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As a former academic, I am saddened to see the growth of the Windows operating system in higher education at the expense of the Macintosh. Not only are all the arguments about the cost-effectiveness and reliability advantages of the Macintosh true, but there is a fundamental difference in the way individuals are expected to interact with the two operating systems, and I would expect educators to be particularly sensitive to this difference.

Anyone who has had extensive experience with both operating systems knows what the difference is, but they have a hard time articulating exactly what it is. Fundamentally it is this: the Macintosh operating system is designed to allow users to learn how to use it by rewarding users for experimenting and exploring the user interface while Windows is designed to punish users for not following "the rules."

"The rules," furthermore, are totally arbitrary, and are not consistent across programs. What can be accomplished with a Control-C in one context requires a Right-Click in another. There is no logic to the discrepancy, and no explanation is available. It is as if the entire operating system were designed to frustrate those who look for, let alone expect, logic and consistency.

Educators should consider the extent to which our computer program us. People who use Macintoshes become programmed to experiment and to look for patterns and consistency in their environment, and they expect to be able to make sense of it all. People who use Windows, on the other hand, become programmed to accept arbitrariness and to have to be told which rules they are to mindlessly follow in any given situation. It is not surprising that Windows is the preferred operating system in the business world, but it has no place in higher education.

-- David Livesay, Director of Educational Services, ProMetrics Consulting, Inc. (posted 4/21, 5:16 p.m., E.D.T.)
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