A teacher in the Katy Independent School District sent
the following information:
Katy ISD, in Katy, Texas (a suburb of Houston),
is phasing out Macs. Over the coming years, installed
Macs will be replaced by Dell computers running Windows.
The school in which my source teaches is to go Wintel
over in two years. In the meantime, they only have one
full lab of Power Macs, another partial Mac lab, a
partial lab of LC 575s and LC 580s, and one lab of LCs.
Some schools in the district have more up-to-date labs.
One school has four full Power Mac labs, even though this
teacher's school has none. Now it looks like they'll be
spending the next two years in a holding pattern waiting
for Windows.
Katy ISD is one of the highest rated districts in
Texas. Our school is recognized and is applying for Blue
Ribbon Status this year.
It looks like the same old argument: Everyone uses
Windows. Between that and Dell's home court advantage (Dell
is headquartered in Austin), it looks like Apple's number
may be up in Katy ISD.
I hope the school has looked at the big picture and
realizes they will need four times the technical support
staff to keep all these Windows labs running. Field reports
from students across the country indicate most Windows labs
have around 25% of PCs down at any given time, while Mac
labs seem to run on all burners.
The other problem is that once they've installed a base
of PC techs, it will be virtually impossible to go back to
Mac. They will fight for what they know and resist
change.
I wish the teachers, students, and parents in Katy well
if they push to keep Macs in the schools. After all, Apple
has blazed the trail Microsoft is following with Windows. In
other words, what the Mac OS is today, Windows will be in a
few years.
So why not expose students to the better OS and keep
support costs down?
Gone fishing for the summer, 6/13/00.
"Even on the Macintosh, where things are generally considered to be
easier, Murphy's Law seems to work overtime."
Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work
for all. Computers are like that. Please report errors to
Dan Knight
.
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