“Timothy Keanini, chief technology officer at nCircle, loves Macs, just not in his company, a maker of network security and compliance management tools,” Robert Lemos reports for CIO.
“Keanini, who handled IT decisions until the company grew large enough to bring in a director of IT in 2005, encouraged and officially supported nCircle’s approximately 40 engineers using MacBooks,” Lemos reports. “‘The rest of our company was Windows, but engineering was mainly Macs because of me,’ he said.”
“But ultimately, instead of productivity gains, dealing with compatibility issues between the Macs used by the engineers and the PCs running Windows used by the line-of-business people in the office slowed down work and resulted in communications issues, he said,” Lemos reports.
Lemos reports, “So while Apple’s sales continue to grow, Keanini decided to buck the trend, and gave up on his most recent Apple machine, an Intel dual-core based MacBook Pro. ‘Between four and six months ago, I switched back to Windows,’ he said.”
Lemos describes five reasons why this so-called “Mac fan” switched to Windows:
1. Productivity trumps religion. Depending on how a company uses Macs, trying to integrate the computers into a company’s workflow can kill productivity, Keanini said. The applications never quite match up, data has to be massaged to be useful, and the company has to design work-arounds for each issue, he said.
MacDailyNews Take: So, the problem was the existing Microsoft Windows-based infrastructure. Not the Macs. Macs run Windows natively and/or via fast virtualization. Most real “Mac fans” know that already, Mr. Keanini.
2. Calendar programs no longer sync with the rest of the company, and documents created in one office software suite have to be converted to another, usually Microsoft Office. If your company uses Microsoft Exchange, as Keanini’s does, this adds another layer of problems.
MacDailyNews Take: Ditto our Take above.
3. You may become quite attached to a Windows application or two and decide that Apple doesn’t have a comparable equivalent. Apple is well known for creating user-friendly applications, but for Keanini, Microsoft has a lead with at least one program: OneNote, which he uses for personal information management.
MacDailyNews Take: Okay, so, for one program to which you are “quite attached,” you’re dumping your Mac for Windows? Run it in boot camp or Parallels/VMWare and shut up, Mr. Obvious Microsoft Mouthpiece. And, again, the problem here is Microsoft – not making a Mac equivalent – not the Macs which are perfectly capable of running a native OneNote, if Microsoft could somehow get their 10,000 spaghetti coders to stop daydreaming in their cubes and poop out some more pasta. Microsoft will never create Mac versions of OneNote or Outlook or achieve feature-parity for other apps (Office) precisely because this is how they keep sheep like Keanini in the pen.
4. “The designers of Mac — again, this is their priesthood — are not thinking about letting their users go,” Keanini said. “It’s like Hotel California: They are not expecting you to leave.” Companies that move over to the Mac OS X should expect to spend a lot of time converting data if they decide to move back to Windows, Keanini said.
MacDailyNews Take: Laughable, illogical tripe. Microsoft is the incompatible company, not Apple. Macs can run Windows which is the ultimate in compatibility. Microsoft and Windows are all about erecting roadblocks to keep their users locked-in. Apple Macs are the machines that for years read and wrote PC-formated disks. Windows PCs just sat there dumbfounded when a Mac disk was popped in. Extrapolate from there: Mac OS X contains many technologies designed, not because they are the best options, but only because they are used by Windows. This propaganda piece is sickening in its transparent obviousness.
5. Aluminum cases make MacBook Pro laptops, like the one Keanini chose, very sleek. But, Keanini said, the focus on design overlooked the fact that the computers throw off a lot of heat; so much so that he found he could not use the computer on his lap. ‘The religion made me blind,’ he said.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Eric W” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: This article reeks of Microsoft talking points — note the repeated use of the word “religion” meant to denigrate the choice of Mac as some sort of blind, factually-bereft flight of fancy — and reads like a PR plant. Are we supposed to be surprised that a maker of network security tools wants people to dump their Macs for Windows? Puleeze. Robert Lemos and CIO should be ashamed.
All Macs sold today can run Windows. All businesses with an eye for value and the future should be buying Macs and, if they need to, run Windows apps when necessary. What those tied to the Windows-centric PC world are worried about is what comes next. Mac market share continues to rise. Developers continue to flock to Macs. New, better business apps surface that are Mac OS X-based because users don’t want to be forced to run virtualized Windows or boot up into native Windows when they can run in their preferred Mac OS X; they same OS that their iPhones and home computers run. Windows slowly dies.
This article, despicable as it may be, is also expected and somewhat welcome as it clearly shows that Microsoft and their attached leeches are really starting to squirm.
Expect to see more of this type of FUD, not less, as Apple Macs continue to take market share from Windows PCs.
Fact is, if you’re a corporation and you need an ocean of computers that are used to simply crunch numbers, a cheap PC network is perfectly appropriate. But if your a small business owner who needs a very self-sufficient, locally accessably and modifiable network without requiring your own IT department, a Mac based network is the way to go. And the latter, by the way, will be the predominant economic driver for the next 10 yrs, at least.
“4. ‘The designers of Mac — again, this is their priesthood — are not thinking about letting their users go,” Keanini said. “It’s like Hotel California: They are not expecting you to leave.” Companies that move over to the Mac OS X should expect to spend a lot of time converting data if they decide to move back to Windows, Keanini said.”
This is a reason to switch? Seems more like a problem OF switching.
Give me that guy’s mail adress.
I’ll say I switched to Windows if Microsoft pays me enough. How much will a quote like that earn me?
“he could not use the computer on his lap. ‘The religion made me blind,’ he said.”
His eyes are in his crotch?
Apple is responsible for most Mac/Windows compatibility. Microsoft is responsible for most Mac/Windows incompatibility.
Microsoft is responsible for all Office/Office incompatibility, whether it is Mac vs Windows versions, Mac vs Mac versions or Windows vs Windows versions.
There is nothing wrong with the MDN take at all.
Just proves people can write anything as truth, and enough people will read this as truth, it becomes truth after a while.
That’s why it’s important to call out these people, to stop the lie from becoming truth.
I can use my Mac with 10.5 Leopard, and have FULL compatibility with MS Exchange, and Aventail VPN login at work. The IT guys don’t like it, but they haven’t stopped me yet.
Checks must have arrived again. I have to start keeping and eye on the FUD more closely and see if there is a specific time when MS sends their “reviewer” checks out.
Hey, Fester, can I have a check if I badmouth Macs with inane and incorrect comments?
I am often critical of MDN’s take in that I think they are overly snarky, incredibly parochial and blind to any flaws that Apple may have.
But I completely agree with them on one aspect of their response. Expect to see a lot more articles like this one.
Macs are way past the “tipping point”. The number of people switching to Macs over the next few years will be enormous. Expect a lot of resistance – both rational and irrational – from IT departments, those who can’t change and those who don’t like change. The naysays used to just laugh the Mac off by pointing to its small market share. When that argument withers away, expect PC supporters to become very defensive – and very offensive.
He is “Chief Technology Officer”??????
No wonder companies use windows…
My take is that probably – very probably – it was that he realized if he kept it up with the Macs – he’d find himself obsolete – no longer needed…
What an idiot…
CR
Let him have his silly Windows. This is the kind of person who deserves it, and let’s face it, do the rest of us want to deal with him? If there’s any justice in the world, he’ll start having trouble finding a job because he’s not versed in the Mac platform (obviously, or he wouldn’t have any trouble integrating it).
Well, this guy goes too far, but it is true that running a dual platform corporate environment could increase costs somewhat for the IT department. The only justification is if you think the productivity of individual employees is enhanced enough to make it worthwhile. The better solution is to standardize the entire organization on Macs, allowing only unusual exceptions when necessary.
Sir Yessir Mr Keanini sir!!!!!
What a loser (ummm make that a paid loser)
“Macs can run Windows which is the ultimate in compatibility.”
So you seem to be saying that running Windows on your Mac is the answer to all these compatibility issues?
Then why buy a Mac and hassle around with two operating systems when you’re going to end up using Windows for compatibility anyway.
And you know the song…
♪ Eric Willard is a moron ♪
♫ Bill Gates is a moron ♫
♪ Steve Ballmer is a moron ♪
♫ Timothy Keanini is a moron ♫
♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪
I am SOOOOO tired of Microshaft’s ineptitude being blamed on the Macintosh platform.
Whatever Keanini (Ninny for short). Our Mac mini workstations arrived today. The PCs are being sent to the recyclers. Then comes the Xserve. Our company doesn’t have the time or money to continue to waste on Windows PCs. It ain’t about religion, it’s about getting things done with a minimum of hassle.
MS Exchange is connecting fine in a ‘Space’ on my 24″ iMac, so is Office, Outlook, Synchronise, VPN, etc. Parallels times $80 for 40 Macs is not excessive and they probably have lots of XP licences left over.
I hope that Apple’s licensing of ActiveSync for the iPhone also comes to Leopard so I can sync aMail and iCal directly.
@Al,
You are correct, sir! I firmly believe MS makes all the Office apps run slowly to piss us off.
@dd,
Damn! That post must have taken you a bit. The Special Characters palette?
@@MDN,
Because using Winblows should always be a last resort.
Unless you are suicidal or a masochist.
More evidence that most CTOs are business guys, not techies, and their level of technical expertise is confined to reading Dvorak in PC Magazine…
Cool, two zings in one phrase…
Also, the MDN takes are over the top. More importantly, whether or not M$ is at “fault” for some of these issues is completely irrelevant to a company’s tech decisions. (It IS relevant, of course, for opinion writers, and it MAY be relevant for antitrust enforcers.) For example, if M$ stopped producing Office for Mac, it would hurt Mac corporate adoption. Sure, M$ would acting like jerks, but that doesn’t matter to an individual company, whose focus most be their own business. Oh, and running Parallels or Boot Camp is only useful for the occasional program, not if this is an ongoing problem.
As I said in my prior post, the better solution is for a company to standardize on Macs.
You win some, you lose some.
Two words…
Hit… Whore.
Windows PC’s make better check-out tills!