Seattle's new mayor is a Mac |
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Seattle's new mayor is a Mac
Mike McGinn
Staffers for Mike McGinn, Seattle's mayor-elect, have asked the city's technology department to explore the possibility of switching the mayor's office from Windows PCs to Macs to let them stick with the technology they've been using, according to a post by Eli Sanders of the Stranger.
Of course, dropping Windows probably won't prove as challenging as dumping the deep-bore tunnel, but it's a good thing McGinn didn't aspire to run the city of Redmond. And given all the Microsoft employees who live and vote in Seattle, it's probably also a good thing he didn't make a big deal of this before.
To be clear, the proposed shift appears to involve just the mayor's office, and not other city operations -- which would be a much bigger deal and a much bigger story.
But symbolically, at least, it's a notable move. Microsoft employs more than 40,000 people in the region, and even though only a relatively small portion of those work in Seattle proper, there has been a definite Microsoft preference in recent years in Seattle City Hall. Bill Schrier, the city's current chief technology officer, has said publicly that he's a "serious supporter of Microsoft software and products."
In any event, the Stranger's readers are now engaged in a good old fashioned Mac-vs.-PC debate, with a political twist.
"I think it really speaks poorly of Seattle residents that they would not champion their own local company," writes one in the comments on Sanders' post. "Where is the pride?"
"Are you kidding?" another reader responds. "There's no way I'm going to buy crappy products out of loyalty."
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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