OPINION & EDITORIAL
Apple users of the world, unite: UW offers little support for Mac
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Also by Laura Brennan:
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- Fair Trade practice virtuous endeavor (November 13, 2007)
- Landlords price out UW students (October 29, 2007)
- Charter cuts cord on wireless startups (October 15, 2007)
- SAFEride hardly lives up to name (October 1, 2007)
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by Laura Brennan
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
"Are you sure you want to restart your computer now?" Hardly.
For the last three hours, I have been struggling to maintain my composure, GPA and battery life. Nestled into a cozy corner in the wireless-friendly Fair Trade Coffeehouse, I've been attempting to complete a lab for my communicative disorders class. After numerous attempts to install the program, I've repeatedly been told to restart and try again. And again.
One failed attempt after another yields nothing but angry and desperate emails to my professor. His responses are painfully simple: "install the supplied software and restart your PC" or "try using a different browser." How is it that, in such a remarkably progressive, politically correct university, I feel like a victim of discrimination? There is something not so "PC" about UW-Madison — if you are a Mac user.
Apple's place in college life was resurrected with the introduction of the iPod and it hasn't budged since. Millions of co-eds strut to class each day with the distinctively familiar white ear buds, so it isn't surprising that Apple gears a substantial portion of its marketing toward college students.
In 2005, Apple launched a back-to-school promo that gave a free iPod Mini — now the Nano — to students buying a new computer. The pitch apparently worked, because over past three years, the Mac has steadily gained respect and bridged the great divide between bookworms, fashionistas and computer geeks. College students can't get enough.
According to a recent student computing survey done by the Division of Information Technology, 20 percent of students said they use a Mac, up from 2005 when only 11 percent of students were Mac users.
As a part of that 20 percent, I have to admit: I snicker when others take out their bulky gray eyesores to study. I enjoy flaunting my sleek silver beauty. So what if I like it because it's pretty?
Our Macs should be given the same respect as any Dell, HP or Gateway. The university doesn't seem to share my feelings. For three classes in my major alone, I've been told to pack up, head to a computer lab and find a PC, whereas the rest of my classmates with PCs can complete their assignments while eating Oreos in their PJs. My consolation? "Sorry, this won't work on a Mac."
I'm aware that it isn't very difficult to borrow a friend's PC, head over to one of Helen C's computer labs or even check out a laptop for a few days. My problem is that Mac users at UW are practically considered members of the lunatic fringe. The dark days of computing are long-gone, so inferior performance is no excuse for the lack of compatibility between the Mac and PC worlds.
Apple attempted a peace treaty of sorts when a fed up Steve Jobs decided to configure the new Macs to run Windows and OSX, the Mac operating system, simultaneously through an Intel chip, so frustrated users could run the programs they couldn't use on OSX. But where does that leave all other Mac enthusiasts who can't go out and buy the latest software or machine?
Sure, in a game of tug-of-war, Apple might land on its butt in the mud after one tug from the overwhelming monopoly of Windows users. Quantity, however, doesn't overrule quality, and any Mac user would be happy to tell you why he or she will never go back to the PC.
My solution? The UW-Madison faculty needs to meet with the DoIT team and discuss ways to make the university more Mac-friendly.
Contenders may argue that 20 percent is too small a minority to bother using university money toward making UW a Mac-friendly campus, but that doesn't take into consideration that faculty use Macs as well, as this data was not included in the computing survey. Macs are notorious for their specialty in graphics, so a larger percentage of both students and faculty in fields like design or film rely heavily on Macs.
I'm not suggesting that Mac users stage a coup and overthrow the university's computing system, but the current situation can't even be called separate-but-equal. Although the libraries have finally served up justice by offering Apples both in the labs and for check-out, smaller niches at UW still rely on the PC. Why hasn't the rest of the university caught on? It isn't PC to support only PCs.
So stand tall and stand proud, fellow Mac users; we shouldn't have to drive ourselves to insanity with a simple homework assignment. Students, regardless of their operating system, should be given the courtesy of homework and class material that is compatible with both systems.
Laura Brennan (lbrennan@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in communicative disorders.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 2:53am):
Shame on you for perpetuating the myth that Apple users are the lunatic fringe. That title belongs to Linux users.
- Germain Q. Stemme
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 9:48am):
Laura, you DO NOT know what you are talking about. Macs are very compatible with this university, aside for a few programs that cannot be run simply because the SOFTWARE COMPANIES DO NOT MAKE THEIR SOFTWARE FOR THE COMPUTERS. There are literally 20 computer labs - go to one of them and use your outdate program. Get off of your yuppy a**, leave the cavernous dive that is Fair Trade, and apologize to the mac community Your professor DOES NOT want to hear you complain either. This is a poor excuse for an article.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 10:22am):
Then why the hell'd you get a Mac? Just because it's 'pretty' doesn't mean it's a good computer.
Mike Pruden (September 19, 2007 @ 10:50am):
Another shortsighted, misinformed article praising the Mac. Even though I grew up on a Mac, most of your argument falls though faster than a piece of china breaking on the ground.
You still can only buy Macs through the DoIT TechStore directly; you get referred to another vendor (e.g. Dell) through DoIT to buy a PC. So the "not Mac-friendly" argument doesn't work there since it's more convenient to buy a Mac through DoIT than it is buying a PC.
Also, most computer labs have had Macs available for at least five years, now. I think it may have been this year or last year that computer labs have offered Macbooks to check out.
The servers used by DoIT are Apache servers, which is ultimately UNIX-based, which, in turn, makes access to a server with a *NIX-based operating system like a Mac easier.
I think people consider Mac users on the 'lunatic fringe' because they worship the Apple and Steve Jobs to no end, just as Windows fanatics do. (Which, with my reasoning, makes such people no better than Windows fanatics.) Look at George Hotz for example. (The famous 17-year-old who successfully hacked into an iPhone to provide T-Mobile coverage.) He originally intended to put his hacked iPhone on eBay, but Mac fanatics hijacked the bidding process by putting numerous bogus bids because they thought it was 'sacreligious' to hack into Apple's technology. He instead traded it to someone for a $30 000 Nissan roadster and 3 new iPhones.
Finally, your Professor mistaking you for a PC user (The first I ever personally heard of that doesn't use a Mac.) doesn't give you much a basis at all for connecting to some sort of a campuswide conspiracy.
UW-Madison has, for a long time, catered appropriately to Mac users almost more than PC; but then I don't know anymore, since I'm now a 'lunatic' that uses Linux, so I have my own compatibility problems.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 11:24am):
All she was asking was for professors not to force students to use programs that either aren't available or don't work on Macs. Since 20 percent of the student body gets screwed over in these cases, I'd say this is a rather modest proposal.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 11:47am):
So you bought a mac for its aesthetic appeal? Frame the damn thing and put it on your wall, then--don't blame the university when you make decisions about buying a computer for college on factors other than its capability to do the work you need it to do.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 12:17pm):
I think I've seen these iPods with keyboards, fascinating.
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 1:46pm):
The professor's obligation does not extend beyond assigning the work. Seriously its not his problem. The prof SHOULD be sure its available in a lab at least. If it is, then she has no grounds to complain. What about the people without a computer at all, should the prof be forced to accept hand written papers because that student doesn't have the presence of mind to go to a lab?
Anonymous (September 19, 2007 @ 2:59pm):
I've had a similar situation, and until I wrote a formal request to the professor, the program being used was NOT available in the lab. This girl has a point. She's not asking the university to praise the mac, she is just saying that if a program is used for an assignment, it shouldn't be overlooked that many students have macs.
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