[CS-FSLUG] Macs and Linux use in CD Vol 80 - Issue 11

[Timothy Butler]

On Oct 31, 2010, at 6:19 PM, George Rodier <gwgr at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Certainly I'm no expert but just Googling "BibleWorks Linux" I see quite
> a few entries. Seems to me the seminary's IT department, staff and
> professors are letting their students down.

Well, the IT department does not get involved with students' systems (not enough staff to do so). Professors can use pretty much whatever they like using the subsidy the school provides. Professors, like students, are split between Windows and Mac OS X.

The problem is seminary students and professors generally are looking for the simplest solution. Sure, you can run BibleWorks in a VM (Accordance will still run on Classic, and thus will work on light weight Mac emulators, too.

The question is: what is to be gained? I can tell you that emulation is NEVER is good as running this sort of thing natively. Given the choice, it just makes sense to pick a platform that has the tools Biblical research needs.

If you shop around a bit, you can get a MacBook for $800. A MacBook competes very well at that price range as a unit with a better than standard build quality. My six year old PowerBook is still running strong. $800 gets you native compatibility with Accordance, Office and other useful tools of extremely high quality (iMovie, Keynote, etc.). Moreover, without any mucking around, you have a system that sleeps and wakes nearly instantaneously (and reliably), the best available graphics drivers for your video card, full tech support on the phone or at the local Apple store for free, etc.

I have been using Linux since 1998 and still use it on the server side, but I quit using it on the desktop because I could buy a competitively priced system that worked out of the box exactly how I wanted it to, had the open, UNIX foundation I love, and is backed by excellent technical support. Even the best distos are not as polished and require tweaking time I can better spend on other projects.

Most seminarians are not that tech savvy. And until they are (or Ubuntu reaches the vision Canonical is trying to achieve), I do not think it is practical for them to adopt Linux without being in a ministry with an IT staff available to support them when things go wrong.

Tim