mike@dartvax.UUCP (Mike Morton) (01/17/84)
(This line intentionally not left blank; do I really still need this?) In response to Toby Robison's prescient "I told you so": First, other schools are gambling on the Macintosh. I've heard rumors of 25 others; I don't know exactly. We won't be the only ones with egg on our faces, if any faces are indeed egged. You may be surprised at some of the universities which will buy tons (literally) of Macs. Second, students won't be able to get them until fall. The first ones will go to developers here, who will indeed have to shake out problems (more software than hardware, I suspect). There may be early delays -- but I think only because Apple doesn't want to sell us lots of cheap Macs right away, when they can sell them full price to real customers and postpone academic shipments until fall. Third, which "tried and true technology" would you choose? (Perhaps IBM's paragon of mediocrity, the "PC"? Or the Peabrain? Gack.) If colleges chose machines as conservatively as businesses do, Dartmouth would have bought an IBM batch system in the '60s, and never developed a timesharing system (I claim DTSS is a Good Thing; you may differ :-) ). In short, we're (mostly?) aware of the risks, and we have lots of time to shake down the Macs and integrate them into our network and curriculum. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that it's a remarkable and well thought- out machine, which students will like. Time will tell. -- Mike Morton USENET: ..!decvax!dartvax!mike or ..!linus!dartvax!mike USMail: c/o Kiewit Computation Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (01/18/84)
Time will tell, and actually I will be happy if I am wrong; I have seen students suffer from buggish computer systems. I'm fascinated that many other universities are making the McIntosh gamble; I predict trouble for them too. The IBM PC would be preferable because it is predictable, and people can easily find out how to make it do what they want. The point is -- I know some of the Dartmouth students will be computer jocks, happily shaking down their new McIntoshes. As for the rest, in between attending classes and doing work to pay their tuition, what does Dartmouth want them to do: Struggle with an undependable new computer or study and learn? - Toby Robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison or: allegra!eosp1!robison (maybe: princeton!eosp1!robison)