- Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)
- 30 Aug 00
Apple and the
Science: New Barometers, pg. 2
This caliber of guidance is critical to Apple's continued success
in growing the Macintosh platform. Many scientist currently work
in UNIX, NT and Mac environments and would prefer to eliminate NT
in favor of Mac OS X. (see other comments in our Editorial
and Petition
for Autocad on Mac OS X.) As one National Laboratory IT specialist
said:
"I get the (dubious) honor of supporting
148 seats of PTC ProEngineering (Solaris Unix) as well as a back-up
administrator to 60 seats of Autocad (WindowsNT). I wish both
were available for the Mac.
MacOS X will bring "real operating system"
status to the Apple platform. It would be in Apple's best business
interest to further the porting of professional level software
to the Macintosh platform. While there are any number of "professional"
software packages, the definition of such is pretty much subjective
to the market they apply to, so it would be difficult for Apple
to make a choice based on professional merit alone. But Autocad
is an incredibly visible piece of software. Getting it operating
on the Mac again would be a great incentive for other software
vendors to follow." -- C. Allison, Lawrence
Livermore National Lab
As our our petition for Autocad on OS X has attested, there are
many scientist in labs around the world who have used Macs in the
past or are using them now in limited or specialized roles. These
professionals believe OS X is a better compliment to UNIX iron than
NT. And many Mac users don't realize just how prominent Macs already
are in the biotechnology market.
It Takes a Few Good Apps: Mac Software for Science
Hillary Clinton may say it takes a village, and the US Marines
may say it takes a few good men. But what does it take to make the
Mac successful in a market? As the iMac has proved, from the start
it takes a few good apps.
These few good apps are really "anchor applications"
that hold the whole market together. Just like the mall, if the
big stores aren't there why go?
| Let's hope that as Mac OS
X approaches, many more top notch science applications move
to the Macintosh, either from UNIX or Windows NT. The appeal
of the Mac is that scientist can focus on their important research,
and not the computer. |
Apple doesn't need to put the likes of Arthur Levinson on the board
to figure out what the anchor apps are for the biotechnology industry.
Instead, such guidance will probably be directed at understanding
the deeper trends in the scientific industries, 'what scientist
really need', and how to approach them.
A positive sign has come already with significant upgrades to anchor
applications that are used in a wide variety of scientific fields,
such as the all new Mac
SPSS 10.0 and the program DeltaGraph
4.5 for Macintosh. A similar multidisciplinary product is longtime
Mac software KaleidaGraph 3.5..
Data analysis and its presentation are just one thing. There are
thousands of specialized programs used in the various scientific
fields. Apple's Macintosh
Product Guide (MPG) has various lists by scientific categories.
You can also review all Science
and Technology categories here, which include: Architecture
& Construction, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering,
Manufacturing, and Mechanical Engineering.[note
there are no biotech categories yet in the MPG]
Let's hope that as Mac OS X approaches, many more top notch science
applications move to the Macintosh, either from UNIX or Windows
NT. The appeal of the Mac is that scientist can focus on their important
research, and not the computer. With such hot and promising fields
as biotechnology, science is one field where Apple should want to
be.
To Apple and Architecture: Downstream
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