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Editorial - Mac OS X in Enterprise and Education 
Mac OS X in Enterprise and Education - "The Windows Centric Administrator"
By Dr. Tim Hillman, OSXFAQ Senior Editor - Enterprise and Education
Last week, the call went out for movers and shakers. Plenty of you chimed in,
but there are also a number who didn't check in. A few noble souls checked in to
say they weren't movers and shakers, but did have an opinion. In the meantime, I
took those opinions and went to town searching for solutions, particularly in
the education arena. While fully aware that some of you may be asking "But
what's that got to do with me?" I implore you to read on. Education means more
than you know, and the problem at the heart of educational computing comes from
an extremely specific place.
Education is a business. You pay your money (either in taxes or in tuition,) and
you get product out the back end. Hopefully that product is an accurate
reflection of the money invested. Hence, it is a sad thing that so many of this
country's schools are receiving failing grades on their product. Whether we
choose to admit it or not, there is something wrong with the educational system.
ETS' rescaling the SAT made clear the fact that American students are not doing
as well as their predecessors. To be fair, that does not mean that the system
does not produce its fair share of dynamic, knowledgeable and driven students.
Too many though fall through the cracks of the system and end up self-educated
and seemingly better for it.
One of my former students works in the IT sector, and from all indications,
survives just fine on the fringe of the mainstream. When I was not chewing him
out, he always maintained that he would be able to find work in the IT sector
and I, the knowing teacher, always scoffed at that desire. Guess who's eating
crow?
So on one side of the spectrum, we have students going through the system who in
some cases know more than the adults. On the other end, we have the
administrative cabal that makes up the center of the school. When it comes to
platform choice, this is where the finger must immediately point.
In my earlier columns, I expressed that I would try to speak to fact and not
opinion. I therefore rely on your trust. The majority of school administrative
personnel who run the dollars and cents part of the operation are PC bound. In
high schools, that is because the software tools are more readily available for
the Windows platform. The IT professionals are MCSE engineers, and the software
designers started writing with dBase or Visual FoxPro. Names like Rediker,
Jackson, and Blackbaud rule in the world of school software.
These companies are flat out Windows developers. Support for a product like Mac OS X
is there, but only in the form of clients or compatibility with Excel. If I am
wrong, I hope that these companies come flying out of the walls to attack me. I
suspect they will not.
With this software and platform, choice, the Windows-centric administrator
immediately looks at platform questions and makes decisions. What are the
questions?
Q: Which computer should we put on a teacher's desk?
A: Wintel. Matches with our software.
Q: What should we put on our student's desks?
A: Wintel. Matches their home machines.
Q: What manner of laptop architecture should we deploy?
A: Wintel. Matches with.....
These choices are not based in fallacies either. They are right in installing
the platform that answers the questions properly.
They do not however answer another principal question- what will students face
in the real world? The answer to that question is not "100% Wintel" and
educators are missing the boat when they treat their computer purchases in that
manner. The installed Mac, Unix and Linux platforms exist in the real world. It
is not a one brand solution. At the very least, the installed base of computers
in any academic environment should reflect the user base. By not doing so, we
discriminate against different learning styles.
My lab, a mish-mash of clones, should include Macs for those students who
function better on that platform. In truth, such a deployment would be an
interesting test of just which machine has a better ROI.
Now suddenly this article is comes to an abrupt end. That is by design. Consider
these columns part of an ongoing conversation. I have made a point, now I look
for your input. We have a challenge on our hands, and that means it is time for
me to shut up and listen to what you have to say about this issue.
If you have any questions or comments about this feel free to e-mail me at: tim_hillman@osxfaq.com
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