Lisa Driscoll-Rodimon is an expert on computing at Dartmouth. For over five years, she has worked with both Windows and Macintosh computers as the Dartmouth Card office accounting assistant. But as the push to unify administrative computing on a single operating system intensifies, Driscoll-Rodimon remains ambivalently frustrated over which system is right for her job.
"They both still crash when they want to," she said.
Computer Services, though, has identified Windows as the superior system for Dartmouth's administrative needs and has continued a gradual switch in many administrative departments from the traditional Mac OS.
"It's been Computing Services' policy for some years to encourage people to use the best tool for the job," said Bill Brawley, Director of User Communication at Dartmouth Computing Services, "and many administrators are finding that their programs work best on Windows."
According to Brawley, Macintosh software that utilizes Dartmouth servers function significantly slower than Windows programs. Students, however, experience no difference between Windows and Mac with the same server software, Oracle Financials, he added.
Many users in the administrative computer network view the switch to Windows as necessary, although immediate performance improvements are a forethought compared to Computing Services' essential technical support.
"I think they're both comparable systems, but we rely heavily on the College for support. We're not going to take a direction that Computing Services does not recommend," College Registrar Polly Griffin said.
Janette Crary, Accounts Payable manager, whose department is currently undergoing the switch, added that Oracle's software update has forced her department to upgrade or be left unsupported by the software manufacturer.
While many signs point toward the entire campus using Windows, there is no concrete plan to shift all operating systems throughout the administration.
"You don't make changes like that lightly; there would be a lot of consideration needed," said Brawley. "I'm not aware that a decision has been made for a complete switch."
Some departments had been moving from Mac to Windows long before the recent changes. Greg Husband, director of Procurement and Auxiliary Services, said that the Purchasing department was introduced to Windows four years ago.
"It's conceivable that we will be all Windows in the future. Administrative environments at other colleges have done this before," said Brawley.
Dartmouth's history with the Apple began in 1983, when it was chosen over IBM and Digital Equipment to outfit Dartmouth's campus-wide network with the publicly unreleased Macintosh. For many years, the Dartmouth Mac system was one of the largest in the country.
Since the network's inception, Windows machines at Dartmouth have existed in comparably less numbers than Macintosh. However, the multitude of different versions of operating systems has become problematic for Computer Services, encouraging the move to Windows.
