Man, I've been posting a lot recently, I don't know why. Maybe my mind is reinvigorated after a summer of mindless relaxation. Anyways, this post was an interesting observation from move-in.
The last two years I've worked move-in as part of my job, with the IT department here at Tulane. We basically hook up computers and stuff to the wireless network, install antivirus software, etc, but it's mostly a waste of time because Housing doesn't give us a prominent location and freshmen are more interested in meeting people on their floor and going partying than anything else.
This year was a definite shift though, out of the computers I saw, the majority were Mac, and significantly so. I'd guess 65-70%. I wonder what Apple did to convince college students to go for an unfamiliar Operating System on hardware that is quite overpriced. Did the Justin Long Mac ads really have a powerful effect? Is it the familiarity with iPods, iPhones, and iTunes? I'd be interested to see, but it was surprising. Two years ago it was probably 45%, PCs outweighed Macs a bit, but now it's firmly in Macs camp. Thankfully most of the computers I work on, those of faculty and stuff, are PCs. I don't like troubleshooting Macs.
I would assume this isn't a Tulane thing, that this is a trend growing across US universities and colleges. Will this have any effect on the corporate world, or will people just adjust to PCs for work? Tulane has modified some of our administrative software to work on Macs at the request of some of our professors, for example. I would imagine because of the corporate-friendly nature of Windows (Home/Professional versions, more customizable rights-restrictions, etc) that it will continue to remain the OS of choice for the business world, but for the first time since I've been alive, with young consumers hooked on Macbooks, iPods, and iPhones, Apple has a significant chance at regaining its' former market share.
I wonder what impact 7 will have on this. Vista, regardless of its' technical abilities or failures, was a commercial bomb. XP has held up well, but Microsoft is intent on phasing it out. I've been demoing 7 for a bit, we got a VLK for it at work, and I've been relatively pleased. It's more efficient than Vista, there are some real improvements in the UI, etc. More than market it to consumers, if Microsoft is to continue being the force it has been, they must convince the corporate market to upgrade to 7, which has thus far shunned Vista in favor of XP.
4 comments:
I've also seen an increase in Mac users on campus over the years, even though in engineering most people use PC's I'd say (mainly because some engineering software only works on Windows)
Also, I also think Windows 7 is pretty nice so far.
Lots of macs at law school too. I think they're popular because they're cool (artsy people used to be the only users), and at this point people still aren't paying for their own computer (parents or loans are taking care of it).
I'd be surprised if they were breaking into the business world, where cost reigns supreme. Who wants to retrain their workforce (even the same apps are different - e.g. ms office) in order to buy a more expensive computer?
Whatever I think about general crumminess windows, it is sufficiently stable & secure now that the attraction to macs is really just status. Both are sufficiently user friendly to people used to them, and neither OS is user friendly to switchers.
The hardware price differential may not matter as much at school, but that's pretty much the last time it doesn't matter.
In our computer pods in the libraries we've always had mostly PCs and a handful of Macs, but the other day when I went in for the first time in a while there was almost 50-50 macs pcs.
I think any challenge to Windows is a good thing; shine light on their ineptness.
I agree more Mac is a good thing, it'll maybe force Microsoft/corporate users to use something more interoperable. Or maybe Apple/Windows will ally to screw FOSS, who knows. Tulane has added a lot of Macs to the student labs, it used to be all Dells but now there's about 1/3rd Macs.
"Whatever I think about general crumminess windows, it is sufficiently stable & secure now that the attraction to macs is really just status. Both are sufficiently user friendly to people used to them, and neither OS is user friendly to switchers."
I'm not so sure about that. I don't think that would explain the groundswell increase in Mac users, just the status. People are fed up with Windows and Apple advertising is doing well. I bet all the overwhelming majority of these students have PCs at home, too, so I disagree on the fact that Mac is not user friendly to switchers. I don't like them, though.
"Who wants to retrain their workforce (even the same apps are different - e.g. ms office) in order to buy a more expensive computer?"
I'm not suggesting Mac replacing Windows, but maybe there will be some choice, for personal laptops or desktops. That way the large amount of college students now using Mac, would continue to do so. Apple computers may not be that cheap, so it's probably not an option for companies going with Dell. But some of the top-line Thinkpads are comparable in price.
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