Defeating the Evil Doers Ping!
Posted on 02/12/2002 4:51:44 AM PST by Vermonter
Editor's note: AnchorDesk is pleased to present guest columnist Bob Shier. A public school educator for more than 30 years, Shier lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area.
As an instructor of computer literacy in an all-Windows environment, I'm sometimes asked "would I ever consider using a Mac?" My answer: in a heartbeat!
So why am I teaching on Windows machines? Two reasons: peer pressure (we all accept that adolescents are slavishly conformist, but don't always recognize that the herd instinct is still present among adults), and false economies.
OFTEN, "fiscal responsibility" is cited as the reason to choose Windows over Macs. I suggest that there are two kinds of economy involved here: an out-of-the-box economy, and a down-the-road economy.
Of course, schools buy the cheapest boxes they can find--we're taxpayer funded, after all. Windows machines can be purchased for a somewhat lower initial investment.
Almost at once, however, the down-the-road aspect of the platform decision comes into play.
Here's my historical perspective.
FOR TEN YEARS, our school had an all-Mac lab. After a couple of years, they weren't as flashy as the new PCs in other district labs. But they kept chugging along year after year, doing exactly what we asked.
I did all hardware and software support as well as maintenance on the Macs, which amounted to cleaning the mice a couple of times a year and wiping off a monitor screen now and then.
Now that we have an all-Windows environment, I'm lucky to ever have more than 28 out of 30 machines functioning at any one time. Often less. I've started secretly hoping that some students will be sick from school during each class, just so nobody has to do without.
Regardless of how often technical-support people come, or how many things they fix, more problems show up as soon as they leave. If it's not bad memory, it's bad power supplies. If it's not bad motherboards, then it's bad hard drives. And when it's none of those, it's a software glitch that nobody has a clue how to fix.
For the tech support people, the time lag between my reporting a problem and its resolution may seem a minor matter. However, the phrase "mission critical" takes on new meaning as each new crop of impatient, exuberant, and hormonally enhanced adolescents enters my room each period.
THE TOTAL AMOUNT of staff time required just to keep these machines functional is an order of magnitude higher than what we experienced with the Macs. It almost defies belief.
Worse, the false economy of PCs is mostly buried under a ton of paper somewhere in the yearly budget document. In our case, personnel costs come from an entirely different piece of the budget pie than computer hardware.
Along with the false economy with Windows, I also can't find any real academic reason to go with the platform.
Over the past dozen or so years, PCs blanketed businesses everywhere and adults became more technologically comfortable. And parents started telling me to replace my Macs with PCs.
Their admonitions and opinions were not based upon any analysis of the efficiency and efficacy of computers in an educational environment. Rather, it was simply whatever they were using at work and whatever machine their friends had.
THE PARENTAL DEMAND that we teach kids to use "what's out there" is well-meant. It's based upon an understandable desire that children should become employable--that they should be able to conform to the prevalent platform of the workplace. The fact that the "prevalent platform" is in a constant state of flux is another matter entirely.
I'll add that just because you learn to drive in a Ford does not preclude you from eventually driving a Chevy. Same difference with standard productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office, which is available across platforms. But then, any general operation in a Mac application will be much the same in comparable Windows software, even if the exact machinations necessary to effect a result are slightly different.
For simple elegance of design, ease of use, and economy of operation, there's simply no comparison between the two platforms. If you want to work for the machine, go with Windows. If you want the machine to work for you, go with the Mac.
And that's what I really want for my students.
When I needed some one to help me install memory and do upgrades properly I call "Bill". He is the IT guy for the local schools and their several hundred Macs. He also teaches a computer lab. He moonlites on the side. You might call a couple of school districts to see if there is help there.
I'll be the ignorant one and ask what is that?
YM "arts".
When I was in the market, Mac priced itself out of my reach. For half the price, I had a tool I could use immediately. Yes, I've had to replace the occasional hard drive and motherboard. But it is nice having a machine I can actually work on!
Macs have a secret appeal for hippies, because they still have a "maverick" image. People who use them have a warm fuzzy feeling because they are defying "the system."
You nailed it.
"Oh, yes, only the truly hip own Macs. If you buy one, you'll be just like all the other Unique, Different, and Special nonconformists."
"Be a Nonconformist - Buy a Mac" (If you want to be a nonconformist, you've got to be like the nonconformists...)
Oh, my achin' sides, and so early in the morning, Yow!
Has it sunk in yet?
I'm no fan of Macs, but I suspect the so-called relibility of Macs is due to the fact that there aren't thousands of OEMs building them. If you limit the variability of a product, you can debug it.
As partial proof of this theory, I offer some comments made on another thread -- that during the brief period when Appled licensed other manufacturers, their product was unreliable.
I also build my own PCs and have never experienced any of the reliability problems everyone shouts about. The competition get something on the market at a price point has got to cause problems. If I'm building somethng and can't afford the components I want, I simply leave something out and save it for later.
Thanks for the gender change, Mr. John Doe.
Well, taken with a dose of salt.
First of all this guy is a teacher. He has never used computers in the real world.
Apple blew it early on, insisting on a closed system, and charging premium for everything. But it had a "strategy". It would give the things to schools, then, once hooked, the students would enter the workplace and "not mind" paying twice as much for everything.
Didn't work out that way.
The PC developed similarly to VHS video recorders, and established itself as the dominant force in the actual use of computers outside the academic environment, due to substantially lower cost and established a huge installed base.
Macs may be better; Beta certainly was. But the business strategy plays a major role and there is no undoing the fatal mistake.
Get into a business environment and tell people you have a Mac for the coordination of real life productive work, not academic activity. You'll find behind the laughter the clients going elsewhere.
I have noticed that people who can work alone, interfacing with very few others, tend to use the Mac. Tom Clancy, for instance.
Outside of the graphics arts and writing, I have never seen an office with more than 5 computers which uses Macs. I have seen dozens of workplaces (I'm in the engineering field) where the installed base is hundreds per building.
Check out the new animated Pixar iMac Commercial for a good chuckle. Made of course, on a Macintosh.
But the superiority of Macintosh is obvious to everyone, isn't it? 80% of my friends are still using PCs and constantly have problems. Comparatively, "Mac People" seem to never have problems.
Whenever I need to use a PC for some reason (work or at a friend's house), I feel like I'm using a pre-historic clunker that scrapes, grinds and takes its sweet time moseying from site to site -- not to mention the all-too-frequent freeze-ups. Conversely, Macintoshes glide quickly and silently from site to site, almost always without problems. My PC friends practically squeal with delight when using my Mac.
There really is no comparison for quality. While Macs are certainly more expensive at purchase time, they are well worth the investment in the long-term, since they never (rarely?) need to get repaired, and cause practically no aggravation.
Available for Windows for quite some time.
See it all depends on how you look at things. If you're seeking the best video and audio resolution Beta was the way to go. But most people were seeking convenience, they don't want to tapes part way through a movie, they want Roots to fit on as few tapes as possible (I think the age of the mini-series pushed video machines heavily, most people can't take prime-time off for a whole week, you'll always have something to do, but with a video tape machine it's no problem). For what the market was looking for VHS was the superior format.
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