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Jaguar Free for K-12 Teachers
Hugh writes "It seems Apple is giving away for free its newest revision of Mac OS X, version 10.2 (Jaguar), to every K-12 teacher in the U.S."
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This should have been done long ago.
MS gave hardware to schools to sway them to go M$ Apple should be giving gear away as an investment into the end users too.
comment directly in my journal
No, This is like Microsoft giving away Windows XP to use on your Windows 98 machine.
I know many teachers who have old iMacs and couldn't justify paying the price for Jaguar. Now they can.
The teachers still need to buy the hardware from Apple to run this though right? Can you get a new Apple computer without the OS installed? If not, then this kinda doesn't help new users much
Although I would be extremely frustrated in your situation, I don't think that Apple has "ripped you off again." Presumably you thought the upgrade was worth it, otherwise you wouldn't have bought it. I fail to understand how giving other people freebies "fucks you over." Unless those other people are competing with you. Which, unless you have some unusual circumstances, they are not.
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
Linux has been doing this since its inception.
I always love these descriptions. Define "teacher." I work at a residential high school as a resident counselor. True, the name "teacher" is not in my title. However, my job description (as written by the state of Illinois) involves teaching students.
Border's refuses to give me a discount on books (even when purchased for programs with students) because they claim (at least my local Border's) that the discount only applies to people that work in a classroom.
I work with very technology-aware students (I work at a the Illinois Math and Science Academy) and, as a big geek, I am often discussing tech issues and comparing computers with students.
(An upcoming program I am putting together will discuss recent copyright debates that are ongoing, for example).
I think that Apple would want nothing more than for me to have a copy of Jaguar to show off to the students.
And Apple might very well send me a copy of Jaguar, who knows...
Of course, being the good little geek, I pre-purchased an educational-discounted copy and got it before it was available retail. That was $75 out of my pocket that I am guessing Apple is not going to reimburse.
I have to wonder how many teachers have already purchased Jaguar.
I might take them up on the offer and give one of the copies to a student.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Yes, Apple may have an agenda but the bottom line is schools are getting free shwag. It's always good to see and I wish more companies would follow suit both in and outside the tech industry. It's also good to see that kids will get more of an opportunity to be exposed to more than just Windows.
The bigger problem is having school districts reponsibly spend the extra money they will save.
How does that work? If they give you the OS for free, can you go to a shop and buy a cheaper Mac? I was under the impression that the cost of OS X is included and not optional. The only people who would benefit from this are those who already have a Mac with OS X.
There is a magic concept at work here: CONTEXT
What makes an action by MS reprehensible or not, is not the actual sequence of events, but the context in which they occur. This is in fact, the determining factor about anti-trust law. A legitimate form of promotion by one entity becomes a prohibited leverage of dominance in the market by a monopoly player.
MS has been determined - in unquestionable legal language - to be a Monopoly player.
Now, make your crack - is MS the Shoe, Top Hat or the Scottie Dog...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
isn't giving away a product for below the price you'd normally charge (except in special circumstances) market dumping, and as such illegal?
IANAL either, but no, giving something away is not illegal in general, although it can be under specific circumstances. Donations to schools are, I believe, generally covered under "charity", and far from being illegal, probably even qualify for a tax write-off.
From what I recall, it wasn't the integration of IE with Windows that landed Microsoft in court originally, it was their practice of giving it away for free in order to get an advantage over Netscape.
MS was violating the terms of their earlier consent decree, where they had agreed not to try to put potential competitors out of business by bundling new stuff with the OS. Remember, the rules are different for a monopoly, and even more different for a monopoly that repeatedly violates anti-trust laws.
I'm no fan of Apple, I wouldn't switch on a bet, and if you gave me a Mac, I'd wipe off that OS/X junk and install Debian in a heartbeat, but Apple is clearly doing nothing wrong here.
That computer would cost me over $3000. Looking over at Dell's website, a similary configured PC, which a better video card, and a 2 Ghz P4 instead of the 2x1Ghz G4's, would run me about half that.
Some specifics that jump out at me: Apple wants $400 for 512MB of PC2700 memory. Dell wants $200. I can get the appropriate module from crucial for $170, so Apple's markup is well over 100%.
The LCD is similar; apple's 17" LCD display runs $1000. Dell will charge me $500. I can get a nice samsung model for about $590 online.
I really, REALLY like what I've seen of OS X, but I won't pay 100% premiums on hardware just to be able to run it.
Seems to me that the only time that such action on Microsoft's part really brought about a major outcry was when they offered to do such as penalty/in settlement for what the government and many /.'ers deemed monopolistic practices. Now that is a completely different situation than the one that is currently at hand with Apple.
Apple is not offering to give away their software and a bunch of hardware because they've had charges of unfair trade practices leveled against them. Apple is clearly trying to win the hearts, minds and screens of teachers, and thus students, but how is that different from anything that any marketing ploy ever does?
So in a way, you are right, there is a similar motivation between what Microsoft offered to do and what Apple is doing but the reason that your point doesn't stand up, in my opinion, is that the context of their actions is different. Apple is doing it simply as a marketing scheme, Microsoft did it as an attempt to get away without any stronger penalty for the charges brought against them. Therefore, in light of the dramatically dfferent contexts of the two cases, it seems to me that the differential reaction by the /. masses is completely understandable and justified.
-tcp
If you can't figure out why easy-to-use, effective and free movie and image editing software isn't good for education you're totally pathetic. There are numerous stories at the Apple site, testimonials from ACTUAL teachers detailing how Macs are making a difference in their schools...so STFU.
You ask why the applications should matter to you when you don't use any peripherals? Maybe they don't. But to rant about email servers and forget that students can pick up a hell of a lot from the tools given to them is just lame.
Can any teacher get this upgrade or must they actually own a Mac? Becuase think about it this way, a school employs 80 teachers and most likely doesn't have 80 Macs but doesn't want to buy 30 copies for their lab. If all 80 teachers get a copy then the School now has 80 liscenses of Jaguar. Upgrading the lab is no longer a problem.
apple needs to do something about the hardware. it is just too expensive as far as schools are concerned. it is an example of being pennywise and pound foolish, but my district sees a dell for say $600 and an imac for say $850, and they'll choose the dell every time. plus, most district people, like mine (ARGHHHHH!!!) can't even spell unix.
i bought an ibook a couple of weeks ago. it has 10.2. i love it. but the problem is more hardware than software. a few years ago, schools began moving toward PC's, and os x is just not going to work.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I'm not sure that you all are understanding this correctly.
Apple is giving away OSX to TEACHERS, not schools. There is quite a big difference here; the teachers get a copy of it, and can do whatever the heck they want to with it.
This does NOT mean that Apple is giving OSX to schools for the use in classrooms, labs, etc. Microsoft's products for K-12 teachers/students are licensed so that they are for (educational) use by the teacher or student, but not the school, as sepearate (more expensive) versions exist for schools. The copy of the software belongs to the teacher, and unless it's being installed on a computer which is property of the teacher, it's a copyright violation (and rightfully so - the school is essentially "stealing" the software from the teacher). I'm sure apple has a similar clause in their agreement. Still, I think it's a great offer.
Besides, isn't product placement one of the most effective forms of advertising?
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
I'm a high school senior right now. Being a geek, I help out a lot with our school's highly overworked IT people. I've seen a large resistance throughout the district to change over to OS X. These people don't like change. Change requires retraining teachers and changing infrastructure. Its a great effort just to teach most teachers how to check their email. Now when we change to OS X, a lot of things are going to be done differently. Apple has probably seen this resistance in action. Apple has shown they want to completely get rid of classic as soon as possible. To smooth this transistion it makes sense for them to give it away along with training materials. It will also help cash strapped districts create a homogenous OS enviroment. OS X runs a little slow on older g3s, but it runs it fast enough for most educational purposes. This is a sound business and PR move for apple in my opinion.