Is Snow Leopard worth it in Ed?
Summary: My own feelings on Apple aside, many of us have a significant investment in Apple technology. Friday marks an important upgrade to OS X with some analysts expecting 5 million upgrades to sell by the end of September. These numbers are all well and good, but the real question is "Should we bother upgrading in Ed Tech?"
My own feelings on Apple aside, many of us have a significant investment in Apple technology. According to Ars Technica, Apple analysts are expecting the company to move 5 million upgrades to its OS by the end of September; Ars thinks this is actually pretty conservative. These numbers are all well and good, but the real question is "Should we bother upgrading in Ed Tech?"
The Apple Educational Store is currently showing $49 upgrades for volume licenses, but the Ars article makes reference to $29 upgrades. Regardless, the price is fairly low and the new features are arguably important in an educational setting:
- Improved security
- Improved performance (at least on numerically-intensive tasks and faster boot/shutdown)
- Native 64-bit applications
- Improved multi-core support
- Some really innovative new accessibility features
If anything, at least an upgrade to Snow Leopard Server seems to make sense. Improved 64-bit support and simplified administrator for only $175 is a bargain for schools that rely on Apples in the server room. It's a bit harder to justify in the computer lab, though. Even at the $29 upgrade price, will students see enough benefit to justify three grand for 100 of your computers? The cost adds up quickly and smartboard prices are coming down. I can think of other things to buy.
To be honest, Macs are pretty speedy as it is. The improvements seem great for geeks and, to be honest, I'm probably going to upgrade my own Mac. But for the average classroom app? The exception, obviously, is with the new accessibility features. For visually-impaired students in particular, Snow Leopard may be actually worth buying a Mac, let alone upgrading an existing machine.
Maybe I'm just cheap. I'm not planning to upgrade my Vista or XP machines to 7 either, despite the fact that I think Windows 7 is a real improvement over both. I just feel like the upgrade money could be spent on easy infrastructure or classroom technology upgrades. What do you think?
[poll id="99"]
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Talkback
#FAIL
bye bye OSX now i get a Windows 7
@dovella
I don't think he knows
even know what he is missing by going to Windows.
BTW, I am not being racist. If someone can't speak or write English
properly, then they shouldn't be in a English talkback post.
I stick to English-based web sites because that I what I speak best.
Where has Apple failed in the last 2 years?!
these last two years have been very kind to Apple. Mac OS X is highly
regarded, Apple's iWork has seen significant updates and the
iPhone/App Store is a runaway success. While on the Microsoft side,
Windows Vista has gained little market success, and users generally
avoid it. Microsoft Office's new UI has been less than universally
welcomed. Probably best if we don't even mention Windows Mobile.
Now things might finally be looking up for Microsoft, Windows 7 has
many admirers, Office 2010 has both the ribbon throughout and the
ability to go back to "classic menus" (so probably this will keep
everyone happy). I won't spoil it by harping on about Windows Mobile.
This version of Mac OS X lays significant groundwork for the future of
Mac OS X, and applications that run on Mac OS X. If you look at the UI
changes this is a "meh" upgrade. If you look at the improvements to
speed, security (already good on Mac OS X) and support for Exchange
or "Special Needs" then this is significant. I think Apple have pitched
the price well, and if you own a recent Mac then it makes sense to
upgrade right away (who doesn't want more speed?) for a school, I
think the improvements do on balance make sense, especially if you
have children with a visual impairment. But I also think the upgrade to
Windows 7 is worthwhile, especially if you're on XP and have a newer
PC (otherwise this might be the right time for a spiffy new PC {or
Mac}).
But I don't recognise the last two years as ones where Apple has
failed, these have been some of the most successful (both in product
sold, and technical innovation) in the companies history. Mac OS X
Snow Leopard shows that Apple are still producing the goods.
Windows 7 marks a new high point for that OS, and Microsoft seem to
be putting Vista behind them.
At least TRY to make an effort with writing...
Have fun with Windows 7. If it screws up files the way Windows Home Server and Vista had, MS is done for - any other company certainly would be.
Vista screws up files?
In English Please
Or in Your language: Understand not you say watt?
Im in ur posts, stealn ur grammr [nt]
RE: Is Snow Leopard worth it in Ed?
school upgrade to Snow Leopard?" I know that changes in
schools after school has started is not popular. My wife's
school will test the new OS on a small sampling of
machine to see how it works with Leopard Server (10.5)
and perhaps roll out a lab first.
The biggest change is in hardware, as Snow Leopard
requires Intel processors. Schools typically use their
machines longer than typical businesses and thus schools
have PowerPC based Macs to replace as part of Snow
Leopard migration.
RE: Is Snow Leopard worth it in Ed?
What works for Windows...
often that you'd probably want a faster time scale than that.
Because of the rapid OS upgrade cycles developers on the Mac tend to
stick much closer to the guidelines than they do on Windows (it's much
more likely on the Mac that not doing so will bite you). This also tends
to mean that Mac software has fewer problems with OS upgrades, and
they get sorted out faster. I have thought that Vista's problems
weren't really technical but because it changes so much so long after
XP had shipped. It might have been better for Microsoft to do more
"upgrades" each with fewer changes. I think Windows 7 marks the
beginning of a more Apple-like approach to OS updates from
Microsoft (which can only be a good thing overall).
So no, I think upgrading Macs from Leopard to Snow Leopard sooner
rather than later makes good sense.
You might be right..
The intermediate upgrades between XP and Vista were XPSP1, XPSP2, and Server 2003.
RE: Is Snow Leopard worth it in Ed?
We use it.
to be the best decision we ever made. The real world isn't just
Windows, there are a lot of Windows systems out there it's true, but
there are an increasing number of Macs too.
But education isn't just about skills (that's "training") we can't teach
children on the computers they will use when they enter employment
- they don't exist yet! Will they use Windows? Maybe, but will it look
like what we have today? Probably not. It makes sense to use the best
tools available, the Mac (for us) fits that bill. No doubt PC will continue
to evolve and grow more "Mac-like" each new version of Windows is
hailed as "the most Mac-like version of Windows ever" and the Mac
continues to add features that later arrive in some form on the PC.
True this traffic of ideas isn't one way, the Mac got "fast user
switching" from XP. However, it makes sense that the Mac can evolve
more quickly and more fluidly than the PC, Apple make both the
hardware and the software (and increasingly the applications), Mac
users have grown used to a faster speed of change (which isn't always
comfortable). Microsoft as the biggest player should move more
cautiously, and has to lag behind the current hardware innovation. But
for an educator the Mac seems like the right choice, "a harbinger of
PCs to come".
That is so 1999
argument is still alive. It is so 1999!
The real world says "do it just good enough". Then the world bleats it's
The world is also what we make of it.
Companies deserve the money they ask for. Microsoft hasn't deserved it for the better part of a decade.
There are plenty of all-Mac school districts...
and the university level, you're going to see a lot of Macs outside of
graphic design. Macs are ubiquitous in bioinformatics, applied sciences,
general science, mathematics, and law.
Playing with fire
I think so.
Older Macs
Your surmise is accurate *only* if you ignore the fact that PPC Macs *cannot* use OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Apple removed the PPC portion of the code base.
Since you said that school computers do tend to "stick around for a long time", it's likely that many schools that have a number of older, PPC-based Macs in their equipment inventory won't be upgrading to SL.
Partial FAIL