You've probably heard that the University of Texas
Business School will require students to purchase or lease a
specific Dell laptop running Windows NT beginning in the
Fall 1998 semester. (Special thanks to thessaSource
for following the story.)
Their reasons include:
standardization simplifies use and support
you can negotiate better prices in bulk
this prepares students for the business world
As an IS manager, I'll buy the first two arguments, but
not the last one.
First, Windows NT is decidedly not the corporate
OS choice. Windows 95 has a greater market share. Windows
3.1 has a larger installed user base. Even the much maligned
Mac OS has more market share than Windows NT. Although NT
may become the OS of choice (sometime after Windows 98 comes
and goes), that is speculation. To require each
student use an OS which may never achieve market dominance
is foolish.
Second, most businesses have not and never will
standardize on a single computer (one brand perhaps, but
never one model). One size does not fit all. Many
businesses have a variety of PCs from the 386-era to the
present - some with DOS, some with Windows 3.1, some with
Windows 95, and perhaps a Windows NT server. And lets not
forget the design department with its Macs.
Teaching computer conformity ill prepares UT business
students for the real world.
That's Not All
The business of education is producing thinking
individuals, not clones. Yet the UT Business School doesn't
allow its students to determine if the Dell laptop is their
best choice. Sorry, IBM, Compaq, Gateway, and Apple, but
our students aren't allowed to choose their own
computers.
Sure, Dell (located just short drive from the UT Business
School) is probably going to cut the school a great deal.
And the Intel technology funds certainly don't hurt chances
of the school choosing a Windows NT solution. And the fact
is, Wintel computers are dominant in the business world.
That's Still Not All
Frankly, I'm more disappointed by the enforced conformity
than by the fact they ignore my platform of choice. Even in
the Wintel world there are a lot of choices - and a
PowerMac G3 with Virtual PC 2.0 makes a great Windows
machine for the Mac lover.
Worse than eliminating student choice, the University of
Texas Business School made a poor choice of operating
systems.
Unlike Windows 95, Windows NT has no power management
capabilities, yet students are required to run it on a
laptop.*
Windows NT 4.0 isn't Year 2000 compliant,** despite
the fact the Dell computers themselves undoubtedly
are.
On the other hand, as every Dilbert
fan knows, management is fully capable of making bone headed
decisions.
Maybe the UT Business school is preparing its
students for the real world after all.
* I received an email from Emery Berger of the Department
of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
He notes that while Windows NT doesn't have power management
capabilities, Dell supplies power management software for
Windows NT with these laptops.
** Don't take my word for it. Read the
article on Microsoft's site that essentially says, "We
want you to deploy Windows NT 4 now, knowing that Y2K
compliance will be available when NT 5 ships."
Microsoft has patches
for Windows NT 4 which improve Y2K compliance.
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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