I am intrigued by the assertion that Macs require one-third of the support
personnel. I strolled over to our Tech Support (a full time teacher) and
asked about this. He said he was familiar with the assertion but had never
seen the actual study. A quick search in Google on" study support one third
technical staff mac" turned up the following URl: http://listas.rcp.net.pe/pipermail/mac/2002-July/000230.html
<http://listas.rcp.net.pe/pipermail/mac/2002-July/000230.html> . A brief
reading shows that the study showed that Macs were 33% cheaper to run given
a whole range of stipulations. Of course, 33% cheaper to run is not the same
as one third of the tech staff.
Ignoring large caveats like the study was reported only as a
summary by Apple Australia, and took place at the Faculty of Arts at the
University of Melbourne, the study does lend some credence to the notion
that Macs are easier to support. The support ratio was 23 computers per
tech for PC vs. 30 computers per tech for Macs. The other portion of the
URL refers to a study that is at least 5 years old if not older.
So my question; Does anyone have reference to a recent study (OSX vs.
Windows XP) especially one where the computers are used with data collection
systems?
Or barring that: Does anyone have a case of a company/school/government
agency switching from PCs to Macs and firing two-thirds of their tech
support staff?
THO
Thomas O'Neill
Physics 540.245.5088
Shenandoah Valley Governor's School
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.