[Leica] Mac discounts

[ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter)]

wouldn't you love to have that Lisa back?

ric

On Dec 8, 2009, at 6:53 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> Sonny wrote:
> 
> "Yeah it has something to do with Apple (and Dell) giving stuff to the
> 
> Universities.  The student package discounts are not all that great. You 
> can
> 
> often do just about as well at an Apple (or Dell) Store.
> 
> 
> The only advantage for us was that Eric's Mac was packaged with all the
> 
> software he was going to need as a music major at his University.
> 
> 
> Of couse, times change, and now, in the middle of his second year, all the
> 
> music Profs accept assignments on mp3. Go figure.
> 
> 
> I work at a University too, and sometimes I can do pretty good with the
> 
> discounts, sometimes not.  Dell sells other stuff, besides laptops and
> 
> computers, ya know.
> 
> 
> I also have a connection through IBM to Lenovo, and I was able to beat the
> 
> professional discount by seventy dollars using a coupon code from Fat
> 
> Wallet."
> 
> 
> - - - - -
> 
> 
> Some background information. After Apple's 1984 superbowl commercial. the
> company started the Apple University Consortium designed to get Mac
> computers into the hands of students. The catch is that the students and
> faculty had to pay the full price of a 128K Mac up front by certified 
> check,
> $2500 as I recall. With the money in hand, Apple started up the production
> line. The computers were delivered about three months later. Apple 
> obviously
> modeled its approach after Hitler's method of selling Volkswagens prior to
> WW2. Pay up front  and then wait.
> 
> 
> At the time I was chairman of the computer committee of our university. In
> order to convince me of the merits of the Mac, Apple lent me a Lisa 
> computer
> which ran the Mac's software. The Lisa sits on the desk behind me in this
> 1985 photo. No comments about the fact that I needed to lose weight.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Me+in+my+office+at+CUNY.jpg.html
> 
> The hanging on the wall is an imitation Jackson Pollack done by my wife. If
> I could have passed it off as a real one I could afford a dozen M9s, each
> with a Noctilux. Anyway I was convinced that Macs were a good idea. At the
> time Bill Gates was claiming that 640K memory was all one would ever need
> and IBM was touting its own brand of software. We joined the Consortium.
> Bribery works.
> 
> 
> To prevent a wholesale invasion by California based Apple, IBM, a local New
> York company, gave a grant to the university offering $500 to each grad
> student for a computer purchase. Naturally they expected the students to 
> buy
> real computers, i.e. IBM PCs. To the surprise of everyone, including me, 3
> out of 4 opted for Macs. MACS WERE COOL. IBMs were for accountants. But it
> could have been a software issue as well. Macs had a true graphical
> interface from day one while PCs were still burdened with a command line
> interface. Windows was a distant gleam in Microsoft's eye. Also remember
> that Word and Excel were originally crafted for Macs. Statview and Data
> Desk, two sophisticated but easy to use statistics programs were also
> created for the Mac. Finally, the NIH Image program, one of the first 
> really
> capable image manipulation programs was free for the downloading from the
> Nat. Institute of Health. The software that was available ideally suited 
> the
> needs of grad students.
> 
> 
> The $100 to $200 Mac discounts are trivial considering the price of the
> computer. But if you really want one they are easy to get if you are
> connected in any way with a school. Even a grandchild attending 
> kindergarten
> qualifies you.
> 
> 
> Larry Z
> 
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