collaborative, sharing educational environment it makes sense to use an office system that allows files to move between both Macs and PCs. Sweetening the deal is the fact that it is installed on all Tela laptops and that it is part of the Microsoft software deal, allowing the full system to be installed on school computers with rights for it to be used by teachers at home (31st December 2006 the existing MS deal expired).
2. Inspiration and Kidspiration. These two pieces of software are common in New Zealand classrooms.
3. Kidpix. With versions for both the Mac and the PC, this slideshow software allows kids to easily develop their stories and reports into amazing animations that can even be shared with families and friends.
4. Adobe applications.
Freebies
1. Firefox Web browser. Customisable tabbed browsing with the ability to add all sorts of useful (and not so useful extensions and plugins).
2. Thunderbird for email. Fast, secure and like Firefox, you can install plugins to customise it further.
3. Gaim for instant messaging. Connect all of your instant messaging clients in one easy programme. You can use MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Gtalk … Don’t forget about Skype.
4. Open Office, AbiWord and Scribus are all office software programmes.
5. The GIMP and GimpShop are both amazing opensource alternatives to PhotoShop. Every school in New Zealand should have taken advantage of the offer from Artrage to have this incredible Kiwi software installed on their school computers for just $1 per machine.
6. Audacity is a really easy to use audio editor. Don’t forget to download the lame MP3 encoder.
7. Freemind is a very good mindmapping programme. It’s fast and it’s free.
8. VLC is an excellent cross platform media player. It supports a wide range of file types and uses very little memory. Democracy is a newish video player that also connects to sites where you can download a wide range of video content. You can even download and save YouTube videos.
9. Stellarium and Celestia are both good pieces of software for exploring the universe. Use Google Earth to stay closer to home.
10. The Tux4Kids series of softwares are programmes that are designed to be bright and colourful for kids. Tux Typing is a kids typing tutor and Tux Paint is a kid’s art programme that is a bit like Kidpix.
11. Crocodile Clips is simulatation software. Theer is a basic free version that allows you to develop electrical circuits and test them before you connect the wires.
12. NVU is
…A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for “new view”) makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.
and it’s free!
Webware
Where to start! There are many cool sites and web applications out there and everyday a new group pops up and declares that they’ve built this year’s killer app. Again, I expect the site to work well on both the Mac and the PC – at least in Safari, IE7 and Firefox.
1. Google. Not just the ubiquitous mother of all search engines but all of the extra bits and pieces – like those linked from the Google for Educators site.
2. Ma.gnolia is quite simply the best social bookmarking site out there. Del.icio.us, Furl and StumbleUpon are similar sites that offer a slightly different range of services.
3. Your computer has no Office software installed? … Zoho, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and ThinkFree Online are powerful applications.
4. Quintura and Quintura for Kids – visualise a search with the power of tag clouds.
5. If you need to quickly fix an image and don’t have access to an editting programme – look at SnipShot or Picnik.
6. Comeeko is an online comic strip maker with a range of tools and effects that allow you to quickly tell a story.
7. Thinkature and Bubbl.us are variations on the mind map theme.
8. Look at Meebo to connect to a variety of IM clients (but not at learning@school .
9. Personalised homepages: yourminis, Pageflakes, Google personalised homepages, Netvibes …
Newbies to my list (ie ideas that I’ve scored and want to look at later!)
The eXe project is developing a freely available authoring application to assist teachers and academics in the publishing of web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML markup. eXe can export content as self-contained web pages or as SCORM 1.2 or IMS Content Packages.
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