Re: [MAGNet] Dual-booting Macs in computer labs

Here is more of the same. And, by the way, we here at the Journalism School
already made the move to 100% Mac environment (all labs, all staff and
faculty areas, too) two years ago and we are loving it. We have started
using "Parallels Desktop for Mac" in some areas and have no doubt that we
will do more of this in the future. By the way, here is also a copy of the
email I sent to our students a couple of days ago about using Microsofts
Vista.....

>Subject: US university dumps Windows to go all Mac -
>
>
><http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsID=17512>
>
>
>US university dumps Windows to go all Mac
>
>Rather than take bids from the usual PC suspects ­ Dell and HP ­ as
>well as Apple, Wilkes decided to go all-Apple because the new Intel- based
>models and the Boot Camp dual-boot software ­ would let the
>school reduce the number of machines campus-wide. "This is an
>aggressive technology refresh," Byers said.
>
>Wilkes University announced on Wednesday that it has pulled the
>plug on PCs in favour of Macs, saying the move - which actually
>began last year - will save the Pennsylvania liberal arts college
>more than $150,000 while letting students and faculty continue to
>run Windows
>applications._______________________________________________
>MacOSX-talk mailing list
>MacOSX-talk_at_omnigroup.com
>http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk

My Vista message:

"By now, most of you know that Microsoft has released a new operating
system called Vista. You may have seen the Apple ads where the "Mac Guy" is
talking to the "PC Guy" and Mr. PC is complaining about his new Vista
upgrade. Well, it is not just an ad. It is art imitating reality. This new
operating system (in my opinion) is more trouble than its worth. I have a
working (not exactly) version in my office and it is really intolerable.
Absolutely everything has changed. You will need to buy new hardware and
software to upgrade and if you purchase a new PC with Vista installed, then
you will have a very sharp learning curve to make things work the way you
want.

   My recommendation is: Do not buy Vista. Do not upgrade to Vista. If you
purchase a new PC, ask the vendor if you have a choice between Microsoft XP
and Vista. If you do, get XP!

   As is typical to most Microsoft major updates, you will spend a lot of
money to get your machine to accept the new operating system (new video
cards, more memory, etc.), and you will probably have to replace several
computer third party programs because of incompatibility. It is just not
worth it right now. I have talked to several computer support people at
different computer stores and none of them were able to answer any of my
questions saying that the software was too new and they did not have enough
experience in supporting it. That would leave only Microsoft or buying a
bunch of support manuals (which is what I did).

   Possibly, in about 6-8 months, there will be a substantial user base and
maybe alot of the problems will have been ironed out. But, I repeat, if
possible, do not buy Vista!!"

Best

Roy
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
At 10:38 AM 3/16/2007, Aron Roberts wrote:
> A message posted today to the SIGUCCS list, a mailing list for higher
> education computing support providers, offers a very early glimpse of a
> practice that may or may not catch on more widely: providing Macintoshes
> in a dual boot (Windows XP and Mac OS X) configuration in public computer labs.
>
>FYI,
>Aron Roberts
>Information Services and Technology
>
>--
>
>Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:21:09 -0400
>Sender: SIGUCCS Discussion List <SIGUCCS_at_LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
>From: "Potocki, Jeff" <JPotocki_at_FAIRFIELD.EDU>
>Subject: Re: SIGUCCS Digest - 14 Mar 2007 to 15 Mar 2007 (#2007-43)
>To: SIGUCCS_at_LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
>
>Hello. This is a response to Allan's question about dual-booting macs.
>At Fairfield University, we have begun to deploy dual-booting macs on
>campus. This option allows us to do many things to accommodate our
>users, students, faculty and staff.
>
>1. We have first deployed dual-booting macs in our training room. This
>allows us to offer training on both platforms with using only one
>machine.
>2. We have begun to deploy dual-booting macs in our public computer
>labs. Again, we can use one machine to do both platforms. Since we are
>using iMacs to do this, this eliminates the use of a cpu box and a
>separate monitor, thus providing more table and workspace in the labs.
>This also cuts down on machine abuse since you're only dealing with one
>piece of equipment. Also, networking is easier since you use cat
>5/copper connections for the mac. No fiber! We initially had fiber to
>the desktop and yes, had to convert over, but makes more sense in the
>long run. Cheaper and doesn't break as easily.
>3. Support. Yes, our support technicians have to be trained to support
>macs. That's the nature of the beast. You have to lay down the law
>here. Get your support people trained! Cloning and deploying dual-boot
>macs has yet to be nailed down to a science. We have our own process
>and it is working so far.
>4. We're seriously considering the option of going with Apple as our
>provider of computers on campus, mostly stemming from the large service
>and quality issues we have been having with Dell, our current provider.
>Again, Apple has a great reputation of having reliable hardware.
>5. As for recording what OS is being used by students, we have not yet
>decided what to do about this. Our goal as providing technology support
>to the university is to offer options. By doing this, our users become
>more technologically aware of, well, technology. If this helps them to
>become more tech savvy or more comfortable with using computers, then
>great. They have the option to explore. This promotes learning.
>6. There are no licensing issues here. Our agreement with Microsoft
>allows us to put XP on any machine.
>7. It seems that I feel strongly about this, but we are not pro apple.
>We are a PC dominated campus, but our mac population is growing. This
>opportunity for dual-booting goes beyond the pc or apple debate. It's a
>user support issue.
>
>Hope this helps. If you want to talk further about this, feel free to
>contact me. Thanks.
>
>jpotocki_at_mail.fairfield.edu
>
>Jeff Potocki
>
>Software Support Specialist-Training Coordinator
>
>Computing and Network Services
>Fairfield University
>
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Roy A. Baril
Director of Technology
U. C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
121 North Gate Hall
Berkeley, CA. 94720
(510) 643-9215

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Received on Fri Mar 16 2007 - 14:07:24 PDT