Apple 2.0

Pity the Hays, Kans., School Board

The school board in Hays, Kansas (pop. 20,000), didn't know what they were getting themselves into when they voted 5 to 1 to replace their schools' 1,800 Apple  (AAPL) computers with PCs made by Dell (DELL).

The decision was made last night after a half-hour discussion, according to a report in the Hays Daily News. Although at least some teachers expressed a preference for the Macintosh, the school board was swayed by the bottom line: Apple's bid for a four-year contract was $4.3 million and Dell's was $4.1 million.

“I don’t think we have any choice,” board member Greg Schwartz told the paper.

What the board will soon discover -- if they haven't already -- is that there is a price to pay for leaving the cozy world of Mac OS X. And I'm not talking about inscrutable apps, Internet viruses or any of the other headaches associated  computers running Microsoft (MSFT) Windows.

I'm talking about the fury of Mac fanboys scorned.

MacDailyNews has already launched a Hays student-teacher rescue effort, complete with e-mail addresses and handy Web pointer:

We feel sorry for Hays students and teachers today. Too bad the wrong decision was made. Macs are less expensive than Windows PCs: http://www.macvspc.info/pages/03.html

Contact info:
• Board of Education, USD 489 Board Members, boe@hays489.k12.ks.us
• Fred Kaufman, USD 489 Superintendent, fkaufman@hays489.k12.ks.us (link)

Steve Jobs and Rush Limbaugh: Separated at Birth?

Who knew that Steve Jobs, who once dated Joan Baez, and Rush Limbaugh, who did not, would have so much in common? Apparently not Rush, who picked up on the same AP story that caught our eye earlier this week, in which Jobs blamed teacher unions for America's dysfunctional educational system. On the air today, Limbaugh singled out one Jobs quote for special attention:

The bottom line here is when he says, “I believe what's wrong with our schools in this nation is that they've become unionized in the worst possible way,” conservatives and just plain people with any common sense have been saying this for decades, but could they get put into the headlines of a story? No. Only if you're a big lib, only if you're a big Democrat, do you get applauded for this kind of talk.

I am happy and proud to be on the same page with Steve Jobs. The way to put it is, I'm happy and proud he's on the same page with me. If he finds out I agree with him, he might change his mind. But I mean this is classic. This is an AP story. Do you know how many average, ordinary American people have been saying this? Do you know how many political candidates on the Republican side have been saying this, and when they say it, they get tarred and feathered and the NEA comes after 'em? Jobs says it, “Wow, why, we must really think about this. Why, there might be something here that we haven't considered before,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Full transcript here.

Steve Jobs, Teacher Union Buster

It's easy to blame dysfunctional public schools on the teachers. And it's popular these days to blame  unions for the quality of the teachers, judging by the dittos Apple CEO (AAPL) Steve Jobs racked up, for example here and here, when he attacked teacher unions at an education reform conference in Austin:

AUSTIN - Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions Friday, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers. [AP report here]

But talk is cheap. So kudos to Mickey Kaus at Slate for his take on Jobs as a "new democrat" -- as opposed to "old democrats" who might argue for compensating teachers as if the work they do were valued by society. Or  maybe Bill Gates, who for all his sins against the computer industry knows how to put his money where his mouth is. As Kaus writes:

P.P.S. Jobs might have added "no amount of well-meaning educational donations from the Gates Foundation would improve public schools nearly as much as allowing principals to fire bad teachers." ... [full Kaus post here]

But that's just my opinion. What do you think?