Scottish schools move from Macs to PCs

South Lanarkshire Council in Scotland, has shunned Apple Macs in favour of PCs in an £800,000 contract for local schools.

The move away from Apple Macs represents a major shift in policy at Lanarkshire. "It is a major change for us," said Donald Thomas, head of finance and personnel at South Lanarkshire Council. "We've reviewed our whole IT resource and decided that as the PC format is the one people will be using at work, they should also be in our schools, even at primary level."

The deal was awarded to integrator, Research Machines and covers installation at 132 primary and special needs schools within the area.

Although the PCs will initially be standalone, future plans will include Net connections for 9 to 11 year olds. The purchase is also part of the National Grid for Learning initiative set up by the UK government last year.

Included on the PCs is a software product developed by Research Machines called Window Box. It serves as a tutorial for using PCs and will also eventually act as a gateway to the Internet.

Within the contract is the provision for training of two staff in each school, which will begin next Monday. The installation of the PCs is expected to take until 24 September.