“Why aren’t Apple Macintosh computers more popular in large mainstream organizations? Whatever the gigahertz numbers say, Macintoshes are comparable in performance to Windows or Linux machines. Whatever the conventional wisdom or the Microsoft marketing message, Macs aren’t dramatically more expensive to buy and on a Total Cost of Ownership basis they are probably cheaper. Nobody would argue that Macs are harder to use. Clearly, they are easier to use, especially on a network. So what’s the problem? Why do Macs seem to exist only in media outfits,” asks Robert X. Cringely for PBS?
Cringely writes, “Apple is clearly wondering the same thing because the company recently surveyed owners of their xServe 1U boxes asking what Apple could do to make them more attractive? For those who own xServes, they are darned attractive — small, powerful, energy-efficient, easy to configure and manage, and offering dramatic savings for applications like streaming. Yet, Apple appears to be having a terrible time selling the things.”
“I used to think it came down to nerd ego. Macs were easy to use, so they didn’t get the respect of nerds who measured their testosterone levels by how fluently they could navigate a command line interface.
Oh my god, what piece of bullshit… “Doing research takes to much of my time, let’s make something up” huh?
Why is it bullshit?
I used to work for a company that employed 150 people. We all had computers on our desks. The IT personnel at the company hated Macs. One of them told me that it was simply a matter of economics – for him. Macs didn’t break down as much and they would have less to do and hence no job security. Oh yes, this was 5 years ago!
About ten years ago I was running a department computing facility at a university. We used to pool research money to maintain the computing infrastructure and support about 150 users. When researchers at other universities were caught by NSF using research money for junkets and yachts they clamped down and we couldn’t pool our grant money anymore.
So we ended up needing to analyze how our resources were being used, by platform, so we could switch to a chargeback scheme instead of a per capita fee. We had VMS, unix, Windows and Mac users to support. (remember this was the early 90’s). The results weren’t too suprizing. The VMS machines required the most man-hours per machine. Followed by Windows, unix and way, way down were Macs. When a new machine arrived we had to get it set up, install an OS and get it on the network. VMS machines took a day while unix and NT took about six hours. How long for the Macs ? About 30 minutes. Really.
Eventually we had to cut IT staff and we cut out all the specialists and kept guys who could do a little unix, Windows and Macs. They spent most of their time on PC stuff. When a new faculty member arrived we pushed them to the Mac so they could spend more money on research and less on support.
I did some consulting at a large consulting firm for a while and when I would go talk to the IT guys I was supporting they would tell you flat out that they didn’t like Macs because they feared for their jobs. They plugged them in and they never touched them again. That’s why IT staffs hate Macs.
This phenomenon has been documented before. It’s a real factor.
My company is run entirley on Macs. CAD, Filemaker, Flexware, FastTrack, Photoshop, Palms, AppleWorks, MS Office, Digital Photo Archiving, Safari Web ordering. We are not an advertising company. We are a high end construction company with about 60 networked macs. We have no IT department. I am in charge of sales and I run IT in my very spare time. I spend hardly any time or $$$ mainting the network. It’s awesome. Any company that dismisses Macs in business is out of their minds. The employess easily learn how to use the computers and they very rarely break down. It’s a complete joke that Apple gets pushed out of business computing!
Not only is this not bullshit, it is verifiable. More than one independent study has shown that in a business environment, Macs are cheaper in the long haul, take far less staff to maintain, are more secure (than Windows), and are easier to use. These are facts. All this author is doing is figuring out why IT departments aren’t responding to those facts…and his conclusion is probably dead on. Why else wouldn’t more IT depts move to Macs in the face of all the research showing their superiority?….self-interest, of course.
Bullseye!
Great article.
This is not bullshit. I once helped manage a network of 500 computers. About half were Macs, there was 1 guy managing the macs (me) and 5 managing the PCs. And this was in the day before network based management like SMS/Active Driectory and ARD/OpenDirectory were deployed.
The guys stating it’s bullshit is not doubt an MCSE (as well as many other useless cert’s)
Laugh or pity him/her – they know it’s true.
The money wasted on these patches and viri is INCREDIBLE – I’m not worried about my systems or my clients though.
This guy is dead on. He also makes great points in the full article about what the end result will be with all of this outsourcing to India. In the end, companies like Microsoft are going to lose BIG TIME as a result of it, just wait and see.
For one it’s bullshit because he assumes the first level support has any say in what pieces of equipment a company can buy. It’s only the first level support jobs that are possibly at stake when you would switch to mac. The jobs of those who actually have a say in what to buy or not, are not at all at risk.
Two, it’s simply not true that unix people hate the mac. Well, atleast not since mac os x, you can see the immense uptake when reading o’reilly, slashdot or ars technica forums. They didn’t like mac os 9, rightly so, it was a piece of crap, but os x is decent. Heck, wasn’t there a story some time ago how most sun employees use mac os x on the desktop?
Three, some of the reasons of a large switch to linux are:
Very low TCO and licensing price. I seriously doubt that Apple does better.
No vendor lockin. One of the prime reasons they switch away from
Microsoft. Apple is even worse here, not only software but also hardware lockin.
No reputation on the enterprise level. Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, FreeBSD have proven themselves for several years to be extremely stable, very secure, scalable and high performant. Enterprise level applications such as volume management, cluster technologies,.. are available. Apple just doesn’t have that kind of trackrecord or the sort of applications.
Looking at the corporate desktop on the other hand.. All it takes to switch from windows to linux/freebsd is a single cd or network connection. You need completely new hardware to switch to the mac. The hardware itself is allot more expensive here, not just a little bit. You don’t need a 64 bit processor for a desktop that just needs to have a webbrowser, e-mail client and an office suite. Apple does not yet offer something in the 500$ price range.
Apple laptops are doing allot better here, and there has been a significant interest in them. Why else did Steve Jobs announce VPN over IPSec and FileVault (and the not announced mail encryption) Not for the home users, but because corporate road warriors were asking for it.
I don’t know where he gets the idea that you need about the same number of people for a linux setup as for a windows setup. Quite frankly it’s bullshit. It’s reduced by a factor of five in the first level support alone, see the city of largo as an example.
hakles makes good points, but whether the jobs of those who make decisions are at stake is not the point. In any business, staff/budget money = power/influence. Any IT Manager would like hassle free products (makes their life easier) but not to TOO hassle free.
The author has a point, but really fails to consider the big reason why Windows is the dominate OS. Simple, the 800 pound gorilla. Apple’s never had the kind of marketing muscle that Microsoft’s enjoyed. At first, partnered with IBM and their (once more so) powerful prestige in computing and, more importantly, relationships with the people who make computing buying decisions (the board room, upper management). Microsoft knew, and knows, how to play the game. It has never been about who has a better product, or conspiracy theories about economics (Hey, the guys and gals making the multi-million dollar tech investments – that most everyone else blindly follows – don�t give a rats ass about making jobs safe for techies. They make decisions based on relationships and slick sales ads and presentations). Microsoft and its compatible hardware are dominate because of a (ruthless?) marketing and sales strategy. Nothing more.
This article is so right it hurts!
A friend of mine got a job at an educational institution doing Mac support. He has a 50% position to support 220 macs. For PC support they have one guy at 80% supporting 15 machines.
“[…] see the city of largo as an example.”
So I did. Where the city of Largo is realizing most of it’s hardware savings is through the use of “thin-clients” and moving most of the processing to the server.
Remember time-sharing back in the ’70s? Same idea, it’s just that the terminals are smarter. This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but it’s a different computing environment than what we are talking about.
I sort of agree with your comments about the desktop and the “lock-in” factor. But I’d also point out that most IT departments standardize. I see very few corporations with a bunch of Compaq, Gateway, Dell, IBM, etc. Most have “standardized” on one vendor (eg, Dell). Most have “standardized” on one operating system (eg, Windows). Most have “standardized” on an office suite (eg, Word). Where a linux desktop would win, if you were keeping your personal computers, would be that you could keep your hardware and just replace the software and hardware.
The cost difference is debatable, though I do agree that Apple should consider a stripped down eMac. Remove the modem and the monitor and you could probably get down to the $650 range for those who want to order in bulk.
Cringly is so right on…when I asked the IS guy where my wife works why they don’t have more Macs, his response was “more work was OK”.
However, what the Mac world needs, especially education, is a current TCO study.One that looks at an enterprise situation and education. Like that last one in 1997 from Interpose where the Mac beat Windows handily, the Mac would still have lower TCO.
Often it is not the CIO or IT guys who make the dicision as to platform, but some other VP using their recommendation.So this TCO report has to get in the hands of those over the CIO or IT guy so he or she gets asked the question “why aren’t we using more Macs?” Only when there is some pressure will there be change, and in todays climate where costs are so important, it is time the enterprise starts looking at other alternatives.
Oh and as for Linux, yeah its a good server OS and runs on cheap hardware(which still doesn’t hold up like and xServe-why did the Navy just buy a pot of xServes? reliability I’d guess)but Linux is just not a desktop OS for the masses.
I always thought Cringley was a nut. Now I don’t. He’s right. My “support” guy said as much 6-7 years ago. He hated anyone sorting themselves out, kept secrets and hated that i bought macs for my department. While i was no wiz at computers, i knew I could get the macs to do what I wanted and serve my group. I don’t think most people have any interest in passing over jack asses like him.
Wow Mr. Heckles….
You’re trying to tell me that M$ is not a vendor lockin? I realize that to get their shit, you order not from Redmond, but some other diseased hole of the universe. And you complain about hardware/software issues like there’s some big chasm of difference. When you buy an apple box, you get a machine that is almost guarenteed to still be alive, used, and working 2-3 years down the road. No fuckin’ upgrades, no additional hardware to keep its heart beating, no checking on it every day to make sure it’s all right. I’ve seen 3 shipments of new boxes for my works entire network during the time that one department used the same macs. If that’s not return on investment, I don’t know what is.
First of all, let’s even look at recent history about who’s whining about updates for security issues. M$ has released more the past 3 months than Apple has for 2 years. My hardware runs because my software runs. I don’t have to “babysit” it to get it to do what I want. Which box is riddled with security holes? Not my mac.
XServe is alive and well and starting to prove that it runs just fine. And besides, since you’re so damn smart, let’s think about what they run? OH! Damn! They’re *nix machines! Which, last time I checked, keep running long after some windows box decides to give up for the umpteenth time in one week.
To say that the whole article is bullshit based upon the authors “assumption” about decision making process is to continue to deny yourself new, useful knowledge. To say that apple doesn’t have the hardware/software reputation fails to recognize how much M$ has ripped from apple and done a shittier job of it. To believe that IT departments aren’t going to fight tooth and nail to keep their jobs shows lack of blunt acknowledgement of how decisions are made.
Start learning another skill aside from yours as a troll and find a career that doesn’t envelope you in so much mindless busywork and entrench your attitude in so much denial.
I used to be the system manager in the advertising department of a large retailer several years ago. The advertising department was independent of the IT department of the rest of the company because we used Macs, and they didn’t want to support them.
When a decision was made by the CIO to look at what our department was doing, they sent over a couple of technicians. They asked me how many machines I was dealing with. “75”, I said. “Bullshit!”, they said. “Nobody can do 75 machines. We handle 15-25 per tech.” My boss, the VP of advertising, heard this and told them, “He not only does 75 machines, he does all the training, all our ad templates, and he does production in his spare time.”
Evidently, this put the fear of god into them, because 6 months later I was laid off, all the Macs were being replaced with PCs, and I was hired back as a consultant for several months (at almost twice what I was making before
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> to convert all the templates over and set up a workflow again, as well as all the other things we had previously done on Macs. I earned my money, because it was much harder to do prepress work of the same quality, on top of all the all the other platform differences. When we finished the conversion, I told them that they would be dealing with Macs again someday, starting in the graphics area. Several years later, I still have lunch occasionally with the VP and he told me that a good number of Macs had crept back in, starting with graphics…
The city of largo indeed uses a client-server approach to desktop usage, and save allot of money because of it. But they also need less people for support. They have 2 or 3 people that support 900 people. http://www.zdnetindia.com/print.html?iElementId=54290
I don’t think that you can do that under windows.
You’re trying to tell me that M$ is not a vendor lockin?
You should learn how to read. I said MS is a vendor lockin. I said that’s the reason why more and more corporate desktops switch to linux. They want to get away from any sort of vendor lockin, away from Microsoft, but obviously Apple is not the alternative if you want to switch away from lockin.
And I don’t know why you think I love MS, but I barely used Windows the last 6 years, and have exclusively used mac the last 8 months. That doesn’t mean that I’m some Apple fan boy that doesn’t dare to question them, and immediately blame it on someone else if they don’t do well in some market.
“so much mindless busywork…”
This is a very strong reason most IT personell love Wintel. Big bucks to provide the same ol’, same ol’ ‘tech support’ – day in and day out. Don’t actually have to think, yet when they ‘fix’ something they look like heros.
Whatever.
I get the same satisfaction ‘fixing’ someone’s Mac when ‘it doesn’t work properly’ – after I show up at their place and show them how to move the ‘Titlebar’ so that they can see the ‘whole browser window’ – and get a home-cooked meal, plus fifty bucks cash.
A lot of computer ‘problems’ are caused by the users refusal to RTFM!
So why not buy a cheapo junk machine that you’re too lazy to learn anything about. Plus when your frustration – dealing with issues that shouldn’t be – gets unbearable, you can pay someone to install Duke NukeYa: Rage Against the Bots 2.
Yeah, use your REAL BUSINESS COMPUTER to play games!
It’s called GameCube silly, check into it!
Yep, I used to be a part owner of an Apple VAR, every place I went to it was the same story as the article. . . Only the IT dept. hated Macs. Thats it, just the command line geeks that had the power to keep the Mac’s out. Our school system had about an equal share of Macs and pc’s. and you guessed it. . . ONE full time mac support guy, of course the teachers allways kept them running and only called on support sproadically. . . We did the warrenty work. I lost count of the clone patrol working to support the same number of pc’s . it was at least 12 people. Lots of big egos spending way to much money. I hear they are finnaly getting the message. Go Apple!