Not a bottle but a laptop, tablet, smartphone or anything else not nailed down that you use to access the internet. This is the second article we’ve read this week that looks at the prospects for people taking their own computing power with them, whether that’s children taking their own hardware to school or employees using their own hardware at work. The later case is more complex as issues of corporate security, support contracts and so on raise their tedious heads, all covered in this BBC article.

This all chimes in very nicely with the video we included in our newsletter yesterday about schools saving money by using open source software. Aside from the raft of other advantages schools gain by using open source, imagine the benefit of at one fell swoop doing away with the crippling cost of software purchase (plus licensing updates and so on) AND hardware purchase and maintenance. It would be a staggering saving for every school in the country and it is so achievable.

Of course, immediately, it’s pointed out that not every child has access to a computer, never mind something smart and portable, and it would be disingenuous of us to dismiss this consideration; it’s a consideration that applies to so many consumables but it can’t be allowed to prevent progress. Mobile phones come into their own here – and is anyone seriously going to suggest there’s a high school pupil in the country who doesn’t have a mobile phone?? For years there’s been speculation about on-line learning doing away with schools (they appear to co-exist quite happily) but perhaps this is the most likely marriage of technology and schooling.

What do you think? Leave us a comment.