Apple Has Lost the NYC Dept. of Ed :-(
My mom told me today that for the upcoming school year they are only allowed to order Dells and that the new IT guys hired for the new education district layouts are Dell guys and they even handle existing Apple service and support.
This is an extremely sad day and a MAJOR loss for Apple.
Before this, NYC had always left it up to the district, or even the school in many cases for which platform to purchase. My mother's district had always been 100% Mac and had very Pro-Apple evangelistical district technology gurus. With Bloomberg's restructuring of the education system they all got fired and replaced apparently with these Dell droids.
So, now my mother's school, which is 100% mac, has an Xserve coming in September, has literally hundreds of new iMacs and iBooks and thousands of dollars in mac software, must buy new Dells and PC software from now on. Not to mention the productivity loss since the teacher's will not be familiar with the PCs. Many of the teachers in her school have bought Macs for their own use over the years since its what they used at work.
I'm utterly dissapointed in Apple that they apparently did not make a true effort at winning the NYC contract. NYC is a hell of a lot bigger and attention getting then wealthy school districts in Virginia and maine
This is an extremely sad day and a MAJOR loss for Apple.
Before this, NYC had always left it up to the district, or even the school in many cases for which platform to purchase. My mother's district had always been 100% Mac and had very Pro-Apple evangelistical district technology gurus. With Bloomberg's restructuring of the education system they all got fired and replaced apparently with these Dell droids.
So, now my mother's school, which is 100% mac, has an Xserve coming in September, has literally hundreds of new iMacs and iBooks and thousands of dollars in mac software, must buy new Dells and PC software from now on. Not to mention the productivity loss since the teacher's will not be familiar with the PCs. Many of the teachers in her school have bought Macs for their own use over the years since its what they used at work.
I'm utterly dissapointed in Apple that they apparently did not make a true effort at winning the NYC contract. NYC is a hell of a lot bigger and attention getting then wealthy school districts in Virginia and maine
Comments
Geez these guys' jobs must be easy
Target:
1 Move to Wintel- Check. Hop in Microsoft's pocket.
2.Pick overhyped brand- Check. Dell "buys" great reviews with 4 page adds in Magazines.
3.Screw Apple- Less bugs less problems. So what. IT is in a slump we NEED job security. Get rid of those MACs!
Mission Accomplished
I don't understand why people with no educational background are allowed to make decisions that have serious consequences on students.
Totally neglecting everything else other than oh, Dell is the biggest selling PC manufacturer, Windows is used by 95% and we can get them for next to nothing.
Had it been made public and Dell made a big deal about it, Mac users and others would find out and be more vocal and there would be some opposition.
sad.
but besides the business loss its sad that my mom's school has to make the switch and other schools in her district. the teachers, and IT gurus truly loved the mac, not all of em of course but there were some really passionate people who used the technology and it has become such an integral part of the schools. That should not be neglected just because they can get cheap throw away Dells now
Originally posted by adpowers
Tell the IT guys to have fun in 3 or 4 months when half the Dells are broken. My school district is also moving to Dells (except Yearbook and Video Arts). I hate it, they always break and they are POS.
what do you think keeps them having a job?
Considering what they're going through now, with all of the layoffs, consolidations etc. which computers they use is low on the list of priorities.
Originally posted by coolmac
A good friend of mine works for the NY Board of Ed.
Considering what they're going through now, with all of the layoffs, consolidations etc. which computers they use is low on the list of priorities.
plus the $$$ of PCs looks great in the short term for schools in a budget-crunch. Yes, i know the flipside of that
Originally posted by Eugene
We need more private schools.
No you need your schools to take their own decisions.
I have never understood the centralised way a lot of things work in US. Here the decision about which computers to buy would be made by a board of (mostly) parents, teachers, students and the school leader. They make most of all the decision regarding the school and the city doesn´t have much to say about the daily routine of the schools.
So a bit of decentralisation is the answer.
And whats up with things like the National Reading Curriculum? Is teachers really so badly educated in US that they are incabable of deciding what is good for the students to read?
Originally posted by Anders
No you need your schools to take their own decisions.
The public school system here is a spectrum of dozens of school districts around the San Francisco Bay Area alone, each with its own money laundering bureaucratic vultures who may or may not be attached to puppet strings themselves. The problem is accountability and with such a lengthy money trail, it's too hard tfor parents to point the finger at any single person responsible for throwing the money away.
A school that makes its own decisions sounds a lot like a private school to me. A school that receives all its money from the state is not going to be able to make its own decisions. Instead, a school that receives most of its funding from the community will tend to do what they ask of it.
This is of course starting to become more AO material, so I'll just dumb it down to this:
Your money talks for you. Your money given to the state talks for the state more than it talks for you.
Originally posted by applenut
I'm utterly dissapointed in Apple that they apparently did not make a true effort at winning the NYC contract. NYC is a hell of a lot bigger and attention getting then wealthy school districts in Virginia and maine
Don't be dissapointed in APPLE, blame the IT managers, they are the ones that are responsable. I work in that field. and they all mostly go for PC's and mainly Dells. WHY? not sure because they suck. place I work at now, we got 5000 dells and new dell servers.. TONS of problems, they are POS. but they still swear by em and like em.
basically the IT managers and IT guys like PC's because PC's KEEP THEM EMPLOYED. and thats why, mainly they like pc's because of job security. Macs dont require as many people to maintain and take care of them and are easier to run and support....
Originally posted by Eugene
The public school system here is a spectrum of dozens of school districts around the San Francisco Bay Area alone, each with its own money laundering bureaucratic vultures who may or may not be attached to puppet strings themselves.
And pretty much every district sucks.
My district is building a new rock wall in the gym, replacing most of the school with Dells, and we're in debt to the tune of $2 million dollars.
I think it all has to do with the fixed budgets, which require certain donations to go to some worthless things, when the district can't even afford paper.
I could go on, but I don't want this to have to be moved to AO.
Originally posted by The General
Don't be dissapointed in APPLE, blame the IT managers, they are the ones that are responsable.
Sorry, Apple is just as responsible for not negotiating a deal and doing whatever it took to get the NYC contract. Even a loss on every machine given to the NYC Dept of Ed would have been a benefit to Apple.
Originally posted by hmurchison
Anders....what do you think this is in America...a Democracy??
Rest assured friend. We europeans would never dream of thinking of America as a democracy. The land of the Free? I don't think so!
Originally posted by applenut
The unfortunate thing is its a "quiet agreement". No press, no announcement, its virtually an under the table hush hush thing that no one will find out about until its too apparent and late to change.
Had it been made public and Dell made a big deal about it, Mac users and others would find out and be more vocal and there would be some opposition.
sad.
but besides the business loss its sad that my mom's school has to make the switch and other schools in her district. the teachers, and IT gurus truly loved the mac, not all of em of course but there were some really passionate people who used the technology and it has become such an integral part of the schools. That should not be neglected just because they can get cheap throw away Dells now
Any chance you could email that to Steve?
I doubt there's anything Apple can do on price, since Windows is the One True God for most corporate IT types and other platforms are blasphemy. But this sucks enough that something has to happen. Especially since it's under the table - that means the people who did it know what the schools are going to think of their decision, and that kind of underhanded cowardice should never be rewarded.