This is almost 20 years ago today, so my memory is a bit hazy, but basically each student had an account with a certain amount of server space. I can’t remember the size, but given the amount of digital files we produced it would’ve been at minimum 500GB+/student. We could also “see” the account folder for everyone else in our class for file sharing and stuff.
There were also accounts/folders for each teacher which were used to turn in the primary copy of whatever assignment we had done if it was in digital form. Physical art were scanned or photographed also, as a sort of backup. We were also required to back every project up via USB sticks, ofc.
There was also a rack with individual docks for each digital camera that they had which allowed us to get our photographs transferred to our own folders. Since we could access those files from our accounts it also was a part of that server system.
There were also several networked and customised Macs used for single tasks, like larger printing projects and also for an airgapped paintgun for a lack of a better description. We avoided having to wear masks when we printed large sheets in single colours with it, for example. I have no idea what software that thing used, I think I used it like once or twice.
Now, I’ll freely admit that I haven’t touched a Mac since I left that school, and I’ve never had any interest in them whatsoever, so I don’t know what they used or if it even exists anymore. Someone with more knowhow maybe does?
I do remember them specifically (proudly) telling us it all ran on Macs, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have any reason to believe so. The “server room” was basically what looked like a glorified closet with a rack and a couple of Macs that didn’t look like the ones we students used. This was just before the all-in-one models were introduced, iirc.
Your opinions are certainly grounded in reality at least. It’s refreshing to read something sensible for a change.