More good news for APPLE! Read this story....
With OS 8 on its way, I will begin accumulating AAPL at these levels. How much lower can we go? AAPL will do us proud. Long on AAPL.
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Sorry Bill: Teachers Still Want an Apple -- Mac-loving
Educators Just Don't Do Windows
The Seattle Times
Sun, Jun 29 1997
When Microsoft chairman Bill Gates addresses 6,000 computer-wise teachers and
educators tomorrow in Seattle, he won't exactly be preaching to the choir.
Sure, many of the teachers at the National Educational Computing Conference knew how
to surf the Internet before the term was even invented. But most of them went surfing on
Apple computers.
And although Microsoft does make software for the Apple-made Macintosh, many
teachers have never cozied up to Microsoft. They grumble that Microsoft software is
harder to use, that Microsoft doesn't make software specifically for the classroom, and
that Gates hasn't given enough of his personal fortune to supporting public schools.
In the past year, however, Microsoft has stepped up its efforts in the education field. The
company has created an education-customer unit, and Gates has discussed his vision of
creating a "connected learning community" where parents, teachers, students and the
community could connect through the Internet.
The school-computer market is a quirky place. While Apple's fortunes have steadily
declined, Macintosh products are still the favorites in schools nationwide - and especially
in Washington, said Dennis Small, technology expert for the state Superintendent of
Public Instruction.
Nearly four-fifths of the computers in Washington schools are Macintoshes or earlier
Apples - significantly higher than the national average of 54 percent. West Coast schools
generally favor Apples over PCs, Small said.
The education market is one-quarter of Apple's business. Microsoft won't say what
percentage of its business is education, but acknowledges that it's a very small part of the
company's market.
Apple "has stayed by education for all these years," said Allen Glenn, dean of the
College of Education at the University of Washington and a Macintosh user. "There's a
soft spot for them among educators. Microsoft doesn't seem interested in education
because there's not big mega-bucks in it for them."
Supporting education was one of Apple's missions from the outset, Glenn said.
Microsoft has only embraced education recently; Gates signaled it was a priority for the
first time in November 1995, when he said that "the most important use of information
technology is to improve education." He's likely to reiterate that belief during tomorrow's
8:30 a.m. talk at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, and he'll also
discuss how new technologies can support the classroom.
Microsoft is doing things to help schools out - but both the company and its chairman
have favored donations to universities and private schools over those to public schools.
This year Gates gave $10 million to his alma mater, the private Lakeside School in Seattle.
And he has donated tens of millions to higher-education institutions, including Harvard
University and the University of Washington.
Microsoft donated $43 million in software to education last year, more than half of it to
universities and community colleges. (That figure is the retail price, not Microsoft's actual
cost of producing the software.) And the company gives a 60 percent software discount to
schools.
Gates' most direct personal donation to public schools has been $3 million from profits of
his book, "The Road Ahead," for grants allowing teachers to find innovative uses for
computer technology in the classroom.
Since 1979, Apple has donated $29 million through its Apple grants program, said
Mike Lorion, vice president of education for Apple. But its most significant contribution
has been listening to teachers and designing tools specifically for their use, he said.
While Microsoft has not developed software specifically for the classroom, many of its
products - like Word and the spreadsheet program Excel - do double duty in the office and
the classroom.
"There used to be one very, very strong player, and that was Apple," said Kathryn
Yates, director of the K-12 group at Microsoft. "Now there's another strong player, and
it's Microsoft."
(Copyright 1997)
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