Press
They all agree — with their ease of use and stellar performance, Apple hardware and software offer unbeatable solutions for scientific computing. Here are just a few samples of what the press is saying.
Not Just for Music
“We wanted to create something for non-radiologists to use, for surgeons or general physicians to view images.
“We chose to create [OsiriX] for Macs, as it’s no secret that they are known for their graphic ability. They have huge processing power for 3D and 4D images.
“CDs aren’t big enough, memory sticks are not big enough, but I had my iPod, which has 40GB of memory just there. We rigged the software so that you can click to store the images on the iPod, and subsequently view them in Osirix directly from the iPod.”
— Osman Ratib (co-creator of OsiriX)
CNN.com
Apple from Soup to Nuts
“When noted biologist David Botstein was lured from Stanford University to head the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton, he had his choice of computing systems. But Botstein says he outfitted the center almost soup to nuts with Apple computers and servers, which are used for everything from desktop applications to comparing lengths of genetic code. By eschewing the more expensive workstations that high-tech biologists have come to rely on, he says he has also cut down on the cost of maintaining his number-crunching machines.”
“Apple’s hardware isn’t the only reason for the speed. A lot of genomics software has been optimized for Apple processors. Will Gilbert, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, is best known for using his iPod to carry a genome from one server to another. But his actual pitch for Apple hardware goes further. Using software optimized by Apple and Genentech he was able to cut the time for comparing big strands of chimpanzee and human DNA from 16 hours to two minutes using an Apple computer.”
— Matthew Herper
Forbes.com
A Perfect X
“It is easy to use both office productivity tools and life science applications on the Apple platform. Security is excellent — in part because fewer hackers have targeted the Mac, but mainly because of its security-rich Unix underpinning. Mac OS X rarely crashes.”
— John Russell
Bio-IT World
“I’ll be working.”
“Couldn’t you save money by building the same thing [as the Apple Workgroup Cluster] with dual-core P4 ‘servers,’ Linux, a Cisco switch and a Brand B UPS? Be my guest. While you’re spending weeks building, tweaking, cussing and blaming the equipment for the work you’re turning in late, I’ll be working.”
— Tom Yager
InfoWorld
The Mac’s Rise
“Although no hard figures are available to chart the Mac’s rise in scientific communities, anecdotal evidence suggests various Apple machines, from the Xserve G5 to the PowerBook, have become viable options.”
— Robyn Weisman
E-Commerce Times
An Easy-to-Implement Solution
“Apple has already proved it can deliver supercomputer technology with a cluster installation at Virginia Tech, so what does Xgrid bring to the table? In typical Apple fashion, Xgrid provides an easy-to-implement solution for two common problems in the scientific community: The lack of cheap computing power, and wasted cycles on unused desktops.”
— Yuval Kossovsky
Computerworld
