A college that is part of the University of Melbourne in Australia has replaced a lab of 20 computers running Debian Linux with iMac G5s running Tiger, according to a report in Computerworld. According to school officials, the choice was made because Linux still has "some rough edges," Mac OS X has a version of Microsoft Office, and because of Appleis greater ease of use. Trinity College systems administrator Tim Bell stressed, however, that Linux is a "good platform and is maintainable with minimal updates compared with Windows."
"We have had to build on top of Debian to get management functionality and Apple has worked hard with remote administration and updates," Mr. Bell told Computerworld. "Itis slicker than what we are used to and we can respond a bit better to user requirements. With Linux labs we might need to do a large update to install some software."
Debian Linux is not going away from the school, however; according to Mr. Bell, another lab of some 20 Linux PCs will remain in use, and open to students.
"Students doing computing go on to study commerce or economics [and] whatis attractive to them is a wider experience in computing than just Windows," Mr. Bell said. "Linux is quite a buzzword in the financial industry, so we can attract more students. The college likes the fact that we are teaching Linux and it is popular with students."
In addition to the lab that is being replaced with Macs, another 33 eMacs and Xserve RAID storage systems are being purchased for the schoolis library.
Mr. Bell remains a fan of bother operating systems, Debian Linux and Mac OS X, but considers Mac OS X to be more mature, and to have a better user-experience and user interface.
He also took the time to point out that the Linux and Mac platforms are in competition with Windows, and not necessarily one another.
"I donit think Macs and Linux are in direct competition as Linux gives the choice of Multiple hardware vendors," he said, and Computerworld said he added that Macs have a role to play but are still niche. "It also depends on cost. If you can run your business without paying Microsoft, significant cost savings can be achieved."
You can find more information in the full article at Computerworld.