“Leading IT bosses claim that despite Apple’s recent revival – largely around its consumer products – the company will continue to have little impact on corporate IT strategies,” Andy McCue reports for Silicon.com. “After coming back from near oblivion, Apple’s recent successes have been based around the iPod, new desktops and business hardware and a relatively virus-free platform.”
“We asked the silicon.com CIO Jury whether this had led them to rethink any aspect of their technology operations or if it challenged the traditionally-held notion that Apple has no place in corporate IT departments. Rob Neil, head of ICT at Ashford Borough Council, said that as far as corporate systems are concerned Apple is ‘an irrelevance,’ while Richard Yeo, CTO at easyGroup, simply stated: ‘Proprietary hardware and software, overpriced, few applications,'” McCue reports.
“Cost was an issue highlighted by other IT chiefs. Gavin Whatrup, IT director at advertising agency Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners, said that while Apple’s strengths are in ‘great technology,’ graphics and design, the company needs to address supply, price and integration issues to break into the corporate mainstream. Richard Steel, head of ICT, Newham Borough Council, was more succinct. ‘[Apple is] still an expensive fashion accessory in the consumer market and niche for business,’ he said,” McCue reports. “A couple of IT bosses, including Ted Woodhouse, IT director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the only reason there are few malware exploits for Apple software is down to a lack of market penetration.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The IT guys will be the last to fall because their job security rests largely on Wintel deficiencies. If the world’s companies used Macs running Mac OS X, the IT staffing needs would plummet and the attendant power that having large staffs bring to IT honchos would evaporate as well. They are scared, so scared, in fact, that some even feel the need to fall back to the long-ago-disproven “Security via Obscurity” myth (see related articles below). Can you believe that Ted Woodhouse guy actually has a job as an IT Director? Simply amazing.
If you think the quotes above are bad, just wait until Apple really starts eating into the Wintel market and Microsoft shareholders, media companies that depend on Microsoft, antivirus software companies, Windows-only software makers, “computer help” gurus in the media (radio, TV, magazines) who live off Windows’ mediocrity, and others begin to defend their turf. It’s going to get very, very ugly.
For our Windows-only friends who are not trapped under the thumbs of dictatorial IT morons suffering from severe cases of Stockholm Syndrome, information about smoothly adding a safe, secure, powerful, and fun Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal can be found here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Windows Media songs and videos found to carry Windows malware payloads – December 30, 2004
Anzae/Inzae worm affects all Windows versions after 3.1; Macintosh unaffected – December 28, 2004
Unlike Windows users, Mac OS X users surf the Internet without a care in the world – December 28, 2004
Multiple unpatched Windows holes crop up; Windows systems compromised within minutes in experiment – December 24, 2004
Windows spyware mess is out of control, get a Mac and surf with impunity – December 21, 2004
New Microsoft Internet Explorer exploit spoofs Web sites on fully patched Windows XP systems – December 17, 2004
Microsoft may charge extra for Windows spyware protection software – December 16, 2004
Detroit Free Press: Windows malware problem getting worse, it’s time to get a Mac instead – December 16, 2004
Sick of spyware, adware headaches? Get a Mac and surf the Internet freely – December 13, 2004
Mossberg: Windows PCs plagued with problems, Apple’s Mac is ‘rock solid, elegant and affordable’ – December 09, 2004
Security expert: Don’t use Microsoft Windows, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer – December 09, 2004
Security test: Windows XP system easily compromised while Apple’s Mac OS X stands safe and secure – November 30, 2004
Sick of spyware, adware infecting your PC? Don’t fret, just get a Mac – November 01, 2004
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Spyware plagues Windows users while Mac users surf Net with impunity – November 01, 2004
Ballmer blames Windows users for not upgrading systems as Microsoft’s biggest security problem – October 22, 2004
Windows users line up to pay for spyware removal; Mac users surf Web with impunity – October 18, 2004
Microsoft: The safest way to run Windows is on your Mac – October 08, 2004
Windows users’ security woes spark interest in Apple’s secure Mac OS X – October 06, 2004
Windows desktop monopoly threatened by secure, safe Apple Mac OS X – October 04, 2004
Even Bill Gates can’t avoid Windows malware; Mac users surf the Web freely – October 03, 2004
Cyber-security adviser uses Apple Macintosh to avoid Windows’ security woes – September 27, 2004
Information Security Investigator says switch from Windows to Mac OS X for security – September 24, 2004
Mossberg: Apple iMac G5 ‘powerful, affordable, virus-free with better, more modern OS than Windows XP’ – September 23, 2004
USA Today: people are switching from Windows to Mac because of security issues – September 21, 2004
Windows besieged by hackers; number of Windows viruses soars by more than 400% – September 20, 2004
USA Today columinst angry about Windows viruses, adware, spyware – September 15, 2004
University of Chicago recommends all students patch Windows at least once a day – September 14, 2004
Windows XP worm speaks to users as it deletes their files; Macintosh unaffected – September 13, 2004
Security is top priority in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2004
Millions of Windows PC’s hijacked by hackers, turned into zombies; Macintosh unaffected – September 08, 2004
Mossberg: Dump your Windows machine and get an Apple Macintosh to free yourself of spyware – August 25, 2004
Tired of patching patches to patch Windows patches? Writer suggests getting a Mac – August 03, 2004
Windows ‘Scob’ virus designed to steal financial data, passwords; Macintosh unaffected – June 26, 2004
Gartner: Worms jack up the total cost of Microsoft Windows – May 07, 2004
Spyware, adware plague Windows users online; Mac OS X users surf freely – April 19, 2004
SmartMoney: Long-suffering Windows users can only dare to dream of Mac’s ease-of-use – February 12, 2004
Mac OS X has no viruses; what’s wrong with Windows? – February 11, 2004
Gates: Windows ‘by far the most secure’ system; tries to use ‘Mac OS X secure through obscurity’ myth – January 27, 2004
Columnist tries the ‘security through obscurity’ myth to defend Windows vs. Macs on virus front – October 1, 2003
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003
Wall Street Journal’s Mossberg on making the switch from Windows to Mac – September 18, 2003
Fortune columnist: ‘get a Mac’ to thwart viruses; right answer for the wrong reasons – September 02, 2003
Shattering the Mac OS X ‘security through obscurity’ myth – August 28, 2003
Is Mac OS X really inherently more secure than Windows? – August 26, 2003
Chicago Sun-Times columnist: Windows ‘many holes in its security’ but ‘none of my Macs have ever been affected – August 26, 2003
Sick of worms and viruses? ‘Move to Mac OS X’ suggests Chicago Tribune columnist – August 25, 2003
Virus and worm problems not just due to market share; Windows inherently insecure vs. Mac OS X – August 24, 2003
Mac users claim IT Bosses ‘irrelevant’ to computer business.
(or, never ask a barber if you need a haircut…)
david vesey
Amazing, is it not, that so many people could have their heads so far up their asses at the same time?
The supply issue is the only one I’d concede to the IT folks: Apple really has troubles stocking their machines (including iPods) in appropriate quantities.
As for over priced, well, as we all know, you get what you pay for. A little story to prove this point: I just purchased 20 of the Apple 20″ cinema displays for a new lab (half Dells running Linux, half PM G5s). Everyone complained that the displays were too much $$ for the resolution, but I held fast and pushed the purchase through. Now I’m getting this type of comment all the time: “I can’t go back to my old display–these are just sooo much better than anything I’ve seen before!” Just goes to show, you can save a few bucks on a cheaper product, but it’ll show
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Has anyone ever heard of any of the companies listed? Seriously. Who gives a shit what they think?
“the only reason there are few malware exploits for Apple software is down to a lack of market penetration.”
And this guy calls himself a IT Director ? What a joke…
It’s job security – Absolutely. I am a professional computer consultant and I can tell you that IT directors and IT Managers are the most clueless bunch of morons you will ever meet.
They don’t know anything about technology – many don’t even have a technology background, having been brought over from other departments (Director of Human Resources is suddenly appointed Director of IT).
Unfortunately, these are the people who make decisions regarding technology at major corporations. Apple NEEDS to woo them.
Apple should send out ‘sample products’ to IT directors and CIOs at major corporations. Let them try the products and maybe change a few opinions.
Because of the limited market and frequent improvements to their product line, Apple has a greater problem in determining just how much to order. If they don’t order enough, people make the very complaints about supply. If they order too much, they have to worry about when to phase out the line once the next improvement is introduced.
Dell doesn’t have this problem – they never improve! Their “new” models typically use the same old guts.
If the entire Wintel platform suddenly disappeared overnight, I tend to believe that the IT “professionals” would say that there is no other platform available.
This is so true!
An afilliate company from the the company I work for got a couple of macs for their design/marketing dept.
Anyway, they wanted Microsoft Office installed on the Macs and the IT guy would not install it.
He said (and I quote) “I can’t install Office on the Macs because as soon as the other employees see Office running on a Mac they will want to use Macs too”.
MDN IS TOTALLY RIGHT – THE IT GUYS ARE SHIT SCARED OF LOSING THEIR JOBS!
TMAN,
And how do you propose that Apple should woo ignorant and/or fearful IT types? Should Apple just omit the fact that if the IT types install Mac OS X machines there’ll be much less need for IT types at the company?
The IT guys are going to be saying “we’ll switch from Wintel to Mac after you pry the two-button mouse out of my hand and the floppy diskette out of my ‘C’ drive.”
Hopefully, those higher-ups in charge of the IT people will get the message and put down their golf clubs long enough to pink slip the IT people that stand in the way of saving their companies time and money.
MDN Magic Word = “quality” (wow!)
Sadly, that is the state of the art in IT. They generally have no incentive to move to a Mac environment. It would look as though everything they’ve done for the past several years has been wrong. People like that are so worried about what it will look like to change that they refuse to even consider it.
We use Macs (just received our new iMac G5s!) in an overwhelmingly PC environment and our IT people are just as unhappy about it. We have no problems with hardware or software, save the occasional Microsoft product flaw, and the only issues we usually have are with the network when someone forgets to think about our needs or settings.
As long as the IT people control what’s bought or recommended, Macs will be on the outs.
Maybe the idea of seeding some key IT people with free machines to show them how a Mac CAN integrate into a Windows network might work.
Maybe not at the Forutne 500 companies, but at most places of business in the US the “I.T.” staff consists of twentysomethings with Community College/Technical College or other diplomas centered on Windows applications/systems and are certified on that platform only. Their manager or director usually has a B.S. in Business or Management and knows very little of the tech side of computing. Add to that the almost complete computer ignorance of Joe/Jane average P.C. user and you get an idea of where this comes from.
Many places, including where I work, use a blend of UNIX and Windows-based systems (for Office/e-Mail/SQL etc). A Macintosh based system could easily replace the Wintel boxes with Office:Mac and need no 3rd party (Rumba) UNIX terminal application as Mac OS X has a Unix terminal built-in.
It really would not hurt Apple to spend a little money to endow Chairs at a number of major Universities to ensure availabilty of teaching in Objective C, UNIX, etc. The cost would be minimal and the payback would be the next generation of developers/IT staff knowing the foundations of OS X.
These IT guys apparently are behind the times otherwise they would know about Xserve and what it can do. Also the fact that Xserve works in a multiplatform enviroment without a hitch. The cost is a lot less as you only buy the license once not yearly.
These IT guys are in denial that Apple has the power to work in the business inviroment.
BSOD, these are British organisations. I’ve heard of all of them, and pretty much every European who posts here will have heard of at least easyGroup, if only for their airline.
The thing is, these people do have a few points to make. Office PCs only have to be cheap, integrated graphics affairs. Until two weeks ago, Apple had nothing to compete in that space, and even now, the Mac mini is more aimed at home users than anything else. Apple also have frequent supply problems. IT Directors know that with Windows, they can tell Dell to sod off and go to HP if Dell can’t deliver. With Mac OS they get one supplier to choose from.
Also you have to think about the staffing problem. Virtually everyone who has joined IT in the past six or seven years has worked in Microsoft-dominated environments. Everyone therefore knows Microsoft. Some will be willing to learn new things, others won’t. It’s very easy to say “Well, sack the IT staff and find new ones”, but any IT bod who has the ability and drive to keep learning new things has long ago gone freelance. IT Directors don’t like having to rely on contractors.
So, MDN is right about job security. IT Directors don’t want to jump into a situation where they could have the BOD grilling them about why the 200 machines they require still haven’t arrived, and they certainly don’t want to have a problem that their staff are unable to fix going on for months due to lack of skills.
If Apple keep winning the graphics, biotech and education markets back, sooner or later others will follow. My guess is the legal community, which is already infiltrated with Macs, will be next. But don’t expect large scale enterprises to come to the party for a long time yet. It isn’t going to happen.
Yeah… I think small companies will adopt it first, and it will move up, rather than top-down…
Small companies have less of a conflict of interest, just as families buying a Mac have even LESS (read:zip) conflict of interest. THey don’t BENEFIT from instability.
1. I happen to know all about Mac OS X and how it works with Windows.
2. I also happen to have an iMac that’s running Mac OS X 10.2 that has an uptime of over 8 months.
3. If you think I’m fscking telling my CEO about that information and dooming what I estimate to be 40% of my staff to irrelevance, you’re fscking nuts.
4. I’m going to hold on for as long as I can and ride this house of cards until just before it comes tumbling down.
5. I fscking hate Apple – this last decade was such an easy way to make serious cash thanks to Microsoft.
In closing, fcsk Apple and all you fscking Mac users for never going away.
Our head admin at work told me recently there are only two things keeping Apple out of the enterprise.
1 No file auditing capabilities for administrators i.e tracking who has had access to what files and when.
2 Administrators passwords remain active and can’t be deleted. In NT they only remain active for 30 days. Therefore Win NT actually has better adminsecurity than OSX believe it or not.
The company I work for has large OSX server/print server set up as well as running windows machines.
All the other points mentioned inthe article were a load of ****!
So, geniuses, what is an “appropriate quantity” of each product Apple sells?
Do you remember from a few days ago:
“The entire national economy, in fact, depends on the incompetence of Microsoft. If everyone switched to Apple, the unemployment rate would skyrocket and we would fall into a depression. The government would be forced to give away Microsoft-based computers to stimulate the economy.”
So keep the economy going, keep the IT sector growing, don’t buy Apple!
PS: The IT sector is afraid of becoming irrelevant, when things just started working for a change! This is the fate of Apple because they don’t generate jobs in the IT sector.
One of the biggest mistake made in the IT industry is refusing to re-evaluate previous conceptions about a product, technology, or service. Part of staying successful in IT is about CONSTANTLY keeping an open mind and adapting to changes in technology.
Sadly, this article manifests the corporate stance toward the Apple of five years ago. A lot has changed with OS X and Apple hardware; but the old mindsets haven’t budged.
I too was a victim when I tried to give a technology presention to senior executives using Keynote on a Powerbook. I was told not to, “because next thing they will all want one”.
Priceless.
As a Brit, I’m truly ashamed that this misbegotten pile of DNA represents the top-tier of infomation managers in any forum.
Let’s address the myths one by one: –
[I]Rob Neil, head of ICT at Ashford Borough Council, said that as far as corporate systems are concerned Apple is ‘an irrelevance,'[/I]
Yes, but Rob works for a local council in England so his knowledge of delivering customer-focussed IT is bound to be limited given that if indolence was an Olympic sport, local government bureaucrats in England would be medal contenders for all three podium places every four years.
Most English councils run Windows for office productivity (using the term loosely), and then connect to IBM mainframes for applications. Obviously, giving council employees applications that would make them more productive would run counter to the whole philopsophy of local government in the UK.
The UK’s Chancellor (Gordon Brown) stated last year that waste and inefficiency was so rife at the local authority level that – if eliminated – it would present the opportunity to remove local property taxes (running at around £20 billion annually) altogether.
[I]Richard Yeo, CTO at easyGroup, simply stated: ‘Proprietary hardware and software, overpriced, few applications,'[/I]
USB isn’t proprietary, neither is FireWire. SATA isn’t.
And the PowerPC can’t be that proprietary, because surely MS will be using to power the next Xbox.
And how is the software any more proprietary than MS’s offerings, other than the fact that you can run any number of UNIX applications in OS X’s UNIX environment whilst the only thing that runs in Windows is Windows apps and the odd 100,000 or so viruses.
stick with me, I’m just getting started ->
These guys from the London Boroughs recently signed big deals with guess which company …
Micro$not
I too was a victim when I tried to give a technology presention to senior executives using Keynote on a Powerbook. I was told not to, “because next thing they will all want one”.
——
What’s the logic there? Cut down on Hardware spending and funnel all funds to IT staffing? Yay!
I don’t get it. If your bosses don’t wanna see nice Powerbooks, they better not turn on the TV…
Pfft.
The IT in the NHS (UK hospitals) is atrocious and most people would be unemployable in any other IT department anywhere – the same goes for Borough Councils!
I don’t think too much notice needs to be taken of this.
Why would any IT person bite the hand that feeds them??? When people see you warming your butt like the Maytag man because everything is running efficiently on a Mac network, what is the first thing in a boss”s mind…that everything is smooth sailing and the guy knows what he’s doing? or, is the first thought that someone is paying this guy money to watch the paint chip and fall. The latter is always the case.
The business of fixing Win$in is greater than the business of creating Win$in. Everything sustains full circle.
Dave H…you’ve got it nailed.
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I’ve always described the Windows/IT situation as “The Bill Gates Full Employment Program”. If businesses switched, we’d have a massive unemployment problem
I’ve also told my executive friends (most execs I know are tech idiots) that if they want to really cut back their expenses (equals more profit), they need to learn and get comfortable with tech. Their IT people are costing them dearly.