Cisco + Sun would make more sense. Mostly because there is very little overlap in their actual products but their two lines constantly need to work together. (Our sun servers are connected to Cisco ethernet switches, our SunRays vpn into Cisco vpn concentrators, our Sun Storage is connected to Cisco MDS switches, etc). It would also give Cisco the biggest, baddest InfiniBand switch on the market (and at 110Tbps, its switching capacity totally trashes anything cisco has ever produced).

The biggest problem with the Sun+IBM deal was that there was so much overlap, customers would be left to wonder which product lines would get discontinued. (glassfish vs websphere, solaris vs aix, sparc vs power, sun's servers vs ibm's, storage, tape, etc, etc, etc. )

I'm thinking along the same lines.

I never touched a computer till the 7th grade, and never did anything more than basic word processing with them till the 10th grade. I learned how to do calculus using chaulkboards and paper.

My kid is in the 2nd grade and already doing powerpoint. WTF?!?!?! The focus is on presentation, not content. The kids know how to make things 'look nice' but they dont have anything worth saying.

Here is my take it on: remove all computers from elementary school (K -> 6th grade), add them in at the 7th grade level for basic word processing only (no powerpoint) along with a typing class. In high school add them in where the material can actually use it (physics visualizations, math, etc). Add them to the library at that level as another research tool.

Call me technophobic, but I see the use of computers in the classroom as a crutch more than as a tool that extends the students knowledge.