“Historically, Macs and small business aren’t often associated with each other. Yet smaller firms seem to be one of the markets Apple is targeting with Mac OS X Leopard Server. Leopard Server’s new Server Preferences interface is designed primarily for small businesses, which often need some of the features of a server but don’t have the budget for dedicated hardware or an IT specialist. Apple has also been targeting small businesses with a special section of its Web site and with special events in its retail stores to educate users and business owners about how Mac OS X can be used,” Ryan Faas writes for Computerworld.
“In many ways, Mac OS X is an ideal platform for small businesses and offices. It is easy to install and set up, often requires little technical support to maintain, and remains free of many of the virus and malware problems that plague Windows PCs. All of this should be appealing for a business with anywhere from a handful to a few dozen employees that cannot afford full-time IT staff,” Faas writes.
“While lower TCO and fewer problems are advantages to Mac OS X for small businesses, they don’t account for a recent surge in Macs as business machines. That can be attributed mostly to Apple’s transition to Intel processors and the fact that its hardware can now run Windows applications for those times when a comparable Mac-related product isn’t available. The ability to use Apple’s Boot Camp or one of the other virtualization tools to run Windows applications also helps stagger transition costs as businesses buy and migrate to Mac hardware and software,” Faas writes.
Faas writes, “Easy setup and better security alone don’t make any computer a solution for business. For that, you also need software. Perhaps the biggest misconception about the Mac in small business is that it is a computer for home users, educators and graphics/media design, and that there simply aren’t any business tools available to Mac users. That might have been the case in the past, but that is certainly not true today.”
Full article – highly recommended – with many software links here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Mac begins to catch on with corporate IT – February 28, 2007
New IBM software to help business to offer employees the choice of running Apple Macs – February 12, 2007
Gartner: Growth of Mac desktops in enterprise to hinder Linux more than Windows – January 02, 2007
Computerworld: Enterprise decision-makers should consider migrating to Mac OS X and Apple hardware – December 21, 2006
Apple’s Mac means business – December 18, 2006
Hands on: Parallels Desktop for Mac in a business setting – December 10, 2006
InfoWorld: Apple’s Mac OS X platform deserves good, hard look by enterprise – September 22, 2006
Prejudice keeps Apple Mac out of the enterprise – September 01, 2006
Boot Camp: Apple’s Trojan horse into the enterprise market? – April 05, 2006
