“Bill Gates used to brag that Microsoft made more money from each Macintosh sold than Apple Computer did. Apple’s hardware is now plenty profitable, but Microsoft software remains an important part of the Mac ecosystem. Microsoft’s latest effort for the Mac, Office 2004, could even persuade some corporate technology managers to take a fresh look at Apple,” Stephen H. Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek.
“I believe that for ease of use, reliability, and security, Mac OS X is the best desktop operating system available today. Still, the Mac is not a good choice if you depend heavily on a Windows-only application. But with a more compatible version of Office, plus Virtual PC to run the occasional Windows program, the Mac should get new life in business. It has definitely earned the chance,” Wildstrom writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The success to the Mac in corporate settings depends on how well the Mac deals with Windows. Sad. It didn’t have to be this way. But, that’s the current situation. Someday, we hope Windows is judged not by what it can do by itself, but by how well it integrates with Macintosh. IT people, if you get the opportunity to speak with a small or medium-sized business owner who’s standardized on Mac OS X, do so – it’ll shock you. Keep in mind, however, that you’ll probably have to severely downsize your support staff if you make the leap to a pure Mac OS X environment.
PortSmith
We suggested a alternative solution that was a lower total cost of ownership over the long haul:
If you can provide the higher ups with a vaible cost plan for restructuring it can go a long way to helping your cause since those responsible for spending the cash like to be able to look at the numbers and see what they will be getting for their investment.
It can also give you plenty of effective and valid ammunition for those Macs are not suited to the corporate environment arguments
Voltar I missed you for the last few months at MacCentral. So how has the Trolling been recently???
I think corporate IT depts (and I work in one) are shit scared of getting anything other than a Wintel box. Despite plenty of benefits going other ways (Mac/Linux), they pick the “safe” solution (no one gets fired for buying …) One IT guy I work with made a claim that MS software (Windows/Office etc) has a comparible TCO to Linux. I didn’t see his numbers but I can’t see how free software can be equal to paying MS??? He’s a MS bigot anyway, but I had to chuckle to myself when I walked away. I got the feeling he was reassuring himself, not me, that this was the case. Perhaps he was worried b/c he knew more about Windows than Linux and would have been obsolete?
The other problem with a switch is that many customers (or more specifically, their “power users”) have investments in PC only software, much of which may not be available or easily ported to Macs. eg. Oracle software (although improving), custom MS Access based or VB applications etc. MS has certainly entrenched itself via these latter two technologies, making “programmers” out of anyone who can throw together a few screens over a clunky database model. Sure they’re crap at times, but they get their job done using these tools.
My suggestion is that if places are considering Linux desktops for the non-power users, then they should consider Mac based solutions too (eg. e-Mac with MS Office), and leave Windows on the power users desktops; those who need their VB and MS Access apps, and their Accounting XYZ solution.
I’m not even sure the vast majority of the people who use PC’s use anything other than Office anyway. You could then have Mac’s everywhere, and perhaps use a Citrix based solution rather than VPC, for the PC apps they can’t do without (or find on the Mac). Dunno, there are many options which I feel IT depts are too afraid to even consider.
Btw, what’s with MS Excel XP *still* only supporting 65536 rows? Nice 16 bit number there… is this a subtle way of MS forcing people who need to dump large volumes of data (eg. out of data warehouse) to upgrade to Office Pro and get MS Access? Why do they push a 64 bit solution when they don’t even use half the bits they have already?
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PortSmith:
A story like that deserves a full article in the print or electronic media. Take down some anecdotes, collect any snapshots, interview the hard-asses, and rehash it all on the first anniversary to summarize the economic benefits and write the story. Don’t skimp on making the secretary a hero/heroine. Try the Sunday magazines of your local paper, a Mac magazine… anywhere.
I agree. Go for it PortSmith. At the very least it should be on apple.com under real switcher stories, maybe a feature. Nice free PR for your company so you can be a hero all over again
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Sorry Mike, won’t happen again
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The other option for people needing to run a couple of speciality Windows app is to throw a cheap white box under the user’s desk or in a closet and have them run Microsoft Remote Desktop for OS X on their Mac. In this way, you can lock down the Windows box to just those ports required for communication with MRD. The user surfs the web, checks email, runs Office, without fear of virus infection and with all the benefits of having access to their favorite specialty Windows App running on the white box. Everyone wins.
B
Is there a scripting language for the Office apps on Mac? I know at the company I work at (700+ employees), VBA on Excel and Word is everywhere. I imagine it makes many tasks easier. I know VB isn’t used on the Mac, but I’m wondering if the programs have any scripting alternative?
Er, iggyb, if you go to the Tools menu in Word or Excel and select Macro, you get the option of starting the VBA editor.
PortSmith, that is great!!
Out-sourcing is very whacked. Everyone
should do something to stop this.