Problems installing SkecthUp on a School system????

matt77

Hi All

This may not be the the correct place to discuss this, but I thought its worth a shot. I'm working in a school in South London at the moment and have been trying to get SketchUp installed for the Design Technology department. I've worked with SU for years in my previous job and taught it in my last school so already know of it's benefits to students (They love it). The IT techie is refusing to do it as apparently it wont uninstall (yes that's uninstall) and will cause problems with there system. Partly because when you install SketchUp it also installs the Google search bar and tries to make Google the default home page thus messing with the system as it tries to access the internet, thus throws up error messages. I think I'm being told politely to go away. I wondered if anyone had any other experience of this or suggestions for a work around if at all possible.

The school IT is run by an off site , separate company, thus its hard to speak anyone who can give me a proper answer. It all seems a bit daft that piece of free software as established as this cant be installed.

Many Thanks

Matt

solo

I'm not the right guy with the definitive answer but I can say I had no problems with SU6 (I taught a summer school two years ago), the problem with SU7 is it needs Internet for some reason I had a wail of a time trying to convince the owners of the Summer school to upgrade but they also cited Google phishing as the reason for not upgrading.
Maybe if you can get SU6 on all the machines it will be fine.

mitcorb

I thought the Google Search bar was 'check box' optional, and even if it installs, you should be able to either disable or uninstall after the fact. I don't recall being prompted for it in any download of any version of Sketchup.
Further, isn't all that is required is to have admin rights for standalone downloads? I don't think there is a Network deployed version of Sketchup?
Seems to me, someone doesn't want to rock the boat.
Am I misunderstanding the issue?

matt77

Hi Solo/ Mitcorb

Thanks for the reply's.. That's not a bad idea solo. I might try and dig out an old SU6 installer. Or if anyone has access to one that would be appreciated. see if that works

Your right Mitcorb, I mentioned about it being optional the the search bar, Didn't make much difference. They have said they wont give me admin rights to install it locally, which would make the most sense. There just being difficult jobs worth's. All I think this really is about, is an uncooperative techie. I just wanted to ask here first to confirm what I already thought.
I'm going to just have to charm/threaten them..

Thanks for the reply's
Many Thanks

Matt

tfdesign

Matt,

install SketchUp on a USB stick. It works. I did this when I was in my finals at university- it worked a treat. SketchUp isn't supposed to be portable, but it can be done. I think you point the installer to the USB stick that you have plugged in to your own computer. You can also do the same with QCad (which I also use a lot, as qcad is multiplatform )

Do a google search on SketchUp and portable, and you will get a whole load of info. Please tell me how you get on!

Tom

mitcorb

If you were to ask me the one thing I can't abide, it would be entrenched bureaucratic toads.

honoluludesktop

Matt, doesn't your school have a procedure to get software approved for installation? If you are attempting to do this as an individual, I can understand the reluctance on the ITs part.

matt77

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback.

I've asked about school procedure for new software and was told if its not compatible, then no.. I think I'm going to go down the local install route, try and blag admin rights ..

My crusade to bring SU to the kids of South London will not be thwarted by bureaucratic toads. I promise.

wish me luck

all the best

Matt

honoluludesktop

If as you say, SU is incompatible with the school's system, why would you install it and put the integrity of the system at risk?

Gaieus

I can't imagine it not being "compatible". That's what they say because they do not want to move their fat buttocks and bother with what should be their job; serve the needs of the school they are in contract with.

The Google toolbar and the front/start page are both "opt-out" possibilities on installation so that should not be a problem - it's just an excuse. I would even go further and demandthat they also install an easy to use, free image editor you can set SU up to work with (for kids and those who are inexperienced, I would suggest Paint.NET for this purpose).

I also teach SU to a couple of students interested at a local secondary school and we have not had any kind of problems at all although obviously there are regulations and restricted use of the computers, too (one pain is that we cannot simply install plugins for instance but at a beginner's phase you can live without them anyway).

honoluludesktop

We don't know what the schools computer system is like, what the IT consultant's responsibilities and liabilities are, and regardless of their reasons (IMO) it is wrong to install anything on someone else's system without their approval.

On my system, it seems that on occasion, Sketchup attempts to logon to the Internet without direction from me. Except for the firewall, I would not know it was doing so. You can say that there is no harm in that, but that is an option beyond my control. In addition if SU is part of a problem that shuts down a computer, or the schools system at some point in time (damage to program files, computer's registry, libraries, other users data, etc.), who is responsible, and who fixes those problems. If the computer is part of a network, any problem may be compounded. We don't even know if the IT consultant has the resources to learn and maintain SU on the school's system. He is not going to take our word that SU is harmless.

Sorry to lecture, but a topic I feel like scratching:-) Like running this forum, there are no free lunches.

mitcorb

While I agree in part with what HonoluluDesktop says, an intolerant network is counter-intuitive.
An analogy: Installing traffic signals at each and every intersection in a city is not conducive to the orderly flow of traffic--in all cases.

I use SU at my office, on a network monitored by off-site IT, with excellent communicative personnel. I have not experienced any roadblocks. Granted, we are a small company, and we do have admin rights at our workstations.
I probably would not be able to access Sketchucation in any other circumstance.
As a matter of fact, our unique setup has two hardware firewalls/filters due to circumstances soon to be corrected, and still no problems I am aware of.

tfdesign

@mitcorb said:

While I agree in part with what HonoluluDesktop says, an intolerant network is counter-intuitive.

We ARE talking the United Kingdom here. We are also talking mid school term. IMHO, HonoluluDesktop is absolutely correct in his assumption. British IT departments within educational establishment will not, under any circumstances, install software, until it has been fully cleared with upper IT management. It is as simple as that. I am absolutely sure that if Matt wants SU installed on the school PC's it will happen, but not until the summer break (vacation to you guys on the other side of the Atlantic ), and after it has been agreed to (It took 2 years of me asking at Wolverhampton University before they finally had SU installed, and then that was in the following year, after I left). Basically the whole of British state education today, runs on Microsoft XP, and the last thing IT managers want, especially in an establishment such as a school or university, is a system that is broke.

Yes, it's utter madness. But it's also very British.

Gaieus

So how it worked here (also using XP):

at the beginning of the summer break I walked into the office of the head-master (we'd never met before) in this secondary school saying that I wanted to teach SU in the following semester.
He said he knows nothing of computers (he is also a PE teacher) so I should go to the teachers teaching this computering stuff to the students and talk to them
So I went to them (who are also the "IT guys" for the school) they asked what we needed to install and if I could bring in everything on my usb stick at the beginning of the semester.
I was granted admin rights and could install everything myself with no issues.
I know this may sound too liberal compared to that paranoia over there and even I was a bit surprised but if that is the pace schools are advancing with modern computer technology, the students graduating there will always be a couple of years behind.

mitcorb

I remember hearing long ago, that students are going to learn because of the teachers, and in spite of the teachers, and, I assume by extension, in spite of resource limitations.
And really, what is education, but a process of teaching one how to think coherently or systematically. Above and beyond the mere accumulation of facts.

tfdesign

@gaieus said:

I know this may sound too liberal compared to that paranoia over there and even I was a bit surprised but if that is the pace schools are advancing with modern computer technology, the students graduating there will always be a couple of years behind.

There's a Hungarian chap Atilla, who used to work where I work (I also work in a school), who could never work out why in England all wash basins have two taps instead of one mixing tap, and that the hot tap is always either as cold as the cold tap, or is so hot that you end up just using the cold tap after all, so to avoid scolding yourself. And of course, there is never any soap.

Like I said, this is 'Great' Britain

Gaieus

Ah well, I have also always wondered about this. Then I concluded that the Brits are all nuts because they live on an island and think they are pirates.

solo

The Brits are not as anal as the TED (Texas education department), here you have a board for everything, I live in Plano, and to get anything going in the SU side I need to meet with a school board, they meet with their IT dept, we all then meet with the PISD (Plano independent school district), at which point I get vetted and re-vetted, scrutinised, questioned, sent away for decision making, have to start again from scratch as they lost the minutes or there was a missing decision maker and then I get refused and thanked for my time and urged to try again next year as it will be a better financial year (as it cannot be as bad as the current)
If it's an election year (local elections) nothing can or will be achieved, but everything gets promised.

Here in the states we may not have the British flare for queuing, but we certainly got a unique talent for kissing ass.

Gaieus

Should I also mention that this is a Catholic school (run by the Cistercian Order)?

Rich O Brien

@tfdesign said:

install SketchUp on a USB stick.SketchUp isn't supposed to be portable, but it can be done. I think you point the installer to the USB stick that you have plugged in to your own computer.

Do a google search on SketchUp and portable, and you will get a whole load of info. Please tell me how you get on!

This got me interested in being able to use SU in work, they recently upgraded to Win 7 and UAC has stopped me from installing SU, but when i searched in Google this is the result........

This just pisses me off