Apple Macintosh computers are experiencing “surging popularity on college and university campuses across Minnesota and the country,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata reports for The Pioneer Press.
“Apple’s Macintosh once was an endangered species in U.S. higher education amid the brand’s market doldrums and Microsoft’s seemingly unassailable Windows dominance,” Ojeda-Zapata reports. “Now, the Mac is back in a big way.”
“This is said to be fueled in large part by iPod fever among students. Apple not only makes the popular brand of portable music and video players, but its ubiquitous iTunes software is innately linked to the iPod,” Ojeda-Zapata reports.
“Student users also like the Mac’s near-immunity to PC-type viruses and spyware, and the fact that the latest Macs can run the Windows operating system along with Mac OS X courtesy of the machines’ PC-compatible Intel processors,” Ojeda-Zapata reports.
Full article here.
Another article from The Pioneer Press detailing how Mac use has surged at other U.S. colleges and universities is here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
I’m part of that statistic, with a 17″ G4 PB and a 2.5 Dual G5. There is a large presence at my university.
MW: “today” higher education, tomorrow the world
6/10 laptops I see at school are Macs, it’s obvious they are growing rapidly.
The generation that grew up with iPods has reached college age… Over the next few years, as they enter the workforce (and some start their own businesses), I wonder what trend will be next.
Do I have the first comment?
“Student users also like the Mac’s near-immunity to PC-type viruses and spyware”
“NEAR-IMMUNITY”?
Again, just what exactly are the viruses that my Macs running OS X are NOT immune to?
I’m very curious.
No I don’t. this is good, the mac once the mac takes hold of the younger generation the ‘pc wars’ will soon be over The iPod is a life saver for the mac!
Let’s see how it takes the bad press on the iPhone to nip this surge in the bud.
But MS controls the IT departments through give away pricing for higher ed for Exchange server…
They’re just kids; they don’t know any better. When they enter the working world a.k.a. ‘the real world’ they get to use Windows, which is great. College is a time for experimentation, I guess. Surprising thing is MACs are no where near as pleasant or, dare I say, fun as Windows.
My main concern is that these college students might head too far down the MAC road and compromise their Windows skills and employability. Who wants to hire someone who only knows how to work with toys? How will they handle getting the company logo .BMP file into the PowerPoint clip art library? What if they need to make a “If you drank the last cup of coffee, make a new pot” sign for the break room? This could be a real problem in the real world.
Your potential. Our passion.™
ZUNE – you need your own blog. Sort of like “the Onion”, but not as sharp or snappy…
Yeah seriously Zune, it’s not like Microsoft makes Microsoft availible for Macintoshs or anything. Simultaneously it’s not like there’s any availible photo-editing software like Photoshop availible for Macs either. I mean by god, how do these people have the audacity to use machines that fail to perform in the real world in such fundamentally inept….
Reports just in, Macs can do everything PCs can do save gaming.
So much for that “real working environment” argument there zune.
@Zune Tang
Can’t (yawn) . . . keep (yawn) . . . eyes (yawn) . . . open (double-yawn). Tang . . . too . . . predictable . . . and . . . stale . . . . Sense . . . of . . . humor . . . and . . . “wit” . . . dessicated . . . .
Yawn . . . yawn . . . triple yawn . . . .
(P.S. Tang . . . How’s your MSFT and DELL stock doing? Bought any Vista lately? Very few others have.)
“once the mac takes hold of the younger generation the ‘pc wars’ will soon be over “
News Flash: The PC wars are already over.
Hey, Tang, here’s the Gawd’s Honest Truth:
The Macintosh (not the Dell box, not the Vaio, not the HP, not the Acer, not the Lenovo, not the “et cetera” box) is the finest PC in the world.
If one MUST run the Devil’s Spawn OS (XP/Vista), then a Mac is the only machine to run it on. And that, sir/madam, is a fact.
DO try to get over it.
Part of that statistic right here at work. I use mac 90% of the time, and being an engineering student, i HAVE to run Windows that other 10% of the time.
Um, I think Zune Tang is satire.
I can vouch for the uptick in Mac sales to students. My classes are sprinkled with a healthy does of Apple laptops since about a year ago. Intel switch… priceless.
I’ll tell you the honest truth
Colleges are a prime breeding ground for lifelong Mac users and buyers.
Sure if a student needs to get a job and the only thing they got is Windows, then that’s what they will use. But won’t like it.
As soon as they get their own money, they will buy a Mac and stick with it. Because they are spending their own money on themselves, they will buy what gives them the least amount of headaches.
Even more now that they can triple boot Linux, OSX and Windows.
I have found those students who know how to THINK tend to buy a Mac.
I have also found those who tend to CONFORM tend to buy a Windows machine.
So basically most Windows losers don’t think, because WHO IN THEIR RIGHT FSCKING MIND WOULD BUY A SPYWARE, VIRUS PRONE PIECE OF SHIT OS LIKE WINDOWS?
So if your a born leader or a pioneer, you’ll tend to buy a Mac.
If your a born follower or a farmer, you’ll tend to buy a Windows machine.
UNFORTUNATELY THERE ARE ALWAYS MORE CONFORMERS THAN THINKERS.
I guess I was a pioneer: I had a Mac at college in 1984.
“Mac’s near-immunity”? What? That is like calling Superman nearly Superman….
The switch to Intel, the ability to run multiple Operating systems and the fact that many professors and universities have made the Ipod a lecture storing tool might all be contributing factors. When you’re in college to maximize your potential wouldn’t you want a machine that does that also? It was only a decade ago that Dell used the Dell dude to inundate the American campuses with their wares until the Dell dude got caught giving it the ol’ college try on a doobie , can you say “Knife the baby”, or “worst marketing ploy ever”. On college campuses herd mentality always wins out just so happens that Apple is the light leading the herd over the dark prairie right now.
New macs CAN and DO get viruses…just not in the OS…
But Microsoft Word Macro viruses…notably the W97 M Shell virus can affect the Macros in Word, be passed along via documents to PC owners… I know this since I have to deal with this often in an office of over 25 macs.
It’s not the OS (thank goodness)…but it IS annoying.
Here the NEAR immunity comment is close to right.
Mac, glorious Mac…
it’s music. I enjoy my Macs so much. Much more tied to my life than a Windows computer ever was.
This is the first time Zune Tang actually had a decent argument.
That’s right, we are worry that no body will know Windows and the world will be in danger. How scary is that ? We have to teach our children to reformat harddrive just just in case a virus destroy our files. This is a matter of national security.
Let’s destroy our Mac NOT !!!!
Zung Thing has a point. In the real corporate world Window is the standard. And if you want to blend then you must know how to deal with Window and helps to know how it works, since much repair is generally needed…… Here I agree.
If corporate America uses it, then join the boat! Because we all now how American companies were doing in reliability and accountablity.
Could this rise in quality be related to the rise in Mac sells? So the younger group is seeing problems and say- enough!