“I’ve talked in the past about how IT departments need to rethink their positions against the widespread use of Apple computers and Mac OS X in their organizations. I’ve talked about the fact that many of the old myths from the mid-’90s about the Macintosh just aren’t true. There’s plenty of software for the platform, proprietary protocols are a thing of the past, and the price of entry isn’t that different from what you’d pay for a system from any Tier 1 PC vendor,” Michael Gartenberg writes for Computerworld.
“I won’t even go into issues such as virus attacks and spyware being virtually nonexistent problems for Mac users. Instead, I’ll focus on three new reasons for business users to look more closely at Apple Computer: the company’s migration from Power PC to Intel processors; its announcement of Boot Camp for running Windows XP natively on an Intel Mac; and the recently announced delay of Microsoft’s Vista operating system,” Gartenberg writes. “While the delay holds no earth-shattering implications for IT, it does mean there’s a window of opportunity to take a closer look at what else is out there now, ready to be put to use in your organization. I’m not suggesting that most businesses would be better served deploying Mac OS over Windows. I’m not even suggesting that Mac OS is right for some aspect of every business. However, these developments do dangle some low-hanging fruit that IT departments can exploit for positive results. In this case, that fruit just may be an Apple.”
Full article here.
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@ Enterprise IT >
Most large corporations are using Active Directory and Exchange Server as enterprise directories and messaging, respectively. A Mac is totally out of place in the direction to centrally manage all corporate assets. Group Policy and SMS software deployments/inventory are ignored by the Mac. Until companies migrate OFF of AD or Exchange (not very likely), the Mac will continue to stand out as a unmanageable stepchild in an otherwise managed environment.
Well, more fool them for allowing their enterprise to become hostage to a single software supplier whose record for developing proprietary solutions when standards-based technologies already exist is second to none.
When you say a Mac is totally out of place for the central management of assets, what you mean is “totally out of place when using Systems Management Server [SMS] (or, as I prefer to call it, Send More Support). If Enterprise IT used a cross-platform toolset like LanDESK, maybe the Mac wouldn’t stick out as much.
In any case, if support doesn’t exist for Macintosh in SMS, whose fault is that? Apple or Microsoft? Let me hazard a guess that maybe MSFT doesn’t want the Macintosh trespassing on ‘their’ territory.
As a previous respondent said, this is down to laziness from the CIO office downwards. MSFT sales people came along and offered them a handful of magic beans for a knock-down price and Corporate IT in a fit of epic myopia took the bait hook, line & sinker.