Hello,
I would just like to add my two cents worth as a person from this end of the
world. I am essentially a PC user who have had brief brushes with PowerMacs.
While I can understand your reasoning in saying that protected market for
education dealers may provide higher service levels to the schools but Apple
could be trying too hard to "protect" the schools when they may not
necessarily want that protection.
When the PC market over here in Singapore was caught up in a price cutting
frenzy, many of the dealers were just pushing boxes and they were totally
unable to support the machines they sell. Many users were hurt by that and
were forced to fork out money to get support elsewhere when their system
broke down. However, the users got smart and their bad experience caused
them to value service support as an impt criteria the next time they bought
machines. That is why in the PC world today, there are diff tiers of dealers
and those who value support pays a premium for it while those who are more
technically savvy would opt for dirt cheap machines without good support.
I would think that opening up the Apple world to freer competiton would
ultimately benefit the schools too. Some schools have the technical
expertise and are more interested in getting cheaper machines than in paying
a premium for service while others who need the support would go to diff
dealers. And if the experience of the PC world is anythg to go by, up to
some point of price cutting, dealers would find that if they have to survive
in the long term, they would need to compete on more than just the lowest
price. They would then re-invest in service and actively promote their own
ability to service the machines they sell.
I have had the unpleasant experience of working with one Apple dealer only
to find that that dealer is not supposed to service the area and I had to
let that dealer go. If so many customers are unhappy with Apple's current
arrangement, wouldnt that be a signal that you are giving us somethg we may
not want??
Please give the schools that choice.
Please be fair.
The "real world" whether in or out of school has more reasons than to buy
Wintels than tax reasons. While I have my fair share of gripes abt Microsoft
and the WinTel platform, with newer OS like Win95, it no longer matters to
students which platform they are using. I have had students who were
switching between PCs and Mac in the computer labs and they were not aware
they were using computers on different platforms. I somehow feel that this
convergence of the user interface in terms of user friendliness would hurt
Apple.
One cant really say tht a WinTel machine is not as userfriendly as an Apple,
it is just not true anymore. I am typing this right next to a Powermac and
the Mac hangs twice as often as my PC. The point I am trying to make is that
I really find little difference between the two platforms but if given a
choice, I would choose PC.
Students dont use computers in an isolated school environment. They use it
when they go home and they carry their computer skills with them when they
enter the workforce. With the office dominated with WinTel and their parents
often using WinTels at home, the kids need to use WinTels at all the other
parts of their lives out of school. And that is one reason why I am
concerned abt Apple's decision to concentrate on the education market.
Yes, I very much agree with you abt the grass being greener on the other
side. I have since switched back to a PC.
Any computer vendor would face the same problems of delivery hiccups,
support and channel management issues. Apple is no exception but the problem
with the dealers is due to Apple's unique policy. I dont think Apple can run
away from that. *smile*
Wynthia Goh
Schools Online
gohwyn@pacific.net.sg