
Maine to put a MacBook on every student's desk - tvon
http://www.macworld.com/article/139410/2009/03/maine_macbook.html?lsrc=rss_weblogs_macuser
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pierrefar
So if they strike a deal with Apple, that's OK and fully transparent and open,
but if it's with Dell or HP or any other MS-based laptop, that's evil? And
what's wrong with, say, a Linux or FreeBSD laptop?

Here is another argument: the article states "the program is being paid for
with existing resources at no extra cost to the taxpayer, which is good news
in the current economic climate". Surely saving even more money by going with
an open source alternative would have been better?

I mean, it's worked for France ( [http://arstechnica.com/open-
source/news/2009/03/french-polic...](http://arstechnica.com/open-
source/news/2009/03/french-police-saves-millions-of-euros-by-adopting-
ubuntu.ars) ).

~~~
unalone
Is there an open source alternative that's as easy to install and use? I mean,
my computer network had problems and it was using Windows XP. I don't think
moving to Ubuntu would have made things any easier.

Open source OSes are very good for some things. "Get things done easily" isn't
one of those things. People who aren't tech people get confused by a lot of
stuff a lot of the time. Meanwhile, I've never met a kid who finds Macs
confusing.

~~~
pierrefar
If you want to nit pick, I can point out flaws in every single OS we have
currently available. They're all as crap as each other but for different
reasons just like they are as good as each other based on different features.

~~~
unalone
_They're all as crap as each other_

Condensed rant: I HATE lines like this. We're talking about millions of lines
of code that let you do _anything you want to_ by looking at a screen and
typing. When I was a kid I used a friend's typewriter and thought that was the
coolest thing I'd ever used, and now I have TextEdit.

There are flaws in everything. OS X has this flaw where it's not clear that I
can only encode a certain length of video onto a DVD no matter how compressed
I make the files. That's tolerable if a bit annoying the first time.
Meanwhile, Ubuntu has this flaw where sound won't play, and where to install
sound I have to go to Terminal, and if I type Bad Things into the terminal my
hard drive will melt.

If I have a choice between "slightly confusing DVD burning options" and "may
melt a hard drive" I'll go for the slightly confusing thing. (Also, I assure
you: I nit pick far worse than you do. I'm aware of every small little thing
on OS X that irritates me.)

~~~
pierrefar
_There are flaws in everything._

That's exactly my point. Sorry if my wording wasn't as eloquent as it could
be.

Personally I use Ubuntu, Win Vista and OSX for various reasons and have
love/hate relationship with all of them. Happy to compare nit picks :)

------
halo
When Microsoft provide software for low cost to education, it's an evil plot
to get people to use their software and undermine the alternatives. When Apple
do it, it's clever marketing.

~~~
unalone
Do people really complain about that with Microsoft?

My complaint with them is that they provide fairly shitty computers and I hate
working with them. That's a complaint regardless of who's using them. I'm fine
with them giving computers to schools: I just wish they were better.

