Text 46146, 96 rader
Skriven 2008-05-22 19:35:05 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 46136 av Charles Scaglione (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Worm or no 1/2 worm ?
=============================
Charles Scaglione -> JEAN PARROT wrote:
 CS> JEAN PARROT -> CHARLES SCAGLIONE wrote:

 CS> Hi Jean:

 CS>>> Our MacBook will do Aero just fine.  But you're right, we really do
 CS>>> not need Vista to run the 2 or 3 programs we have for Windows.  Soon
 CS>>> that number will be down to 1.

 JP>>         The 1/2 worm user upstairs is having all kinds of problems
 JP>>    with her X, nimble fingers do things that the RAM does not
 JP>>    remember. Result is that some things do not run anymore. Is there a
 JP>>    way to redo the OS here ? As in XP or W2K ?

 CS> Sure, if you have the original install disk.  I can't tell you the exact
 CS> procedure since I only know how to do it for our Mac but I'm certain
 CS> Alan could probably help.

All Mac hardware comes with a set of discs to restore the operating system, and
optionally restore the set of software that came with the system. The OS
installation disc(s) are keyed to that particular hardware model, so not as
generally usable as the retail discs-- but there's no product activation or
even serial numbers to enter.

Even nicer- if the user has been using OS X 10.5's Time Machine backup, to back
up to an external (or WiFi-connected) drive, then booting to the install CD can
be used to restore from backup-- I had to do this a few months ago after
user-error (mine) messed up my system, and the restore from backup was very
well-implemented.

 JP>>         One school here went the way of the 1/2 worm and provided a
 JP>>    Mac laptop to all students. So far, the experiment has not met
 JP>>    with expectations, the cost was in the millions and had to be born
 JP>>    by the parents, some could not afford it. Sadly, the same would
 JP>>    have been if they had chosen a PC, but the saving would have been
 JP>>    great.

 CS> I wonder why the school chose to supply Mac laptops rather than the less
 CS> expensive PC laptops.  Very few school systems here in Texas are still
 CS> using Macs.  Perhaps some private institutions do, that I don't know.

For a number of years, Apple has been making a pitch to schools offering to
sell pods of WiFi-connected laptops, along with a cart to charge them en masse
and move them from classroom to classroom... this has been somewhat popular
among schools that don't have a dedicated computer lab; a teacher can book a
set of 12 or 24 laptops for a couple of weeks to work on a project. Apple has
done a better job of making this a simple purchase and simple to use than any
of the PC competitors.

A number of school districts in the US and Canada, and even the state of Maine
have had projects to do things like provide a laptop to every grade 7 student
(for example)-- Apple has also worked really hard to get these contracts.

I'm personally not convinced that this is the way to go-- it's not clear to me
that the benefits of providing every student with a laptop (Windows or Mac) is
worth the cost, especially since there are more cost effective ways to ensure
that every student has computer access when they need it, without having to
give kids their own individual systems that go unused much of the time.

 CS> However, at the university and state run colleges, Macs are very popular
 CS> and are common purchase items in most school run bookstores.  They also
 CS> offer a substantial discount at some universities.

The actual educational pricing is public-- and is typically a discount between
5-10% (usually closer to 5%).

 CS> I was surprised to read recently (from MS) that Office 2008 for the Mac
 CS> was their biggest seller.  So much so, that copies are practically sold
 CS> out in most stores that stock Mac software.  MS attributes that to the
 CS> recent upswing in Mac sales and its growing popularity.  Now that's from
 CS> MS, not Apple!


Apple just rushed out Office 2008 SP1. Frankly, I'm underwhelmed with Mac
Office 2008-- it's slow and buggy (I can't get word count to work reliably, for
instance), and missing features from Office 2007 that would make it useful in a
corporate environment-- perhaps since Microsoft doesn't want Apple to be able
to penetrate that market.

More interesting to me is the stat published this week showing Apple with an
astounding 66% US market share for computers sold retail costing $1000 or
above. (That leaves out corporate sales, online sales, and anything below
$1000-- but it means that HP, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, etc etc are all
scrambling for a piece of 34% of the most profitable part of the market).

But yes-- most of those 66% Apple customers will end up purchasing a copy of MS
Office 2008.

-- 
==================================
- email: alan (at) zisman (dot) ca
- website: http://www.zisman.ca
(running on Mac OS X)

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