“Mac skills have long been seen as superfluous for IT professionals; Apple platforms are rarely used in medium and large enterprises, and not even the release of the OS X operating system chipped away at Windows’ claim on the IT department. Yet some observers feel that this is set to change,” Deb Perelman reports for eWeek.
“Between October 2007 and January 2008, two dozen researchers at IBM participated in an internal pilot program designed to investigate the possibility of migrating employees to the Mac platform. At the end of the trial, 86 percent of the testers asked to continue using their Macs, leading IBM to plan to expand the pilot to 100 users by the end of 2008,” Perelman reports.
“‘I have been a true PC stalwart for two-plus decades, but after trying Vista, I’m ready for a change,’ commented one pilot program participant,” Perelman reports.
“But who will support this change? A common conception is that the IT department will not embrace Macs willingly,” Perelman reports. “‘There is almost a religious belief by existing IT staff in the Windows religion, and it’s a symbiotic relationship: They keep getting Microsoft certifications and they keep telling their bosses to continue buying Windows,’ Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil told eWEEK.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jim H.” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not a “religious belief,” it’s a mental illness; a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and Cognitive Dissonance, to be precise. Inflict enough pain on someone and you can reduce them to sniveling sycophants in no time. It’s the Microsoft Way™. More on that here: Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness.
As for IT’s willingness: CEOs, who runs the company, you or the IT guy? It’s your job to make the decisions and it’s the IT guy’s job to implement your decisions that relate to technology. You need to educate yourself instead of relying on someone with their own, possibly hidden, agendas to make extremely important technology decisions for your company. Most of you could be saving a lot of money right now, but you aren’t, because you’ve delegated an important and expensive portion of your company’s decision-making process to people who, frankly, in our experience, aren’t capable of making good, sound, strategic, long-term decisions. Most IT guys (and we know many) are not open-minded enough to be able to consider new, better, more efficient, more effective options that would benefit your company. In fact, most IT guys we’ve met will throw up road blocks and repeat myths until they’re blue in the face simply in order to avoid change. Especially change that might make their department less critical and smaller. Bottom line: most of you CEOs have given the IT guy way too much power. It’s time to take it back.
‘It’s not a “religious belief,” it’s a mental illness’
Same thing.
wha??
two dozen o4 24 people tried this.. and 86% said they wanted to keep their Macs?
soooo… 20.64 people wanted to keep their macs?
either the “two dozen” was an estimate or someone is sweking things
“….Will your company’s IT department ever willingly embrace Apple Macs?…….”
H-mmm — it MIGHT —
That is … if they happen to see what is being touted as — “The worlds smallest Leopard Machine
MDNMW=”real”… as in … Is this for real ?
friggin typos:
two dozen OR 24
is TWEEKING things
oh screw it you know what i mean
My company is 100% Macintosh. And as long as I own it, it will stay that way.
I work for a small biotech company which uses windows exclusively. IT is run by a contractor. Having got myself a new MBP I have got permission to have XP and Office installed so I can use VPN and windows programs from home. IT is still waiting for the license but should hopefully install it soon.
So it can happen but takes longer to jump through the hoops.
When I interviewed at this company (as a server software developer), I expressed a strong preference for having a Mac on my desktop, to the extent that if Windows were the only desktop option, I wasn’t interested in the job. They apologized and said that since the bulk of their users were on Windows, they could order Dells at any time, but until the fiscal year and budgeting time came around, I could only have the choice of Windows or Linux. I thought that was a good enough compromise for the short term, and used Linux until my Mac Pro came in about three weeks ago.
Needless to say, I’m pleased to be working for a company with a clue.
“Most IT guys (and we know many) are not open-minded enough to be able to consider new, better, more efficient, more effective options that would benefit your company.”
Perhaps they don’t want to be out of a job. Using the worst tool for the job sounds like a good plan from IT’s POV.
LOL
“My company is 100% Macintosh. And as long as I own it, it will stay that way.”
Mine too.
BTW, Wired thinks it’s time Monkey Boy was ousted:
“Wall Street loves a winner, and what happens when one of the most feared companies in the world becomes … limp, lame … This is a company that screwed up a real important product transition [Vista] … Ballmer has gone way above the call of duty to screw this [the Yahoo takeover bid] up.”
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/04/betting-on-ball.html
It’a about the money. Windows creates a need for IT support, so IT supports Windows. The Mac reduces the need for IT support, so IT fears the Mac. It’s that simple.
IT folks are open to change… as long as they know their job is safe. lol
“That is … if they happen to see what is being touted as — “The worlds smallest Leopard Machine”
I’m saying “fake”. There’s an awful lot of noise in the background that is synchronized to the screen presentations and it sounds like a big honkin’ hard drive in a PowerMac. Put that together with the way the device is handled, which seems a little strange and awkward, and the clues point to a video feed cable coming up through the table to the back of this device somehow. It looks to me like it’s just functioning as a video display for a desktop off screen. You can hear buttons being pressed, but I don’t recall ever SEEING a button press on screen other than maybe the “power on” button.
Not in a million years (unfortunately). An organisation with about 5000+ users (plus another 8000 worldwide) currently already has a Mac population of about 100+ (most concentrated in the Public Information group – design, web, etc). These hundred Macs are actually NOT even supported by the organisational IT. They are told to fend for themselves. The central IT has in fact dumped a standard-issue Windows PC on each and every one of those users. That’s the only way they figured out how to provide them with access to the shared storage (Microsoft AD) and corporate e-mail (Lotus Notes, with separate LDAP – !! – go figure). Ironically enough, there is not a single corporate application that is not Mac-compatible (or there isn’t a Mac version). Corporate ERP runs on X-Window; there’s regular staple (MS Office), in addition to the Notes mail/database/app installation.
I have supported my own Mac and those in my immediate surroundings. Others just learn to do it on their own. I have connected all those Macs in my immediate circle to Lotus Notes and AD. These people have PCs, but never turn them on.
I cannot imagine what would need to happen in order for the organisation to begin hiring Mac support and stop sandbagging/avoiding/ignoring Macs.
” It’s your job to make the decisions and it’s the IT guy’s job to implement your decisions that relate to technology.”
Not to mention its their job to support the staff and give the staff what they need to get the job done. Not to dictate to them what they can and cannot use.
At my company, whose name rhymes with Nairobi, I’m seeing MBPs everywhere. Just a year ago, ThinkPads were the norm, and only a few die hard (and lucky) users managed to score a Mac lappy. Now everyone has one. Including me!
It will be a tough sell for a little while yet. I could not get my employer to get me a Mac when I asked for one recently. The reason: A solitary Mac on the “company network” a while ago reportedly caused problems.
The IT person — he was new to the company — couldn’t tell me what the problems were or when they happened. He advised that his denial of my request for a Mac was consistent with “company policy” as dictated to him. And now he continues to spend hours every week troubleshooting the company’s Windows XP machines.
Old impressions die hard. (I might have asked whether any Windows machines on the network were causing problems.) But I’m anticipating that other opportunities to discuss what the Mac could do for our company’s bottom line will present themselves again before too long.
I embrace my Mac all the time. But I CAN NOT use them in my company period.
OK, so I got so fed up with my IT hardware support staff (“We don’t support Mac. We don’t have the resources.”) that I bought a MacBook as my computer and I’m happily using it here at work (I’m sure in violation of a bunch of “best practices” regarding IT and machine usage). I really do just want to use a Mac here. So, I violate the “rules” (along with 2 linux users)
And I’m the web guy.
Interesting My Wife and I own several companies, our day spa enterprise is all Mac and will remain that way as long as we own it. Our Media Company is all Mac and will also remain so. As will our Property development company.
You don’t get 5 Diamond Service Awards if the tech you’re using sucks.
My company is 100% Macs. Always and forever.
It’s not a “religious belief, or a mental illness, or even a combination of Stockholm Syndrome and Cognitive Dissonance… IT’S A FEAR OF LOSING THERE JOBS!
iMac’s require little or no service or long periods of time… thus give the boss’s lots of reasons to down size there IT Departments!
Ones empire can be lost for a lack of poorly performing PC’s!
C1: You work for Ryobi? (j/k) Cool power tools, though.
It’s not a religious belief or mental illness. It’s CMA.
ChrissyOne,
going to the red brick building of the rhyming with Nairobi company of yours, indeed lots of Macs. Some ThinkPads too but not too many.
PS
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The iMacs in the entry hall need to be updated