Steve, do you think your operation might be more technologically advanced than most? When you say “Anyone who’s going to do serious creative work in this field needs to be familiar with the server side as well, able to maneuver around in a Linux/Unix SYSV filesystem without getting lost,” does that apply to more than a handful of employees at HQ?

It depends on what these kids are going to do. For “straight journalism” work, the XP and OS X platforms are roughly equivalent. But I’d prefer that new hires have at least general familiarity with both Mac and PC platforms and an understanding of a/v editing on both.

(Five minutes with Garageband will probably sell them on the Mac. I’d require an hour of watching Zefrank and a written analysis of how you could produce his program using Garageband, iMovie, and video clips submitted by viewers.)

Beyond a general familiarity with HTML and stylesheets, there’s little real need to be a technical wizard.

On the other hand, we need bright creative people to push the state of the art, not just practice the state of the art.

Anyone who’s going to do serious creative work in this field needs to be familiar with the server side as well, able to maneuver around in a Linux/Unix SYSV filesystem without getting lost.

I’d throw in a general understanding of how database tools (SQL) work and an overview of how scripting languages, templating systems, AJAX and frameworks (Rails, Django, Cake) are being used to quickly create data-driven presentations. Maybe in the process you’ll create another Adrian Holovaty.

The nice thing about the Mac is that, with a little work, it can double as a Unix-like environment. You do have to untangle Apple’s brain-damaged filesystem layout first, though.

A true newsgeek-in-training would buy the cheapest fast laptop possible and install Ubuntu Linux.

I have a iMac computer at home that has never crashed in a year of daily operation. I have never had a virus, or a spyware problem. I have no virus protection software. My pro apps are elegant and are intuitive to learn and use. For multimedia production at work, I use Final Cut Studio, with its suite of programs. It is the bomb. I’m trying not to sound like a Mac zealot, but damn, they just work.

My employer, and many related properties, have switched to PCs within the past two years. This includes those units used for video and audio editing.

I personally use a now-dated Apple iBook G4, and plan to replace it with a Macbook when it dies (why not with the Bootcamp option).

Honestly, reporters (writers and multimedia sets) or anyone else in journalism should be used to both environments by now. And I think the younger set will have enough intuitive computer knowledge to do just that.