“Walk into any given small business that contains a computer, and the odds are very good that its operating system will be Windows,” Diedre Jurand reports for The Cape Cod Times. “‘Most companies are PC-only,’ said Jason Weinstein, owner of the Hyannis-based technology firm JPW Solutions, which works on both Windows systems and Macs. ‘Some that are heavy into graphics and design are Mac-only, and a few use both.'”
“Windows supporters and owners say that the programs they need – including the word processing program Word and spreadsheet program Excel – cannot run on a Mac, Weinstein said. They used to be right,” Jurand reports.
MacDailyNews Note: Word and Excel debuted on Macintosh before Windows. Word has been available for Mac since 1984. Excel debuted on Mac in 1985, two years before the first Windows version debuted in 1987.
Jurand continues, “IBM, an information technology company that works with Windows systems, was in the business business since the development of PCs, said Alan Goodwin, store manager for Cape Mac. Business applications were originally designed just for Windows systems because of that.”
MacDailyNews Note: If you consider Word and Excel to be business applications, see note above.
Jurand continues, “‘A lot of companies that have Macs now started with them years ago when Adobe was Mac-only,’ Weinstein said. ‘Word, on the other hand, was Windows-only originally, and people have been told they can only get software, like Word, for Windows. That’s true now only if a business needs specialized software that is restricted to Windows, such as some accounting and legal programs.'”
MacDailyNews Note: Again, Word debuted on Macintosh before Windows.
Jurand continues, “Macs are also rumored to be more expensive initially than Windows systems and so are sometimes viewed as a poor PC decision for small businesses, Weinstein said. The Apple base systems are more expensive than baseline Windows systems, as Windows supporters suggest. The tiny Mac mini, Apple’s most basic desktop, starts at $599, and the more typical desktop, the iMac, starts at $1,299, according to the Apple Web site. A baseline Dell desktop starts at $299. Feature for feature, though, Apple and Microsoft PC prices differ by only dollars. A business-ready MacBook costs $35 less than the comparable Dell Latitude D620 notebook, and an iMac is $42 more than the corresponding Dell Precision 380.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ahh, very nice. Sorry for the nitpicking on the Word and Excel stuff.
Jurand continues, “‘If a business is starting from scratch, there’s no reason not to go Mac,’ Goodwin said. ‘There’s a perception that Macs are more expensive, and there was a time that was true. But not anymore. Given the same features, they’re the same price, and Macs don’t require a lot of maintenance.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Now Jurand’s really rolling…
Jurand continues, “”The total cost of ownership for a Mac is 50 to 60 percent less than that of a Windows PC, Goodwin said. Macs have few vulnerabilities that leave them susceptible to viruses and they run on the open-source operating system UNIX, which allows users to download thousands of free applications that would be expensive for Windows users. ‘Macs are super-stable, extremely reliable and don’t get spyware or adware,’ he said. ‘That said, there are some instances for businesses where it doesn’t make sense to get Macs. If a business system is already set up on Windows, it may be difficult to switch to Macs. And most businesses can be run off of spreadsheets and word processors. If all you’re doing is word processing, the system doesn’t matter. But if you’re on the Internet at all and you get spyware and adware and a virus that shuts the system down, how much is that going to cost?'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Pat N.” and “LinuxGuy and MacProdigal Son” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Started a little rough, but Jurand sure finished with a bang. Not bad for The Cape Cod Times. Not bad at all!
