What follows is an anonymous email we received early this morning posted in its entirety:
Dear MacDailyNews,
What a day! And night. Yesterday at work, the whole place was down due to the Blaster worm. Computers freaking out more than usual, except mine. Nobody could get online to access the web or get email and the IT staff, a third of whom were on vacation, were losing their minds.
This is the same IT staff that fought me tooth and nail when I requisitioned my Apple Macintosh computer (PowerBook G4 15-inch). They said at the time that they couldn’t support multiple platforms, that I wouldn’t be able to access the network – all of the usual falsehoods many others experience every day. What I went through to finally gain approval for the Mac purchase I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! But, in the end, I got my Mac.
Well, yesterday, my Mac was the only functioning computer at work. My Mac handled several important emails which resulted in sales (revenue) for the company – this would’ve been impossible to achieve had we been stuck in a homogenous Windows situation as IT wanted. Basically, without the Apple Mac, no business would’ve been conducted yesterday.
The Mac was used for the first time by several top managers to communicate with their business contacts throughout the day and into the evening. Many of these people came away with a very positive impression of the Mac and seemed bowled over by Mac OS X. The fact that the Mac just worked and all of the Windows PCs didn’t was not lost on these upper management people. In fact, several have scheduled meetings with IT to figure out how to prevent such a mess in the future and one thing they seem to want is to “mix in some Macs around here for safety,” as one manager put it.
So, the Mac came through with flying colors, helped make a great deal of revenue and may have gained a foothold in my company! Perhaps even the IT guys will come around now. Thought you would like to know.
Ah, the perils of a monoculture…
Maybe Apple should come up with “Genetic Diversity” campaign….
Awesome, awesome, awesome… That’s really all I can say.
I’ma mac user, but work in a mostly PC environment quite similiar to the one described above. I have a feeling that I will be saying “I told you so” a lot more than usual this week.
I hope that when the day comes when workers will be begging to keep a Windows PC, we will remember this day and have mercy.
Yes, we should keep PCs around, because diversity is strength. Just ask any farmer who rotates his crops
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Diversity is always strength! That is why we have almost every computer we have ever bought, at least one model, still in operation. You never know when you will need to insert a floppy into a System 7 Mac or one running DOS 3.11 when that is all a (cheap) client is still using. Lets hope that floppy doesn’t have a virus…
You should make the IT guys apologize to you in front of everyone and admit that their wonderful PC’s suck ass and the great company they worship has just raped them, again. As Nelson from the Simpsons says “HAHA!”
I doubt this scare will do anything about promoting Apple. Microsoft has created its most important sales force and advocates – IT staff who wouldn’t have jobs if MS actually created good software. IT staff have a vested interest in keeping Windows PCs and software.
Here is an idea for a commercial. Base it on the old Honda Commercial.
Show pictures of computers crashing because of viruses and people yelling, screaming, and companies, web servers going down.
While a voice calmly states “Apple would like to thank Windows for making Apple users so loyal…”
I know Apple would never do that, but hey it is a good idea.
yeah! telling people “I told you so” will really endear them to you and your platform. why not rub their noses in it too? drag them over to their PCs and yell “Piece of Crap! Piece of Crap! THAT’S what PC stands for…ya GET IT NOW?!?!” that will surely make them buy Macs! who wouldn’t respond to being made a fool of? ;->
let the Mac speak for itself. they will get it. in time.
Here’s a thought. Maybe every organization should have at least one or more Mac (and one Linux box?) just for such an emergency. That’s the way for Apple to gain a foothold in IT. By appealing to the executives as a safety measure!
That needs to be a switcher commercial
It would be nice of Apple to use such success stories to inform the masses that Mac’s work. Having a guy hit a tree and destroying his house is cute, but fighting virus/worms is reality. Think Smart Apple.
Above all else, everyone in this guy’s IT department should be fired on the spot for not having patched their systems. Hell, Microsoft provided the patch a month ago! Now, having said that, it is always nice to see all of their stupid uneducated stereotypes about Macs not working in a business environment blow up in their collective faces too.
This is a wonderful story. It DEFINATELY helped the suits in his company to see the light sorta. Anwyay, it was good that his company wasn’t complete disabled by this worm thanks to his trusty Mac that he fought hard to get.
Sometimes it gets to the point, after we have stood on the highest mountain, shouted the truth until our voices are but a whimper, and shone the brightest light upon the facts right before their eyes, that we must resign with satisfaction that we have done all we can do for our struggling brothers. It is time for us to turn our efforts towards our own future, and let the others discover the truth in their own time… if they ever do.
Too many of us expend tremendous effort to grasp market share, horde Microsoft-like bank accounts, or find flaws merely to say “I do you so.” I think it is a waste to try to teach those that refuse to listen (regardless of their reasons). Let’s direct our efforts into a more positive direction by innovating, advancing, and supporting technologies in our little corner of the universe, and welcome the weary and beaten traveler from afar seeking a better life.
figure it out?
They say that Macs cost more (incorrect)
I say you get what you pay for…sometimes
You know, I’m sick to death of all the chumps (many of them”jounalists”) who say that the reason viruses etc all are not written for the Mac is because the market share is below 4% (blah, blah, blah). One would think that if it could be done, without spending a life time to it, many hackers would accept the challenge.
No, Macs don’t get attacked because it is a very difficult thing to do. Attacking a Windows system is like trying to find holes is swiss cheese.
Macintosh…
It just…
works!
Oh, stop it already. Good grief – ok, so, Macs are perfect (NOT).
And my Chevy is better than your Ford. Same old story, but no new news.
Mac owners, you know I really appreciate your position, but isn’t this whole Mac vs. PC thing getting old? The whole technology world is caught up in this pathetic one-upmanship game and all for what? Bragging rights? Big deal.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a job. It has nothing to do with how we’ll raise our children or if they’ll even have a decent place to live by the time we’re done trashing the place. People are still starving all over the world, our soldiers are still getting killed every day, and people are still killing each other just because they’re pissed off.
How important is Mac vs. PC now?
Enough already. Get back to work. There are viruses to clean.
And this particular attack wasn’t even well constructed .. it is likely that some attacks in the future will be (imagine slammer with a more evil payload)..
At our place the high level managers were showing off software products to a potentially huge European customer on Monday when most of the XP machines became — well – unreliable. The customer was curious that we even used Windows for what were supposed to be robust and secure applications (our CEO was publically humiliated when the customer asked him if he knew about linux, open bsd and OS X…)
Three of the five person MIS team was fired later today after it became clear they knew about the problem and hadn’t patched everything.
Our company is pretty dumb though .. I told the CEO that we needed some diversity and my PowerBook (my own PB that I bring in every day) was unaffected. He huffed “Apples are toys..”
sigh
Daivid hit the nail on the head with his statement.
” Microsoft has created its most important sales force and advocates – IT staff who wouldn’t have jobs if MS actually created good software. IT staff have a vested interest in keeping Windows PCs and software.”
This is the big scam.
Well, this is one day where we are likely NOT to see any Wintel trolls adding their FUD to our threads! LOL!
All I can say is that it couldn’t have happened to a more DESERVING bunch! ;o)
“Mac owners, you know I really appreciate your position, but isn’t this whole Mac vs. PC thing getting old? The whole technology world is caught up in this pathetic one-upmanship game and all for what? Bragging rights? Big deal.”
Well, considering our platform of choice gets berated daily in the computer and mainstream press and assaulted my misinformed IDIOTS even here on a GASP…MAC FORUM. I would say we have just a wee bit of a right to RUB your noses in the current (and I must say hilarious) worm attack.
As the old saying goes…
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. ;o)
Cheap sells. And as long as a PC costs half of what a mac does, people will put up with anything… including virii that turn their harddrives to mush etc. etc.
The only way around this is a tower version of the eMac. But thats for another thread.
I support a dozen PCs here at work, and luckily none were affected. I couldnt get my boss to buy a mac for anything, its just too expensive even with a hard sell and this kind of situation in the pc world…