US University Dumps Windows to go All Mac

MacKeyser passed us a link to a MacWorld article about a University doing things a little differently. Instead of sticking with their inefficient mix of Apple and PC systems, the college is doing a 'total technology refresh', and adopting an all-Mac policy on the campus. Previously, a class at Wilkes University would be outfitted with something like 20 Macs and 20 PCs, to allow for individual preferences in software and OS use. With Boot Camp students at the Pennsylvania liberal arts college will be able to switch between Windows and OSX, choosing which applications and OS to use at any given time. "[Scott Byers, vice president for finance and the head of campus IT said] 'We think it will save $150,000 directly, in buying fewer units - even though the Macs cost more per unit than PCs.' The school, which enrolls about 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students, will reduce its inventory from nearly 1,700 computers to around 1,450 after the change over. Other costs savings, however, will be harder to measure. 'By standardizing, the IT department should be more productive,' Byers said."

Major university...

[feranick (858651)]

Wake me up when a major US university does the switch...

Re:

[Hamster Of Death (413544)]

Wakey wakey! http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-5095026.html [com.com]

Re:

[Overzeetop (214511)]

So you could mod me as Troll like the rest of the mac fanbois? (hopefully not)

FWIW, I went to Tech, and I have worked in industry for 20 years. I have yet to see macs in a production environment for engineering. Architecture, occasionally. Burt Rutan uses them (though he's really pure R&D, and is smart enough he can afford to tell every else to fuck off). Aside from that, they usually only exist in the marketing department.

Not meant as a slam to Macs (I have a soft spot in my heart for apple - I leaned

Monoculture bad ...

[IchBinEinPenguin (589252)]

... diversity good.
Even it it's a 'non-evil' monoculture.

Re:Monoculture bad ...

[macs4all (973270)]

If you want a windows PC, buy a windows PC. Don't lobotomise a Mac. Windows` strength is the diversity of third-party support, both hardware and software. Why give half of that up and run only on mac hardware? To answer your question, it's no different from only buying Dell or Brand X or whatever. It's just as wrong.

You obviously have never tried to maintain more than a few computers at a time.

The main reason IT departments tend to be "monoculture" when it comes to hardware is the sanity of their IT staff.

You will note that they did NOT create (another) OS "monoculture". The users now have the choice between the two top-selling OSes, and the University gets to buy less hardware.

Oh, and since they are Macs , they can, through Parallels, even designate some or all of the machines to run nearly any other OS on the planet.

No other hardware vendor can offer that (at least not legally).

None. Period.

Confused

[Saint Stephen (19450)]

Dumps Windows because the new Macs can all run Windows?

Re:Two possible reasons

[Thrudheim (910314)]

The Mac zealotry argument does not really fly in this case. If you read the original article, it says that the IT head of the college was "before the switch was a dyed-in-the-wool Windows user." He clearly states the reasons for switching in terms of cost savings ($150,000). One set of machines will be able to do what previously required two sets of machines. Set up one lab. Boot up in Windows or the Mac OS depending on what the professor wants. They save money by buying fewer machines overall, as the article states.

Besides, speaking overall, anti-Mac zealotry on the part of IT departments has been a huge barrier against more widespread adoption of Macs. IT people know Windows. They'd rather have to maintain only a single platform. In most business environments, and in many academic ones, there is no choice at all. It's just Windows. So what's the big deal if one institution decides to use machines that, gasp, can boot both Windows and the Mac OS? Must be zealotry. . .

I suppose they could save even more money by just refusing to buy Macs at all and forcing all courses to use Windows only. In that case, it would just be a smart financial decision, right? Happens all the time.

Boot camp will be out of beta as soon as Leopard arrives, which will be a few months at most. Not worth fretting about that at this point. Apple has to provide that disclaimer for the time being.

Re:

[NtroP (649992)]

We replaced all our computers in our training labs with iMacs running both Windows and OS X. It has worked wonderfully and it takes up much less space and the lab is a lot quieter. We can now train twice as many people at a time because they can all be on the same OS, whereas, before we had half Macs and Half PCs. The biggest problems was with the Windows users not able to manage with the Mac keyboards and Mice so we replaced them with Microsoft keyboards and mice. I found it interesting that the Window

Not even dumping windows

[by Anonymous Coward]

That title is very misleading, it is only the hardware that is switching to mac, no the OS. It says they plan to use boot camp to dual boot OSX and windows. Hardly what you'd call a mac campus. They're just making it so that hardware wise they only have to buy macs rather than macs and pcs.

Headline Incorrect.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

The university is not dumping windows at all.

They're dumping generic PCs in favour of mac PCs. They'll still purchase windows licenses & allow dual booting.

It's a hardware story, not a software story.

Re:Headline Incorrect.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

The price of a store-bought copy of windows is several times the royalty paid for an oem windows install. So it's a net win for microsoft

Um, unless they just use the XP licenses they already have?

Anyway, MS licensing works differently if you're a 2000+ seat university compared to some lone windows fanboy running vista ultimate.... I don't think this is going to be a gain for MS at all.

hrmm..

[mrsym0r (1068436)]

fta:

"Although the $1.4 million three-year switch - which started last year with the purchase of approximately 500 Macs"

$965 per apple? including the installation, planning etc? Over three years, in which time period the current macs would be outdated and require hardware upgrades in order to use the mac OS that will be in circulation by then?

Methinks their budget may fall a tad short..

nope. in practice macs go 5 years

[jpellino (202698)]

often longer. every fw imac, cube, power mac and ibook we ever owned is running tiger and doing better than previous OS versons - every non-fw g3+ is running 10.3.9 and doing very well.

installation? ard.
planning? has to be done anyway.
etc? macs have less etc.

Makes total sense

[PhotoGuy (189467)]

I've said it before, I've said it again; I bought my first Mac(book) recently, and the thing that pushed me over the edge to do so was the fact I knew I could fall back to Windows when I needed to, or completely stay in Windows if the OS X experience wasn't a good one. But like most people who try it, that "security blanket" of Boot Camp is more of an insurance policy, or peace of mind (or gaming option), rather than something they end up using in real life. I have my MS Office and OpenOffice, Opera/Firefox/Safari, and even IE under Crossover Office or Parallels. (I tend to use Parallels for IE testing purposes of my websites).

The only reason I reboot to windows now, is for the odd game; and even that's rare with me. Windows seems so much peppier, too, when I do go to it; since I only go there occasionally, the system doesn't get bogged down with addons, startup items, spyware, etc.. (The old reinstall-windows-every-six-months can be extended greatly, if you only use Windows occasionally.)

I think for a multimedia course that needs to teach students both Mac and PC skills, it makes all the more sense; both OS's on one machine: of course it's an overall savings, and somewhat of a no-brainer.

Yes, Mac hardware is single-vendor (unless you do the hackbook thing, not viable for a commercial enterprise); but in my experience, it's well designed, solid, stable, fast hardware. My only lament is that I'm a big fan of sub-nootbooks, like Librettos, and Apple has no such option currently. But I can live without that, for all the other benefits that OS X brings.

Yes, I'm a recent fan, and I am a boy, so fling away with your "fanboy" insults. Meanwhile, I'm productive and enjoying the experience immensely :)

Umm dumping the PC not the MAC

[nurb432 (527695)]

Even in the summary, it states they are intending to use Bootcamp: "With Boot Camp students at the Pennsylvania liberal arts college will be able to switch between Windows and OSX, choosing which applications and OS to use at any given time."

So they arent dumping windows, they are just going to a more manageable single-source hardware vendor, whch just happens to be Apple.

Sure, its a good thing as more students will get a taste of OSX, but please be a bit more accurate here of what is going on. Geesh.

Apple is cheaper?

[LaughingCoder (914424)]

Wilkes decided to go all-Apple because the new Intel-based models and the Boot Camp dual-boot software - would let the school reduce the number of machines campus-wide. "This is an aggressive technology refresh," Byers said.

OK, now I get it. It's cheaper to standardize on Macs because they dual boot - therefore the same machine can be used to run Mac OS (and hence Mac-only apps) or Windows (ditto). So they aren't standardizing on Mac OS (as the headline implies), they are standardizing on Mac hardware because it can run Windows too. This has nothing to do with the OS wars, it is purely a financial decision.

Parents are impressed

[bryan1945 (301828)]

Both of my parents went to Wilkes (long time ago- my mom met my dad in a slide rule class!), and they are impressed that Wilkes is going forward (for right or wrong). I think my mom was surprised that Wilkes even had computers. Like I said, long time ago! :)

As to good or bad- let it shake out and see what happens. I'm tired of all the fanboy/advocacy about what's better, cheaper, etc. Let's give some real world craziness a shot.

Almost all the students will switch to mac

[krunk7 (748055)]

I have not met a single person in real life who used a mac for more then a few days that did not permantly switch to OS X as their primary OS.

This includes the following categories os users:

• Linux/Bsd types that bought a mac laptop with the sole intention of installing *bsd or *nix on it. . . .but mine as well see what this osx thing is about, right?
  
• Windows types who bought a macbook "just to see". After all they can always install windows on it and it just looks cool for a decent price..right?
  
• Developers
  
• Casual users
  
• Academics
  
• Professionals
  

Now I have seen a blog or two of people who disliked the OSX experience. And a couple of vocal anti-mac types and purists in places like slashdot. I doubt they're in any way representative of the norm. There are very good reasons to use a pc over a mac. There are fewer reasons to use a *nix/bsd over a mac except in the "server on a shoestring" market. It just so happens that unless your a gamer or need a specific, niche software that isn't available on mac...almost all of the reasons above have nothing to do with the end user.

standardization..

[God of Lemmings (455435)]

This is the first time I've seen the buzzword "standardization" used to defeat a set
of windows machines instead of the other way around.

Re:

[by Anonymous Coward]

I was just looking at the majors they offer and I'm trying to figure out how Wilkes is an art school. Liberal arts university, sure, but that's it. In fact, the only art program they offer is a minor. Also note that they have about 2,200 students.

Re:Good for them!

[PetrusMagnusII (309326)]

I think you're confusing Liberal Arts with Art.

Take a look at the undergraduate majors:

http://www.wilkes.edu/pages/143.asp [wilkes.edu]

Accounting, Air & Space Studies being the first two on the list...

Re:

[h2g2bob (948006)]

Well, art does have a well known liberal bias.

Re:Good for them!

[paeanblack (191171)]

Well, art does have a well known liberal bias.

So does Slashdot.

Has anyone noticed that they aren't dumping Windows at all? They just want to use Bootcamp to cut down on total hardware costs and standardize on a single hardware platform. All they are actually dumping is beige-box PC hardware. They still plan to run Windows and Windows apps just like they did before.

Re:

[blowdart (31458)]

But it's not about that; and, as is often the case the slashdot headline is an anti-windows line.

With Boot Camp students at the Pennsylvania liberal arts college will be able to switch between Windows and OSX, choosing which applications and OS to use at any given time.

They are standardising on hardware, not an operating system. Which makes sense in terms of cost and hardware management.

Re:

[dreamlax (981973)]

Then why does everyone say Macs are better for video/graphics? Every graphics designer I know uses a Mac.

Because that's what they've always used

[Sycraft-fu (314770)]

That's really what it comes down to. I've heard lots of creative justifications, but they are BS when you get down to it. It is just legacy. Back in the day, Mac was it for graphics work. Windows couldn't do it and didn't have the apps in any case. So it was Mac or nothing. Likewise with things like digital audio. When it first started, it was ProTools or nothing, computers weren't powerful enough to do it on their own.

Well, many people don't like change, thus they stick with Macs because that's what they'v

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[sgant (178166)]

I don't know. Speaking from a perspective of a graphics pro that's used both platforms, the Mac just "feels" more natural to me. No, I can't put that in a quantitative explanation. I've gone from Mac to PC back to Mac and yes, Photoshop performs on both, but as I said, it just "feels" better to me on the Mac. I've tried to understand why this is, but I really can't put my finger on it.

But honestly, it all comes down to personal preference. I know in the pre-press shops I've worked at, the PC has tried to make inroads, but there are a few things that just keep it back. Font handling is one....though most shops are going to an all PDF workflow, so that mitigates some of these problems.

But like this article, the great thing about the Intel Macs is, you can run either OS X or Windows....or even Linux, if you want. I would say that the extra you pay for the Mac is actually made up for this ability right there. It's very versatile now.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[sgant (178166)]

No, it IS versatile, you just have to use it on their Hardware. Their OS, their hardware. Don't like it? Don't buy it. No one is forcing anyone. But the perk of buying THEIR hardware is the option to run all 3 OS's if you want...that's versatility. Albeit you're paying more for the hardware for that versatility, but to some it's worth it.

Apple opening up OS X to run on any hardware isn't going to be happening anytime soon and I think that people should just get over it. If it happens it happens. I'm not holding my breath for it.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[gb506 (738638)]

Only on /. (and digg, i suppose) would someone say Apple/OSX "might be a dead end platform before long" while commenting on a post about a university going 100% Mac. With Vista getting panned all over the place along side growing share in the Mac base, you have to either be on serious dope or suffer from mild retardation to put that statement in writing.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[mrraven (129238)]

It depends on what desktop market you are talking about. If you are doing serious digital video production your choices are Mac with Final Cut Pro, or Avid. The Mac offers 90% of Avids capability at less than a 1/3rd the price. That sort of lead isn't going away anytime soon.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[sgant (178166)]

As much as I like the Mac, it's marketshare has not increased significantly over the years, and has dwindled a bit with every major technology change they've made

Mac sales growth up over 100 percent in January [appleinsider.com]
Net Applications: Apple's Mac 'market share' continues rise, hits 6.38% in February 2007 [macdailynews.com]

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[pyite (140350)]

Your comments do not make you sound intelligent. Here's a quote; maybe you have heard it before.

People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware. --Alan Kay [wikipedia.org]

A lot of people would agree with that.

Until it can be run on non-dongle-ridden hardware, it is not versatile.

The claim is that the hardware is versatile. Your comment does not apply.

In fact, depending on how Jobs' current 'selling sugar water to the kids' (iPod/iTunes) initiative goes

I'm not even quite sure what this means. Why does everyone fight against iTunes and the iPod? If you don't like it, don't use it. No one is forcing you.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[pyite (140350)]

Jobs and Apple (no longer "Apple Computer" I might add) are selling shiney crap to the masses.

So shinyness aside, I fail to see how what is being sold is crap. Obviously music players are a matter of preference, but some of us bought iPods before they were "cool" simply because they were the most straightforward and logical devices to use as far as portable music players go. And you seem to imply "selling to the masses" is bad. Is Apple only successful if they have only a cult following? As a shareholder, I would answer that with a resounding "no." I don't use Apple because it's cool, I use their products because they work.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[Durandal64 (658649)]

This is a myth. There is no dongle embedded in Intel Macs. Newly shipping Macs have no TPM chip, and the ones that did didn't use it for anything.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[Kjella (173770)]

And in no small part: Because they've never grown dependent and/or highly skilled in any Windows-only software. How often do you hear "Yes OS X is great, but as long as it doesn't run $foo it's not usable to me". Or about Linux, for that matter. And a lot of those really creative types I've met, well... their minds seem "jumpy". I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's probably what makes them creative, but I think they're prime targets for Apple's "just works" marketing because they wouldn't stay focused long enough to get technical problems fixed. Of course you have a whole class of basicly "graphics engineers" in the same way you got software engineers, but they tend to follow the creative guys' lead.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[by Anonymous Coward]

creative examples on windows:

1. typefaces:
a designer uses a 'faux bold' and 'faux italic' in there design, when printed, those are reverted to the normal face of the font
reason: extended windows features that are not typographically correct, and do not translate correctly in postscript

2. colors:
a designer makes a design with very vivid colors on it screen, when printed those colors look dull
reason: standard windows gamma is too high (higher then mac), resulting in more vivid colors, allthought those colors are outside the cmyk range, and therefore are not printed as they are shown on screen
(test yourself: try to differenciate 80% and 100% black on a pc screen, you cannot)

these 2 examples illustrate that designers, who do not have a clue about technical aspects, are experiencing issues with there design-workflow on windows.
offcourse, a designer could avoid using those 'faux' typefaces, and adjust his screen gamma, windows is able to do it all, and has even more options then a mac, but that is not what is required by a designer

about 'people don't like changes': (to stay in the creative environment) how comes that quarkxpress, the leading page-design tool for ages in the graphic industry (even from before windows95 existed), has been dumped in the course of 1 year in favour of indesign? could this be explained in any creative or non-creative way?

Re:

[timeOday (582209)]

I think you're blind. Take one look at OSX vs XP, and Mac hardware vs PC hardware (on average), and you can't tell me why graphical/artistic types might prefer the Mac? I'm not referring to the functionality of the applications, but to the platforms themselves. And this is coming from a Linux user; my initial desktop screen looks like it's from 1987 and I don't mind having a mix of apps with 3 different widget sets on my desktop at once, but I've noticed that does NOT fly in the Mac world.

Maybe Vista w

Re:

[dr.badass (25287)]

Well, many people don't like change, thus they stick with Macs because that's what they've always used. The other justifications usually come from the fact that they either just tend to listen to the marketing hype, or because they feel a need to try and justify the more expensive purchase.

What operating system do you use, and why? Remember to list only reasons that have nothing to with personal preference. God forbid people should use what they prefer. If it is an operating system you have used before, y

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[admactanium (670209)]

Well, many people don't like change, thus they stick with Macs because that's what they've always used. The other justifications usually come from the fact that they either just tend to listen to the marketing hype, or because they feel a need to try and justify the more expensive purchase.

what a wonederfully condescending post. first off, why do people who don't work in graphic arts care what graphic artists do with their computers? if it has no relevence to you, then why even argue the point. most of the people i know in graphic and visual arts have been using macs for a long time. much longer than any perceived "hype" of recent os x macs.

has it occurred to anyone that graphic designers prefer using macs and that they might actually have good reasons to use the hardware that they do? i have a windows box that sits on the floor next to my mac. i use it once every couple months to double-check a website design or somesuch other little thing. when i switch to an intel-based mac, i suppose i'll bootcamp into windows for those occassions and not much else.

nobody questions the choices of people in other fields to standardize on particular platforms or apps, but for some reason people really enjoy debating the graphic artists/mac connection. why do people feel the need to question a professional's choice of tools. do you also debate why certain mechanics use snap-on versus milwaukee tools or why one doctor might use a different brand of stethoscope than another? i don't see how anybody in graphic arts has to justify their hardware choices to anybody.

the argument seems to generally stem from the "macs are too expensive" crowd. well, when you bill by the hour, having a computer that works perfectly 99% of the time counteracts that argument. i bought a quad core g5 with 4.5 Gb of RAM, a terabyte internal RAID0 setup and 2 24" monitors. how long did it take me to pay off that rig with work? about a week and a half. why would i, or should i switch to save a few bucks when i already know what i'm using works perfectly for my needs. it's not expensive in the world view, only when you compare it to crap pcs.

seriously, keep your "ooh shiny" and "hype from apple tv ads" and "designers are too dumb to use windows" comments to yourself. it's incredibly insulting. i could choose to learn any platform and could probably get my work done on windows or linux, but why should i? to satisfy the curiousity of some random slashdot posters? or perhaps so i could save $800 on a box and hope that i can transfer all my files, get app crossgrades and generally get up to speed with a different plaform in the 8 hours it would take me to justify the cost savings. anything over 8 hours and i'm losing money. i'd rather just make an educated decision to use macs for my own reasons. but thanks for caring.

Re:Because that's what they've always used

[NMerriam (15122)]

I've heard this a few times....but I'm a bit confused as to what OSes these people refer to? Windows? XP never screams at me.

You're just used to it.

Windows is constantly telling you when things succeed -- like it wants to be congratulated on doing what it's supposed to do. "New hardware detected! You've attached a camera! I found a driver! Do you want me to open the pictures or copy them or sing a song? The camera is now connected and working!" There are balloon tips popping up in the taskbar and notification area periodically, letting you know that whatever you're doing is not important, because Windows just found a new wireless network! Hey, Windows just updated your time thanks to daylight Savings! Thought you should know! hey, you have unused icons on your desktop!! Do you want me to help you clean them up? Icons are hard! Stop what you're doing and pay attention to me!

The assumption in the Windows OS interface is that things are going to fail -- that at any moment the computer could simply explode and kill everyone in the room, and if things go well it should get a pizza party like the winner of the Special Olympics.

On the Mac, it is assumed things will succeed. If you plug in a new piece of hardware, it just shows up ready to use.

Re:Good for them!

[that this is not und (1026860)]

The 'Altivec meme' has been cancelled. It is no longer to be used as an explanation of why Apple products are 'superior.' Similarly, all 'Pentium' jokes have now been rescinded, and any records regarding said jokes in the past are being wiped.

Didn't you get the fax?

Re:Good for them!

[Paradox (13555)]

Because it was, for a long time. In fact, it still seems to be somewhat faster than Intels SIMD instructions. The Altivec gets its amazing speed by being a very, very simple piece of hardware. Using it properly is not easy at all, and in some cases it simply can't provide the precision you want.

But Apple and Adobe seem to have discovered that it's even faster to have a dedicated GPU do this work. And so the important use cases for SIMD have evolved in Mac OS X, edging more towards a scientific and gaming bias. But anyone can tell you that the Altivec, with its lack of double precision floating point support, is not well suited to scientific applications. The difficulty of using it properly is also a major limiting factor in games. Intel chips have other advantages which end up giving a net win to things like CoreImage, but that assumes that you can farm out work to the GPU.

People like to say Apple pulled a 180 on this, and I suppose there is some merit to that. But it's also true that Apple Engineers decided they found a better way outright, and the marketing engine didn't fight them on that, unlike in some companies we've seen (Intel with the P4 architecture, for example).

Re:

[curious.corn (167387)]

Could it be that Apple software is simply better at things like color matching, font handling and other stuff, like making top hardware manageable by non nerds?(since media processing always required more horsepower than say... Office Word + Norton AV + Outlook... wait, forget it...)

Perhaps, it's a matter of software quality... (limited to certain areas of interest, of course)

e

Re:

[ColdWetDog (752185)]

Umm, no. Windows is there. My stepson is currently enrolled at the Vancouver Film School, a well respected digital arts campus (or at least an expensive one....). They have a wonderful mac setup, nice shiny PowerMacs galore. Nobody uses them. All of the serious stuff is done on PCs.

This comes from the faculty - all real-live professionals in their fields. While lots of folks use Macs - they're perfectly capable critters and I constantly drool about switching, to be perfectly honest - there isn't any

Re:Good for them!

[ktappe (747125)]

In response to the three posters who say their Mac labs go unused, that is probably because those who prefer Macs have one. People who use a computer lab anymore are those who probably aren't that computer literate and therefore have only ever been exposed to PC's a few times and will therefore gravitate towards the only thing they've ever seen. PC costs have dropped such that anyone with an interest in computers can buy what they want (PC or Mac).

Re:Good for them!

[omeomi (675045)]

The same can be said for windows relative to linux... People are still using it because they always have.

Not at all. I'm all for Linux, but in art or digital audio, the tools available in Linux just don't stack up (yet) with ones available for Windows and OSX. Yes, there's the Gimp for graphics, and Audacity for audio (among a few others), but there's nothing that comes close to competing with ProTools, or any of the other major audio software applications, and I don't think there's much on Linux that competes with Illustrator or Quark, either.

Re:

[ColdWetDog (752185)]

Exactly. Only two things need to happen before I ditch Windows in favor of Linux.

Decent color management and Photoshop (at least CS2 level). I'm not sure why color management hasn't arrived, but Photoshop may be the killer un-app. Adobe has no particular reason to make it easy to run under Parallels and even less reason to make a native port. No Gimp flames please. I've been playing with it on Ubuntu - actually pretty impressive, but not Photoshop. Not even close.

Re:Fewer computers?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

I may be a Mac fanboy, but I don't see how fewer computers can be a benefit for students.

RTFA.

The classes used to have (all number pulled from my ass) 15 windows PCs & 15 Mac PCs. In a class of 20, 10 would go unused.

Now, they'll have 20 PCs capable of running OS X or Windows. All students still have access to a PC.

Re:

[karmatic (776420)]

No, it's a good thing. The transition from Mac to Linux is much easier since they already lost compatibility, application support, gaming, and driver support anyway.

Re:

[NickFortune (613926)]

If they migrate to Mac OSX, does that make it less likely that at some point in the future they would switch to Linux?

Possibly, possibly not. After all, in a lot of ways the jump from OS/X to Linux is a lot shorter than the one from Windows to Linux. They're both Unix descended systems and have a lot of apps in common. And when it comes to Linux, the price is always going to be had to beat.

On the other hand, I have to say that it doesn't much bother me. What I'd like to see is a bit more diversity O/S