Conference 7.286::macintosh

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 97 23:30:22 -0800
From: Guy Kawasaki <[email protected]>
Subject: Must Read!!!--Macs in Education, part 1
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Keyword: Market by market, Education 

As my wife often tells me, "Think of the children." :-)

Guy

Adult Reasons Why Educators Should Continue to Embrace Macintosh

by Michael J. Johnson, Ph.D.

Over the last three years my two co-authors and I have evaluated all the 
educational technology projects funded by an educational foundation in 
the 14 Western states. After visiting scores of schools and universities, 
corresponding with hundreds of teachers and administrators, and producing 
two videos, we concluded that the battle over which platform, Macintosh 
vs. DOS/Windows, was an adult issue. 

Students easily adapt and move from one platform to another rather 
seamlessly. Students do get very upset when the platform they are given 
is incapable of doing some of the things they learn that another machine 
can do or do with less effort. But for the most part, kids adapt. So it 
is the adults who seem to have so much invested in the platform war.

The platform controversy often goes to extremes in school districts as 
allegiances are strong and bias is at times an insurmountable obstacle as 
it is in any holy war. People's emotional attachments to the platform 
they learned on often make it nearly impossible to be objective. This 
battle has left most educators, administrators, and board members at an 
extreme disadvantage in that they do not have an educational technology 
background and have had to rely on their technical computer support staff 
and others for information and recommendations.

The recommendations and information they have gotten has often been 
biased by the platform bias of their techies. In the past educators, 
administrators, and boards may have been uncomfortable with this 
situation, but left it up to the techies. That situation has changed! The 
importance of the platform decision has become much more critical in the 
last two years, however, as the world and school technology programs are 
changing at breakneck speed.

The pervasiveness of the Internet as a new viable vehicle for commerce 
and information is driving this technological revolution in education. 
School districts will spend 5 billion dollars in the next year on 
technology and higher education is spending even more. Everyone is 
thinking about, and the vast majority of districts are, wiring their 
buildings and installing networks. As the American Association of School 
Administrator reports, school world wide web site home pages grew 
exponentially from 134 to 2,850 in just 18 months, 1995 into 1996. The 
importance and the amount of money being expended on school technology 
are making board members and administrators very nervous about platform 
decisions.

The national bad press that Apple has received has also increased 
administrator and board member anxiety over the platform issue. Macintosh 
is THE major multimedia platform in education today, according to the 
latest report by Quality Educational Data. The bad press has prompted 
some school administrators I know to ask themselves the question whether 
they should purchase fewer Macintoshes. Board members and administrators 
are also at a disadvantage in making that decision because they often 
lack, or are not given, factual information upon which to base that 
decision.

An Objective Analysis

Anyone reading an article that might favor one side or the other in the 
platform holy war is immediately cautious of which side of the battle 
line the author is writing from. I have done many platforms from CPM to 
Macintosh to Unix to Windows. I have favored Macintosh in schools for 
many practical reasons, but with all the furor over Apple's bad press, I 
purposefully set out to objectively research the issue with an open mind, 
willing to consider moving away from Macintosh, if the facts indicated 
that the world had changed and that would be an appropriate decision. As 
Deputy Superintendent for Instruction and Technology of a large suburban 
school district that has been purchased $8 million dollars worth of 
computers in the last four years -- I have to remain as objective as 
possible in this fast changing world of technology. There is just too 
much at stake to let previous bias cloud being able to see what is really 
happening. Following is what I found in my personal research into the 
platform issue in the last six months.

Networking and Networking Support

Installing networks in schools is growing at an exponential rate. 
According to QED (1996) school district networks have grown 600% in the 
last five years. The ease and cost of supporting a platform on local and 
wide area networks should be a significant factor in deciding which 
platform to purchase. Our district has an extensive intranet and Internet 
network. We have installed thousands of Macs and PCs on our network in 
the last two years. We have found a significant difference between Macs 
and Windows machines. This difference is easily seen in the directions on 
how to instal each platform. The Windows directions are 3 pages long, 
single spaced, and only our district windows techies and a few building 
level techies can do the Win-stall. The Ma directions are 1/2 page long, 
including a picture, and we have trained all our librarians how to 
install Macs on the network.

Although Windows95 has gotten significantly better, even our most devoted 
DOS-heads still call it plug and pray. We have analyzed the time that it 
takes our technical staff to install the Windows platform, especially on 
multimedia windows machines. Installing a Ma on the network takes 10-15 
minutes; Windows 3.1 45 minutes to an hour and Windows95 it takes 45 as 
well, although a small percentage of Windows95 machines can be as short 
as 20 minutes, as long as Windows95 will find and identify the correct 
ethernet driver.

If there are any problems on a Windows install, building level techies, 
simply can't handle it. Supporting the Ma platform on networks is 
exponentially less expensive and perhaps more important, requires far 
less district level support.

This lack of technical support, especially at the building level, has 
been identified in Texas and nationally as the number one problem in 
equational computing. Just buying technology has proven to be a major 
challenge for most districts and getting enough technical support 
positions seems completely off the horizon. The ease of installing and 
maintaining a platform becomes a real concern when technical resources 
are at such a premium. Computers can sit in closets or on desk tops as 
dark screened Cassandras foretelling the death of the school's 
educational technology program.

Cost of Supporting the Platform

In the fall of 1995 Gardner Group, the national computer consulting firm 
that provides services to corporate America and larger educational 
institutions, released an independent study that concluded that Macintosh 
was at least 25% cheaper to support than the Windows platform. This data 
matches our District's general experience with platform support, 
especially with the advent of networking as such an important computer 
function.

Ease of Use and How to Use it

Which is easier to use, Mac versus Windows, is another of those "nary the 
sides shall meet" issues in schools. So perhaps the opinion of the CEO of 
the company that makes the most popular computer processor for Windows 
machines might be viewed as being a little less biased. Andrew Grove, CEO 
of Intel in his 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive , says on page 58, 
"Windows wasn't even as good as the Mac, let alone the NEXT interface, 
and it wasn't seamlessly integrated with computers or applications." Our 
experience with the Mac platform bears this out as the MacOS takes much 
less time to learn and to start using effectively. Windows95 has made 
improvements but it still has a good distance to go to match the MacOS. 
We expend much less staff development resources to start a Mac platform 
classroom and teacher.

Cost of Support: Replicating Business's Technology Model Won't Work in 
Education

Another factor that parents in particular express at school PTO meetings 
is, "Shouldn't we have the same computers in the classroom that are the 
majority in business?" This is also especially enticing for school 
administrators and board members who are much more in tune with business 
and business management practices. But there are some key differences 
between business and education, especially in regards to computing.

The first major difference is that studies show that business provides a 
support ratio of one computer support person for every 35-60 users. In 
our district the ratio is closer to one technical support person for 
every 750 users. National studies and a recent study in Texas, list 
computer support the most critical problem in educational computing at 
the district and particularly at the building level. Given how difficult 
it is to get money just for computers, hiring an army of techies to 
support them will not fly with tax-payers and parents. Business' computer 
support model would be nice for education, but it just won't happen.

The last, and perhaps most surprising reason that business computing is 
not a model for education is that K-12 students are power users. Most 
K-12 students use the computer as a true multimedia tool and their 
technological expertise is very sophisticated, especially when compared 
to most business users.

We Have Students Who Construct Their Own Internet Web Pages -- They Have 
No Front Teeth and They Still Believe In the Easter Bunny!

The vast majority of business people do not use the full multimedia 
capabilities of their computers. Elementary students in putting together 
a multimedia report will record sound, scan pictures and draw graphics, 
input a digital camera image, incorporate word processing, program an 
animation, and even input a video segment into their multimedia report. 
Few business users begin to be that sophisticated. Student computers have 
to have more capability and power. Putting a standard business desk-top 
in every classroom would seriously hamper most of our student computer 
users.

to be continued

________________ 
Do you believe in Macintosh? Please check out: 
<http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/>

Join the EvangeList mailing list by sending an email to: 
<[email protected]>.

Please send messages that you'd like us to consider for posting to: 
<[email protected]>

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 97 23:30:24 -0800
From: Guy Kawasaki <[email protected]>
Subject: Must Read!!!--Macs in Education, part 2
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Keyword: Market by market, Education

What Computer Features Best Support and Enhance Learning: Multimedia

When the first computers hit classrooms in the late 1970s, we took the 
new technology and used it in our current way of doing things -- we 
created Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), Electronic workbooks. We 
have since learned that a workbook in paper form is only $10 dollars 
while a computer costs, $2,000. Moreover, we have found that multimedia 
enhances student learning in ways that are amazing that that we are just 
beginning to understand.

Regardless of the affects of multimedia learning that we are just 
starting to realize, the Internet has made it obvious that multimedia is 
the present and future of computing. The install base of multimedia 
machines in schools is now 1.9 million or 41% of the total. (QED, 1996) 
We have learned that computers are tools for learning and discovery and 
that information and knowledge and more than just the text and pictures 
we have had in books. Information is digitized and can be text, pictures, 
graphics, sound and video. Providing information in all these ways really 
enhances learning for all students and especially for all those students 
we know are very bright but have just not reached their potential in 
school. In addition, once kids use multimedia, they want to use it all in 
their learning. This generation of young people in our schools is 
creating a "time-bomb of computer users" as Andrew Groves discusses in 
Only The Paranoid Survive.

Which Multimedia Platform Delivers the Most Capacity at the Best Price?

The very thing that has caused Macintosh its biggest challenge is the 
very thing that most benefits schools, a truly integrated system. Apple 
kept its operating system and didn't allow others to use in machines made 
by other manufacturers. DOS/Windows thus gained market share in the 
business world because computers and parts became commodity items. You 
could mix and match and build your own in the PC world. This permitted 
endless variation. All PCs came with various slots that you could put 
different card devices in and have the computer that best met your needs. 
Every Mac, on the other hand, comes equipped as a full multimedia machine 
with sound input/output and graphics features. All the components in Macs 
were from the same design/manufacturer and therefore they all have been 
designed to work together.

This endless variation on the DOS/Windows side, however, has lead to many 
serious problems in different devices that were made by different 
manufacturers and installed in different slots in the PC. I have seen 
this problem cause havoc in many places, and in schools in particular, 
where advanced technical support is lacking. One project between several 
different school districts was delayed for over nine months because the 
PCs they had would not function with both the CD-ROM drive and the 
ethernet card installed.

Over the last year, even our district's most ardent Win-heads have been 
enthusiastic about purchasing Macintoshes, as Macintosh delivered far 
more RAM, hard-drive and full multimedia features than any Windows 
manufacturer at a far cheaper price. Some of the Windows manufacturers, 
such as Compaq are really starting to make headway in delivering 
comparable capacity at more comparable prices, but the slot addressing 
and driver problems continue to be a problem that is not going to go away 
in the near future. Our district analysis is that Apple is till 
delivering the fastest and most fully multimedia integrated machines on 
the educational market.

Best Company Sales and Support to Education

Apple has the most sophisticated sales and support force for education. 
Some PC resellers are providing excellent service, but no PC manufacturer 
can provide the information, assistance, and support that Apple has been 
so good at developing over the last 20 years. In addition, the majority 
of Apple's educational support and sales personnel are former teachers 
themselves and have a good understanding of the needs of teachers and 
students and how technology enhances learning. The other manufacturers 
tend to hire business graduates who do not have the important experience 
and knowledge. Again, Compaq is making in-roads in this area by 
developing a functioning educational marketing team complete with former 
educators and former Apple employees... but it will be a while in 
developing.

Conclusion: Macintosh is Still the Best Platform for Education

Our students do get very upset when they know that they can do things on 
the Mac that the Window machine can't or they can't get the Windows 
multimedia functions to work properly. But Kids are extremely adaptable 
and can use any platform or combination of platforms seamlessly. However, 
when I consider the strictly adult reasons for choosing a platform, 
money, resources, capabilities for learning, and fewer problems-- 
Macintosh is still the best computer platform for education.

Will Apple Survive is Also An Issue: Chrysler Came Back - So Can Apple

But "which is better" is not the only issue in the platform debate. Many 
school districts and other educational institutions have questioned their 
continued purchase of Macintosh based on the possibility that Apple won't 
survive. The current media feeding frenzy and the Apple's dying spin they 
are putting on all stories about Apple have made everyone wonder. I have 
wondered myself, but every time I get very far down that path, I think of 
four truths: 1) Media frenzies are examples of stampede behavior and they 
are most often inaccurate perceptions of reality-- I shouldn't believe 
everything I read or see on TV; 2) That Jobs, Wozniak, and Kawasaki are 
back involved in Apple and that will count for something; 3) Chrysler 
nearly went under and came back to lead their industry -- so can Apple; 
4) That real competition provides Education with the best software and 
hardware... and we need that competition to provide us with choices and 
better products.

Apple will probably still have more bad news in their struggle, but many 
of us sincerely believe that they will make it in the market place and 
remain Education's most prolific platform. Compaq is right on their heals 
though in focusing on education and will provide some great competition. 
But that is the major point, education needs that competition real 
competition between hardware and platforms.

Uncertainty in the Computer World in General: Who Knows Where It is 
Going!?

Another factor that has heightened anxiety over the Mac/Windows platform 
debate, is the general anxiety about the vast amount of uncertainty and 
risk there is in the computer world in general. The world of computing is 
about to (or at least most people anticipate that it will) go through 
several major metamorphoses. The fight over Win-tel's (Microsoft Windows 
and Intel) support for Windows NT on IBM and Motorola chips has 
technology directors wondering which way to go. The addition of the 
Apple/Next acquisition, Rhapsody, multi-platform operating system, and 
what advances it will bring to the desktop.

The techno-world seems even more disconcerting by the battle between the 
use of thin clients/client server desk-top networks versus the full blown 
multimedia machines with "bloatware," large programs requiring big 
operating and storage memory. The introduction of radically new products 
especially designed for Education, such as, Apple's new E-Mate 300 
portable for students adds to the mix of questions about what to buy. All 
this uncertainty has left many educators very nervous about computing in 
general. It is all moving so fast and any decision you make could become 
a mistake. However, the best advise for how to make decisions in today's 
very uncertain world might be to go with adult reasons for making 
decisions: Which platform that exists right now saves the most money, 
time, and effort, and simultaneously, delivers the most features that 
educators and students need at the best price?

________________

About the author: Michael J. Johnson is currently Deputy Superintendent 
for Instruction and Technology for the Conroe Independent School District 
in Conroe, Texas, a northern suburb of Houston. In the last five years he 
has been involved technology planning as a professor and consultant to 
higher education and to K-12 school districts in over 30 states. < 
[email protected]>

________________ 
Do you believe in Macintosh? Please check out: 
<http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/>

Join the EvangeList mailing list by sending an email to: 
<[email protected]>.

Please send messages that you'd like us to consider for posting to: 
<[email protected]>

Clearly this conference does not need an evangelist arm, but
right now it feels like Macs are just in a full fledged retreat
right when (to me) it feels like they are perfectly poised for
a real exciting future.

I saw a cartoon recently where a writer finished an article for the
paper and emailed it to his editor....in the cartoon the email was
first routed to Bill Gates and rewritten and then sent on to the editor.

I realize this is pure paranoia, but it sure feels like what is
happening regarding ANY press about the Mac these days.

The following is Apple's response to an article I read a week or so
again in the Washington Post.  It left me scratching my head why the
fact that some school decided to buy Windows system should be big news.
The crowning proof that these windows systems were better were that the
kids liked their new multi-media pentiums better than the old LCs
in their computer lab.

Like, this is news.  this deserves space in the paper?

Anyway....here is a response from Apple....it really makes you wonder
what the media is doing these days.
bob
______

March 27, 1997

Dear Editor:

Rajiv Chandrasekaran's 3/14/97 article, titled, "Is School Out For
Apple?" leaves readers with the false impression that schools have
abandoned the Macintosh for Windows computers. We wish to set the
record straight and pose a few questions of our own.

First, there are 30 middle schools in Montgomery County; 29 of those
schools use Macintoshes exclusively. Our question: How is it that Mr.
Chandrasekaran chose to cite the one middle school that purchased
Windows systems?

Second, he conducted a 20-minute interview with Deeva Garel, the
director of network services for the county, yet he failed to include
any of her remarks. That is unfortunate because, according to Ms.
Garel, she told him:

- The school district uses Macintoshes in elementary and middle
schools because it has the best instructional and multimedia software
(the district's core criteria for deciding which systems to buy);

- Macintoshes are used in specific curriculum areas in the county's
high schools; and

- Apple has provided excellent service, support and training to the
county's schools.

Our question: Are these not relevant points to bring out in the story?

Third, in an attempt to support his thesis, Mr. Chandrasekaran
presents an incomplete reference to a report from International Data
Corp. (IDC) that measured computer purchase plans among schools and
districts for the 1996-97 school year. The report showed that 55% of
the schools surveyed intend to purchase Windows systems this year,
whereas 56 percent of districts plan to purchase Macintoshes.

Question: Since districts control 75% of hardware purchases,
shouldn't Mr. Chandrasekaran have mentioned that schools may not be
the most reliable predictor of intent-to-purchase plans?

Moreover, in focusing on the report=BCs forecasts, Mr. Chandrasekaran
neglected to report the actual numbers of computers installed in K-12
institutions today. A few facts:

- Apple remains the leading computer brand used in K-12 schools, with
60 percent market share among public schools. Apple-branded systems
account for 4.2 million of the 7 million computers in schools today.

- The number of Macintosh units in schools continues to increase,
growing by 5 share points last year alone.

Our question: Doesn't balanced reporting demand including both?

Fourth, he states that Apple's current share of the education market
is 58 percent, according to QED. Admittedly this is down slightly
from year's past. Our question, however, is whether Mr.
Chandrasekaran is seriously suggesting that serving nearly
three-fifths of any market is a weak position?

Further, Mr. Chandrasekaran describes the Wintel share of the market
as 39 percent, yet this is a mix of Apples and oranges. The Wintel
numbers are an aggregate of ALL PC companies' sales into education.

Fifth, he paraphrases an unnamed group of analysts and educators as
questioning Apple's ability to give teachers what they need after our
recent reorganization. No education people in the Washington area
were affected by layoffs; the local team dedicated to serving
Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia totals 16 people.
Moreover, our first quarter K-12 sales for this region were up 20
percent in unit volume and 15 percent in dollar volume from last year.

Additionally, I personally told Mr. Chandrasekaran how we are
changing the educational technology landscape with the eMate 300, and
also emphasized that the reorganization will allow us to focus even
more on education as a strategic market.

Our question: Does this sound like a company unable to support the
education market?

Finally, let's not forget the children. There is a reason that
education has stood by Apple and its products for 20 years: the
learning experience for children. With all due respect to one
principal quoted in the article, we believe what children learn about
computers is not nearly so important as what they learn by using the
computer as a knowledge resource. Time and time and time again, the
Macintosh's intuitive interface is heralded because it lets children
concentrate on creating, exploring and learning -- not on figuring
out how to use the computer.

Though he may not have intended, Mr. Chandrasekaran's exclusion of
relevant facts and apparent cursory analysis impugns Apple's
corporate reputation in a highly valued and strategic market.
Sincerely,


Mike Lorion
Vice President, North American Education Division
Apple Computer, Inc.
(408) 974-7040