http://www.macnn.com/articles/02/04/19/reader:.asu/
Reader: ASU upgrading computer lab with Macs
updated 03:05 pm EDT, Fri April 19, 2002
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MacNN reader Bill Gunty writes: "Arizona State University is outfitting its largest computer lab with G4 iMacs. In that lab there are currently half dell, and half PowerMac 4400s and 7300s. All the PowerMacs are being replaced with brand new G4 iMacs--all together, around 75. ASU also has another computer lab that has 50 indigo iMacs in it. This is not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but it is a big deal to ASU students and it also shows that colleges do use Macs."
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2002
Macs and Engineering
While this is encouraging, in my dept. (Elect Eng) I am one of only 3 profs who still hold out using Mac. The reason: MATLAB. For better or worse, MATLAB s quickly becoming a tool of choice, but for whatever reason the Mathworks does not support the Mac platform, even under LinuxPPC or Yellow Dog Linux (they do support Linux on Intel boxes, however). Our research agencies and the companies recruiting our students often want MATLAB as a tool or else MATLAB skills, and our college has made MATLAB a standard part of our computing software for incoming freshmen.
While (free) Scilab and Octave can run under fink-installation with developer tools, and (commercial) mathematica provide support for scientific applications, it is a disappointment to see that the MathWorks has abandoned this platform with (apparently) no plans to come back.