Apple's School Days are Numbered

prostoalex writes "Business Week describes the current situation in the educational market, suggesting that Apple will lose its share among the high school teachers and students. The worst enemies, according to Business Week, are school superintendents. "We want a single platform," one of them said. "We're trying to get there using the carrot, or blackmail, or rewards, or whatever you call it.""

Comments

It just isn't true.

[randyest]

Anyone else tired of this oft-touted, but plainly false claim about Apple pricing?:

Today, PCs have little price advantage over Macs. Apple's eMac, designed as a low-cost model for school systems, costs $50 more, at most, than a comparable low-end PC.

The cheapest eMac I could find is $799.00. That includes: 800MHz PowerPC G4, 128MB SDRAM, 40GB Ultra ATA drive. CD-ROM drive.

I could get equivalent PC power for under $200, I am sure, but it is hard to find such a slow CPU to compare that to. Even a 2GHz AMD system, with more than the above, can be had at Best Buy for under $550 with a 2" larger monitor (under $500 with a 17" like the eMac). (Model: T2341 is $399, add a 19" monitor for $149, 17" for $100).

It's OK to love mac, and OSX makes me like them also, but don't lie and say they are $50 more. It just isn't true.

Re:Show them what's out there

[evilviper]

"Why should my child work on a Mac in class when most people use PCs at home and in the office?"

To show them that there are other options besides Windows.

I don't think anybody is thinking about this the right way at all... Teaching students how to use a computer should not be a goal, in and of itself.

Teachers should teach their students how to create a spreadsheet, the fact that they are doing it with Excel should just be a footnote, and even the fact that they are using a computer to do it should not be a primary focus at all.

A better example. The goal of teaching students how to use iMovie should be to teach them how to edit movies, the software that they use to do it matters very little, the operating system matters very little, and even the fact that it is being done with a computer shouldn't matter much at all... With that said, if teaching students how to edit video, create a spreadsheet, etc., is easier on a Mac than a PC, then why should a PC even be considered?

Learning Excel for the sake of learning Excel is the equivalent of high-tech masturbation. It's like your goal in life is to have a goal in life...