June 8th, 2000

[1:00 PM] Intel Reps Force Apple Kiosks To Be Covered At Harvard by Kyle D'Addario At Harvard University's Health and Internet conference last week, Apple was temporarily snubbed by the chip making giant, Intel. According to The Crimson Online, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Computer Services (FASCS) was forced to cover Apple based kiosks that resided in the same location as the Health and Internet conference. The request to cover the machines came from Intel, who was sponsoring one of the exhibits at the conference. Reportedly, the FASCS thought the request to be uncalled for, and believed Intel would drop the issue. According to The Crimson: "We like to maintain the facilities for students...[but we were] asked in a way that we couldn't say no," said Frankin M. Steen, director of FASCS, who said he allowed the computers to be covered "only after multiple request and great reluctance." "Usually, if we say no, we're done, but this just didn't stop," Steen said. Apparently, Intel had brought their own covers for the kiosks. However, the covers did not allow the computers or kiosks to breath, causing temperatures within the kiosk to become too high to leave the computers running. The whole incident would not have been a problem, but a last moment scheduling changed moved the conference to the building containing the Apple kiosks. Although Mr. Steen was upset, other university administrators sided with Intel. The command to cover the kiosks, at Intel's request, reportedly came from Office of the Provost employee Elizabeth Hess. The Crimson reported that Hess said, "I made the request as a courtesy to Intel, they requested that we covered them up." Intel representatives claimed that they did not intend for the kiosks to be disabled, but rather covered. According to The Crimson: "We did it as a courtesy to Intel, the sponsor of the showcases," said J. Freeman, conference organizer, who is also the former be [sic] public affairs director at the School of Public Health, thought. The request came "because [iMacs are] Apple's, and Apple is a competitor." Regardless of who made the request and why, other nearby kiosks, not sporting the Apple logo, were left uncovered throughout the duration of the conference. While the conference was scheduled through Wed., the Apple kiosks were uncovered Tuesday afternoon. "The covers were removed about halfway through the conference. By 5 p.m. on Tuesday, some students and many more conference participants were standing in lines to check their e-mail at the uncovered kiosks." As of publication time, Harvard officials had not returned our calls. Please be sure to read the entire article at The Crimson Online. The Mac Observer Spin: It seems ridiculous that at an academic conference, Intel would be so against Apple computers being displayed. While Intel did indeed sponsor an exhibit, they did not sponsor the entire conference. Frequently, conferences or displays such as the Health and Internet one at Harvard have multiple sponsors, with multiple agendas. It is amazing that Intel could behave so childishly. In the end, cooler heads prevailed, and both companies were left to stand on their own merits, rather than hiding behind a political agenda. Apple - Harvard