When it comes to efficiency in computing, one of the biggest steps
to take is uniformity: If your computing setup is different in the
various locations and settings where you compute, your efficiency will
necessarily decrease. On the other hand, if you can approach something
akin to uniformity - that is, if every computer you use is identical or
nearly so - efficiency will go through the roof.
(I won't go into the psychology of this, but perhaps it will suffice
to say that this idea has been demonstrated powerfully in a number of
ways.)
Among other things, my desire for efficiency is what led me to
change my office from Windows PCs to Macs. In this column and the next,
I'll walk through the details of this project.
Why Change to Macs?
It's fair to ask: Why change to Macs? I'm an administrator at a
small private school, and, like all schools, we can't afford unlimited
resources to put toward computers. So why should we change them?
The short answer is that the timing is right. To begin with, I'm a
Mac user, and I'm also the new administrator - the fact that my laptop
is a Mac makes a difference here.
The headmaster has indicated that his next laptop will be a Mac,
too. And, by strange circumstances, all of our support staff has turned
over at the same time - and the new staff will have to learn our system
one way or another.
If ever we would change computer systems completely, now is the
ideal time.
The time is right from the vantage point of our existing hardware,
also. We own three desktop PCs: one is at the end of its useful age for
daily rigorous use; the second is at the point of needing substantial
upgrades; and the third is nearly new. With the first two, money will
be spent on hardware one way or another. In all cases, they represent
potentially good machines for the right circumstances - but not ours
(except the new one). We can sell them on the used market and recoup
some of our expenses.
(By the way, we also have a number of older low-end Macs that have
been donated to the school; I'll be selling these also, through the
Low End Mac Swap List. If you're in the
market for some good used equipment whose purchase will support
education, keep your eye out for these.)
The Macintel Transition
The timing is also right from the perspective of new Mac hardware.
With Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and Intel Macs available, it's
easier than ever to switch - even in a context where there is some
latent dependency on Windows software.
Finally, the switch will offer a substantial safeguard that every
small organization should be mindful of. This move broadens the gap of
time between today and the day when our school needs to hire a
full-time IT professional. The bottom line is simple: Setup,
maintenance, and network expansion is easier and more straightforward
on Macs than on PCs. Period. (More on this in my next column.)
First Things First
The first step was to get some new Macs. So I went shopping, and, as
has been the case several times, I found what I was looking at Apple's
refurbished equipment.
I knew that I needed an Intel Mac, so I looked for that first. I
scored a Mac mini with a
Core Duo chip and 512 MB of RAM for $150 off of retail. We already had
a Samsung LCD display with one of our Wintel systems, so this fit well
into my plans.
I also knew that I wanted an iMac, since I was replacing a CPU and
display for the other machine. I wasn't concerned about getting the
latest model, or even the last G5 model, but I did want it to be
factory refurbished and AppleCare-eligible. Again I scored big, getting
a 17" iMac (the last
generation before the
iSight G5) with 256 MB of RAM for just over $700.
Rounding Out the Hardware
The iMac came with a keyboard and mouse, but I added a Mighty Mouse
to the mix. I've used my sister's Mighty Mouse enough to know that I
really like it - in fact, if didn't prefer a trackball at my desk at
home, I would probably go with the Mighty Mouse for my own setup.
For the mini, I got an Apple keyboard. My new administrative
assistant is also an artist and will be doing a bit of graphic arts for
our school, so I also got a Wacom Graphire 4x5 tablet. The Graphire
comes with a mouse (so that the tablet functions as a mousepad) but
also has the benefit of a stylus for higher-end graphic work.
Because of the graphics work - and because the school has run into
trouble with color correction in the past when using a professional
printer, we also got a Spyder 2 color calibration system. The Spyder is
an amazingly straightforward system to use that combines a basic
hardware sensor with a robust but user-friendly software interface.
We'll use the Spyder on my Administrative Assistant's Mini to calibrate
the Samsung LCD display for her graphic artwork.
I'll add some RAM to the iMac - but we already have an extra 512 MB
stick, so this won't cost us anything (assuming that the stick we have
is compatible with the iMac). And our existing printers will work with
Macs, so we won't need to replace them immediately.
Finally, we bought AppleCare for both Macs, so they're covered under
that excellent protection plan for three years.
Software Next
In many ways, our software lineup was already in need of upgrade,
supplement, or change altogether. Apart from Microsoft Office XP, we
had a genuine need for a more complete software solution for a number
of issues that we faced.
But let's start with Microsoft Office. We were running Office XP,
the 2002 vintage of Office for Windows. The latest version for Windows
is Office 2003, and a new version is due out soon. However, Microsoft
Office for the Mac is up to the 2004 edition, and many of the new
"gee-whiz" features promised for the upcoming Office for Windows are
already implemented in the Mac version. Further, Office for the Mac,
Student & Teacher Edition, can be had for a mere $149 (less if you
count the rebates currently running) - and it comes with three
licenses, so both of our office Macs are covered. That's the best price
for an "upgrade" I've ever gotten from Microsoft.
We've also purchased a license for Parallels Desktop,
the virtualization platform that has just
been announced in a final release version. We also bought a copy of
Windows XP Home edition, since all of the copies of Windows we had were
hardware-bundled. Now we've got Windows XP running virtually on our Mac
mini - and I have to tell you, it works very well.
For desktop publishing, we've been using Microsoft Publisher
(perhaps because it was bundled with our copy of Office). Publisher is
a pretty good program for desktop publishing - and for the money it is
the best thing going on the Windows PC. In fact, we will keep a copy of
Publisher installed in our Parallels Desktop virtual machine.
But Publisher isn't available for the Mac, and even if it were, I
don't think I would run it. Instead, we got licenses for iWork 06 for both Macs (and for about
the same price that one copy of Publisher would cost us). Pages will
replace Publisher more than adequately - it's easier to use, more
feature-rich in ways that Publisher feels stinted, and exports to a
more functional set of output options, including PDFs.
(By the way, Keynote also replaces PowerPoint for me every time - I
do hundreds of presentations a year for classes, lectures, seminars,
and meetings, and I have consistently found it to be a superior
presentation application.)
We seriously lacked software in the area of graphical editing for
photos and other graphics. Our Wacom tablet came with a copy of
Photoshop Elements 3.0, which is more than enough for us - especially
combined with iPhoto.
We'll be using Intaglio for vector
graphics; Intaglio offers most of the features we might want from
something like Adobe Illustrator, but for less than 1/4 of the
price.
Another shortcoming of our existing system was file management.
Spotlight is a great start - and obviously much more than what Windows
XP has to offer. But I wanted something more, and DevonThink
answered. DevonThink Pro allows us to manage our documents in ways that
we will benefit from immensely. It's probably overkill - perhaps
Yojimbo would
have been sufficient. But I know DevonThink well, and I like it for
what it does.
We've been using QuickBooks to manage our books for
a few years, so a change to QuickBooks for the Mac was no problem at
all - Intuit has figured this transition out and made it very easy.
SMS Software
Finally, we needed a major upgrade in our school management system
(SMS) software. We've been using an SMS product that required a license
renewal annually to the tune of $500 - and for that renewal we got the
privilege of another year of a system that has not been updated since
2000; it looks and feels like a Windows 3.1 application. Worse, it's
based on Microsoft Access, so it's not portable to the Mac.
Rather than pay $500 to that company, we put it toward a pack of
licenses for FileMaker Pro
8
- enough for both office Macs,
my laptop, and the headmaster's Dell laptop. We also got FileMaker
Server so we could seamlessly interact with our SMS database regardless
of which computer we might be using.
We also bought a license for School Recordkeeper Pro, which
is a great solution for a number of reasons: the interface is clean and
pleasant, it's loaded with information and reporting options, and it
works easily whether you're accessing it from a Mac or a PC.
This leads us to networking, which is assumed in the FileMaker
Server scheme. I'll give details on that and the other setup solutions
I developed in my next column. 
