[CS-FSLUG] Macs replace university's Linux desktops

[Timothy Butler]

On May 28, 2005, at 12:28 AM, 國產 Wei-Yee Chan (Made in Chinar)  
wrote:

> No doubt that it's $199 for the family pack, but I suppose not many
> families own more than 1 computer.

     More than you'd guess. I believe two system families have become  
the norm in the U.S., if I recall recent statistics.

> Think of all the expensive hardware
> that Apple sell and you'll see why they're willing to offer the family
> pack to U for "a steal".

     Apple's hardware really isn't expensive. If you compare a Mac  
mini to a low end PC, it is just a bit more. If you compare a  
PowerBook to a Pro-sumer or Business line laptop from the leading PC  
manufacturers, again, you find it is about the same, perhaps even  
cheaper. This is no small feat, for you are talking about a RISC  
architecture (which, as you know is more expensive) loaded with  
features that usually do not come standard. When NASA did  
benchmarking of the PowerPC G5 vs. Intel chips, they did not even  
bother to compare functions that could use the PowerPC's AltiVec  
("Velocity Engine") extensions, because the 128-bit AltiVec  
subprocessor just is so much faster it wasn't even worth trying to  
make the x86 do the job.

     Apple is not going to compete with white box manufacturers, but  
they are fairly competitive with high quality OEMs. Lots of people  
like running GNU/Linux on Macs because Apple makes having a RISC  
workstation affordable. You also have to consider that AppleCare is  
generally ranked best in service and support by publications, so part  
of the cost is going toward that too; not to mention that Apple does  
much of its own R&D.

> The package might suit U, but not the masses.
> I believe that most Mac users purchase the single user license, which
> costs $129.  That's like almost double the price of an OEM Windows XP
> Home edition.  And as U have said, unlike Windows, U don't get an
> upgrade discount.

     Well, the masses don't buy OEM copies beyond the one included  
with their computer. So, $129 for Tiger (less at Amazon) is roughly  
comparable with $99 for XP Home edition. And, when you consider that  
Tiger has all of the extras included in XP Pro edition, you are  
really saving $70 for the full OS X over the upgrade XP Pro.

> I agree that the Mac OSX is a "different" operating system due to all
> the re-engineering work.  To each his own - I guess it all boils  
> down to
> whether you'd wanna spend heaps of time  building your own OS or  
> buy it
> off the shelf.  OS X is a great OS, but I prefer Linux over it  cos
> Linux is free.  Feel free to call me a cheapskate if U want to.  :-)

     I like the freeness of GNU/Linux too, although I especially  
prefer the Freeness. My problem is I found I don't have "heaps of  
time" as you put it. So, I switched to Macs, thereby permitting me to  
continue to enjoy *nixy goodness without dedicating as much time to  
the proposition. :-) Someday, I may return to GNU/Linux as my primary  
system... although I may just run it on a PowerPC rather than an x86  
(presently, I continue to run Linux on x86's).

     -Tim

---
Timothy R. Butler | "Turning and turning in the widening gyre
tbutler at ofb.biz   |  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
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