several statements in the press point to an ever increasing percentage of college students opting for mac.
So in 4 to 5 years we should expect freshly graduated students will seek jobs that are "mac-friendly".
Problem is I see most blue chip company CTOs in Switzerland sneer at mac. I think they are grossly compromising endearing upcomming new staff because mac is more than a box - its an IT way of life.
Yes but I see a problem going 100% Microsoft. If you get something like an iMac or Mac Pro or most any Mac you can learn about computing on ALL operating systems! You can run every Operating system on a modern Mac and with Fusion or Parallels you can run all those systems at the same time. Just think of running OS X, XP and/or Vista, Solaris and any flavor of Linux at the same time.
So you can be just a Microsoft expert or a COMPUTER expert. The choice is yours.
It has a lot to do with promotion by the computer companies and the price of the software. Many people do not know that the Mac can run Microsoft Office because the only thing that is demonstrated on campus is iLife. Students are more likely to use a Mac if it is positioned in all the computer labs. Whether they use a Mac in their profession depends on the job. Applications like Photoshop have become streamlined to where it does not matter which computer you use as long as the job gets done. Business majors lean toward the Dell because its Windows and that is the standard. I embrace the Mac because I have been using it all my life and I know it is better than a PC.
Then funny to notice how the numbers change in work life too.
When I started where I work now, one of the big things for getting me was coming from the Mac and *X side. Fast forward a little bit and our IT department came to ask for week long courses in OS X admin "since we now support Macs across Europe..", and my boss has an iMac at his desk, and is getting his Dell laptop replaced by a MacBook Pro. So that the former Solaris fan can run his XP, Linux and whatever he needs in OS X and then use OS X for everything else. And he's been talking about getting a MacBook Air for home use...
It is a bit different to have in addition to the corporate PC (of which everything can be virtualize - will take some work but it will work virtualized) a few Macs at the desk.
So Windows Server 2003 and XP and a number of Linux VMs on one Mac, another Windows 2003 on the other, and Boot Camp...
And on the same time the hardcore Mac fans who were screaming "If Apple ever switches to Intel chips I won't use Macs any more" and "Mac OS X is the only OS I will ever use" are switching to the mix of use whatever application in whatever OS you like. interesting how the things can change in a few years.
interesting how the things can change in a few years.