My university forced me to switch back to PC!

[Chrispy]

This is sick. So here is how it all went down. I go to a small school in Indiana and since I have been going here they have started to slowly eleminate macs from use at the school. When I asked the computer admin staff why they were doing this they told me "macs are a threat to the network becuase they can so easily get viruses and other malicious software without people even knowing" HAHA. I almost died from laughing in the guys face and just walked away.

So, last year they installed wireless networking around campus... YAY! However, they used a cisco VPN to allow for access AND made it so you had to download the school's version with the settings hidden behind a password. I tired downloading the same client for mac but without access to the settings I can't use it. So, I bring my computer to the support people and ask them to just please input the settings for me and then they can feel free to slap up the password so I can't see them. They refuse and tell me they did it the way they did on purpose to block mac and linux users from accessing the wireless network :mad: I tired and tried but there is simply no way around it.

So, this year when I return to school I find out they started using a windows 2000/XP specific access client called "cisco clean access". This means that you have to download the clean access software and connect using that. You can only get on the network if your computer has all the windows updates and virus definitions installed. If you don't have anti-virus software you can download some from the university... but too bad you can't get online if you don't have the anti-virus software to being with lol. Nice catch 22 there. Worst of all tho, this officially blocks the macs from any reliable connection to the internet in the dorms. My school has won and I am now using a cheap refurb Dell Dimension 5100C.... and when the powerbook updates come I will be so tempted too :(

[EGT]

Don't think there is much you can do really. I'd raise hell on the admin staff. Tossers.

[Chrispy]

Don't think there is much you can do really. I'd raise hell on the admin staff. Tossers.

Yeah I was telling a friend of mine that it would be great to print this out after more people have made comment and then bring it to the admin people to show them how stupid they really are. It was bad enough when I had to deal with this at work but now at my college.. uhhh. If companies and schools would realize the potential IT savings of switching completely to mac then Apple would finally get the marketshare they deserve.

[EGT]

Yeah I was telling a friend of mine that it would be great to print this out after more people have made comment and then bring it to the admin people to show them how stupid they really are. It was bad enough when I had to deal with this at work but now at my college.. uhhh. If companies and schools would realize the potential IT savings of switching completely to mac then Apple would finally get the marketshare they deserve.

All in good time ;)

[bigandy]

it staff are either idiots, who love windows and can't see past (or through) it, or they pretend the company's better off with windows or they'll be out of a job.

it is insane at a college disallowing mac access, seeing as they're used in most serious business. my university tried it then realised that 40% of the staff and 10% of students there use them, so switched to wireless routers with PPTP VPN authentication, which is more than secure enough. it's funny now because all the windows users have to get this CD from the IT people and install all this antivirus software that they can't then uninstall from their own machines(!) and it takes about 2hrs to get a new XP machine working.

i took my powerbook to uni, typed in the username and password in the VPN settings in internet connect and BAM, i'm in.

it confuses me why people use windows for anything other than to laugh at, or check out the latest viruses.

[Chrispy]

Yeah it sucks using windows. I literally have some type of update to intall every day. Another sick thing I remembered is that my desktop publishing class forces us to use PCs. We doing QuarkXPress design work and my prof is all against mac becuase they are not used as much... yes.. of course nobody in the design industry uses a mac .... :rolleyes:

[eva01]

i would bring it up with a newspaper telling them they are limiting your freedom of choice on campus. :P

anywho yes that is pathetic, i would probably not go to that school if it were me.

[kalisphoenix]

Imbeciles. Perhaps you could go to the university president and show him that a portion of the university is operating with absolutely no regard for logical procedure, truth to reality, or consideration for the students. I mean, a state-assisted (I'm assuming) university that will only allow one type of machine running one OS? That's pretty @#$%ing shady.

[mduser63]

Honestly, if it were me going to school there, I'd change to another school, and not because of the specifics of the situation (Mac vs. PC), but because of the general attitude. It seems that colleges and universities often forget that it's the students who are the customers, and without the students, and their tuition money, there would be no school. Make sure the school administration (not just the IT staff) knows how you feel.

I'm lucky in that the school I go to has a few large Mac labs, and goes out of their way to support the Mac. Our school was one of the 24 (or however many) schools that Apple said they were working with when they originally announced the Mac in 1984. Our wireless networks almost all use 802.1x authentication now, and it's actually a fair bit easier to get in with a Mac than it is to get in with a Windows machine.

An example of that happened the other day. Some guy was in lab with me, and he got out his HP laptop to connect to the network. He kind of called out "Can anyone connect to the wireless in here?" I said, yes, it works fine, the network is called such-and-such. He said, "That's not available in here." "Yes, it's available I connect to it all the time." He insisted that it wasn't available because his computer couldn't connect to it. I open up my PowerBook, and without me doing anything, I'm already connected with 4 bars of signal and full internet access on the very network he said was unavailable. I was laughing inside.

[nydoofus]

This is sick. So here is how it all went down. I go to a small school in Indiana and since I have been going here they have started to slowly eleminate macs from use at the school. When I asked the computer admin staff why they were doing this they told me "macs are a threat to the network becuase they can so easily get viruses and other malicious software without people even knowing" HAHA. I almost died from laughing in the guys face and just walked away.

So, last year they installed wireless networking around campus... YAY! However, they used a cisco VPN to allow for access AND made it so you had to download the school's version with the settings hidden behind a password. I tired downloading the same client for mac but without access to the settings I can't use it. So, I bring my computer to the support people and ask them to just please input the settings for me and then they can feel free to slap up the password so I can't see them. They refuse and tell me they did it the way they did on purpose to block mac and linux users from accessing the wireless network :mad: I tired and tried but there is simply no way around it.

So, this year when I return to school I find out they started using a windows 2000/XP specific access client called "cisco clean access". This means that you have to download the clean access software and connect using that. You can only get on the network if your computer has all the windows updates and virus definitions installed. If you don't have anti-virus software you can download some from the university... but too bad you can't get online if you don't have the anti-virus software to being with lol. Nice catch 22 there. Worst of all tho, this officially blocks the macs from any reliable connection to the internet in the dorms. My school has won and I am now using a cheap refurb Dell Dimension 5100C.... and when the powerbook updates come I will be so tempted too :(

This might be a little late for you, but it is possible to get the settings for the Cicso VPN Client from the PC to the Mac in theory. After you install it on the PC, there should be a .pcf file in C:\Program Files\Cisco VPN Client\Profiles. You need to copy this to your Mac to the directory /opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/ You also might need to copy the vpnclient.ini from C:\Program Files\Cisco VPN Client to /opt/cisco-vpnclient/

[aquajet]

I would transfer to another school.

[leekohler]

Yeah it sucks using windows. I literally have some type of update to intall every day. Another sick thing I remembered is that my desktop publishing class forces us to use PCs. We doing QuarkXPress design work and my prof is all against mac becuase they are not used as much... yes.. of course nobody in the design industry uses a mac .... :rolleyes:

If your prof is using that line of logic, then why are you using Quark? You should be using InDesign, because that will quickly become the industry standard. And he's wrong, any serious design/ad firm uses Macs. I'm in the biz in Chicago, I know what I'm talking about. Transfer to another school.

[Chrispy]

Honestly, if it were me going to school there, I'd change to another school, and not because of the specifics of the situation (Mac vs. PC), but because of the general attitude. It seems that colleges and universities often forget that it's the students who are the customers, and without the students, and their tuition money, there would be no school. Make sure the school administration (not just the IT staff) knows how you feel.

I am writing a letter at this very moment. I would leave the school but I am a Senior so it is in my best interest to stay here. This school has been terrible, however, and cut a large amount of my aid AND bumped up tuition and large amount for this year. The sad part is I was told I had to live on campus as a Senior or I would lose my grant... which they took away anyways! I will NOT be recommending this place to anyone else nor will I ever give a dime to this place after I graduate.

This might be a little late for you, but it is possible to get the settings for the Cicso VPN Client from the PC to the Mac in theory. After you install it on the PC, there should be a .pcf file in C:\Program Files\Cisco VPN Client\Profiles. You need to copy this to your Mac to the directory /opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles/ You also might need to copy the vpnclient.ini from C:\Program Files\Cisco VPN Client to /opt/cisco-vpnclient/

I will definitely try this with a friend of mine's powerbook. I really want to get this resolved as when the updated powerbooks come out I would love to pick one up. I bought the cheap Dell for that very reason.. to have the money for a mac when the opportunity presented itself. I hope that works as it will make my friend very happy and I can laugh at beating the system!

[nydoofus]

I will definitely try this with a friend of mine's powerbook. I really want to get this resolved as when the updated powerbooks come out I would love to pick one up. I bought the cheap Dell for that very reason.. to have the money for a mac when the opportunity presented itself. I hope that works as it will make my friend very happy and I can laugh at beating the system!

Feel free to PM if you have any issues.

[KittenKrusher]

My University has tried to do the samething with the wireless. At first that had VPN that would work on Windows only. Then a bunch of Linux + Mac people went to IT. Now they have the VPN signal but also a free open wireless signal for all others. It's not secure and you don't have access to your Network space, but it get us internet and that is all I wanted.

[WeeShoo]

Wow, that really sucks. I cant believe they would block everything except Window's, thats rediculous.

[derajfast]

my school is actually just the opposite...i visisted here in april to see if i wanted to go, and they were talking about all the computer labs....they said they had 1 mac lab (all g4 imacs) and i didnt think it was that bad...their wireless internet supported macs, and they never said to choose PC over it...so i was happy with that..well i get to school, and i see the same mac lab. 2 days later, im walking by, and theres brand new g5 imacs in it. then, the other day my teacher emailed us to tell us that we would meet in writing lab to work on some paper....so i get there and i really dread the class because its awful, but theres about 30 brand new imac g5s in it...all have dreamweaver, and those macromedia programs, and bunch of other stuff....and everyone comes in and is like awed at the design. people are playing around not paying attention to the teacher at all...the only dissapointment was that they were running 10.3 (probably more compatible with the network, because htey told me not to install tiger before i came, even though i did and it works fine). there was one guy who seemed like mad that the screen was the computer. he was looking all over the place for it and i told him that was it, and he was like, no its not, i know computers. everyone used IE to go on the internet though, not safari....ill teach them tomorrow...feel the mac invasion

[derajfast]

also of note.....the first week of school, no one could get onto the internet, wireless or plugged in....except for the 3 people with macs on my floor....the IT guys came around every room to help people out....and he walked in to my room and saw my mac and was like "oh i dodnt do macs sorry" and i told him not to worry because i had no problems connecting....and he just kind of walked away

[Chrispy]

I just sent off a large e-mail to the director of Electronic Information Services stating..

Dear Professor ****,

My name is Chris ------- and I am a Public and Corporate Communications major here at ****** *******. I am writing you regarding a disturbing trend I am noticing on behalf of Electronic Information Services.

First, let me say that I find the Clean Access client as being a great way to keep Windows users safe on the school’s network. However, this client makes using Macintosh computers on the network a painful experience. Each time you want to use the network you have to login with the registration window in Safari (or any Mac internet browser) and then login again while quickly clicking an accept button near the bottom of the screen before it makes you login yet again. In addition, you are never presented with the terms of usage or an option to accept or decline them if you use a Mac for access. This hardly seems like fair treatment for users of the Apple Macintosh platform.

In addition, when wireless access was added to **** ***** last year, I attempted to access the network with my Powerbook only to realize I had to use the Cisco VPN client. When I spoke with a helpdesk specialist I was told the VPN access was setup like this on purpose to keep any platform other than windows off the network. I even went so far as to find the Mac version of the exact same Cisco VPN software that ***** ****** is supplying to attempt to put in the settings myself. I then realized that settings are blocked so users cannot do this and I took my computer to the help desk to see if someone could set it up for me and then add the password so I could not see what settings were used. I was told absolutely not and was, again, told the Mac platform was “too dangerous” to have on the network. This makes no sense as the Macintosh OS X platform has proven, time and time again, to be far more reliable and stable than any Windows operating system being used today. It has been a year since the wireless access was added to ***** *******, and yet there is still no OS X support. I would think EIS could add an additional signal just supporting internet access so Mac and Linux users could bypass the VPN client requirement or make the Cisco client available for Mac users.

The EIS mission statement says…
The mission of Electronic Information Services is to support ****** ****** by providing leadership, quality resources, and effective services in information technology; and to nurture an environment in which productive application of computing and information technology can flourish. Electronic Information Services coordinates and manages servers; data networks (wired and wireless) including Internet access; communication resources including electronic mail, voicemail, telephone service, video cable, and satellite reception resources; general-access computing facilities; and general-purpose software related to the academic and administrative functions of the University.

I hardly see how, in essence, blocking a fast growing computer platform is nurturing an environment in which productive application of computing and information technology can flourish. For example, I am taking a desktop publishing course and we use Dell PCs because there are no capable Macintosh machines running OS X anywhere on this campus. Given that the design industry uses primarily Macintosh, it seems like we are being crippled by learning not only on outdated software (QuarkXPress 5.0 instead of Adobe InDesign) but also by using the wrong platform for the job.

I think ****** ******, as well as Electronic Information Services, needs to remember who they should be serving. The students make this University what it is and without our tuition dollars there would be no ***** ******. It hardly seems fair or practical to block students from being able to utilize technology to its full extent. I cannot help but feel like EIS is moving the university backwards in technology by systematically eliminating any platform other than Windows 2000/XP Pro. I sincerely hope you will hear what I am trying to say and make the appropriate changes to better serve future students here at ******* *******. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Chris --------

[Leareth]

Ohh nice letter,
polite, firm and to the point.
I like it.
:)

Maybe it will be a wake up call for your school.
I am lucky my school is very mac friendly, most of the profs are on macs and there are more mac labs than pc labs

[TheMonarch]

Maybe They like windows because Its the reason they have a job... ;)




***Shifty eyes***

[ohcrap]

Maybe They like windows because Its the reason they have a job... ;)




***Shifty eyes***
Did you (or someone else) say this in another thread recently? I hope so, because if not, I'm having some serious deja vu right now.. :shudders:

[EGT]

Niceeeee letter.

[faintember]

Good letter Chrispy!

On a sad note, i just found out from my uni professor that they will be moving to an all Windows setup in the next 5 years. I will be long gone before this happens, so it will not effect me, but i don't get it. Our music lab is 90% Macs, and the Winblows machines are relegated to a corner, and only freshman or non-traditional students (i.e. older) unfamiliar with Macs use them.

I wonder what the cost will be to buy new licenses for all of the music software the uni has, move all of the audio hardware over to Winblows, etc.

It is a sad day when a uni decides to move to all Windows. They tout diversity, but i guess that line stops at choice of computer platform. :confused:

[link92]

Nice letter, if (and when) he replies, can you post that here?

[Chrispy]

Nice letter, if (and when) he replies, can you post that here?

His initial replay was..

Chris -

Thanks for alerting me.

It is the case that we have very few people on staff with Mac expertise, which makes it difficult for us to support Macs as fully as we do Windows machines.

It is certainly not *my* intent to keep Macs off the network, however.

I assure you, I will look into this matter. It would help me a great deal if you could tell me who made these unauthorized comments about Macintosh.

May I share your message with others on the EIS management team?

Thanks.

- Mike

I replied...
Professor ****,

I appreciate you looking into this matter and I know it is not you personally making the decision to block the Macintosh platform from use at ****** ******. I think alleviating these issues could help VU at becoming a more diverse computing environment. I feel this would greatly benefit students (especially those in the graphics arts and music realm) by giving them more options.

I do not recall the names of the people I spoke with as it was in the fall and spring semester of last year. It does, however, concern me that such comments are being made as it gives students the idea that they are using a dangerous platform when, in fact, this is far from the truth.

I would love for you to share this message with the rest of the management team. I hope it will help spark some changes for the better here at ****** ******.

Sincerely,
Chris

[Chrispy]

Did you (or someone else) say this in another thread recently? I hope so, because if not, I'm having some serious deja vu right now.. :shudders:

I had brought this issue up before in another thread but now it has gotten even worse than when I initially referenced the issue.

[DrNeroCF]

Um dude we have that clean access bull over here, all the macs need to do is sign in from a browser and everything works fine.

[dops7107]

His initial replay was..

... It would help me a great deal if you could tell me who made these unauthorized comments about Macintosh.

Unauthorized comments? Weird turn of language.

PS I'm not sure that blanking out the University's name with **** is much use if you put the professor's full name in your post. :rolleyes:

[Chrispy]

Um dude we have that clean access bull over here, all the macs need to do is sign in from a browser and everything works fine.

Yeah it was like that at first but now they have added something else to it that I am not aware of that makes it so you literally have to trick the system by clicking on an accept button in less than 2 seconds to get the access. If you miss it then you go through the entire signup thing again (username, password, address, student ID and all). Makes no sense at all...

[Chrispy]

Unauthorized comments? Weird turn of language.

PS I'm not sure that blanking out the University's name with **** is much use if you put the professor's full name in your post. :rolleyes:

Haha yep. Technically, since I work for the university I am not supposed to mention its name in any forums or the like but it says nothing about naming people ;) Strange rule but I guess they fear I may give out access passwords and stuff...

[Chrispy]

I'm actually happy to say I am getting a good amount of response out of this :) It should be interested to see what comes of it at the university. Given the attention I am getting out of this I am going to take a previous posters advice and make the entire thing anonymous. I will keep you all posted!

[ohcrap]

I think you should protest, everyone likes to protest... if that doesn't work, start a riot. :D

[Chrispy]

I think you should protest, everyone likes to protest... if that doesn't work, start a riot. :D

Haha! I think it is very likely that the clean access quirk that is hampering people right now is going to get fixed. Also, I think I may have started a move for the staff to look into the lack of Mac wireless access. I will be interested to see what comes of this as I know at least a handful of people here suffing the same problem as myself.

[Linkjeniero]

Things like this make me really happy to be studying in a University where most professors hate Windows even more than I do... :P (well, at least in the Computer Science Department). The faculty's primary network is open for anybody to use, and to get in the department one you just need to mail them you mac address.

[skubish]

Unauthorized comments? Weird turn of language.

PS I'm not sure that blanking out the University's name with **** is much use if you put the professor's full name in your post. :rolleyes:

And he referred to it as VU in the post. Kinda narrows it down quite a bit.

VU + Indiana = hmmm

[zap2]

get VPC

[Chrispy]

And he referred to it as VU in the post. Kinda narrows it down quite a bit.

VU + Indiana = hmmm

Very nice... now.. no need to say it in full ;) But for those reading this... be warned! LOL

[Prom1]

Yeah it sucks using windows. I literally have some type of update to intall every day. Another sick thing I remembered is that my desktop publishing class forces us to use PCs. We doing QuarkXPress design work and my prof is all against mac becuase they are not used as much... yes.. of course nobody in the design industry uses a mac .... :rolleyes:

Well saying installing a windwos update daily - if refering to WinXP - may be pushing it if just a little BUT if you said weekly that is so accurate, Moore's Law couldnt be more precise!

Seriously though you should point out the recent Virus attack 2 weeks ago that hit CBCNews - sorry no link - or this
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/05/win2k_worm_flaw/
or
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/02/katrina_trojan_attack/
or this again affecting Windows Users
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/03/world_cup_virus/

there is PLENTY more you can introduce to the IT staff and challenge them to find fact that these virii that spread began on Apple Macs' or other OS based machine. Also challenge them to find Apples on Windows Networks that affected Windows Machines as a fact. Dont worry enjoy many dates with that hot senior you wanted to date before they get back to ya on that.

Seriously Macs were meant to increase user's efficiency and productivity, and challenge the world on how we percieve & use computers. Today while at work supporting Windows Dialup for AOL its so difficult to get someone who's never done a hard drive search for a simple named file - screen name - if they've never saw it before. How is this with the 5th+ iteration of Windows OS when by default it should be set to look for files/folders NOT over the Internet if thats what Internet Explorer is used for??!!!! :mad: 10 minutes of talking & time wasted and more fustration for the customer! One of these days I'll tell them to get a Mac. Not one day this past month have I not gotten a call with a member complaining of a virus where their computer will not load Windows OS, lol.

Chrispy glad to see your challenging right, and using the Apple efficiency.

Cheers & godspeed.

[Chrispy]

Let’s just hope Mr. EIS will take care of the problems Mac users are experiencing here at good ol' VU haha. The interesting this about this college is we almost do a lot of things right. For the longest time Windows users here were plagued with viruses all the time yet now clean access has really helped with that problem. However, in fixing one problem they have created another... if they could just get both things right at the same time then we would be talking. That and the insane tuition prices and the lies about financial aid... but that is an entirely new topic. I have worked with the person I e-mailed my sophomore year and he is a good guy. I think that now that he is aware how some of these moves have affected some users he will honestly try to fix the problem. I am going to just keep my fingers crossed and try to keep in touch with him.

[SilverLight]

you sure this campus wasnt in Redmond Washinton?
that sucks thou

[Abstract]

Chrispy is learning at the Microsoft campus.

I'd provide references that state that as of a particular date, there have been no spread viruses in OS X.

I think that there aren't enough IT people who know about Macs or Linux, and so they choose not to bother with them.

[puckhead193]

my school as something like that, but it works for macs... If you have a PC you need to download this thing which is spyware and see if you have a virus and the lastest windoze patches and if not it won't let you on the network, but since i'm on a mac i just type my password in and go, its great!

[Prom1]

;) :D An intereseting thing for you ... just read this on my break...


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/21/apples_big_virus/

highlights the joy of using a Mac sans virii.

[savar]

Yeah I was telling a friend of mine that it would be great to print this out after more people have made comment and then bring it to the admin people to show them how stupid they really are. It was bad enough when I had to deal with this at work but now at my college.. uhhh. If companies and schools would realize the potential IT savings of switching completely to mac then Apple would finally get the marketshare they deserve.

Not just the IT staff, but bring it to the president or provost.

I agree with what MdUser63 said as well...this college has totally the wrong attitude. If you're willing to support your own set up they should not be locking you out.

What school is it, by the way? It's absurd to block macs, but to block linux also? There must not be a computer science program there, otherwise those kids are especially getting shafted.

Besides, at most universities the majority of professors prefer macs...

[dejo]

I will NOT be recommending this place to anyone else nor will I ever give a dime to this place after I graduate.

Chrispy, what's the name of this place? So we can avoid it too...

[TDM21]

My school, also makes Students living in the Halls download and use Cisco Clean Access. Students also must download the Symantec Antivirus Corporate edition from the schools servers before they can get online. Thankfully, my school passes users with Mac or Linux through the sign in so they are almost instantly online. This year I work for the Residential Network (the people who take care of networking in the Halls) and from personal experience, it is harder getting Windows computers online with Cisco then Mac or Linux.



Just to put everything in perspective, Cisco Clean Access Agent is a program the sits on your Windows computer and every day checks to see if you have Antivirus installed and all the latest updates. This is done by reading some info off a server on campus which is updated once a week. If Cisco sees that you don't have all the updates on your computer then it gives you temporary access to Windows update website to get those updates. Once your computer has all the necessary updates then Cisco will let you have full access to the network again. Great idea in concept, but is hell to get working in practice with 4000+ students living on campus.

[Chundles]

Not just the IT staff, but bring it to the president or provost.

I agree with what MdUser63 said as well...this college has totally the wrong attitude. If you're willing to support your own set up they should not be locking you out.

What school is it, by the way? It's absurd to block macs, but to block linux also? There must not be a computer science program there, otherwise those kids are especially getting shafted.

Besides, at most universities the majority of professors prefer macs...

You should see the Arts department at my uni (Arts, not Creative Arts - never really seen the Creative Arts buildings) a shiny new eMac on every desk, it's just so *sob* beautiful... then you see the poor old guys in Commerce and Science (where I am, I love getting my iBook out in class) using old old old Pentium II's and III's with anything from Win98 to XP, they spend most of their time fixing the damn things.

[spinne1]

Hey everyone, I wonder if VALPARAISO will go to the NCAA basketball tourney this year. They had a good run a few years back.

Oh, and how is Denny Myers working out as athletic director over at VINCENNES? (side note: he was my college track and cross country coach at a different college)


Getting closer.....

[Chrispy]

It is Valparaiso University. I am good to discuss this issue since it does not pertain to what I do at VU. I would not recommend people attend this university at this point in time as they seem to be very money hungry and unethical in the way they treat the students. It has potential but blows it with really poor administration decisions. I also attended Purdue and IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis) before VU during my freshmen year and I must say that IUPUI was the most pleasant experience... and they had a sweet Mac setup in the library.

[40167]

You could just bypass the uni network entirely. Thats what I did, got tired of logging into their bull and what not; and their wifi coverage isn't to fabulous. So I shelled out $4.99 a month (officialy its $19.99 but you can get around the "no-thethering" stuff on the 4.99 plan) to t-mobile and got myself a bluetooth adapter so I could just go online trough my cellphone. No more messing with their network, no more finding wifi; and the speed isnt all to bad since being in Los Angeles (or a few other cities) they got EDGE running, if im out further than their EDGE coverage it goes on GPRS at about 80kbps which is enough for most my work.

Admittingly you shouldn't have to go this route, but unless your doing bandwidth hungry stuff all the time it may be an option for you. Not to mention having internet anywhere theres a cell connection is just plain cool when your like stuck in traffic and have your passenger look up a traffic map or get some streaming music to listen to.

[Koodauw]

2 days later, im walking by, and theres brand new g5 imacs in it. then, the other day my teacher emailed us to tell us that we would meet in writing lab to work on some paper....so i get there and i really dread the class because its awful, but theres about 30 brand new imac g5s in it...feel the mac invasion

Our lab here just got new 20'' iMac G5's, bout 25 of them so far. Seeing all of them really is beautiful. I think ill be spending more time at the lab :D

I feel like I could have 8 million browser windows open! Coming form a 12'' PB this thing is huuge!

[Chrispy]

Our lab here just got new 20'' iMac G5's, bout 25 of them so far. Seeing all of them really is beautiful. I think ill be spending more time at the lab :D

I feel like I could have 8 million browser windows open! Coming form a 12'' PB this thing is huuge!

:D

[BBFCFM]

This is sick. So here is how it all went down. I go to a small school in Indiana and since I have been going here they have started to slowly eleminate macs from use at the school. When I asked the computer admin staff why they were doing this they told me "macs are a threat to the network becuase they can so easily get viruses and other malicious software without people even knowing" HAHA. I almost died from laughing in the guys face and just walked away.

So, last year they installed wireless networking around campus... YAY! However, they used a cisco VPN to allow for access AND made it so you had to download the school's version with the settings hidden behind a password. I tired downloading the same client for mac but without access to the settings I can't use it. So, I bring my computer to the support people and ask them to just please input the settings for me and then they can feel free to slap up the password so I can't see them. They refuse and tell me they did it the way they did on purpose to block mac and linux users from accessing the wireless network :mad: I tired and tried but there is simply no way around it.

So, this year when I return to school I find out they started using a windows 2000/XP specific access client called "cisco clean access". This means that you have to download the clean access software and connect using that. You can only get on the network if your computer has all the windows updates and virus definitions installed. If you don't have anti-virus software you can download some from the university... but too bad you can't get online if you don't have the anti-virus software to being with lol. Nice catch 22 there. Worst of all tho, this officially blocks the macs from any reliable connection to the internet in the dorms. My school has won and I am now using a cheap refurb Dell Dimension 5100C.... and when the powerbook updates come I will be so tempted too :(

There is a setting on that switch "Allows All" "Allows Windows" "Allows Mac" etc. There's nothing you can do. They did install it at my school, but, unlike your university, they allow all. Sorry about the bad luck.

[wdlove]

That is very sad Chrispy. Nice letter. Wishing you luck in your quest. At least you are a senior. I agree, no recommendations or donations.

[FFTT]

This just shows you how some supposedly " professional " IT administrators

have no business, in the business.

This is nothing more than ignorance compounded by someone attempting to justify their worth in the industry.

It's shameful.

Cisco probably has a Mac OS X staff that could have gotten everything straightened out with no problem.

[Chrispy]

This just shows you how some supposedly " professional " IT administrators

have no business, in the business.

This is nothing more than ignorance compounded by someone attempting to justify their worth in the industry.

It's shameful.

Cisco probably has a Mac OS X staff that could have gotten everything straightened out with no problem.

Amen to that! My university is just so cheap that they refuse to spend money on anything even if it could help the students. Give me a manual and a few hours and I'm sure I would have it all figured out ;)

[easymac800g4]

the university of alabama is using a math website to teach all courses under 125. this site requires that you download a plugin so that you can do your homework from..well... home! these plugins are not mac compatible so therefore we are forced to spend time in an overcrowded mathlab that takes two hours to do 15 simple algebra problems. this is caused by a mix of slow computers and overloading of the servers. also we must rely upon instructors who cannot communicate in english to help us with these problems. is anybody else using the blackboard system at their university? if so, is it this bad there?

[FFTT]

I understand that the school does not want a bunch of infected P/C's loggin onto their servers, but preventing a user wth no infected files from accessing the server is pretty lame.

It may help to have your IT department speak with an Apple factory networking specialist to iron out the glitches, but Mac OS X is quite network friendly.

[vniow]

You could just bypass the uni network entirely. Thats what I did, got tired of logging into their bull and what not; and their wifi coverage isn't to fabulous. So I shelled out $4.99 a month (officialy its $19.99 but you can get around the "no-thethering" stuff on the 4.99 plan) to t-mobile and got myself a bluetooth adapter so I could just go online trough my cellphone. No more messing with their network, no more finding wifi; and the speed isnt all to bad since being in Los Angeles (or a few other cities) they got EDGE running, if im out further than their EDGE coverage it goes on GPRS at about 80kbps which is enough for most my work.

Can you link to this? I'm having trouble finding it on the T-Mobile site.

Thanx,

-Ani

Edit: Erp, didn't see this thread has been dead for a few days...

[admford]

Well here at the university where I go to Macs are also a minority. It's a technical institute in italy. I'm studying Aerospace Engineering and i've come across various problems with the school's choice of software.

CAD: Well it's not vector works or similar, it's mainly for the design of hardware and various mechanical elements. The University uses Solid Edge, which isn't available on any other platform than Windows. Well it took me a good while, but right now i'm using Ashram-Vellum's Cobalt CAD software, very nice and functional (hell, White Knight and SpaceShipOne were designed on this!)

Math software: Well we have a version of Mathcad available to download here at the university for students. It's Mac compatible so that's nice. What's not so nice is the fact that my course decided to depart from Mathcad to SciLab (an open source program similar to Mathcad). Well SciLab doesn't have a standard OS X binary to run. It's a lengthy processes at times to install FINK and then to install SciLab to run under X11. Only the most recent version that was released a couple weeks ago, FINALLY works on my PowerBook.

It's a shame that how ever good this university is, and how ever open it can be, they don't say anything to us Mac users about other applications that can do the same jobs the standard University software can do. It took me a couple months to find the equivalent software, and literally had no help from the staff even in a small case of just trying to install SciLab.

[geese]

If its of any worth- the University of Westminster is very Mac friendly. I guess its from having a big design department. And they seem to get some new mac kit every term- 20" iMacs with G5 towers- nice!

This wont be of any use of you unless you intend to study in London in the future.

[jessica.]

If this were me going to this school I would leave. In all honesty, if they block a brand of computers based on lack of knowledge then what kind of education are you really getting?
I go to a school that is known for being a great law school and they not only allow macs they sell them at a discount! fools!

[moonislune]

It makes no sense to me why the school would limit their technology options using a Cisco framework without leap. My school tried to do something similar last year until enough professors complained. This year we LEAP, literally. Dude, I think your school's crappy network officially makes you an APPLE REFUGEE.

[galstaph]

My school (University of Calgary) uses blackboard and it works fine. Our wireless network isn't confined to pc's but it is funny to watch some teachers who are clueless about macs, (let alone the projectors), use them in their lectures (the uni provides laptops to rooms for the teachers to use, they have a lot of dells and a few powerbooks), usually they ask the students how to connect to the internet and use the mac for powerpoint. :p
I am seeing a shift toward phasing out macs at the school though. Our info commons recently recieved a large amount of dell pcs (getting rid of the poor old red imacs in the process). One computer lab just upgraded to brand new dell pcs as well this session, nice lcd displays but...
(can you tell that our Uni is in bed with dell?)
We only have about 7 public (in teaching library of all places, 4 or 5 emacs, 3 older 667mhz powermacs) computers for the students running OSX we do have a lab running on OS9 though :D
I'm glad our uni isn't exclusive, my brothers school was, had to have a toshiba powerbrick er I mean satelite.. :rolleyes:
although there is still an emphasis on m$ software.. ie. word, excel, powerpoint and internet exploder

[yg17]

My school (University of Missouri-Rolla) isn't neccesarily Mac friendly. If you bring a Mac down to IT they'll have no problem telling you to piss off, but my Macs are just as compatible with the school network as anything else. They know there are Mac users on campus so they don't do anything special to block us. None of that clean access crap either. We just register our MAC address under our student account and we're good to go, and wireless uses 802.1x which works great on my PowerBook.

[FFTT]

I think it's sad to hear that schools are falling for the cheap Dell deals only to pay through the arse for Windows OS licensing fees and maintaining Windows security issues.

Of course there are too many underclued
and overpaid IT "professionals" who would
go the way of the Maytag repairman if these schools
really understood the true cost of ownership.

Just wait till they have to scrap all their gear and software in order to be Windows Vista compatible.

I've been arguing this point where I work and it simply blows my mind how clueless these "professionals" really are.

[tuartboy]

Up here at Taylor we finally got full-coverage wireless all over campus. It's nice to just plop down in the lacrosse field and check email on a nice day. :)

Well anyway, my powerbook was on the network in 1 minute, but 3 weeks in I still can't get my PC to validate through the system. And I'm no noob, mind you.

On a good note, turns out most of my CSS department is converting over to mac from various *nix distros. Some of these guys are serious developers too: glut, squirrelmail, GTK, etc... The macintosh platform is getting some serious respect around here!

I'm interested to hear what school you are at, since I'm so close. You can PM me if you care to divulge and don't want it in the clear.

Good luck.

[yg17]

Up here at Taylor we finally got full-coverage wireless all over campus. It's nice to just plop down in the lacrosse field and check email on a nice day. :)

Well anyway, my powerbook was on the network in 1 minute, but 3 weeks in I still can't get my PC to validate through the system. And I'm no noob, mind you.

On a good note, turns out most of my CSS department is converting over to mac from various *nix distros. Some of these guys are serious developers too: glut, squirrelmail, GTK, etc... The macintosh platform is getting some serious respect around here!

I'm interested to hear what school you are at, since I'm so close. You can PM me if you care to divulge and don't want it in the clear.

Good luck.

Taylor univeristy in indiana? A friend of mine from high school goes there, do you know anyone named Noah (I'll keep his last name off for his privacy, not like there are many people there with the first name Noah though)? I think he may be a Comp Sci too (if thats what CSS stands for)

[tuartboy]

Taylor univeristy in indiana? A friend of mine from high school goes there, do you know anyone named Noah (I'll keep his last name off for his privacy, not like there are many people there with the first name Noah though)? I think he may be a Comp Sci too (if thats what CSS stands for)
Noah M? Yeah, I know him. I'm really Computer Graphic Arts and like to consider myself in the art department, even though I'm not, so I'm not around the dungeon too much.

[yg17]

Noah M? Yeah, I know him. I'm really Computer Graphic Arts and like to consider myself in the art department, even though I'm not, so I'm not around the dungeon too much.

Nope, Noah S. I think he's doing computer something there, not positive.

[tuartboy]

Nope, Noah S. I think he's doing computer something there, not positive.
Yeah, don't know him then.

[Kraythe]

I am writing a letter at this very moment. I would leave the school but I am a Senior so it is in my best interest to stay here. This school has been terrible, however, and cut a large amount of my aid AND bumped up tuition and large amount for this year. The sad part is I was told I had to live on campus as a Senior or I would lose my grant... which they took away anyways! I will NOT be recommending this place to anyone else nor will I ever give a dime to this place after I graduate.

If they put it in writing that you had to move to the campus to keep your grant and then yanked the grant, you can REAM them in court for any number of varieties of fraud. Heck you might even be able to get your tuition back. Essentially that is something akin to Racketeering. You could reasonably expect at least the lost grant money and difference in housing costs.

As for causing you to not be able to use your computer on campus you could take them to court for that as well, suing them for the cost of buying a new laptop due to negligently uninformed information as well as incompetence. The beauty of that is that they would have to prove that macs are a significant virus threat over windows in court. That would be a tad hard. If you can find out that they have a financial arrangement with dell or microsoft, your case is SOOOO won.

If you go this route do it before you graduate. Because then if they try to hold up your graduation in revenge you have another lawsuit, one that will pay for your whole education.