There are some insurmountable arguments in the educational debate
over Macs vs. Windows.
Yes, more businesses use Windows than use Macs. The same is true of
home users; Windows is the dominant OS. That doesn't mean that it's
better than the Mac OS, only that more people choose it. Yet many
believe that market dominance is sufficient reason to choose Windows
over the Mac OS.
I wonder if they think McDonald's is the best place to take a date,
since millions more choose it than the gourmet restaurant down the
road....
You can't fight the facts of market share, but just maybe you can
show that the market share argument has nothing to do with choosing the
best solution.
But the most commonly heard argument from IT types, who seem more
concerned with job security than the needs of students or teachers, is
that going to a single platform (cough, Windows, cough) will save
money.
In the era of tight education budgets, the lower entry costs of
Windows PCs are a very attractive argument in their own right. Why buy
a $700 eMac (education price) when you can buy a Dell for a couple
hundred dollars less? Why train school IT personnel on Macs and Windows
when you can save time and money by abandoning one platform?
It's called being penny wise and pound foolish.
Study after study has found that despite a higher initial cost, the
Macintosh has a lower total cost of ownership over the life of the
computer. This includes the cost of the computer, cost of repairs, and
cost of support. Macs cost more, last longer, and require less in
support costs.
Yet district after district is buying the lie that abandoning Macs
and going 100% Windows will save them money.
Hogwash. In the era of tight budgets, schools should look to the
better long term value instead of simply trying to buy the most
computers for this year's budget dollar. Look ahead a few years, school
boards - the very thing you have to do when planning new construction,
building renovations, and bond issues.
It's time to unmask the lie. Windows PCs are not the best choices
for our schools. They do not save money except in the initial outlay of
cash. In the long term, they cost more to support than Macs.
I challenge any school system to demonstrate long-term cost savings
by either switching from an all-Mac policy to dual platforms or from
dual platforms to Windows PCs as their sole platform.
I challenge those on school boards, those who teach, and concerned
parents to ask their school systems the following questions:
- How many computer systems have been used in the classroom in
our school or district over each of the past 10 years. How many were
Macs? Windows PCs? Apple IIs?
- How much has our school or district invested in new computers
for classroom use during each of the past 10 years. (Computers, not
printers or networking hardware.) How much was spent on Macs? On
Windows PCs?
- What has our school or district's IT budget been for each of the
past 10 years? How many IT positions have been eliminated by adding
Windows or abandoning the Mac?
- How much time has the IT department spent fighting Windows viruses
over the past year? How much money has the school or district spent on
antivirus software? And how much time has been spent fighting viruses
on Macs?
- What is the average number of repairs per year for all of the Macs
in use? For Windows PCs? What is the average cost per repair for Macs?
For Windows PCs? (Be sure to include hourly wages for IT workers if
they performed the repairs.)
- How many hours per year does each IT staffer invest in training to
support Windows PCs? Macs?
- Factoring for inflation, how much money has adding Windows PC to
the mix or abandoning the Mac saved the school or district?
- Take the total IT budget for each year and divide it by the total
number of classroom computers being used. Factor for inflation. Are
costs going up or down as Windows predominates?
- Do you think IT might have a vested interest in a computing
platform that provides greater job security?
Put the pressure on. Try to unearth any evidence that any school
anywhere has saved any money by adopting Windows PCs after the initial
savings based on a lower purchase price.
I think we'll soon discover that nobody can provide any evidence for
the argument that adding Windows or dropping the Mac saves any money at
all. Let me know what you learn. Maybe we'll generate the kind of hard
numbers that will make school boards and administrators wake up and
smell the coffee.
I'll post articles here as I receive feedback from the field.
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