“The company is the undefeated king of cool in the consumer electronics and home computer markets. It is rapidly gaining yardage in the broader personal computing market and is experiencing a resurgence of popularity in traditional Macintosh niches such as education, marketing and creative departments,” Mitchell reports.
“With all of this momentum, you’d think that the Mac might be ready for a come-from-behind win in the enterprise. But on that field of play, Apple remains 1st and 10 at its own 10-yard line,” Mitchell reports.
“That’s ironic, because corporate interest in a broader role for Macs is up dramatically among IT executives, driven by changes in what the Mac has to offer, by Apple’s success in the consumer market and its other niches, and by corporate trends where, thanks to virtualization and a migration to Web-based applications, Windows’ grip on the desktop may be starting to loosen just a bit,” Mitchell reports.
“There’s just one problem. ‘Apple will tell you that they are focused on [the commercial business market], but at the end of the day, it’s not a big priority for them,” says David Daoud, an analyst at IDC,'” Mitchell reports.
“The Mac attraction is easy to understand. On the client side, the Mac’s OS X is relatively easy to use. The addition of new features in the latest Leopard release — such as the slick Time Machine backup utility and Spaces, which lets users create multiple, task-centric virtual desktops — only serves to burnish that reputation,” Mitchell reports. “And Macs are considered more stable than Windows, with fewer spyware and virus problems, which translate into fewer help desk calls.”
“But that’s not what has IT’s attention,” Mitchell reports. “The surge of interest in the Mac is a direct result of two developments from 2006: first, the evolution of more Windows-friendly, Intel X86-based Macs, and second, the introduction of Boot Camp, which allows a full Windows environment and its complement of applications to run natively in a separate hard drive partition on any Mac.”
“Although it’s common for IT to be slow to adopt a new version of Windows, a recent survey of 961 IT professionals working in small, midsize and large companies by King Research — commissioned by desktop management tool vendor KACE Networks Inc. — shows that some organizations may be considering doing what was once unthinkable, abandoning Windows altogether rather than investing the time and money into a Vista migration,” Mitchell reports. “More specifically, 44% of respondents said they would consider an alternative to a Vista migration. Of those, 28% said the Mac would be their first choice. Surprisingly, the results were similar whether respondents worked for large companies or smaller ones.”
Much more in the extensive full article here.
Apple and the Enterprise. Here’s the thing. I watched how the Canadian Military bought computers for a decade. All even an Officer ever does with a PC is read email, compose documents, and print things out. No one is making graphics, no one is animating a TV series. Yet the PCs got changed out every year for more and more RAM and faster and fatser CPUs on the whims of the people on top.
If a company decides that Apple has the software and support they want and decides to switch en mass, there will be companies for which a stripped down beige Apple box is not a requirement.
“Look at Leopard Server and XServe and ZFS and UNIX certification of Leopard”
Or you could get a SUN. They have good experience in enterprise, they have a UNIX certified OS and they invented ZFS.
btw they have a great range of servers and headless boxes.
“Why is it so hard to convince people that spyware and viruses are simply non-existent on Mac OSX?”
Thats great but Solaris or any other UNIX or Linux has just the same track record. The figures speak for themselves, nobody wants Apple in the enterprise. Stick to white plastic gadgets.
Good for you When you have some experience with enterprise computing (which is what this thread is about) somebody may listen to you.
But, in more often than not in the Enterprise, a company retains a specialist hardware maintenance company to repair such issues and the specialist companies ensure that their personnel are suitably qualified so that they don’t invalidate warranties.
Given that Apple provides courses so that independent contractors can be authorised Apple technicians, it’s doing exactly the same thing that HP or IBM/Lenovo does for its customers, so your argument is – to be blunt – a canard.
Canard, good one. Lets see which other words of the day you can put in your next argument
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I could argue that the Zune is better than the iPod but you could rightly say “then how come iPods sell 100x more than Zune?”. Linux gained a greater market share than OSX in the enterprise in how long? A couple of years.
The enterprise is owned by HP, IBM, SUN and Dell. That is fact. If Apple has authorised technicians good for them but it doesn’t change the fact that nobody wants them.
Apple WILL take over the Enterprise mkt, in spite of their proclamations that the consumer mkt is their priority. It’s just a matter of time.
Wow, you really are a fount of ignorance.
Canard was a “word of the day” when I was running mini-computers back in the Eighties, so more like a word of the century. Anyhoo…
The fact that you don’t even know that Apple runs technician accreditation tends to imply that you have never really analysed the market or the value that Xserve offers. You’re probably also unaware that Apple sells an optional kit of parts (logic board, power supply and fan assembly) to help keep your Xserve implementation up and running.
Let’s consider this quote…
Xserve is designed for quick serviceability of crucial parts; no special training or certification is required. The AppleCare Service Parts Kit for Xserve lets you keep key modules handy to address the most common hardware failures. When you combine AppleCare Service Parts Kits with an AppleCare Premium Service and Support Plan, Apple experts can often help you troubleshoot and fix your system right over the phone, day or night, so you won’t have to wait for a technician.
Sounds like Enterprise level support to me, but then I’ve only been working in this god-forsaken business since 1984.
Unfortunately, people like you are specifically what’s wrong with the practice of information technology in the enterprise and in government; you fail to understand that the delivery of IT to an entity is simply a means to an end, not an end in itself. The commitment that IT practitioners should display is an open-minded commitment to deliver the “biggest bang for the buck”, whether that bang is measured as flexibility, performance or whatever imperative is important to the entity.
If you are deliberately choosing solutions that, even on a capital-cost basis, cost nearly three times as much as an Apple Xserve to implement simply because you have neither the wit nor the intelligence to evaluate the option, you are, at best, intellectually lazy and, at worst, negligent in the practise of your job.
But, to be honest, if that’s your attitude I’m relatively happy: with unlimited CALs, full X/Open certification, and enterprise-level virtualisation and terminal services coming in the next eighteen months (the latter at a cost that make Citrix look like gouging), Xserve is nearly ready for prime-time.
I don’t care if Fortune 1000 corporates choose to throw their money away, because I’m pursuing targets with easier sales cycles where the owner/managers recognise the value offered by Xserve; if I’m right, my customers will spend less money running their IT infrastructures and more money developing a competitive differential advantage (that’s another phrase you might want to look up). They’ll get larger and so will I because I can maintain more customers with less personnel.
So please feel free to cling to your dinosaur-like, walnut-brain thinking as nothing is more interesting than watching Darwinism in action.
Mac’s cannot conquer the enterprise this year… the enterprise are comprised of computers which accountants depreciate over a number of years. And plus having servers and large computers, for most bosses, switching to mac might mean spending more cash on apple experienced specialists, which there isn’t much out there now.
The only group that would look at buying large amounts of computers and xserve would be community groups that have long run without a server and are desperate to looking for a solution, without the lag of existing PCs and windows servers.
Alternatively, it could be a new successful startup company, that doesn’t have any existing servers. That way it’s fresh, to look at options without considering compatibility.
that will take some time though
Can macs conquer the Enterprise? What did Captain Kirk ever to do Apple?!
(Morning, all you argumentative fiends.)
This thread is so funny. All you so-called Enterprise experts. Well speaking from the lofty position of three decades as an Enterprise IT Consultant I can say that most of you have got it wrong and are perpetuating the myths of the media about enterprise computing.
IT would LOVE to cut help desk calls. Proven stats from among about a dozen of my clients who run dual environments with separate communities of Windows users and OSX users shows that the OSX help desk can be about 1/3 the size of the Windows help desk on a per capita basis.
The Enterprise would love to get rid of mini tower style computers. They take up too much space, get in the way of hot desking efficiently, and do not present any advantages at all other than price and that is fast disappearing. The trend at the Enterprise level is to move all users onto notebook computers and last year one of my clients did just that.
Who said that library DRM solutions requires windows? You are out of touch with this field my friend. Most modern corporate library solutions serve the user interface via a web front end. Being fully browser based means the users personal computing platform is not relevant.
BTW: DRM is not just about music as some of you seem to think. It is about protecting any copyrighted work including documents and data.
To win a battle for Enterprise computing required more than just a few shiny gadgets but a concerted offering for the data centre. Apple is moving steadily in this direction but it is not having its agenda fixed by the media. Current server offerings are good and improving. The addition of ZFS once it goes to final release will be vital. I would say look to Apple to make a serious attack on the enterprise platform in about 3 to 5 years and when they do it will be devastating for the opposition. Maybe Apple will buy Sun out of their cash reserve. Unix, ZFS, a broad range of servers that go way beyond the ZServe. Could be interesting.
Partnerships with core enterprise software houses. Lets see the trend at the enterprise level is to go web based for practically every software solution in investment banking, health, retail, etc. Why? Because it reduces the headache of upgrading the underlying platform and not having to worry too much about compatibility and it make the task of cross system interaction easier. If it is web based then the enterprise desktop could be anything even OSX. As for partnerships Oracle, SAP, and many others support OSX. So what was that again?
Happy computing all and here is to the Kool Aid !!!!
Back room + Front office
Big Iron + PeeCee
Razor + Blade
“The Enterprise” migrated to the current model of Big Iron + PeeCee to avoid lock in with Back Office and Front Office hardware and software all supplied by the same company. Apple will join this party only when some VP of IT has the confidence of the CEO and thereby latitude, and also knows enough about all of the hardware and software in question thru ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. If you meet one of those at one of the Fortune5, let me know.
x Back Office and Front Office guy at IBM and a large University.
@fenman:
Great post!
One thing related to web-based software that continues to be a covert hook to MS-based systems in the enterprise market is IE-only applications.
I’m not a developer, but why someone who is interested in keeping the apps and desktops separate, should develop IE-exclusive apps completely escapes me.
For everyone’s edification:
http://www.apple.com/itpro/
The framework is already there. As far as support goes, saw some posts about crappy service provided by Apple retail. Retail experiences are definitely different than enterprise level support. Apple offers AppleCare to the enterprise at 24×7, 1 HOUR response time. That’s pretty damn responsive, if you ask me.
Too hot…
Because people design and build systems with no recognition of the future with the sole intention of enhancing their resumés with the full range of proprietary Microsoft alphabet soup, so they can go and get their next job or contract.
I meant what I said earlier about IT types who treat the service they provide as an end in itself as opposed to it simply being a means by which Acme Inc. manages its business of selling widgets to hungry coyotes; you see it everywhere – little IT people building their little empires (or toyshops, if you want to be less charitable) whilst finding new and exciting ways to obstruct the business from delivering a better service to customers.
Fred went to bed:
You are welcome to your opinion.
@ BobWillsIsStillTheKing
OMG thats effing great! HAHAH!
Well put!
@Too Hot!
Thanks.
As for why so many web application developers still develop for IE only, the answer is easy and generally follows one of these reasons.
a) They are lazy developers and so are not interested in developing to standards because it means they have to plan more carefully at architecture and design time
b) They fail to test their web application against other browsers perhaps assuming incorrectly that if it runs on IE then it complies with standards and will run on anything
c) They have bought into the myth that only IE matters and yes while IE still has nearly 80% of the browser market it has fallen about 10% in market share in the last year or so and continues to decline
d) They have made the mistake of selecting tools for web development that only support IE. This restrictive toolset is rapidly dwindling. You have to be careful that you do not confuse the development IDE environment with the users web application environment. While most MS web tools are IE centric, most will happily allow the users client browser to be anything if you code your application correctly.
At the end of the day I believe that there is no excuse for developing a web application that is restricted to just one browser regardless of whose browser it is. By all means do not support browsers that by dint of age are no longer standards compliant such as IE 4 or early versions of Netscape and so on and good web application development requires that you test for browser type and version so that your code can make appropriate adjustments based on standards compliance and any known issues. So as I said at the top, if your web application only supports IE then you are a lazy programmer and I have no sympathy for you when you Crash and Burn.
BTW: has anyone noticed the entertaining link between the extension use by many Microsoft products on their installation archives and the phrase Crash And Burn (CAB)? Hmmm poetic justice methinks.
@ Glossy Hurts Me Eyes!!!
Apple Stores are not the ONLY place to get service done. I work at an Apple Specialist store here in Madison, WI… we take drop offs… and we also do appointments…. the “little guy” AASPs (Apple Authorized Service Providers) commonly treat you better in service than the Apple Store. That being said, there are some bad AASPs out there… but on the whole, I think they are the better service option. I am biased however since I work at one.
The Dude abides
While watching you all argue semantics is amusing (most of you just don’t get it), none of you have commented on the pie chart and the number of people who chose Ubuntu and Other Linux. I can see why someone would consider Suse, for Novell has been at it for over 20 years. I can also understand Red Hat. But Ubuntu? While it is a nice Linux distro, it is not ready for the enterprise by any stretch.
It is alarming that 27% of the people they polled would consider such an option. And that another 9% just don’t know! Who were these 961 so called IT professionals?
Fenman and MCCFR, you guys get it. Most of the rest of you make me wonder.
I would have liked to read the long winded quote but it was just a bit too long for me.
Anyway from the first few sentences I’ve decided you’re a tool. Apple servers would sell if they were any good, the same with Zunes. Whine all you like but that’s the truth.