Editorial - Mac OS X in Enterprise and Education 
Missing the Boat - Where Education IT People Just Don't get IT.
By Dr. Tim Hillman, OSXFAQ Senior Editor - Enterprise and Education
The task facing an educational IT director is daunting. In high schools across
the country, they are asked to do a job that might earn them three times as much
in the corporate world, yet they take on the task. Scratch one and you'll find
an old teacher, a librarian who has moved into the IT world, someone outside the
education world looking for less pressure- or all of the above. Mac fans are
often frustrated by this group- a group that has made decisions to go with
Wintel machines over and over. In the past months, I've shared a number of
reasons why Wintel has dominated the IT world. This week though, I'll make a
brief but unabashed case for moving toward Apple architecture. It won't take
long, and you'll be armed with a point that you can make to IT people that they
can't hide from.
Jim, a friend of mine, pointed me toward an article that bemoaned once more
Apple's place in education, and their foundering ship. Have no fear Jim, I think
I've got a line on this ship that might serve to keep the ship afloat. We know,
and the IT people know, that Apple makes better product. This month's PC
Magazine only confirms that when they give the new 17" iMac a five star rating-
a rating higher than they accorded any of the 2.8 ghz Wintel architecture
machines reviewed. That's not supposed to happen.
For years, these magazines left Macs alone, but now they are willing to not only
feature, but praise Apple for it's work both on the iMac and Jaguar. Indeed they
present a compelling case for hooking iMacs onto corporate networks. Jaguar is
that robust, and Apple is viewed as a solid alternative. Just today, Microsoft's
campaign of inclusiveness sure went a long way in establishing the Mac as a
player now and in years to come. I read the article and breathed a sigh of
relief. All is well with the world.
Jim's article stuck in my mind though. In it, John Marzione explains in part
that the Mac is losing the education battle because Apple isn't responsive to
the needs of education. He quoted one school IT director as saying that Apple
doesn't bring anything to the plate. I beg to differ wildly.
Apple brings plenty to the plate- we're just looking at the wrong plate. One
major issue plague school IT people. #1. Cost. Unfortunately, the upfront cost
question is impossible to argue. Schools can install computers at a nearly three
to one ratio when they go brandless. The gap closes when Dell steps to the
plate, but there is still a gap.
However, as Jim has been telling me for months now, the question of total cost
of operation must come into play. Unfortunately, even TCO studies miss elements
of Apple that make the system a more reasonable purchase. Two years ago, I
watched as the school I taught at in Tennessee rolled out a laptop program for
the junior class. (Now why a school would roll out a laptop program for ONLY
juniors is beyond me, but they did it.) In addition, they wired the dorms and
did all the things necessary to create a wired campus. From there, I watched as
the IT person went from dorm room to dorm room showing kids exactly how to
configure their PC's to work on the system. I can't imagine the hours she spent
going through control panels.
Once she had things up and running, the kids were off and running- LAN parties,
Trojan horses on administrative computers- all sorts of fun stuff.
In education, give me an Apple for one basic reason. I have yet to meet a true
hacker at the adolescent level that has a clue about Apples. The toys are there
for PC users. If you've been there you know- a school Windows network is a
hacker's delight.
Stick a bunch of Macs there and the hackers generally disappear, yelling about
how much Macs suck. Give 'em a PC and they'll be at home, but the Macs throw
them. Get a network full of them and the cost of security will go down, downtime
will fall, and everything will work better. We know that.
How can a reasonable IT person say that Apple brings nothing to the plate? They
don't cut corners in development, and present a solid product to the market. For
me, that's bringing something to the plate. Dell makes a great case for being
the Windows platform in the education world. However, schools are better off not
running hardware that kids know how to crack with ease. Schools shouldn't have
to protect themselves from the kids.
Take Windows and all of its inherent problems out of the equation, and a logical
educator will see that the Apple platform makes sense. Frankly, I would cherish
the opportunity on a Parent's Night to explain to a parent why we chose Macs
instead of Windows clones. It would go something like this:
"Parent: We've got a Windows machine, the whole world runs them, why don't you?
Macs are just not worth using anymore.
Me: Simple really. We've invested more money in order to ensure that your
child's computing experience at school is safe and superior. The installed Macs
give your child a different perspective on computing, and allow them to see that
the computing world comes in many flavors. Whether they use Macs after
graduation is not important to us. What's important is that they gather the
skills necessary to master any challenge thrown at them. With Macs and OS X, we
believe that we can do that better. Our computers are more stable, the hardware
more durable, and the kids are taking advantage of the technologies that Apple
has put into their hands. They are making iMovies faster than we can get DV
cameras in their hands, and building remarkable presentations on Microsoft
software. The more advanced kids are learning how to use UNIX in a safe
environment, and our programmers are learning to develop JAVA applications with
Sun tools that will function in any environment. Also, the .Mac account that we
recommended to your child has made it possible for your home computer to
interact seamlessly with the school machines. "
Windows advocates just haven't realized that "bringing it to the plate" means a
whole lot more than just finances. A creative deployment of Macs in a school
environment would show just that. Any questions?
If you have any questions or comments about this feel free to e-mail me at: tim_hillman@osxfaq.com
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