The Courier News – December 18, 2006:

A task force is being recruited to wean Community Unit School District 300 off Macintosh computers for more “appropriate technology.”

Spearheaded by Eric Willard, the district’s new director of technology, the Platform Transition Task Force will begin meeting in January to develop implementation of the districtwide change.

Willard, shortly after beginning his position in April, decided to phase out the district’s use of Macintosh computers and focus on Microsoft’s Windows Operating System and Lenox Softworks’ open source systems.

Willard said he decided on the new platform because most people use Microsoft programs in “the real world,” and open source systems provide a way for the district to keep students from downloading items such as music and movies onto the school’s computer hard drives — items that, ultimately, cost the district to delete.

“We will have a challenging time at the high school level taking away the Macs,” Willard said. “The task force has to develop an implementation that takes into consideration the emotion involved. For some reason, people have heard about this, and some are very passionate about Macintosh computers.



  1. gquaglia says:

    Nothing to see here. Just another clueless school administrator perpetuating Bill Gates’ dream of freedom from choice when it comes to computers.
    How did the koolaid taste Mr Willard?

  2. Stuart Boston says:

    You know, I’d thought that most local government officials were incapable of making rational sensible decisions. Just goes to show that there are exceptions that prove the rule

  3. Roger D. Parish says:

    Of course, there will be no media follow-up on this story, but it would be interesting to see how many more support personnel the school district has to hire after the switch (assuming the “common knowledge” that Macs are easier to support is true). Yes, I am a Mac owner, but think I can be objective.

  4. gquaglia says:

    I was going to say that. I hope the school plans on hiring additional IT staff to deal with all the viruses, spyware and other problems that come with PC use. But hey, its getting them use to the real world as dictated by Mr Gates.

  5. dave says:

    Guess I don’t work in “the real world”. Where have I been going every weekday for the last 20 years?

  6. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    Roger, that’s a good point…but one district I know of actually saved a great deal of support money doing the same thing, due to the efficiencies involved in supporting a single platform. It was difficult for the district to support the Macs without obtaining expensive Apple training, and parts were a lot more expensive. From what I’ve heard, Macs in schools need service at a rate less than but roughly comparable to PCs, assuming the PC hardware is reasonable quality stuff and not total crap purchased from the lowest bidder.

  7. SN says:

    In the real world…

    I don’t take a bus to work.
    I don’t read or use text books.
    I never have to do anything without getting paid.
    I don’t have to be searched without probable cause.
    I can pray all I want.
    I don’t eat lunch in a cafeteria.
    I don’t see cheerleaders in the halls on Fridays.
    I can swear.
    I cannot hit on my co-workers.
    I can wear t-shirts featuring sex, violence, and alcohol.
    I never ever have to worry about who is popular.
    I’m never forced to do long division or deal with fractions.
    I’m never graded on anything.

    Mmm…. since when do public schools have anything to do with the real world?

  8. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    SN: See this.

  9. Laserdisc says:

    I think Willard is being bribed to go Windows. By whom is anybody’s guess. If he’s serious about going to a secure single platform that prevents students from “downloading” music and movies there’s only one choice that makes economic and technological sense… a Linux distribution. They can use a distro that mimics Windows very closely as not to confuse users. Otherwise I would keep a close eye on Willard and scrutinize everything he does.

  10. sh says:

    Apple = niche
    Their complaint = niche bitch

    If MS OS ran on MS hardware there would be as few support issues
    as with Apple.

    Apple users = whoa talk about COOL aid drinkers geez.

  11. gquaglia says:

    #8 You obviously never used a Mac and haven’t a clue about them.

    It was difficult for the district to support the Macs without obtaining expensive Apple training, and parts were a lot more expensive

    Sounds like typical anti Mac FUD that couldn’t have been written any better from the PR department at Redmond.

    Anybody can sit in front of a Mac and operate it fine without any training. If you can operate a PC, you can operate a Mac. As far as parts go, it uses the same parts a PC uses.
    Fact is the school will spend more time and effort keeping PCs running properly (viruses, spyware, endless updates and patches) then they would running Macs.

    And no, I’m not a Mac fan boy. I have used them in the past, but run mostly Linux now.

  12. Ben Drinkin says:

    Trade the cost of deleting intentionally downloaded items with the cost of viruses and other malicious code?

  13. lou says:

    #12’s point is worth repeating. Apple is predominantly a hardware company, with software (OSx, iTunes store & prog, etc) used to sell their hardware (at least that’s the reality right now).

    * Apple (compared to MS) does not seem to care about backwards compatibility all that much. I have seen numerous 3rd party programs that may work on X.1.3 but not on X.1.4 (just verbal example). MS goes out of the way on the compatibility issue, to the detriment of their software, but to the economic benefit of their customers.

    * Windows is *much* cheaper out of the box. I can walk in a bestbuy and buy a windows system and flat screen for under $400. Sure some expensive cars are more reliable than cheap ones, but some people can not afford expensive cars initially (regardless of their overall cost in the long term). Bottom line: If grandma needs a PC for just internet, email, etc. I can buy the $400 PC and:
    – add the initial programs (adobe flash/acrobat, zip, whatever else)
    – lock the computer into a non-priv, no install mode
    – create a restore partition
    and viola’, a perfect PC for grandma (or students)

    99% of the spyware/viruses/etc that I have found on PC’s were clearly the users fault (oh, I want a smiley/emoticon generator). Lock down an MS PC to not allow installations, and the problem is basically fixed.

  14. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    13, Any idea what a motherboard for a G3 or G4 costs? Video cards, power supplies and CPUs are special too. That leaves what…memory and the drives.

    The training I’m referring to is to become ‘officially proficient’ in servicing them, not using them. The only way to get reliable and inexpensive parts is to get the training and join the club. Otherwise, you buy parts at retail from authorized resellers.

    I used Macs for the last half of the 90’s, and we ditched them in 2000 because OS8/9 wasn’t anything close to stable and Win 2k was like a rock.

  15. tallwookie says:

    its about time that someone figured this out.

  16. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    I forgot about something when looking forward in this discussion…the Intel Macs. For schools, this is a key feature because they no longer have to run separate Mac labs and PC labs…they are one in the same. How a bi-OS system runs on a network is a good question.

  17. Rog says:

    Am I the only one that gets a little queasy when seeing the phrases Microsoft & Open Source Systems in the same sentence?

  18. GregA says:

    #18,

    I was looking at iMacs a while back, because of their ability to run windows. What I found was disappointing. They were roughly twice the cost of an equivalent powered beige box, even then with boot camp they don’t run windows perfectly. For example, the DMA mode vs PIO mode drivers for windows is an absolute deal breaker, every time. Last I checked, that hadn’t been fixed yet. Boot camp has been out almost a year, and they don’t even have basic driver support yet? I think Apple wants to avoid the spectacle of people buying apple computers to run windows on them.

    Even worse, with the new driver model coming out with windows vista, I don’t expect there ever to be solid support for mac hardware.

    So you will still need two computer labs. Also to manage a network full of both windows and os x computer, would require both windows domain controllers and apple xserve servers. Now you are talking big bucks.

  19. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    The DMA/PIO issue probably wouldn’t matter to a school, but the networking overhead certainly would. OSX can be a good citizen on Win domains, but I don’t know a lot about that these days.

    I’m also curious where Bootcamp is headed.

  20. Brian says:

    Love to watch the apple fanatics go into a frenzy over stuff like this.

    Yes, it’s the right choice, because in the real world, they aren’t going to encounter apple computers. Get them prepared for real world applications, not the dreamworld apple lives in.

    Great job!

  21. tallwookie says:

    /agree with #22

  22. pcheevers says:

    Mac or PC’s aside, speaking of the ‘real world’, if we were really serious about preparing students for living and working in it we wouldn’t let then anywhere near a computer until they could read and write properly.

    When it comes to the classroom, particulatly with the younger kids I’d have to posit that interaction is a distraction.

    I work in architecture and have been using computers since the late 80’s (early AutoCAD, 3D Studio on ms-dos etc) and I see that the fresh grads with brand new masters degrees have rotten blends of skills based on trendy directions in computer use in the classroom.

    These kids/young adults are sitting on expensive degrees from designer schools and by 26 or 27 years old know a whole lot about browsing the web and IM-ing all day long and are quick to tell you they ‘need’ itunes etc. but actual ‘real world’ job skills? Nada…

  23. Mike says:

    Is this a high school or a vocational school? If it’s a high school, it shouldn’t matter what computers they use as long as the kids learn their math, english, science and history.

  24. Mark says:

    “As far as parts go, it uses the same parts a PC uses.
    Fact is the school will spend more time and effort keeping PCs running properly (viruses, spyware, endless updates and patches) then they would running Macs.”

    13. How could you say that. Totally incorrect. I know because I work in a Mac store that also sells PC’s. I work on both. Not only are Macs much more expensive to repair, they are difficult because of the constant design changes. The 12 in. Powerbook being the toughest repair in the business. Its the only product (Macs, all models) that I encourage customers to get the extended warranty, because if you aint got it, you might as well bend over.

    15. lou- All your points are right on the money, especially the virus/spyware issue. I have seen a sharp decline in that problem as PC users seem to finally understand that downloading free crap is not always a good thing. And the backwards compatability issue is huge. Many of our clients still want to run their old WIN 98 compatible software (example Lotus, Wordperfect, etc), and not have to invest in new apps with every platform upgrade. Even old DOS apps work great under XP. Nearly every printer made has a Windows driver. We are constantly catching grief from Mac user who upgrade to OSX then find their old printers wont work with it due to a lack of drivers.

    On the other hand, PC users to tend to be price whores, and Mac user dont mind paying thru the nose, so doing business with Mac users is more lucrative.

  25. Alex says:

    To all of you fighting over why the school probably did this, I have an even better and realistic answer:

    A PC manufacturer offered them one hell of a sweet deal to buy new PCs, and they just couldn’t get Apple to give them a similar one.

    Basic market competition, boys. Never underestimate the power of people wanting to save a ton of money.

  26. mcjj says:

    Generally people that use a mac at a workplace tend to make more money than people that use pc’s…

  27. Brian says:

    28-

    any facts to back up your ridiculous assertion? Or just blind apple love at it’s worst?

  28. KenKirk says:

    Mac people are so non-technical, if they ever have a problem, they do not know how to fix it.

    Now PC people know how to fix stuff Mac people would not even know, that’s because PC people are always fixing their computers…hmmm, that didn’t come out right.

    The PC people are showing how much they now right in these comments, PC people are smart and can fix anything…heck, stupid Mac people just want the computer to work so they can use it, how dumb is that, wanting to use the computer instead of fixing it!

    And if a Mac ever got a virus, idiot Mac users would have no software to use, PC users have lots of virus software to pick from and probably own one or two of them and probably had to use it a few times.

    You are right Mr. Willard, get rid of those Macs and bring in something the kids can learn to fix, there are always jobs for computer repair people, at least on the PC side 🙂

  29. GregA says:

    Brian,

    I got some facts for yahs. I maintain a network about about 60 windows pc’s, over five different locations over two states. Using the cost ‘whore’ method, I have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last ten years (according to the accountants similar business etc) For about the third year in a row, I got an OMG bonus. Lots of years of more standard bonuses before that.

    This year I got a $75,000 bonus! Not bad for the manager of a cost center.

    TCO is a function of the quality of the people maintaining your network. It has NOTHING to do with the computer or operating systems.

    look at all those zeros!

    One time we had an outside sales rep type of guy who bad mouthed our computer systems. We wanted to produce the photographs in house(as we always had). He wanted to send the photography off to a “real” photographer who uses a mac. (he was with a printing company, they only work with Macs). After he left, the CEO rolled her eyes, and said “Obviously he doesn’t know what he is talking about” and they lost the job.

    The message is, Mac evangalists cost sales. And I want a c++ GUI programming manual for Christmas!

  30. Mark says:

    30. Actually hardware issues are rare on the PC. Power supplies or hard drives mostly, and any numbskull can replace those. So there really isnt much work technically, with the exception of file xfers while upgrading, or an occasional corrupted file, or babysitting a newbie. But I see that in Macs too. I dont think its because Mac people are non technical, its because Macs have never standardized their box, and I think thats done SO they are unable to repair them themselves. Not really a bad strategy, if the user doesnt mind paying for service.


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