InfoWorld: Mac OS X ‘enterprise-worthy option that just works’

17 Comments

“Last week, I wrote about my re-awakening to the Mac OS X as a platform, driven largely by forces completely unrelated to enterprise IT — I needed a computer at home after my PC died and I approached the Mac more as a

17 Comments

  1. What would happen if my company switched to mac. Would they a) pay for training for all users or b) know full well that there are at least 3 people with Mac experience and just be happy for everyone else to disrupt them a bit for a couple of weeks with ‘stupid’ questions ?

    It’s b. Companies are notoriously reluctant to give training. These people haven’t been trained how to use windows, they learn on the job. If I don’t know how to do something, I ask around until I find out how.

    When a company I worked for switched from Mac to Windows, did I get any training ? Absolutely not.

    The whole training thing is a myth. A switch will cause disruption, but it will be quite small if it’s a phased change (which it would almost certainly be due to the logistical nightmare of changing over 100s of machines overnight).

    The training need is FUD. Just buy them a �20 copy of a “moving from windows to OS-X” or whatever it’s called. That’ll do it.

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  2. But the training need is also an excuse. It’s an excuse used among executives and employees to resist change, and in that context, it’s the most dangerous thing to Apple’s “switch” desires. Moreso than Windows issues or security concerns, moreso than cost. Fear of change will always be the most important human quality when one wants to look at the true reasons for or against something new. All of these comments we post, all of the articles about Apple, the things people see in the media about it, all of them have one goal: to allay a person’s fears of Apple. Their fear of changing to it, having to use it (ie. at work), having to deal with users who use Apple and must be interacted with. Poor knowledge about Apple, through lies in the media or self-generate misconceptions actually COME from fear, or generate it, but either way, fear is the most basic underlying factor.

    But, the great silver lining in that cloud is fear is what Apple quelches. It’s whole existence is based upon ease of use, or user-centric design.
    In that regard, once Apple is shown to ease the fear of security attacks (through its secure design methods), ease the fear of switching, ease the fear of usage, and any other fear, it will only become a matter of time until it is once again a driving force in the market (if not already).

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  3. …. continuation. Back when personal computers first came to market, there wasn’t any “SET” mindset or paradigm, users with Apple computers were just as in the dark, or enabled (however the person looked at it) as those with others. Comparisons of capabilities existed, but there was not a single, ingrained, standard to which people were accustomed (which, is nowadays a PC with Windows on it). So, back then Apple did well for other reasons, and those reasons are still valid and useful today.
    However, they now have to fight to win share in a society and market who uses Windows and to do so they must show superiority and the benefits of switching. Those benefits must be great enough to overcome a perceived higher-cost and lack of abundance among users (notice how I said PERCEIVED). We all know Macs have an overall *lower* cost, and the market share is NOT 3%, nor 5%, as the media says.

    You can see by the article above from Infoworld that he mentions are true obstacle to Apple/Mac OS X/Mac acceptance is that “The fundamentals of the UI are not necessarily straightforward for users accustomed to Windows”. He’s not speaking from a body that lacks testicles, he’s speaking from a body that has a mind filled with wisdom. He’s right. And it’s sad.

    If Apple wants to improve market share, it needs to show people that it’s computers are easy to use and are superior. In that regard, their marketing is heading in the right direction, but maybe that’s WHY they don’t show screenshots of Mac OS X, or people using it, as we all comment on here at MacDailyNews. Because if a person saw that it didnt look like Windows, they would be even MORE afraid. Who knows, but it’s an idea, and certainly the most significant one.

    People are accustomed to something else, and to get them to change takes a lot of effort.

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  5. After reading the article, I emailed the author with this correction…

    When you wrote…

    “When Internet Explorer froze on me, I started a terminal session, ran top, noticed that IE was chewing up a lot of CPU time, and ran a good ol’ Unix kill on the process — back in business.”
    …in ( http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/12/36OPconnection_1.html)
    …you actually took the longest and hardest road to cure it. You over-thunk it! But, that is very typical for everyone using a Mac for the first time.

    Your solution has a 2-step cure:

    1a. Click and hold the IE icon in the Dock. If the Mac has detected a program frozen (in a closed loop), where it would normally list “Quit”, it should now read “Force Quit”. This cures 99.9% of all frozen programs.

    1b. The same thing can be done from the “Force Quit…” function in the Apple menu (you know, the menu under the blue Apple logo in the upper-left corner of your screen).

    2. If you have ANY ap, even a hidden UNIX process, there is a much easier way to vanquish it from your world than playing with the terminal and UNIX commands. Open the ap named “Process Viewer” (in Applications/Utilities folder). It shows EVERYTHING running on your system (choose “Show: All Processes”). Highlight (click on) the process you want stopped. Then go up to the menu “Processes”, and click on “Quit Process…”.

    Mac are even easier than you described in your article!

    Sincerely,
    G*** M***

    Reply

  6. As much as that sounds like a great idea, the underlying problem is a lot of pc users and consultants don’t really care to learn anything about Macs. My friend is a consultant for the New York Stock Exchange and is dead set against the idea of Apple being anything enterprise worthy. To him and the rest, Apple will be the “iPod” company.

    Reply

  7. This discussion raises a good point: For Apple’s switch campaign, a free tutorial training site on Apple.com showing in detail how a Win user of XP can adjust to the current OS (Jaguar or soon Panther) would be a very useful tool to help IT types to sell or train the users on the new system. It is simpler because it work, not necessarily because the interface is better. The fact is it is different, and Windows users need to have an on line learning tool to acclimatize. That would sell a lot more Macs than selling the sizzle, which is Apple’s forte. Maybe the free tools to which I refer already exist, and if they do, then surely the writers above would have said so.

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  9. I agree that some free tutorial training site would be useful for Apple. It isn’t needed as a function matter–OS X’s user interface is easy enough that a chimp can quickly learn how to work it–however such a site would be useful for two reasons:

    1) As a promotional matter, being able to say the site is there is more valuable than having the site there. “Don’t worry, sir, your workers will be able to go right to our site for any quesions they have about transitioning. Not only that, but having an online site with free training material saves you any retraining expenses.” (That the company never did any training to begin with and wouldn’t spend any money on re-training is irrelevant.)

    2) If the site was actually useful, it could save those people in a transitioning company who do know how to use Macs the considerable annoyance of answering every idiotic question for the next year. (Personally, if I worked at a large corporation and the management started talking about switching to Macs, I would encourage them to do that for the good of the company and their workers, and would simultaneously either be sending out resumes, asking for a sabatical, or looking to see if I could be transfered to the Tehran office.

    2)

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  10. A site like this actually exists akready.

    I think it is called Macmentors or similar .com

    If not use google to look for that.

    There are volunteers to answer questions, how to switch, FAQ, some docs, and lots of forums covering topics of all kind.

    You may even register as a mentor in which case you actually will be part of a group of people using the Mac for professional reasons hence able to answer questions deep into the specific of Mac and your own field.

    Reply

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