The Charles Shafae' Scholarship Fund

The Charles Shafae' Scholarship Fund awards two $500 scholarships each year (one per long semester) to the winners of the Papercheck Essay Contest.

The Papercheck Essay Contest is open to students of all majors. The winner will be announced on October 31, 2010. To qualify for entry, participants must meet the following criteria:

• be enrolled at an accredited four-year college or university in the U.S.
• be enrolled at the undergraduate level (have taken or are taking an undergraduate course) taking at least 12 credits per semester
• be a legal resident of the U.S. or hold a valid student visa
• carry a status of “Good Standing”
• maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.2
• follow the guidelines below

• The deadline for 2010 Winter entries is 12:00 p.m. (noon) PST on September 1, 2010.
• No late entries will be accepted!
• Please direct all questions concerning scholarships and/or the Essay Contest to scholarships@papercheck.com.
• Regrettably, no scholarship or essay contest question can be answered by phone.

Scholarship Question and Guidelines:

Recent advertisements have depicted Apple and Microsoft in a series of heated debates. Each claims to have the best products and features, while occasionally degrading the competitor. Which company really has their users’ best interests in mind? Will catering to the user help either company to capture a bigger portion of the market?

1. The iPad was originally released without 3G capability; Apple stated that the 3G version would be available 6-12 months later; its predecessor, the first generation Amazon Kindle, came with free 3G coverage via Sprint. The iPhone releases new models several times per year, with new software features added to the same basic hardware configuration. Is this similar to Microsoft pushing out operating systems, only to be scrapped by better versions within a few years (i.e., ME in 2000 replaced by XP in 2001; Vista in 2007 replaced by Windows 7 in 2009)? Are these desperate attempts to make their client base happier? Or, are these planned timelines to trick consumers into buying the same product over and over? Should a lemon law for technology be put into place?
2. How are these two companies similar, and how are they different?
   1. Will one company claim victory over the other in this arms race of operating systems? Will an open source solution gain more market share than Apple/Microsoft, making the two conglomerates obsolete?
   2. Does either company fulfill its advertising promise that it listens to customers to make their lives simpler and easier?

Please cover the above questions. Use sources, whenever possible, and MLA format throughout. You must write a minimum of 1,000 words; there is no maximum word count. We will focus on grammar and the ability to present ideas clearly. Include a Works Cited page with a minimum of three sources. The essay must follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) system for documenting sources, which is set forth in the  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (New York: MLA, 2009). Submit your essay using the form below. Do not send your transcript until it is requested.

Good Luck!

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