Florida school may trash 200 Macs to go PC-only

Cult of Mac also updates with pictures of the Macs, and we warn you, if all of those machines really are headed for the landfill, it's a little scary to look at. Fortunately, the outcry has caused school officials to reconsider (or at least state their position more clearly), and it looks like what they'll be doing is assessing the machines to see if they can be refurbished and then given away or sent off to a recycling center. The other problem apparently lies in the software -- giving away the machines is no problem, but the school has to make sure all the software is cleaned off of the computers, as they don't have licenses to distribute software that way. And as the school administrator says, the computers aren't much good without an OS on them.
But surely we can save these guys. Apple, want to step in here and grant this school some licenses to keep these computers (208 in total, many of which are likely workable, even at "five to ten years old") in the hands of people who can use them? It would be a shame if the school had to toss working computers because their hands were tied by OS X software licenses.
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This could be the saddest thing I've seen all week (and I've watched a few Cubs games): a Florida school is declaring itself PC-only, and...
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How silly for the school not to consider the option of a charity donation in exchange for one of the computers.
That way, the school is funded and not just throwing away good products and computing history.
Why they use mac on the first place - teaching on technical garbage , no one decent business use this crap, This computer should be on wasteland long time ago. Uneducated teachers likes use garbage - becouse matching their brain
August 13 2009 at 11:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou must be typing on a PC since you can't spell.
August 14 2009 at 8:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"No decent business uses Macs"
I'm sure all those design houses and animation studios, not to mention many other creative outlets would be thrilled to learn they aren't good businesses.
Why waste a Mac's inherent qualities and use it for spreadsheets?
Jordan,
you are an ass and obviously have to have the top technology on the market, be that a Mac or Wintel or whatever, not everyone needs that or even wants it. "Retard Proof"??? just because they don't crash like those Micro$oft pieces of crap?
They are not USELESS you moron! PPC is still good for basic web browsing and word processing, and are especially useful for older persons such as my parents, who don't need all the computing power of newer machines.
August 13 2009 at 10:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI would be glad to take an ibook or a few. I still own my old Macs and they still work.
August 13 2009 at 8:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIs there a way to get a hold of those Apples? Why waste taxpayer money. I am a college student would need something like that for school.
August 13 2009 at 7:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe local news channel is now covering this story. Parents are complaining about it.
August 13 2009 at 2:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply*clap* *clap* *clap*
Kudos to Florida.
I'm not going to get into the Windows/Mac holy war, (nor do I want to get into the Windows/Mac/Linux holy war with what I'm about to say,) but I think that administrator's comment about the machines being useless without an OS is a little short-sighted. I'm sure there is some organization in their area, probably an ewaste company, that would be more than happy to refurbish those machines with either legal copies of the Mac OS or, more likely, an open-source operating system. There have been tons of flavors of Linux over the years that run on PowerPC, right along with FreeBSD and others. I don't see why those machines couldn't be fitted with some *NIX variant and donated to a school that would be overjoyed to have computers in the first place, not really caring if they're old or new.
I'm a Windows and Cisco administrator by trade, but even I would make the case for running a low-footprint Linux variant on those things if it gave some inner-city kids the chance to browse the web to help them study and learned basic skills like word processing, not to mention a chance to prepare them for what lies ahead if they go to college. There's lots of free software out there, this is what it's for. Don't trash those machines; find someone willing to donate their time, (there are plenty of out-of-work IT professionals with plenty of experience and credentials aching for the chance to put some more work on their resumes, even if that work is non or low-paying,) and get those machines wiped & reinstalled with a copy of Linux.
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