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US University Dumps Windows to go All Mac
MacKeyser passed us a link to a MacWorld article about a University doing things a little differently. Instead of sticking with their inefficient mix of Apple and PC systems, the college is doing a 'total technology refresh', and adopting an all-Mac policy on the campus. Previously, a class at Wilkes University would be outfitted with something like 20 Macs and 20 PCs, to allow for individual preferences in software and OS use. With Boot Camp students at the Pennsylvania liberal arts college will be able to switch between Windows and OSX, choosing which applications and OS to use at any given time. "[Scott Byers, vice president for finance and the head of campus IT said] 'We think it will save $150,000 directly, in buying fewer units - even though the Macs cost more per unit than PCs.' The school, which enrolls about 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students, will reduce its inventory from nearly 1,700 computers to around 1,450 after the change over. Other costs savings, however, will be harder to measure. 'By standardizing, the IT department should be more productive,' Byers said."
Would "US University Dumps Macs to go All Windows" make Slashdot news?
Because they have nicer cases.
http://www.rense.com/general79/wdx1.htm
You won't find an engineer with a Mac at VT. They have to get real work done.
*ducks*
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
And the only reason you can't run OSX, and Windows, and even Linux on your non-Apple Intel box is why? Because of the dongle embedded in the Apple machine? I wouldn't call that 'versatile.' It's the same awkward kludge that dongles have always been, except, even worse, it's not a dongle you can plug into whichever machine you like.
OK, I just purchased a Toshiba laptop, yes, it only has 0.5Gig RAM and is not equipped with the fastest processor, but it came pre-installed with Vista Home Basic. Comments: The machine itself is light and relatively well made. And for the price, does a lot. DVD Burner, WiFi, PC Card slot etc. Only design negative is no caps lock light. Now for Vista. I am a Mac user, but have used XP.
a) It takes forever to wake up or start up.
b) The graphical user interface (GUI) is appallingly sluggish.
c) The GUI breaks countless human factors rules, such as security dialogs that contain text in a box that looks like a hotspot when it isn't, and hotspots that one doesn't know are hotspots. It gets worse.
d) Said secrurity dialogs and upgrade reminders keep popping up all the time making it impossible to get anything done - and we only just purchased the machine!
e) It often slows down to a crawl and the windows don't redraw properly
f) The screen darkens for no reason or when an error is displayed, but you cannot see the error right away.
g) Adjusting the screen brightness and other Function key options is a nightmare. You have to hold down [Fn] and wait a few seconds for a (visually attractive) icon bar to appear at the top of the screen, and then, fiddle with the keys to make adjustments. (On the Mac, you just press a key!)
h) The whole Vista experience is confusing and way way behind OSX from all angles - and not a touch on XP. XP was/is actually pleasing to use, in particular the file manager which is IMHO better than Apple's appalling effort.
Not wanting to bash Toshiba as it's not their fault, but I think we're going to return this machine and for the extra £200 get a refurb Macbook or even an iBook that will run about 4 times faster and offer a pleasing trouble free experience! (Yes, a machine that is 1 or 2 years older than a Vista machine at not much more money. I guess if you choose Apple, you're sort of travelling through time to a better future! Those using MS stuff are living in the past. Hmm, interesting.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
Whoah! A website with the title 'Appleinsider' publishes optimistic sales reports from Apple. Hmmm. Couldn't find a link from outside the hive mentality? And what is a 100% increase in a tiny niche slice of the market, anyhow? They went from 1.4% to 2.8% or something like that? Please don't quote some weird 'retail stores in outlet malls' market segment and skew the fact that Macs are elite salon units that only 'individuals' purchase.
As has been said repeatedly (yeah, man. mark this one 'redundant' too, "Soldiers's For Steve") the "University Goes All Mac" is a man-bites-dog story. An unusual 'news of the wird' thing. That's why it made the Slashdot front page. (well, actually, it's on the apple.slashdot.org ghetto URL)