The following editorial was written some months after
the explosion caused by a letter from Dan Updegrove,
Director of Information Technology at Yale, advising
incoming students to buy Windows computers instead of
Macs. In light of an article in Rumpus,
the Yale student newspaper, Thinking Different
reprints the editorial verbatim.
This was big news a few months ago, when incoming Yale
students received a letter from Daniel
Updegrove, Director of Information Technology, stating,
" the University cannot guarantee support for Macintoshes
beyond June 2000." The text is available online in Mac
vs. Windows in the Ivy League and on Yale's site at
<http://www.yale.edu/mcsc/bts/letter.html>.
Most specifically, the advice to incoming students buying
new hardware is buy Wintel.
It hit the fan.
Not only Yale students, but alumni and Mac users
worldwide were outraged: rather than serving the needs of
the academic community, Yale IT was attempting to dictate
solutions. This flew in the face of history. Yale and Apple
have worked together since 1984 (see ITS
Statement concerning June 1997 letter to incoming
undergraduates).
Donna Ladd of Mac Home
Journal recently discovered that Yale University has
received a $3,000,000 grant from Intel to help them migrate
to Intel-based computers (see Yale
Migration to Wintel Aided by Intel Grant). About the
same time Updegrove was writing his letter to incoming
students, he was applying for the grant that would help push
Apple out.
It certainly looks like a conflict of interest to ask
Intel for a handout and develop a pro-Intel IT policy at the
same time. But then Updegrove has been working to make his
mark at Yale since he left the University of Pennsylvania
and took his new
position on May 1, 1996. Already in September 1996 the
Yale
News reported, "Dawn of a new age: Updegrove tries to
revamp computers."
Of course, then it was just typewriters and file cabinets
he wanted to eliminate, not the world's second most popular
computer platform. But then the Intel grant is to promote
Intel and Windows NT, not just any Wintel box. Are we seeing
a pattern here?
1996: phase out typewriters
1997: phase out Macintosh
1998: phase out Windows 3.1 and Windows 95?
1999: phase out computers with non-Intel CPUs?
I'll give him this: although Wintel boxes need more
support than Macs, if he pulls it off, at least Updegrove
will have everyone using the same OS. In IT, that counts for
a lot.
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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