Keep Macs in the Grand Rapids Public Schools

Newest Links

More recent links on MacInSchool.

• Join the MacInSchool Email List to advocate for Macs in education

• The Borg advance: US Navy embraces Windows, MacOS Daily

• Study shows 24% of Win95 users in education like Apple, MacCentral

• iMac impressions: a teacher's perspective, a kid's perspective, a dad's perspective, MacCentral

• Fear and learning in the classroom, Mac Opinion

• Mac or PC? Your choice, Ottawa Sun

• Married to the Mac OS, MacOS Daily

• Microsoft NT 5.0 beta 2: not ready for prime time, ZDNN

• iMac now Apple's featured education product, MacCentral

• Windows 98 1/1/2000 date bug, Reuters (thanks MacNN)

• Apple Learning Interchange has over 7,800 members

• Macintosh does Windows!, Toronto Sun (12 August 1998)

• G3 Macs at school, AppleLinks

• "What do I do, Daddy?," Robert Paul Leitao, ATPM
"The real concern should be what computer is best suited for today's educational curriculum and what computer represents the best long-term value."

• The role of the Macintosh in a university environment, MacOpinion

• New Macs score high in schools, TechWeb, "...more schools are planning to buy Macintosh computers this year than last year."

• Using Macs on Novell networks, Accelerate Your Mac

• iMac review, Henry Norr, MacInTouch

• Popular or best?, Barry Ritholtz, MacTimes

• Problems with Intel's Xeon CPU and 450NX chip set, overview of Intel processor design, Macintosh Evolution

• College of Wooster selects Mac as primary academic computer

• Hackers find security holes in Windows, CNN

• How to sway anti-Apple sentiment, State of the Macintosh

• Mac Evolution compares the G3 and Pentium II in integer (SPECint95) and floating point (SPECfp) performance

• Pentium II, PowerPC, and Merced, Mac Opinion

• What's wrong with Merced, Microprocessor Report

• iMac: the college computer, iMac iNfo

• Switching to Mac -- iMac, even, the iMac.com

• Intel inside? Business buyers don't really care, ZDNet

• Intel Secrets by Robert Collins

• Apple has announced it will discontinue support and parts shipments for the following Macs after 31 August 1998: 128k, 515k, 512ke, Plus, SE, SE/30, Classic, Classic II, Portable, PowerBook 100, 140-150, 170, Mac II, IIx, IIcx, and IIfx. Also on the list are all Apple II computers. The Apple II series dates to 1977 and several of these Macs have been actively supported for well over a decade. Any PC vendor supporting hardware that long? (thanks MacNN)

• Apple bites back at PC with iMac, Australian Financial Review

• Windows 98 suffering from its rush to market, San Jose Mercury News

• Programs makes Macs act like PCs, Sun Herald

• Ojai Digital Arts Center in Ojai, CA, to use iMacs, more in Wired (thanks, iMac iNfo)

• the iMac.com compares iMac and Compaq Presario

• c|net's Bugs upon bugs page tracks security holes. Currently, 4 of 5 bugs listed are in Microsoft products.

• Apple among most reliable brands, Philadelphia Inquirer

• CIH virus infects thousands of [Win95/98] users, ZDNN, "This bug kills computers dead."

• Security flaw in Outlook Express, MacWEEK.com

• Franklin and Marshall College of Lancaster, PA recommends Power Mac

• Higher Education, Lower Standards, Applelinks

• Serious NT bug emerges, c|net
"A flaw in Microsoft's Windows NT operating system allows an ordinary network user, and possibly anyone with Internet access, to impersonate a system administrator."

• Human Resources Development Canada picks Macs for ease of use, minimal virus threat, MacCentral

• Portland, Maine, newspaper switches to Macintosh, MacCentral

• CIH virus attacks Win95/98 computers, University of Texas at Austin

Pages on This Site

• We have received a letter from Rex Thelen, Director of Management Information Systems for GRPS. We have also replied to it.

• The GRPS case for Windows

• Myths about Macs and Windows

• Community Feedback

• Year 2000 issues

• Wichita Public Schools

• Virginia Beach, Virginia

• Chapel Hill, North Carolina

• Windows NT security risks

• Email list - keep informed

• AppleBits articles

User stories: teachers, students, etc.

• Letter from a Grand Rapids parent

• Letter from Howard Stob, Tech Specialist, Aberdeen Tech/Math Academy

Related Links

User stories: teachers, students, etc.

• Sean, an 8th grader, shares his experience

• School compares AutoCAD on Virtual PC with real Intel PC

• Field report from The Dalles, Oregon

• Report from Virginia

• Report from Ohio

Other school systems

• Apple education sales up, San Francisco Gate

• Another school undergoes backward migration, MacCentral

• Why Rockingham County Public Schools Buys Macintosh

• Nashville Public Schools

• Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School

• Florence, South Carolina

• Virginia Beach, Virginia

Colleges and universities

• Reversal of fortune: a Mac victory at Yale, Business Week

• College of Architecture at UNC-Charlotte recommends Power Mac, MacCentral

• Yale reverses decision, endorses Macs, Ben Wilson, MacCentral

• UNC-Chapel Hill goes all Wintel, Dennis Sellers, MacCentral

• State University of New York sticks with Power Mac

• Dartmouth recommends iMac to freshmen

• University of Virginia recommends G3s

• UNC-Chapel Hill

• Temple College

• St. Louis University

• Yavapai College

• University of Texas

• State University of New York

• Yale University

• Boyer College

• University of Waterloo

General Mac and Mac v. Windows

• Win 3.1 first casualty of Y2K compliance, InfoWorld Electric

• Windows NT cripples Navy's smart ship, Government News

• The dangers of standardization, Big Mac on Campus

• Return on Investment, Mac v. Windows

• Lab tools for the Macintosh

• Apple has real advantages, Union Tribune

• Cost clouds iMac's savior status, Los Angeles Times (13 July 1998), "For schools--which need networked computers and can easily live without floppies--it's a sure bet."

• Macs shouldn't be used in education

• Emotional evangelism, FreshBytes

• Gettin' Religion, Laura Lindhe, former PC user

• Running school networks gets easier, TechWeb

• Novell and Prosoft to expand Mac connectivity solutions for NetWare

• Win98: users complain -- early and often, ZDNet

• Jesse's Win98 Service Pack, ZDNet AnchorDesk

• Myth: Windows NT is stable

• The iMac: Perfect for Schools (iMac channel)

• Why Windows Isn't Good Enough

• Asset Administration: Macs costs less to use (Law Practice Technology Center)

• How to keep Macs in our schools (AppleBits)

• Apples For Teachers

• Schools in Need

• Microsoft may postpone Windows NT 5 again, delaying the Year 2000 compliant software until mid-to-late 1999

• Windows NT Security

• G3 steals the (PC) show, what happens when PC users see a G3 with Virtual PC in action

• Forward Migration, stories of schools and businesses that have switched from Windows to the Macintosh

• Macs for Education, a five year study on computers in education by Michael J. Johnson, Ph.D.

• 75 reasons to buy a Mac

• Is Windows really as good as Macintosh?

• Droves of users have not abandoned the Macintosh

• Macs don't cost more than PCs

• Apple's biggest problem is Mac longevity

• Dual platform costs, a study showing the cost of ownership decreases as the proportion of Macs increases by the Gartner Group.

• Mac v. Windows: which is better and why? (requires Acrobat)

• Maintenance comparison: Macintosh v. Windows 95 by Norris and Wong Associates

• Macintosh, a long term solution

Why We're Here

The Grand Rapids Public Schools seem to be standardizing on Windows, if their current $795,000 purchase of Windows-based computer systems is any indication. This may mean they will phase out millions of dollars worth of Macintosh equipment (estimated at 2,000 computers), some of it installed as recently as the 1997-98 school year.

Such a move would be both shortsighted and unwarranted. There has been no call by the teachers, sutdents, or parents to change computer systems. There has been no communication from computer services that such a change would be taking place, or even a request for feedback on changing computing platforms.

Worse, the schools are buying $795,000 worth of computers unprepared to handle January 1, 2000. (The only version of Windows that Microsoft claims as fully Y2K compliant is Windows 98, which is not what GRPS is buying.)

As the father of four children attending Grand Rapids public schools, a concerned taxpaying citizen, and a Macintosh user, I can't let this happen without speaking out.

Simply put, the Apple Macintosh and the Macintosh operating system make for the easiest to support and most user friendly computing available. They are readily networked, easy for our children to learn, and have a broad base of educational software.

And from the teachers' perspective, it's often a computer they have invested their own time and money in.

The time has come for Mac lovers and proponents of choice to stand together and tell the Grand Rapids Public Schools that going to Windows as a primary platform is a foolish move. At the very least, each school should be able to choose whether it wants Windows, Macintosh, or a mix of both platforms.

Dan Knight,
father
taxpayer
Macintosh user

(I first learned about the move to Windows from some articles on AppleBits.)