Marginalizing Windows: running a business on Mac OS X and Linux

40 Comments

“The new company is significantly more Unix-y, with a PC laptop for the CFO and the CEO, but Macs for everybody else, and Linux servers running Python and PostgreSQL all around. I gave my developers a choice when I brought them aboard, and they both wanted Macs. They’re both new-generation Mac users, with zero or little experience before OS X, and their primary editor and development interface is vi, despite my offers of BBEdit or whatever else. I’ve bought copies of MS Office for everyone

40 Comments

  1. I’ve been running my business on Macs for two years now. Wan keeps a Dell notebook around – because its still on a Dell lease – but in October… Look out Apple Notebook! (Maybe a G5?)

    Windows is dead meat at our shop – and the final machine gets the final boot in October.

    Reply

  2. this makes me think of something I have wished Apple would do.

    I think they should “adopt” a company. Perhaps have a competition that allows the winning company to have a complete hardware overhaul to Macs with OSX. And they could document the entire process and after a given amount of time give cost/benefit estimates based on the experience. It’s one of those things that would generate publicity, interest, and some solid documented proof of the benefit to make the change.

    This is #4 on my top ten list of things Apple should do to push the Mac platform. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

    Reply

  3. Law Office here, running on macs since 1988. Networked with Appletalk to begin with then on to Ethernet, now Rendezvous and Wireless. We have several macs in the office, and one winDell with Office 2000 just in case…it just collects dust, no one ever uses it.

    Zac

    Reply

  4. furm:

    I like your idea #4.

    May be they can make a game show. 10 IT Managers, one team with 17″ powerbooks, the other with dell laptops. Each time one of the teams loose a programming competition, they lose a team member. They all should have access to internet, so Wintel team has to deal with all the incoming virus, while competing.

    Reply

  5. Contrary to what the lemmings out there believe. An office can easily run on a 100% Mac network with no problems at all. Far more reliable, far more secure and FAR MORE COST EFFECTIVE.

    It is surprising that for a group that is supposed to be so fiscally savvy, the business community is so utterly clueless about this simple fact.

    Reply

  9. We have been running our business on Macs since 1989. We replaced a custom programed IBM mainframe the size of a car with Macs. We have a mix of mostly OS X machines with a couple still on OS 9. We have about 40 macs. We use them for CAD (Vectorworks), database (Filemaker), accounting (Flexware), Appleworks for most letters and spreadsheets, MS Office Mac mainly just in case on one machine, We’re trying to use Fastrack Scheduling for scheduling but it’s really not powerful enough. We’ll probably have to buy an XP machine and use MS Project. We take digital pictures of all of our projects during construction and store them on iPhoto. The print to pdf is great for sending Windows sufferers Filemaker based proposals. Photoshop for advertising things. And much more. We do not need windows for running our business as of now. The only thing we’ll probably need a windows machine for is the project scheduling. Unless someone knows of a true equal or better to MS Project for the mac that they can suggest. We have over 150 people working in house to schedule along with equipment and materials. Plus we need it for the servicing side as well. I am the IT person and I spend very, very little time attending to the networked macs. They rarely break and they’re great. Of course most everyone at this site knows that anyway.

    Reply

  11. What I would like to see is Apple work with a Fortune Five Hundred Company to become mac based or largely mac based. It would be great press and would have a similar effect as the Virginia Tech Supercomputer. If it could be a financial company that would be even better!

    Reply

  13. APPLE IS WORKING ON THIS…
    It’s simple, really. Apple’s working on a couple of complementary household devices…

    1) a small receiver base station that receives streamed audio music, video, photos from a Mac…via 802.11g. It’ll display the video, photos, or DVD on a TV screen (HD and 16/9 format), play music over a stereo system (or the TV), and “communicate” with other Mac and Windows users via iChat AV.

    2) that device will complement another Apple product– a relatively small tablet Mac (not called a Mac, bigger than an iPod, smaller than Windows tablet PCs), that runs a version of OSX, and can receive broadcasts from either another Mac (which stores iTunes music, iPhoto photos, personal movies, DVDs, AND television programs stored on the Mac), or from the “base station” device.

    Both devices will use 802.11g. Both will receive/broadcast. The tablet device will also do iChat AV, iLife apps, and much more.

    Is that cool, or what?

    Now, when? This year, before the fall buying season. It’ll be a big announcement. Get your checkbooks ready. Apple has learned how to make cool stuff again (after the debacle of Sculley, Spindler, Amelio and company) and we’ll happlily turn over our money for the following…

    – desktop Mac (PowerMac, iMac, or eMac)
    – laptop Mac (iBook or PowerBook)
    – Mac OSX annual upgrades
    – iPod and/or iPod Mini (I’ll have both, of course)
    – iLife annual upgrades (new apps added, new features, works on latest OS)
    – iReceiver/Broadcaster to plug into TV and entertainment center
    – iTablet to watch, communicate, work (office, school, home)

    Wait!! There’s more… but later.

    Aloha.

    Reply

  14. Oh his webpage, he wrote “I wish Address Book had Rendezvous sharing, so we could publish a subset of our contacts.”

    My advice to him via his comments is…

    Try using iSync with your .Mac account! According to Apple at http://www.apple.com/isync/
    “If you use more than one Mac, your .Mac account combined with iSync is the perfect way to keep them synchronized. iSync accesses information from your Mac OS X Address Book for your contacts, Safari for your bookmarks and iCal for your schedule and to-do items.

    Reply

  16. Concerning MS Project. A word of warning. Do NOT get it unless you plan on becoming a slave to it (literally). It is very solitary and just “barks” commands and tasks to other team leaders or users and only one of you can be a “project manager.” “team leaders” are not allowed to make any changes unless you are a “project manager.” Go to MacUpdate.com and type in “groupware” or “project” you should find a couple. Otherwise as a temporary solution we use “onproject.com” Till we find one that fits our needs.

    Reply

  17. I understand. We will be using to schedule our masons, concrete men, plumbers, forming crews, finish crews, etc., etc., etc. by each individual. Most of those people don’t know how to use a computer. They’re great with their hands though. We need the greater control over resources and it seems MS Project is the only program that has that type of detail. I understand that someone, me in the begining, will be a slave to it. We need that though. I will take a look at onproject. Believe me I’d rather not use anything from from MS. But it looks like we’re going to have to unless I find something similar for OS X.

    Reply

  18. OS X is great for business!!!

    I run a small IT consultancy in Milwaukee WI. I recently helped out an old employer get his business off the ground and set him up with two eMacs (soon to be three) running Panther and an xServe running Panther Server (there are also two pre-existing PCs).

    I had to pull teeth to get this guy to go with Apple computers. Then for the first week he would only check his e-mail from his old, screwed up, Dell/XP machine. Now it’s a couple months later and he won’t even go near that Dell box.

    What’s more, the eMacs have been a dream. They both have multiple user accounts, both run Office X and Virtual PC, and have been 100% trouble free. What’s more all of the company’s employees are in love with Expos�.

    Even the head of IT at my old job (nice guy, but total MS Zombie) is considering whether OS X might have a place in their network. And to top it all off – I am working with the local Apple store to start giving presentations on how to integrate OS X into small and mid-sized business networks.

    Words can’t express how pleased I am with OS X (esp. Panther/Panther Server). It truly is a fantastic product that can produce amazing successes in the business IT world!

    Reply

  19. Hi Wagner Pools:

    I am currently finishing work on a multi-user scheduling program for Mac OS X and Windows. I will be selling it commercially as well as doing custom versions.

    I currently have two customers (both transportation companies) using the product and overall they are very pleased. I’m not sure whether the application is in-depth enough for you but I’d be happy to hear your thoughts either way.

    You can check out an in-progress product page at

    http://www.inforge.com/QView.html

    There is also a link to e-mail if you follow the “Contact Us” link from the above page. Again, I don’t know if my application has the scope you require, but I’d be thrilled to hear what you think.

    Sincerely,
    Tony Dellos
    President/Lead Developer
    Inforge Systems, LLC

    Reply

  21. I just started a business last year and I am encouraged by what I have been reading (thank you Glick, Wagner). After spending too much time reading about Micros**t’s woeful business habits I did not feel inclined to support their lawyers with my hard-earned, so I decided to go MS free.
    Totally and completely.
    With their iron grip on everybody else, I am free to run my business in a way that is economical and logical. I will not be forced to download endless patches, upgrades or anything else from Redmond, CA. I will not need an IT man as soon and I will not worry about simply opening email.
    Now, there are two things I have been thinking about (but have absolutely no time to pursue).
    Firstly, is there an Apple business forum/user group of some kind? Secondly, I would like to be registered as a ‘Certified Micros**t Free’ business, but I don’t think there is such a thing. Yet.
    I know that I sound like a crazy man to some when they realize I use Micros**t for nothing except as an object lesson in greed, but for me it’s a matter of personal integrity and economy. My company is small right now, but however it grows, it will not be aided by a corporation that has left nothing but destruction in it’s wake.

    Reply

  23. We are a small law firm totally committed to the Mac Platform – G4s and G5s, Xsserve and xraid. Problem – we are paperless and must scan and manage thousands of pages of documents every month. Want to use a Ricoh is420 sheet fed scanner, but can find no drivers. Any ideas? Or recommendations for Mac friendly high volume sheet fed scanners?

    Reply

  24. We are a small law firm totally committed to the Mac Platform – G4s and G5s, Xsserve and xraid. Problem – we are paperless and must scan and manage thousands of pages of documents every month. Want to use a Ricoh is420 sheet fed scanner, but can find no drivers. Any ideas? Or recommendations for Mac friendly high volume sheet fed scanners?

    Reply

  25. I started my own landscape architecture firm last year after being in a windoze/ autocrap firm for 10 years. I went all Apple, with no microshaft products (G5 1.6ghz w/ 20″ display, eMac, and iBook w/ airport), and it has been as near to perfect as anyone could ask for. I use all three machines all day long, and I haven’t had the first problem at all. I was warned by my previous software dealer that I was “marginalizing” myself, and that I couldn’t find software to do anything other than make pretty pictures. If he meant that all i could use was the best, I guess he was right. I use iWork for time management and billing, Appleworks for most everything else, Vectorworks for drafting, and Sketchup (an awesome program if there ever was one) for design. I get my drawings out approximately 30% faster than before, and I don’t have to call and pay a tech nerd every week when something doesn’t work like it did yesterday. Wish I’d done it years ago.

    Kerry S. Hale, ASLA
    Landscape Architect
    Arkansas

    Reply

  26. Kerry: he told you “marginalizing”??? LOL, it would be the same to say that to someone who finally made it and is about to buy a dream-house in the Hamptons:

    “Oh, wouldn’t do that: you are going to marginalize yourself there”

    Some people…

    Reply

  28. Personally, I’d like to see Apple toss some resources at OpenOffice so that there might be even money of an Aqua native version of OpenOffice showing up before we land on Mars.

    I couldn’t care less about getting my office on Macs–we’d be using Microsoft Word either way, and at least on the PC we can print an envelope…(Seriously, maybe I just haven’t spent enough hours looking, but you would think that through multiple versions of OS X someone putting together the printer drivers would have figured out that a Laserjet 1200 feeds envelopes down the middle.)

    Reply

  29. OJ, have you tried to install gimp-print from Fink? It adds hundreds printers models and brands to what OS X already knows.

    I am confident it would get your Laserjet 1200 treated fine.

    Reply

  30. Seahawk: the truth is that I haven’t had to time to screw with fink after upgrading to Panther, particularly since fink has a few extra steps you have to go through.

    However, I should also add a little OJ spin, which is: I didn’t buy a Mac to screw around with linux. If I wanted to worry about .deb dependencies, X11 header files, and what version of gcc is installed I would have spent $750 on a Dell instead of almost twice that on an iBook.

    Reply

  31. Opinionated Jerk:

    HP makes an OS X driver for the Laserjet 1200. So if you can’t print envelopes and you have the latest HP driver – it’s HP’s bad, not OS X or Office X.

    Also, if you think “screwing with Fink” is anything like “screwing with Linux” and want to make borderline-troll-like comments like “I would have spent $750 on a Dell instead” go to the recently created Dell Linux site and find things like this:

    http://galis.org/doc/dell.inspiron.1100.html

    Realize that even getting a Linux distribution TO RUN on a “$750” Dell is an ugly, time consuming task. Then realize that OS X on an iBook is a joy (which is why so many “Old School” Linux and Unix guys end up with Apple laptops).

    Reply

  32. Yo, cheesehead, chill the hell out.

    OS X is a joy, which is why dealing with fink is big step backwards, at least with Panther. I didn’t have a problem with it for Jaguar–had a full KDE setup on the iBook, with OpenOffice and gimp with associated gnome stuff. Worked great. They still have caught up to Panther, apparently. Trying to get gimp installed with fink last night reminded me of why I got a Mac in the first place.

    Reply

  33. OJ: I thought Wintel users complained one can’t tweak and play with the inner guts of a Mac, while can be done with a PC.

    Now that it can be easily done (was possible even before but less readily) what are you complain about? ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> Anyway, it is Fink that takes care of that: if you are able to type ‘fink install’ you are done. In terms of extra steps it is just a couple of packages to install before fink: in total you are some 6 cliks away from having it up and running.

    Reply

  34. OJ, thought you did not have it. My bad.

    be sure to do a fink selfupdate and apt-get dist-upgrade. Fink has now its ows 10.3 tree (for Panther). It might be just matter of you having old distribution still. Gimp is available for Panther with vs 1.2.5-1

    Reply

  36. ‘hawk: my distribution isn’t old. In fact, everything has been downloaded over the weekend. fink on Panther blows monkey chunks. gimp may or may not have a binary–all I know is that fink insists on downloading source code and compiling for numerous gimp dependancies, and so far they’ve broken prior to ever getting to gimp. It’s like some mutant invader from planet Gentoo has come to take a crap on my Cube.

    Reply

  37. This is just retarded. Fink has been downloading and compiling for two hours. My life is vastly improved after watching two hours of:

    gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../../.. -I../../../../src/orbit-idl-compiler -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I/sw/include/glib-1.2 -I/sw/lib/glib/include -no-cpp-precomp -DHAVE_LIMITED_WRITEV -DMAX_LIMITED_IOVECS=1024 -I/sw/include -O3 -fstrict-aliasing -funroll-loops -c orbit-idl-c-headers.c
    gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../../.. -I../../../../src/orbit-idl-compiler -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I/sw/include/glib-1.2 -I/sw/lib/glib/include -no-cpp-precomp -DHAVE_LIMITED_WRITEV -DMAX_LIMITED_IOVECS=1024 -I/sw/include -O3 -fstrict-aliasing -funroll-loops -c orbit-idl-c-common.c
    gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../../.. -I../../../../src/orbit-idl-compiler -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I/sw/include/glib-1.2 -I/sw/lib/glib/include -no-cpp-precomp -DHAVE_LIMITED_WRITEV -DMAX_LIMITED_IOVECS=1024 -I/sw/include -O3 -fstrict-aliasing -funroll-loops -c orbit-idl-c-skelimpl.c
    gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../../.. -I../../../../src/orbit-idl-compiler -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I../../../.. -I../../../../src -I/sw/include/glib-1.2 -I/sw/lib/glib/include -no-cpp-precomp -DHAVE_LIMITED_WRITEV -DMAX_LIMITED_IOVECS=1024 -I/sw/include -O3 -fstrict-aliasing -funroll-loops -c orbit-idl-c-utils.c

    Reply

  38. NA-

    I agree wholeheartedly w/ your post just, for the record, M$ is in Redmond, Washington. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

    Reply

  39. OJ, there are things on fink that take half day to build. Anyway, do a ‘fink info gimp’ on a new shell and check vs. Fink installs the source version by default unless you tell to use the binary: in that case the installation just takes the time of the download.

    The fact you have installed fink on the weekend does not mean it is updated: you still have to update fink and its distribution to the latest releases. If you just have done the installation period you have months old stuff.

    PS
    LOL, this is not retarded, it is what unix/linux is: compilation/link are lenghty processes. In installers (as Apple and other vendors) that process is done for you before hand. Hence the binary: if you want to skip comp/link process you have to use binary distribution.
    Anyway, this is not the place to provide fink support: either use FinkCommander or learn CLI fink API.

    Good luck

    Reply

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