“Not too long ago, ad agencies, design firms and other creative companies were about the only businesses that widely deployed Macintosh computers to their employees. But for a number of reasons, word of the benefits of Apple Inc. hardware — and software — on enterprise desktops is now spreading,” Seth Weintraub writes for Computerworld.
Weintraub’s list of reasons includes:
• Years of Windowsspyware, malware and virus headaches
• Learning curve and disparity of Linux distros
• Corporate applications ported to OS agnostic Web services
• Apple’s consumer lineup is falling into the hands of business decision makers and their families, and scoring well
Weintraub writes, “That last point, in fact, could become the biggest motivator for a platform shift in the next few quarters. Macintosh computers appear to be making market-share gains in the home, opening the door to similar success in the enterprise. But which Apple machines are appropriate for corporate use? Should IT managers focus only on the “professional” end of Apple’s offerings — the Mac Pro desktop machine or MacBook Pro laptop line? Or would an iMac, Mac mini and MacBook make as much sense for business?”
“There is no comparison between Apple’s ‘consumer’ machines and the consumer lines of its competitors. All of Apple’s machines are ready to move into the enterprise, depending on the job at hand. It’s a simple and elegant product lineup, highly customizable, and will be Apple’s seed into the business market — if IT decision-makers can get over their prejudice against equipment that’s traditionally been aimed at consumers,” Weintraub writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dion” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Computerworld: Apple’s Mac OS X an ideal platform for SMBs – March 01, 2007
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
Whoa there Chris (the first one up there)! That may be putting the cart before the horse. First of all, many businesses won’t consider Macs if their software is Windows-only to begin with (proprietary and/or industry-specific software). And if they DO buy Macs, the software companies won’t necessarily “port” these apps to be Mac-native. Especially now that Macs can run Windows. They will just figure the Macs can run the software as-is. Also, why do you seem to think it’s so “easy” to port Windows (or <gasp> DOS) software to OS X? Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t! Especially for a company not previously familiar with Macs.
I agree, it would be nice for them to all change and suddenly start writing OS X native software, but the tidal wave shift to Macs needs to be pretty darn huge for that to happen to many software companies.
and SAPGUI for Java 7.10 is already supported in Leopard, with JRE 6.0.
SAPGUI for HTML is supported on Mac OS X with Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and 2.0
SAP Widgets work as well on Mac OS X and, btw, what do you think Apple use in iTunes and the Apple Store if not SAP?
The SAP Java Gui runs as UB implemente das a Java Swing application using Apple’s Java 1.4 JVM
Actually, to all SAP Developers out there: Try WebKit.app which contains many enhancements required by EP/WebDynpro. WebKit can be downloaded now for Tiger and will support Safari 3.0 in Leopard.
@fatal: you are spouting lots of FUDS buddy, but I guess it is just plain ignorance.
I work at a Big Four firm and our print server went down yesterday and I asked the tech guy if it was running Windows. He said it was and I said that was the problem. He laughed because he knew it was true and then said at least it’s not running Vista. We both cringed at that thought and I said I’m a Mac guy. With that he held up his fingers like a cross to a vampire. He’s a cool guy but they have to get over being anti-Mac, especially when they know Windows is crap and joke around at how bad it is. WTF???
All of the IT weenies are out in full force today, hm?
I kinda dabble in IT-related stuff at my job…I’m SO glad that I don’t have to do it full time. We have Windows machines at work (Mac at home), and I feel for those guys…I really do. We’ve got so much invested in our Windows servers and infrastructure, that we (specifically the people with the check books) cannot see over the heap of garbage we’re buried in.
My 20″ iMac has been a fine workhorse for book and magazine publishing these last two years.
Perception is a huge problem for Apple in the IT realm. The iMac is more powerful than most of the Dell and HP computers that businesses buy (or lease), yet the iMac is looked at like a toy. Even the wimpiest/cheapest Dell is though of as a more serious computer. The MacPro on the other hand is too expensive to be bought in bulk for typing reports and e-mails.
Most business folks will compare a Dell tower to a mac tower and say, “Dell is so much cheaper”.
I truly believe that for Apple to take any of the enterprise market, they need a cheaper computer like the mini or iMac in a MacPro type case (but smaller).
Once they start linking up hardware advances with Leopard capabilities…the difference between commodity PC and the Apple lineup with increase… the feeling could shift to..’go with Macs or be left behind’.
IT isn’t about fixing computers all day.
It’s about providing solutions… and when it comes to Apple stuff… sometimes those solutions can get complicated as Apple doesn’t allow the same amount of customizability needed in the corporate world.
@ron,
I’m not a real writer, I just play one on this website.
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Hmmm, I just got this from our IT person. They don’t know Macs, don’t trust Macs, and feel more comfortable with constantly fixing MS stuff. Its just what they know. And THEY are the ones that tell the boss what to buy when it comes to computers.
This is their response to an article I sent vs MS Office and its crash to french spell checker problem:
“Thanks for this! I hadn’t seen it yet. For the record I DO NOT like Microsoft VISTA! There are too many incompatibilities with it. We got a brand new Dell with OEM software installed on it….had to uninstall the Norton Security Center that shipped with it because it caused major conflicts with Outlook 2007. Geesh! I am advising everyone to stay away from VISTA until SP1 comes out. Feel free to send anything else of interest like this. We are learning about this as we go along I guess!”
My point? When there is enough push for Macs from bosses with Macs at home etc, IT will have to learn to intergrate and when they do, watch out. JMHO.
N.
One word: EXCHANGE.
No company based heavily on MS Exchange is going to all Macs any time soon.
Macs do email OK with Exchange, but the calendaring integration is pathetic/nonexistent, as well as just about any other advanced Exchange feature. As long as Macs are second-class Exchange clients, they will not make significant inroads into many enterprises.
However, if that got fixed and Macs did start coming in, I could see a shift in the role of IT rather than elimination of IT. Right now IT spends so much time trying to keep MS stuff running that they have no time to help users with training stuff or working more productively (making scripts for them, etc.). With a more reliable platform, IT might be able to become a more significant value-add to the enterprise, instead of just a “keep the lights on”, minimalistic type of thing.
> The business environment is a perfect opportunity for what I’ve called the Missing Mac. There is currently no headless, expandable Mac desktop between the Mini and the Pro. THAT is what’s missing.
While I agree that there is a desktop Mac missing between the Mac mini and Mac Pro, it does not hurt Apple’s enterprise opportunities.
Most employees at large companies do not need high-end graphics. They do not need large local storage because documents are typically stored on the network, where the enterprise backup and security tools keeps it safe. If the company already has LCD monitors (and perhaps even keyboards and mice), a Mac mini with 1GB of RAM is perfect. There is no need for “expandability.” What more would you add?
For the employees who do need high-end graphics, they should a Mac Pro. They wouldn’t want a lesser Mac if their work relied on the computer’s performance. Of course, there may be room for that “in-between” Mac in enterprise, but it is NOT an urgent need. What Apple has right now is ideal.
Ryan…
If Exchange is the issue, install Entourage. It’s a part of Office 2004. I am connected to my work email from home right now. I set up appointments, view my PC colleagues calendars, etc.
Exchange? Things will get way better with Leopard.
With Leopard you will be able to use the new Mail.app with Exchange. For example, you will not be bothered by public folders in Exchange anymore. You will be able to use Mail to check your Exchange account(s), no need for Entourage anymore.
Weintraub has hit the nail squarely on the head:
“if IT decision-makers can get over their prejudice”
Problems like incompatability with Exchange are easily fixed by using less risky non-M$ solutions. It’s all in the prejudice.
Prejudice: From Latin præ-judicium “before judgment,”
Hm …
Chris, You’ve made my point: “the tidal wave shift to Macs needs to be pretty darn huge for that to happen to many software companies.”
Software companies won’t start writing enterprise applications for the Mac until there are more Macs in the enterprise. IT types, who are afraid they won’t be needed, use this fact against the Mac, claiming that they can’t install more Macs because there isn’t enough enterprise software for them. It’s a catch-22, and the ony way out is to force they IT guys to install Macs anyway. It won’t be long before the software follows, but there’s no chance it will lead the way.
Are Macs enterprise ready? Hmm, I don’t know. Has anyone consulted Apple? You know, that multi-billion dollar company somewhere in California. I wonder what machines and software they use? Someone better get a reporter over there ASAP to find out.
IT professionals and I do mean professional …”not IT Guys” would have plenty to do if they didn’t have to fix windows boxes and and battle viruses. There is the business of integrating the thousands of pieces of software and hardware among the various departments to make a company work smoothly. From Graphics to design to administrative to productivity per department to video conferencing. In the windows world all these pieces of hardware and software are usually disparate and causes lack of communication between various departments. What if Manufacturing could tap into field service and sales data to fine tune their current production process and influence future designs. What if purchasing wasn’t constantly behind the 8 ball and could quickly check a database of vendor sole sourced parts and relations and find new sources or suggest to design to try alternate means to achieve the same function of a difficultly sourced part. The last Engineering based manufacturing firm I work was just swallowed by Motorola. In their industry they were considered the top of their game for all of industry they were considered the best of the worst. They manufactured hand held laser bar-code scanners… the things they did the best ” made the quarter to beat wall street expectations by legal or illegal means”, the things they did the worst… integrate their own products throughout their supply chain and business infrastructure and use the essence of their own creative talent to energize and create new markets for their business. This is one of the things that Apple does well. All their factories and tech support , field service and Stores I’ll bet you can’t find one PC in Apple’s entire business. Apple has IT people also but they spend their time making apple as a corporation more productive by local and global asset integration, not by ass over tea kettle under the CEO’s desk chasing down a virus with a screwdriver. The Mac mini is a powerful piece of hardware with 1Gigabyte /sec internet capability. For 90 % of corporate America this is all we need.