“Once viewed as a plaything, the Macintosh is now the PC of choice for many hard-core technology professionals, and Macintosh skills are now an in-demand specialty among IT pros, rather than an afterthought,” Allan Hoffman, Tech Jobs Expert, reports for Monster.com.
“‘The Mac will be coming soon to a company near you, if it hasn’t already,’ says Brian Vaughn, executive vice president of Dataprise, a network support and IT solutions provider,” Hoffman reports.
The following factors have played a major role in the Mac’s resurgence in the IT world:
• When Apple released OS X, an operating system with Unix underpinnings, the Macintosh “got the attention of hard-core techno-geeks and began gaining mindshare and market share among them,” Vaughn says.
• The growth of the Internet and advances in networking technologies have removed some of the obstacles to combining disparate software and hardware, making hybrid computing environments more common.
• The popularity of the iPod and iTunes has generated a halo effect around Apple and Apple products, Vaughn says. With more and more people working from home, those with Macs and iPods need tools and support to connect their computers to non-Macintosh systems at the office.
Hoffman reports, “The about-face in attitude toward the Macintosh — and what it means in terms of the skills IT professionals require — was evident to Vaughn when one of Dataprise’s clients, with about 100 computer users, made it clear that the company needed to have adequate Macintosh know-how. ‘Unless you can support our Macintosh enterprise, we’re not going to be able to stay with you guys,’ Vaughn says Dataprise was told.”
Hoffman reports, “And now, with new Macs running on Intel chips, the Mac is capable of running not only Apple’s OS X and Unix, but also Windows. ‘This ability to have the best of both worlds on a single machine will result in further inroads of the Macintosh platform into the mainstream business environment — and increase the need for those who support company IT systems to be familiar with it,’ Vaughn says.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Wolfgang” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Mac-hating IT guys and gals will not enjoy this article. Perhaps they’d like a nice coffee mug to wash down their crow?
Related articles:
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003
The following factors have played a major role in the Mac’s resurgence in the IT world:
• Absence of malware. Another plus for heterogeneous computing environments.
I just hope the idiotic IT people at the hospital I work for read this article. Last year when I asked for a G5 iMac to replace my POS HP PeeCee I begrudgingly use at work every day, I was told, “Macs are not allowed on the network – they will screw everything up.” When I asked why they believed this, I just got a Neanderthal-like grunt. It wasn’t even a price issue to them! So, now, everytime our network goes down due to a virus attack – twice since then – I send sarcastic-ass emails to the IT dept. Someday they will learn – NOT!
“”Macs are not allowed on the network – they will screw everything up.””
Translation: We are too stupid and/or lazy to find out anything out side of what we already know (hands over ears) LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALACantHearYouLALALALALALALALALALA
MW ‘anyone’ as in anyone can use a Mac exceot perhaps people who think they know everything.
Funny how people who proclaim themselves so smart (IT folks) are among the most bigoted people on the planet. I guess it goes to show you that if you toot your own horn, it sounds more like a fart than a note.
A short time ago I had a short contract to move some computers from a couple floors of a building to another floor of the same building.
The tasks:
=> unlock them from their desks
=> unplug the pieces
=> pack up the peripherals
=> (someone else does the lifting)
=> plug them in (power, keyboards, net, etc)
=> power them up
=> lock them to their new desks
Why did I get the contract? The were Macs and I have “Macintosh” on my resume. Like … PC folk can’t be relied on for ANY of the above? Or, maybe they DID have experience proving PC types are confused by such things as USB keyboards and Ethernet plugs?
I’ve just switched our company to an Xserve, and it acts as a Primary Domain Controller for the 10 remaining PC’s on our network. Everyone else uses G5’s or PowerBooks. 45 days uptime so far (still running 10.4.5 Server, but I will update soon).
No probelms with the Macs, a few Presets and the accounts were active. PC’s took forever and I’m still not sure HOW I did it, I just tried every trick & Google search I could think of and eventually they worked.
That’s the difference. I KNOW how my Macs work, I can understand them. Settings change on-the-fly (ever tried assigning manual DNS servers to a WinTel? “You now have to restart your Computer!”), and I can see all my Mac’s via VNC with Bonjour. The PC’s have to be manually assigned IP addresses so I can keep track of them. They take AGES to reboot. They have WIZARDS for simple tasks. They give MEANINGLESS error messages like “There is a duplicate on the Network.” Duplicate what exactly? They require “Anti-Virus” software, which, if you think about it, is a placebo for the new, undiscovered exploits out there RIGHT NOW. They suck, basically.
I use my time to find more efficient/better ways of using our tools (Macs), whereas PC admins use their time keeping theie networks alive (just).
My $0.02
MDN: are you going for the Guiness World Record for the number of ads you can have on a sigle web page?
“Funny how people who proclaim themselves so smart (IT folks) are among the most bigoted people on the planet.”
No, I have met the most bigoted people on the planet on this site today. See the comments on the Apple Store article two slots down from this one. But you have a good point.
This is what my company is doing, but keep it a secret.
Excuse my spelling, I’m recovering from an accident in which I severed my finger (reattached and splinted at the moment).
I’m a smug mac fanatic, but “100 computer users”? That’s the best example they could muster to illustrate widespread IT adoption?
“Funny how people who proclaim themselves so smart (IT folks) are among the most bigoted people on the planet.”
Depends on the IT folk. I’m in IT but I’m lucky enough to support a company that is 75% Mac. But I agree, most IT people are complete A-holes when it comes to Macs/Unix/Linux.
Educated IT folk appreciate the advantages of OS X and Linux (and use them where possible). Ignorant IT folk know nothing beyond Windows, and feel threatened by that which they know nothing of, thus their defence mechanism is to spout all the Mac myths they’ve ever heard.
One more reason Apple should come out with a Groupware product to replace Exchange. Even though Kerio and Communigate Pro exist, they are a hard sell to replace Exchange. I’ve had better luck getting an Xserve for a database application, but replacing the email server is not happening.
I work in a place that houses about 900 people. The PC/Mac distribution is about 70/30 (all admin uses PC’s. the scientists use Macs). We have 6 people in our IT dept. One of them works half of his time on the Macs, leaving 5.5 peope working on PCs. Do the math.
What kills me is that I get people sent to me from the IT department when there are some Mac problems. Their comments? Macs are too complicated!
Not bad for what was once called an idiot machine by the IT people.
Sad day when a know-nothing grunt like me does the IT’s job for them.
IT pros really fear that the Mac will require less of an IT staff to maintain, hence the fear.
Ampar:
The other major factor: Less IT staff required to service Macs vs. PCs
Salaries, benefits, etc. saved is a plus to the BOTTOM LINE.
Sorry, marko. you beat me while I was typing. But that just proves my our point if more than one person is writing this at the same time.
Cubert, You and I must work for the same hospital corporation. They talk about this service stuff, that we should be doing, but when it comes to allowing a Mac to access their network, it “aint’t gonna happen”. Thanks for your service.
As best as I can tell, they just don’t want to allow it to happen. Must be “to hard”. The moron’s just don’t want to learn a little. Heck, I have been trying to cope with this really awful software program they have, that I am expected to learn. Why can’t they?
I would really like to hear the fear (of the switch) from an IT guy, before I will believe it, though I suspect it’s close to the truth.
The problem is: “If we buy a Mac our end user’s doesn’t need us anymore”. So, why should we buy a Mac and lose our importance and dependecy?
IT folks want to keep their job, with Macs they have nothing to do.
The problem is: “If we buy a Mac our end user’s doesn’t need us anymore”. So, why should we buy a Mac and lose our important and dipendent?
IT “fucks” want to keep their job, with Macs they have nothing to do.
I used to be in IT (well, I still am part time but have since changed my main profession) and thought of Mac’s as a toy, obsolete, too dificult to understand, etc. Then I actually USED one – my sisters. I kept asking her questions about what problems she had, how she recovered, where she accessed the “real” parts of the operating system (like system registy, etc.). She kept looking at me as if I were from Mars. She said “I just turn it on, use it and that’s it.” After trying it I discovered it was true! My next computer was a Mac (that was in 1994). I was happy making a living off of poorly designed and implemented PC machines but when I got home, I wanted a computer I could just sit down and use wihtout a problem. Like an appliance.
Someday businesses will wake up and understand that they have been paying a LOT of money for IT services that are completely unnecessary. IT managers and professionals have a heavy investment in time and money in their Microsoft education, which, along with an almost complete ignorance of the Mac platform, results in recommendations and implementation of PC based IT infrastructures in most businesses. I believe that soon you will see companies taking note of companies that are using the Macintosh platform and better able to compete because of increased productivity and lower IT costs. I expect this will start with smaller businesses that have a less centralized IT organization (or are more open to the Mac platform) and will move to larger and larger companies as IT managers start having to answer hard questions about their commitment to such a costly IT platform.
BTW I still perform IT services for local charitable organizations – but only those that are Mac-based. I can handle that on a very part time basis. PC’s would require too much of my time.
This week I had the pleasure of putting two new machines on our network–one a replacement Acer for a dead dell, the other my MacBook.
The PC has been rebooted 15 times and stlll can’t browse the network, although it can access other machines with machine name through explorer. It’s shares also don’t show up. Also, a bunch of files we tried to copy over from the dead machine’s hard drive come up randomly as access denied.
The MacBook, on the other hand, required….turning on.
I can vouch for this article. Knowing OS X and Windows (from the evil high school years) helped me get hired for on Campus Tech support. Number of Windoze boxes fixed: 500-1000ish Number of Mac issues: 1 (one prof had a Airport Extreme that wasn’t connecting). However my boss explained that one of things they are looking for are people that can work on both sides of the fence.
I can vouch for this article. Knowing OS X and Windows (from the evil high school years) helped me get hired for on Campus Tech support. Number of Windoze boxes fixed: 500-1000ish Number of Mac issues: 1 (one prof had a Airport Extreme that wasn’t connecting). However my boss explained that one of things they are looking for are people that can work on both sides of the fence.