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[previous article] [next article]I was recently hired by the Engineering Computer Network to provide the faculty and staff with application support for a growing segment of the local computing environment--the Apple Macintosh.
As one of my first tasks, I initiated a survey of the usage patterns of Macintosh software within the Schools of Engineering. This survey revealed that the following packages are most used by the respondents in engineering (as a percentage of positive responses):
Drawing MacDraw II 80%
Painting SuperPaint 44%
Graphics Cricket Graph 48%
Presentation PowerPoint 27%
Spreadsheet Excel 93%
Database FileMaker II 62%
Word Processing Word 90%
Programming Hypercard 80%
Think C 40%
Math Processing MatLab 55%
Mathematica 38%
Kaliedagraph 36%
Utilities Disinfectant 76%
Moire 44%
Communications NCSA Telnet 63%
This list of "core" packages will constitute the packages I am initially able to support in the engineering community here at Purdue. I have already acquired a large portion of these packages, and I am attempting to become more proficient in their use.
Additionally, I have started offering "short courses" on some of the various packages and will continue to do so in the future. Please check the list of computing short courses published each semester for information of interest to you. I will attempt to increase the offerings available to you as time goes on. These classes are available to everyone, so please attend if you have the opportunity and interest.
If you would like me to present a "short course" on a particular package or some of its features, please contact me via e-mail. Also, if you have questions or difficulties with one of these packages, please contact me. My e-mail address is birchman@ecn.purdue.edu.
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