After more than an hour of points and counter-points, debates and discussion, Government of the Student Body senators decided to amend a bill in favor of IBM PCs for their new student offices.

Senators didn’t vote on the modified bill. The issue will likely come up again after the Thanksgiving break. There is no timetable for a decision.

As it stands, the bill calls on GSB to spend about $12,000 to stock its new student offices with the IBM computers and accessories. At least one senator said he may keep pushing for Macs.

Senators debated the computer brand and the type of software to buy for the office. Several senators favored IBM PCs, while others were adamant about Macintosh computers.

“If you want a Mac or a PC go home and buy it. Macs fit our needs,” said Jamey Hansen, Senate vice chairman. “It doesn’t make a difference what each senator wants.”

Hansen said the needs of GSB are not relevant to the personal preferences of senators. He said IBM PCs would require GSB to change its software at an added expense.

“We made a commitment to Mac so I think we should keep the Mac platform,” said Sen. Trish Sandahl, graduate.

Adam Gold, GSB president, said the issue isn’t that complicated. “You’re just going to write bills on them, or do some occasional homework,” he said. “Let’s not get caught up in all this technology.”

But the Mac vs. IBM war waged on.

Senator Adam Obrecht, agriculture, said a proposal to create a computer committee to make the decision would not provide any more information than what the Senate already had.

An amendment was passed to require Gold to hire a person to set up programming for the new computers, though nobody knows what brand of computers will be purchased just yet. GSB pays a person to maintain its computers in cooperation with the Student Union Board, but that person isn’t versed on IBM technology.

“I personally think we made a mistake this evening by changing to PCs,” Hansen said.