Jonathan Blum, “tech guru” for Fortune Small Business, asks “Is it time to consider moving your small business to Macs?”
Blum writes, “First, you should know that I’m no Apple fanatic. I’ve used the gear steadily since the Reagan era; the early Apple II and the computer-as-Cuisinart lookalike that was the original Mac were both college tools of mine. But overall, I have found Apples, as lovely as they are for certain applications, just not worth the hassle for most small businesses.”
MacDailyNews Take: Typical ham-handed set-up that attempts to establish impartiality: I’m no Apple fanatic, but I’ve used their products for a long time, so, even though no iMac model ever made even remotely resembles a Cusinart, get ready to believe the mountain of bullshit I’m about to shovel.
Blum continues, “Still, even I have to admit that the latest Apple line of desktops and laptop computers is flashing some serious small-business form. Apple computers now run on the same basic electronics guts – Intel chips and the like – as any PC using the Microsoft operating systems. Peripheral support for Apple is strong: Every gadget vendor wants a piece of that sexy iPhone/iPod pie.”
MacDailyNews Take: Shouldn’t a real “tech guru” implicitly understand “Apple computers” are referred to as “Macs?” We ask, not only because Blum does it repeatedly and awkwardly throughout his piece, but also because the last “Apple computer” rolled off the assembly line in December 1992. Now, can someone please explain how a printer or scanner or whatever peripheral maker is getting “a piece of that sexy iPhone/iPod pie” by writing Mac drivers?
Blum continues, “Many smart shops I chat with are dumping their Windows machines for Macs. Take Jaffe Associates, a Washington, D.C., marketing and business-strategy consultancy. This 25-person firm recently unplugged its traditional Windows server architecture to install a similar system from none other than Apple. The company considered upgrading its aging Windows XP terminal server but endured Microsoft sticker shock when it calculated the cost of deploying collaborative software: Chief Operating Officer Shani Magosky got a quote for $100,000. Then she priced Apple technology for same functionality and found she could build a similar system for about half the price… To see if Steve Jobs’ brainchild really does have game for the average small business, I ordered up an iMac several months ago and installed it in my little digital world. “
MacDailyNews Take: So, instead of stopping with a nice example of how a smart person dumps Windows for Macs and saves a lot of money, Blum proceeds to conduct his own experiment to see just how much meaningless nonsense a cretin can generate for Fortune Small Business.
Blum continues, “My verdict? Though Apple computers can produce excellent results for small business, expect issues: Macs remain a niche product. No matter what you do with a Mac, you have to deal Apple’s peculiar vision of all things computerish. First off, the packaging is seriously overdone: ‘Designed by Apple in California’ is prominent on the box. Like I care.”
MacDailyNews Take: Well, there you have it. Because Macs come in award-winning packaging that prominently displays the words, “Designed by Apple in California,” small business should expect “issues.”
Blum continues, “Why should locating the ‘on’ switch be such struggle? Just stick the thing where I, and my employees, can find it: right up front.”
MacDailyNews Take: We hereby apologize; we had no idea Fortune Small Business was employing the mentally-challenged as a tech writer. Jonny is obviously “special.”
Jonny continues, “As promised, setup was a two-click, plug-and-play affair: Plunk the iMac on the desk, plug it in and turn it on. Setting up peripherals and Web access was also dead easy. But – as ever, with Apple boxes – there were not enough USB ports. A USB hard drive had to be dumped in favor of Ethernet enablement unit.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Ethernet enablement unit?” Jonny, all iMacs come with built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet via RJ-45 connectors. There’s no need for an “Ethernet enablement unit,” Mr. “Tech Guru.” Match the ends of the wires with the holes on the iMac, Jonny. Spend a bit more time with your Sesame Street shape cube before setting up your next computer, okay?
Jonny continues, “No question, running native 64-bit Apple code on the Mac is blazing… But again, there are issues: Offsetting all this speed are some curious features clearly not aimed at the average small business. The desktop is divided into quadrants that exist beyond the screen’s edge. Only with some complex keyboard commands can I slide from one to another. All the goofy Apple-centric commands leave users trained on PCs constantly fighting to parse out what the control, option and command keys do. And there is the very odd mouse. Apple devotees swear by the touch-sensitive shell of the ‘Mighty Mouse,’ but its top left- and right-click buttons still look an awful lot like just one.”
MacDailyNews Take: Jonny, the ability to conceptualize virtual screens and mouse buttons requires an IQ above 70.
Jonny continues, “The real eye-rolling winner is Time Machine, quite possibly the silliest operating system extension in history. Must I really sit through a full round of special effects – the desktop slides away to reveal some mysterious star in full supernova disappearing into infinity behind my various back ups – just to find a what I said to a client in a lost e-mail? Honestly.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, by all means, replace an intuitive visual representation with a typically opaque Microsoft dialog box festooned with badly-labeled tabs that offers only text descriptions and buttons. That’ll help you more quickly find your files. Most people would appreciate things being thought out to such a degree and made simpler (and – gasp! – more fun) for them. Not Jonny the “tech guru.”
Jonny continues, “On balance, is there money to be made with Apples? Depends… But other than raw speed, I had a very difficult time measuring any quantifiable improvement over the PC for average business chores – that kind that ultimately affect your bottom line.”
MacDailyNews Take: How quickly poor Jonny forgets his own perfectly measurable and quantifiable example of Jaffe Associates’ Chief Operating Officer Shani Magosky and how “she priced Apple technology for same functionality and found she could build a similar system for about half the price.”
Jonny continues, “Yes, Apples can be easier to use, but with some things, like as syncing your Apple to not-Apple portable devices such as BlackBerrys and smartphones, expect real trouble. I and my assistants had terrible problems getting all of our company programs to work properly.”
MacDailyNews Take: Color us wholly unsurprised that poor Jonny and his attendants had terrible problems syncing their ancient and outclassed mobile devices. Jonny seems to know that Macs can also slum it with Windows, so why doesn’t they just fire up that ancient and outclassed OS to sync their ancient and outclassed devices until they can afford iPhones?
Jonny continues, “Yes, more businesses can now go to Macs – I would say they now make sense for maybe 20 companies out of 100, up from just 5 a few years back. But for the rest of us – particularly those that need basic computing and basic features – Apple is still more expensive and simply not worth the integration headaches for the average small shop.”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
MacDailyNews Take: How fitting that Jonny ends his FUDfest with a random concoction of nonsense numbers and then caps it off with an outright contradiction of the very real-world example he cites, Jaffe Associates, which shaved half of their costs by dumping Windows for Mac.
In all seriousness, the fear is palpable. Expect the volume and vehemence (along with the ridiculousness) of the FUD to increase as Apple Macintosh continues to take share from Windows PCs.
[Thanks to virtually every MacDailyNews Reader on the planet for the heads up.]
Umm, most iMac’s come with three USB 2.0 ports on the back. So if he ran out of USB ports (which forced him to dump his hard drive), then he should have gotten a small USB 2.0 hub. Like almost everyone with a personal computer.
Wow! This must be a really bad one. 11 MDN Takes about one article. Is that a record?
If he’s a ‘tech guru’ then I’m a brain surgeon.
WTF is an “Ethernet enablement unit”? This so-called “guru” completely lost credibility when he said he had to add a USB Ethernet dongle instead of using the iMac’s built-in hardware. How clueless do you have to be to not know that the RJ-45 socket on every Mac is for Ethernet (with the exception of the Air)? How embarrassing. I can’t imagine a tech writer for Fortune Small Business is so appallingly ignorant. And yet, there he is.
First off, the packaging is seriously overdone . . . . . WTF?!?!
Blum was about to get his notice.
Blum had coffee with Dvorak.
Blum knew then how he could save his job.
Hits, baby, it’s all about the page count!
wow. he needs a wizard. and a reboot.
If he didn’t have enough USB ports why not do what I do for my external drive? Use Firewire, it’s faster.
Our distribution business in Ottawa works with two non Mac consultants who work from their houses in Peterborough ON. We got 24″ iMacs to enable collaborative computing using iChatAV, which makes it easy to work on a common document…versus communicating by e-mail. Soon after getting the iMacs the consultants got Time Capsules…they now work very differently from their PC days, and even use iWork and don’t have Office anymore. Businesses that function with OS X are simply more productive and innovative. End of story.
You didn’t hear that Microsoft redefined “guru”. Yeah, there was an international standard/consensus on its meaning, but they decided to embrace and extend it.
The new definition of “guru” is “moron”.
I think ‘guru’ is the appropriate term. A guru is a spiritual leader. Everything this guys says is based on faith & mysticism.
However as a member of the Catholic League of Blackberries I have no choice but to excommunicate him on charges of heresy.
It’s amazing anyone this stupid can remain employed as a writer.
It’s an issue that Macs are designed in California? What would Blum have us do? We should all start using PCs designed in China? Even Lenovo does their design here in the States.
Why does he have it in for Spaces? Although I rarely use it, I do have it enabled and have never been bothered by it.
Finally, what correlation is there between the experience of a single user who’s obviously unwilling or unable to grasp anything new and the experience of a company with 25 users, some fairly heavy server needs, and $50K savings in hand? Even if they spend the $50K on retraining or other transition issues, they’ll come out ahead in the long run due to reduced support costs.
I agree with MDN’s take. The fear is palpable. Someone should investigate to see if this guy is another paid shill.
bizarro. Is this article for real? It almost seems like a parody.
I agree with the MDN takes. This article is a piece of FUD that reflects poorly on the credibility of this “tech guru”. But while he’s 99% wrong (can’t find the “on” switch – geez!), I think Apple could do something about better access to the USB ports. My 24″ iMac’s appearance is dented somewhat by a short USB extension cord lying on the desk where I can install my frequently-used pen drive more easily. Could something in keeping with the design be installed on the foot? Just a thought.
If you go to Mr. Blum’s own Web site, and then click on the “About” button, you’ll find that Mr. Blum and his attendants (we assume that means his cats) are totally for hire…
“For a small fee, we can quickly customize or localize blumsday.com blog items for your audience. See example.
For a little more money, we can produce an original story on a topic that originated on blumsday. See example.
For just a little more, we can report and write an original story or produce audio and video reports on any technology-related topic. See example.”
http://www.blumsday.com/about/
So, Mr. Ballmer, how much did you pay for this hit piece?
What amazes me is that these people find work, knowing what you’re talking/writing about clearly isn’t a requirement so you wonder why they even actually bother paying someone to write about tech, they may as well get the person who does the horoscopes to knock something up about how they like to play minesweeper on their lunchbreak.
“Though Apple computers can produce excellent results for small business, expect issues: Macs remain a niche product. No matter what you do with a Mac, you have to deal Apple’s peculiar vision of all things computerish. First off, the packaging is seriously overdone: ‘Designed by Apple in California’ is prominent on the box. Like I care.”
Very true. This is an extraordinarily huge problem for small businesses. Overdone packaging means workers spend too much time admiring the boxes instead of working; it is a very serious distraction. Of course, small businesses could throw the packaging away like enterprises do instead of placing them on the desks. However, that solution requires a little thought from a non-existent brain of Blum.
Blum continues, “Yes, Apples can be easier to use, but with some things, like as syncing your Apple to not-Apple portable devices such as BlackBerrys and smartphones, expect real trouble. I and my assistants had terrible problems getting all of our company programs to work properly.”
I thought he only bought one iMac to test? .. now he switched the whole office over?
The best part was all the people writing the comments reaming his ass.
Three things. First, I often think that MDN is way over the top with it’s criticism. Second, I think there are legitimate reasons to stay with a PC. Third, I think MDN’s criticism of this was spot on. The author didn’t list one single valid reason to avoid using the Mac listed.
I’ll have to agree with “bon”, above. The article was so stupid it almost sounded like a parody. Didn’t like the packaging? Couldn’t find the on switch? C’mon. I couldn’t even make this stuff up.
I can see how an ordinary, ignorant PC guy can complain about lack of USB ports on a Mac. Most desktop PCs these days come with anywhere between six and eight ports (two in front, rest in the back). With keyboard plugged in as a hub, Macs tend to have total of four available ports. However, the math is slightly deceptive; on a PC, out of those eight ports, two are needed for keyboard and mouse, which leaves you with six (at most). If you plug in your keyboard and a mouse on a Mac, you still have three more ports for your devices. The only snag is that the other port on your keyboard has very little power, and is essentially USB 1.1 (i.e slow), while the other two on the iMac are fast(er).
Article clearly isn’t worth anyone’s attention, as it displays most basic ignorance about everything IT (Ethernet enablement unit??? My spell check flags that word with a big fat red underline!)
I think what he meant by “ethernet enablement unit” for his harddrive is either a NAS enclosure or a USB printer/drive server.
Either way, he now has a better setup than before because his drive is accessible throughout his network without the iMac needing to be on and configured for file sharing.
Also, has he heard of USB hubs or even the extra two USB ports on the keyboard? I use one keyboard port for my mouse and the other for pen drives.
Must be a drag to have a low IQ.
And the song continues…
♪♫ Eric Willard is a moron. ♫♪
♪♫ Jonathan Blum is a moron. ♫♪
♪♫ Billy Gates is a moron. ♫♪
♪♫ Steve Ballmer is a moron. ♫♪
Is he a Martin Short character?
All singing aside, this guy really is stupid. The desktop is broken up into quadrants????? THIS is a tech guru? Does he not understand what virtual desktops are? He obviously has 0 understanding of anything that we call computers, whether Mac or PC. His terminology leaves much to be questioned.
♫♪♫ Fortune Small Business hires morons. ♪♫♪
Tell the editors what you think:
http://money.cnn.com/popups/2005/biz2/email/emailsend.html?send_to=fsb_mail@timeinc.com&article=http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/29/smallbusiness/macs_small_biz.fsb/index.htm
Or here:
fsb_mail@timeinc.com
Jonathan, you’re fired!
Go on, get your things.
Oh, and leave the iMac here.
This article is not about Macs and PCs. This article is about Mac OS X and Windows. It makes no difference what you choose, AMD or Intel, who your case is made by, Asus or Liang Li, or who your built your video card, nVidia or ATI. Hardware is not what users use… they use software. The bridge between that silicon and that person is the software. These tech idiots have no clue about the heart of the issue.
You can buy Dell. You can by Asus. You can buy Toshiba… it doesn’t matter. They all run Windows, and Windows is a flop. The real question is whether to use Mac OS X or Windows. The niggle here is that the former requires an Apple built product, while the latter, well it can run on any joe-shmoe system… quality is not an assurance.
The lays of the world can ogle Apple products, but its the interface that deserves the majority of the credit. It is Mac OS X that should get the accolades… and that’s something these idiots (like Blum) have completely missed.
WS,
Who you calling a niggle?!
@Vague Nomenclature
Good catch, Bum appears to be looking to dethrone Enderle (that should be good sport).
@HMCIV
I think ‘guru’ is the appropriate term. A guru is a spiritual leader. Everything this guys says is based on faith & mysticism.
Some vague understanding of nomenclature in that. Guru’s are about communicating with one’s spirit, faith and mysticism is religious fare, like seriously old much edited books, invisible ‘friends’ and voices in the head. Not voices in their own heads, alleged voices in the heads of their leaders.
@January 24, 1984
Must be a drag to have a low IQ.
Depends what you do with it, IQ is just one measure. Some people with low IQs do very well in terms considered conventional and desirable, for corroboration I cite Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Mickey-Mouse Dell, GWB.
@MDN
Keep on doing what you are doing.
This guy’s got an ass for a brain.
Email sent to editor of CNNMoney:
“CNNMoney should be absolutely ashamed of itself for publishing this article by Mr. Blum.
It isn’t worth my time to list all the evidence for the opinion stated above, with one exception: how seriously should a reader take Mr. Blum’s drivel when his basis is that in a day or two he can perform an assessment of Macs for business use that can be compared to the depth of investigation Jaffe Assoc. almost certainly performed before making their decision to switch?
Suggest you peruse the web to see how Mr. Blum’s arguments are playing there. Not well, I can assure you.
Any article that ends “Windows Vista, properly installed and used in tandem with Web-based productivity tools, is a powerful, powerful alternative.” should be accompanied by a disclaimer that Blum isn’t being compensated by Microsoft for his opinions.
But then, I realize it may not be possible to state that.”
Predrag wrote: “If you plug in your keyboard and a mouse on a Mac, you still have three more ports for your devices. The only snag is that the other port on your keyboard has very little power, and is essentially USB 1.1 (i.e slow), while the other two on the iMac are fast(er).”
@Predrag: that is old incorrect information. It was true of the white Jay-Leno-chinned iMacs. But the current Aluminum iMacs have USB 2.0 ports in the keyboard.
I wonder how much Microsoft paid him to write this drivel?
For anyone using a desk with a grommet hole in it, and in need of a USB hub but unwilling to clutter it up with the fugly crap that a lot of manufacturers have been making, check out the Belkin In-Desk USB hub.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=369283
They have others available via Amazon, but that one happens to be the nicest. And it was even reviewed kindly.
I just discovered Blum’s tech credentials. Not bad — he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night…
There are two more USB ports on the keyboard (non-Bluetooth).
I can’t figure out whether the “divided into quadrants” thing is a statement of pure stupidity, or if it’s just a badly conceived attempt at sowing confusion while retaining some level of plausible deniability. I’m leaning towards the former, but then, these FUDsters never expect to be called to account, so maybe it’s the latter… Hm.
i love the left handed aside “if you need basic computing don’t buy a mac” this idiot really just needs a calculator not a computer. I’m forced to use both at work (mac’s do not play well with Cad mills yet) but i have to sometimes send some weighty files i tried to zip one on the pc and was greeted with ” you have 40 uses then you have to buy this software or remove it and all iterations of it from your hard drive” my mac zips them for free add another 40 dollars to that companies savings!
I read through Jonathan Blum’s assessment regarding Macs in small businesses, and I found it to be disingenuous and misleading. Early in the article, Mr. Blum describes the results of Jaffe Associates’ Shani Magorsky, who was able to ‘build a similar system (to a $100,000 Microsoft system) for about half the price.’ Then, in his summation, he declares ‘Apple is still more expensive and simply not worth the integration headaches for the average small shop.’ While I certainly understand Blum had difficulties setting up his single iMac computer (his problems seemed atypical of the standard computer users’: his distaste for Apple’s slogan, his inability to find the On switch, and some peculiar troubles with the USB ports and an ‘Ethernet enablement unit’), it reads more as a ‘What I Couldn’t Figure Out on My Summer Vacation’ piece than an actual review of Macs in a small business place. Where were the details from the Jaffe Associates’ experience? Where was any discussion of Boot Camp or the other methods of running Windows XP on an Intel Mac, one of the major selling points of using Macs these days? This article was not a very helpful piece for anyone considering a Mac-based small business, myself included. You might reconsider the moniker ‘tech guru’ for Mr. Blum; it lends him more credence than he earns from his article.
About the apparently insufficient number of USB ports:
– since the guy is coming from Windows, it is no surprise he owns a disgustingly large number of USB peripherals.
– nobody seems to realize that USB performance drops dramatically with the number of USB devices on the same bus, especially in the presence of USB 1 or otherwise slow devices
– why is it that I see a string resurgence of Firewire external disks (combined with USB and more recently, eSATA)? For that exact reason, namely. USB sucks: even FireWire 400 is typically 3 times faster than USB in real world circumstances; Firewire performance doesn’t go down under severe loads as it does for USB.
Time to get rid of a few USB peripherals and to upgrade to modern interfaces!
What hope do you Apple fanbois have that more PC users will ever switch to Mac if your cumulative voices are inconsequential compared to the ranting of one single moron?
Seriously, what the hell are you doing wrong that even isolated morons, idiots, and twits can convince tens of thousands of people that buying a PC is better than buying a Mac?
Your doing one lousy job, people, when even “morons” can out smart all Apple fanbois.
blum@blumsday.com
“Windows Vista, properly installed and used in tandem with Web-based productivity tools, is a powerful, powerful alternative.”
And. . . Resistance is feudal.
Ok people. Lets not start a MOB scene here.!!!!!!
You guys are right, this guy is a moron. But for the great part, and MDN, you totally forgot about this.
Go to the article and read the comments.!!!!
Read the comments!!!!!
Almost to a person, they all pointed out how this guy is just dumb. And that the magazine should chastize him. These are great readings.
So, MDN, remember to check out the comments too.
Just a thought.
en
@He, he.
Is ‘fanboi’ French Canadian?
“In the Middle Ages, lords and vassals lived in a futile system.”
http://www.s-anand.net/calvinandhobbes.html#19901026
Here’s why I don’t like “Apples:”
I tried loading Leopard on my Mac SE and had to trim the disc just
to get it to fit in the slot!!!!
Theeeeen, the damned thing wouldn’t even load, so now I’m back
where I was using OS 7.
‘Designed in California” my goober peas!
another letter to the editor,
An Apple fanboi is a person whose best efforts are futile compared to the idiocy of Microsoft apologists.
It never fails to humor me that the most ardent Apple fanbois seem convinced that the most pathetic PC protagonist is a better orator for Windows as an alternative Mac than the sum of their concerted efforts or wishes.
Or, maybe Apple fanbois are so insecure and weak that the mere mention of a favorable Windows piece makes them crap their skivvies and wilt into a quivering heap of fear and worry.
The only other guy smart enough to know the author was talking about an ethernet enabled drive. MDN dropped the ball on that one hands down. And there aren’t enough USB slots on a G5 Mac. No excuses. The ones on the keyboard are too slow and why is there two an inch and a half apart? What else besides a mouse that is low powered and 1.1 would I plug in? So i have a hub, but you think $2,000 could get a card in the back.
I know some fanboys will disagree but I’m just sayin’…
This is a true sign that Macs are making inroads into the business (small and large) market space.
Windows apologists seemed fine with Macs eating into the consumer market for the past 3 years, as it did not touch their IT departments (AKA Fiefdoms).
But now the iPhone along with large consumer and educational adoption of Macs is starting to bleed into the corporate world, and they don’t like it. Resistance will get louder in the Mainstream Windoze Media, but the more it does, the more it brings Macs into the conversation, and on real merit, which IT groups are often forced to work with due to their customer’s demands, Macs will only grow.
That guy has an SE….wow…that was a pretty sweet machine back in ummmm 1988 or so….20 years ago…I want one…nice piece of history.
I hope all the small businesses that my small business competes against read and believe Blum’s article. I want all my competitors to have Windows systems while my team uses Macs. Then, while my competitors are constantly restarting their machines and fighting viruses and struggling with poorly designed software, my company will be eating their lunch.
People like Blum are encouraging the villagers to come down to the beach and see the big wave coming–just before the tsunami called Apple washes them away.
Bottom Line: If Mac’s get a strong foothold into the business world… which it looks like is happing these days… then the IT guts are in real trouble! Why because it’s harder to justify one job if the platform your using isn’t failing all the time!
And MAC’s just don’t fail all that often… plus managing a Mac server is easy… even I can do it and I’m just a salesperson at heart!
And that’s not a good thing in the mind of a IT person!
Somebody should tell Blum to plug the mouse into the keyboard. I have no doubt that he, in a very Windows/PC-like manner, used two of the USB ports on the back of his iMac for the mouse and keyboard. Incidentally, I find it staggering how Apple’s lowly little iMac has grown into the ideal corporate desktop; it really is ideal.
I thought that Blum might be referring to a NAS when describing his “ethernet enabled drive”, but really, who with any tech credentials would refer to a NAS that way? And, who with a NAS would be running out of USB ports trying to add USB drives?
For 90+% of iMac customers at least one USB port goes unused throughout its lifespan. For everyone else there are USB hubs for less than $10. Especially in a business environment, most iMacs will be connected to the keyboard and the Ethernet port. That’s it. There is no reason in a real business for iMacs to have external drives. Any business that is a real business (not the pseudo tech writing business that Mr. Blum pretends he has) will have their Macs networked to a server.
It is painfully obvious that Mr. Blum is a hired gun. Nobody can be as publicly stupid as that and not get paid for it.
have a look or join the tech guru discussion here:
http://fsbfeatures.blogs.fsb.cnn.com/2008/05/30/why-macs-still-arent-right-for-most-businesses/
Jonny is obviously “special.”
Hahaha well played MDN.
Most people do not see the future of work place the Mac’s now give. iChat makes video conferencing easy, this will cut down on long email exchanges, and can save travel cost. It can also help your employes have more contact with each other . When MS Office combined several apps that were geared to specific jobs they made employes more productive and expanded the resources of the companies. You can now incorporate iLife into the business apps. This will change the game of business like Office and the internet did in the 90’s. Time Machine, Back to my Mac, and Boot Camp will make IT a lot easier. He even mentioned how easy it was to set up. Even Photo Booth could be useful tool.
Business people who have vision can see usefulness in what Mac’s have to offer now. Unfortunately most stick with what they know or follow the success of others.
…. johnny, we’re gonna need to go ahead and move you downstairs into storage B. We have some new people coming in, and we need all the space we can get. So if you could just go ahead and pack up your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific, OK?
Wow. Just wow. I cringed while reading this awful article. This guy was has no idea what he’s talking about and has no basis for his arguments. He sets up arguments only to support them with irrelevant crap. The packaging of a Mac is overdone? How does that cause any problems? In fact, since the boxes are so nice, less of them are ending up in landfills. Ha!
@feral:
😀
lol!!
He said, “…running native 64-bit Apple code on the Mac is blazing…”
But what exactly is he talking about? The kernel isn’t 64-bit and no applications that ship with OS X are 64-bit.
These fluff pieces appear all the time. They’re designed to piss people off and inflate the hit counter. This article is so obviously mediocre that its intentions are transparent.
p.s. who came up with the label “fanboy” anyway? Just another need to slap labels on fellow humans we can’t “show up”, I guess. Lame.
To feral: I would go ahead and set off those bug bombs in the basement but whatever you do, don’t fsck with that guy’s most precious possession.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/supplies/61b7/
I used bad judgement and actually read the source article. Sorry. Then darn, I just had to write some comments at their website. And it is so embarrassing! They posted what I wrote. Hanging my head down low, I present here my comments on the article.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
—–
I have been running my business on Macs for seven years and started working on them professionally in 1991. With that experience behind me I have to ask:
Is the point of this article to perpetrate FUD? (Translation: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, an antiquated method of perpetrating propaganda). It’s nice to have Mr. Blum sort of suggest Macs, and certainly skepticism about any change frequently pays off in perspective. But this backhanded criticism of Macs in the article is just plain bizarro silly. I don’t think the article is helpful to anyone! It comes off as some weird piece of anti-Macintosh marketing ad purchased by Microsoft. It’s reminiscent of the bad old days when certain ‘technical journalists’ dared not criticize Microsoft without also taking a swipe at Apple seemingly so as not to lose Microsoft ad revenue at their magazine. In other words, what was the point of this article?
The worst bizarre statements are right up at the top under the headline:
“Apple is flashy…”
Subjective much? Apple is ‘flashy’ is a backhanded way to say they are vacuous. Flashy these days means Paris Hilton. And we know what she’s worth. A more insightful investigation about what an ‘Apple’ (actually called ‘Macintosh’, as written on its box) really is, beyond being visually pleasant, would be helpful and expected of any technical writer. So where is the depth of investigation?
“…but still more trouble than it’s worth for basic computing tasks.”
I have heard there are a few people that are so ingrained in the cranky lack of intuitiveness in Windows that they find the Mac interface ‘difficult.’ Well, some people actually like Paris Hilton. I work with both Windows and Mac OS X and I find exactly the opposite of this bizarro statement to be true. When I help my Windows clients with their OS problems I make an awful lot more money than when I work with my Mac clients. The reason is very simple. It is a big pain in the backside working in Windows. Basic computer tasks in Windows become a remarkable chore.
So please everyone! Use Windows and make me more money! But sadly I have a solid conscience that demands I be honest. You need to choose the computer that best performs the specific tasks you require. The choices in business are Macintosh or a Windows PC. What shall it be? Why not BOTH? Macs do both! So that makes the choice dead simple. And when you buy a computer it is essential that you consider ROI (return on investment) and TCO (total cost of ownership. I suggest you compare the Windows PC to a Mac running Mac OS X. A hint: You won’t find any studies in favor of the Windows PC. They don’t exist.
What I do when I personally need the occasional Windows-only application is I start up my virtualization program of choice, which is Parallels (but VMWare has its benefits as well), and run Windows XP. Works just fine, or as fine as Windows ever is.
Final point: People like to criticize Mac users for being ‘cultists’ who ‘flame anything bad said about the Mac’. Yeah, both platforms have plenty of raving loonies. But the fact is that the number of articles that slam the Mac out of ignorant hatred of anything not Windows is beyond comprehension. This is how it works: If you goad someone into becoming upset, typically it works and they respond in kind. So if Mac users slam this, IMHO, pointless article, why should anyone be surprised?
:-Derek Currie
Adrian sez:
‘He said, “…running native 64-bit Apple code on the Mac is blazing…”
‘But what exactly is he talking about? The kernel isn’t 64-bit and no applications that ship with OS X are 64-bit.’
Um, Adrian. I like to be kind to newbies. It’s OK to be incorrect while you learn about a computer. You look up the answer, you shrug your shoulders, oops you were incorrect, now you know better, then you move on to the next challenge.
But to show your ignorance in public is not a good idea. It’s embarrassing. Please restrain yourself. If you look up the answer to your question and verify that you have the correct information, and it contradicts what someone else has published on the web, by all means provide the correct information. But here you did the opposite. And someone might believe you! Then you’d be guilty of spreading misinformation. The result is the newbies like you who are too lazy to bother verifying their statements end up as confused and lost as you are.
I hope you see my point. We all have to grow and learn. Just don’t do it in public.
All of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is 64 bit. And what is kewl is that even though it is 64 bit, it still runs everything that is 32 bit, including drivers. You can’t do that in 64 bit versions of Windows.
I hope that helps you understand this issue.
;-D
@splat,
Darn right the SE is a fine machine–we bought ours in ’89, and it’s great…with its 2 MB of RAM and HUGE 40 MB HD.
Asmodeus,
People call ’em like they see ’em. Would you prefer another a hasher pejorative like “idiot”, “moron”, or “imbecile”? Jus’ askin’.
Oh.
My.
God.
“Ethernet enablement unit?” WTF?
If you Google the phrase (in quotes): “Ethernet enablement unit” you come up with 5 results, all related to this bozo’s article. He’s managed to create a truly unique 3-word combo. Amazing!
Bozo article, I name thee the “Ethernet enablement unit” rag!
I’m impressed that he got “native 64-bit Apple code” running on a 32-bit iMac.
I think I figured Blum out: he works in the back country of Missouri.
I sent him a personal email asking for verification. I’ll post his reply.
P.S. I might be incorrect about Missouri; it might be the Sahara.
What the hell is a “hasher pejorative”?
People call it as they see it huh? People like you that can’t think for yourselves and have to toss out lame ass labels at others like everyone else, you mean. Right?
Groupthink at its most rotten core. How typical and pathetic.
Than
While I’m certain that this article has received considerable feedback from hardcore Apple Fans. And that many of the responses have been vile and and immature.
A company as reputable as this, should really have issues with publishing an article by an alledged “tech guru” that is suppose to give technical advice to readers of your publication. Who might take this information, and make business decisions based on the information gathered here. When the alledged ” tech guru”, clearly has no idea what he’s talking about.
As a reputable publication, you be concerned with the future credibility of of the articles read here.
This guy is billed as a “tech guru”. He clearly does not have a clue.
My complaint is not a Mac vs PC issue. This guy, simply doe’s not know much about PC technology.
I think he’s trying to say that once you tackle her box, her on button and the eye candy, there’s not much left to talk about.
That was just awfully written. This guy needs to hand in his writer’s card at the same time he turns in his “tech guru” card….sheesh. I’ve seen teenagers in guild chat put a better argument together.
My idea is this:
At the computer store, give them an iMac and tell them to turn it on.
If they can do it in under 10 seconds let them buy a Mac. Between 10 seconds and 2 min, laugh at them but let them try again. If more than 2 min, make them buy a PC.
MDN: “Jonny, the ability to conceptualize virtual screens and mouse buttons requires an IQ above 70.”
But not much above 70. Hell, a smart monkey could figure it out.
Jonny Blum is Zunetang.
LOL. I hope by now that guru or goo goo has learned his lesson. I also hope most readers see the comments on that page and here. The guy just made a giant idiot out of himself.
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this is one of the worst articles ever, this guy probably calls a car a four wheeled transportation device.
i visited his “B2B content engine that provides print, video and audio content for busy media professionals operating under tight deadlines and tight budgets” (web site).
he also calls his site “a content service for media professionals in print, radio, television and the Web.”
“a marketing vehicle and research tool to develop new customers and learn about and service our existing client base.”
and says: “Blumsday abides by the highest standards of professional journalism”
HAHA !
http://fsbfeatures.blogs.fsb.cnn.com/2008/05/30/why-macs-still-arent-right-for-most-businesses/
Thanks for the laugh.
Blum is a fag.
“Offsetting all this speed are some curious features clearly not aimed at the average small business. The desktop is divided into quadrants that exist beyond the screen’s edge. Only with some complex keyboard commands can I slide from one to another.”
Funny. All I need to do to switch between spaces is take my mouse pointer to the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
Hot corners. Take all of 10 seconds to set up
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”rolleyes” style=”border:0;” />
I think he was using a MacBook Air, hence the need for an Ethernet adapter. Look at the subhead of that section of the article: “Mac Air vs. Vaio.” The problem is he then refers to the Air as an iMac for the rest of the article. There’s also nothing comparing the Air to the Vaio. I think he was just drunk when he wrote this.
He is a Micro$oft Windoze Zombie
@ grasshopper
that’s not a subhead, but a link to an unrelated article
but, even if that is the case:
why own 2 macs if u think that they are not usable
why use an external USB drive on the extremely portable MBA ?
and, he should mention that he meant the MBA
but, i don’t think he has an MBA, maybe he copy pasted bits of articles by other people ?
MDN — your analysis is on target. Blum’s piece is the most idiotic piece of drivel I’ve ever read. In our small business, we’re replacing all our Dell’s with Mac laptops and desktops. The fact is that Mac hardware is very reliable and OSX is simple to use and administer … our users overwhelmingly prefer the Macs to their prior setup — Dells with XP Pro or Vista. Anyone who does their homework, realizes that running Macs provides a much lower total cost of ownership than the PC/Windows package. As http://rip-ragged.com/dross/ has said many times Apple’s about the “total widget”
To He, he.
He, he.
Wow. That was actually painful reading it was so craptacular.
Although I disagree with the statements that were made by Jonathon Blum about the ability of Macintosh computers to provide a viable business solution, his statements are correct if you attempt to implement a Microsoft Windows view of business with a Macintosh. His fundamental problem is that he refuses to adopt a model for his business that is consistent with the design of the Mac and MacOS X.
If he had chosen to revise his business model to be compatible, he would have concluded that Macintosh is a far superior platform for implementing small and medium business solutions. I make this statement because my wife’s small business did move from a Windows solution to an all Macintosh solution and the only problems that were encountered were with WIndows users not understanding the Macintosh approach. Those employees without a strong computer background or who were willing to adopt the Macintosh model were extremely pleased with the results and significantly more productive at a lower cost to the business.
I do not believe that this result is at all unique to this business, but is the expected result of any organization that takes the transition seriously.
I must agree this guy Johnny is a really stupid. He complains about packaging? Since when does that effect how a small business would run? He complains about the superior graphical interface with Time Machine that will keep your small business data backed up safely? Every complaint he points out is something that real people find useful, helpful, and is what made them switch to a Mac in the first place!
Johnny needs to go back to school and learn why there is something called a graphical interface. It makes it easier to use, IDIOT!!!!
Oh and Vista, powerful SLOWWWW as molasses, GARGBAGE!!! It has an interface that GETS IN YOUR FACE CONSTANTLY!!! They call that security. It takes 5 minutes to load anything and then asks you are you sure you want to do this? Vista is an over bloated, over done, worthless piece. Even Microsoft knows it, which is why they are already working on 7. They don’t even want to associate it with the name Vista. That’s how bad it is. Sales prove that too. Businesses don’t want anything to do with it either.
@derekcurrie
Derek, obviously you don’t follow your own advice. Did you even try researching my statements? Allow me to educate you beyond the level of the Fortune article’s author.
“The first is the kernel itself, which remains 32-bit in order to maintain compatibility with existing drivers.”
That quote came from this site: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/6
But if you don’t believe that website, then ask an Apple Engineer!
If you want to see how many 64-bit apps are on your system, run the following command, without quotes:
“locate -0 app/Contents/MacOS/ | xargs -0 file | grep x86_64”
My system has four 64-bit apps: Chess, Java Preferences, Java Web Start, and TWAINBridge. FYI, that’s a very small percentage of the apps that come with Leopard. Do you even use any of those four apps?
Now please, don’t call people ignorant without having accurate information.
Bill sez: “I’m impressed that he got “native 64-bit Apple code” running on a 32-bit iMac”
Sorry Bill. Your newbie status is showing. See the previous note I wrote to the newbie who said “The kernel isn’t 64-bit and no applications that ship with OS X are 64-bit.’
To make your embarrassment even worse, the fact of the matter is published right on this page. See the Advertisement link entitled “Apple’s New iMac: 20, 24-inch widescreen with 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo. Starting at just $1199.”
Here are a couple places where you can sort out what Mac had what processor had what bit architecture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Duo
http://www.mactracker.ca/
(Hint: The last Intel iMac to be 32 bit was discontinued in September, 2006. All G5 iMacs were 64 bit).
@derekcurrie
Did you read my reply? Yes, I was mistaken by saying no apps that ship with Leopard are 64-bit. There are, in fact, four rarely used apps that are 64-bit.
However, you cannot dispute the fact that the Leopard kernel is 32-bit.
@derekcurrie
Perhaps you’ll believe an article from Apple:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/64bitPorting/transition/chapter_3_section_4.html
Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…
Hi Adrian!
Sorry I didn’t see your reply posts until now. Distracted by Apple’s marketing drivel I inferred Leopard’s 64 bit capability into abstraction and made wrong conclusions. However, reality turned out to be not quite so simple:
I had an entire concession speech written, but I did some home work (about bloody time!) and found that the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard kernel is NOT ENTIRELY 32 BIT. Here is the best article I could find, written in 2007 and published on the web in January 2008:
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/attachments/986_inside_the_mac_osx_kernel.pdf
Its title is “Inside the Mac OS X Kernel. Debunking Mac OS Myths.”
Here is the crucial quote from page 4, first paragraph in the second column:
“There is just a single kernel image for 32 and 64 bit Intel: It is loaded as a 32 bit process in 32 bit protected mode on both kinds of machines, and if 64 bit support is detected, the kernel switches into long mode compatibility mode – a mode that supports running 32 bit code, but also allows easy switching to 64 bit code. So the whole kernel code is still unmodified 32 bit code, but tiny stubs that deal with copying between user address spaces (which can be 64 bit), and the syscall and trap handlers are 64 bit code. Next to being an easy port, this has the extra advantages that the 64 bit capable kernel can still easily support 32 bit KEXTs, and conserves memory by being able to use 32 bit pointers throughout a large part of kernel code. On the flip side, the kernel cannot use the extended x86_64 register set and is restricted to a 32 bit address space.”
As for Mac OS X Leopard and Apple provided 64 bit apps, your rectification of your original statement is correct. And the facts are even more silly. Using your very helpful CLI command line I found that the 64 bit apps in Leopard were already in TIGER! IOW Apple added no 64 bit versions of apps to Leopard. Reading around on the net the assumption by Apple is that making apps 64 bit at this point would only take up more disk space in the OS distribution and that the speed gain would be negligible. One quote I read suggested that Chess had been made 64 bit, in Tiger, simply as a demonstration of a 64 bit app.
(x_0)
derekcurrie – 1
Adrian – 0
But it was very close.
I know a guy named Jphnny… he is ALSO mentally challenged
I read the original article and I was thinking the same thing as discussed in this post.
Note to Editors of Fortune Small Business Magazine: when one of your writers complains about the box a computer comes in then you need to assign the article to a more qualified writer. Blum’s article would be more appropriate for mybiggestcomplaint.com than a business magazine.
If Fortune Small Business was going to publish an article like this it really should have been as an op-ed piece or a “humor” article.
There are good reasons why Macs might not be right for some businesses, but this guy didn’t talk about any of them.
It was a lot of words without much being said.
Enderle probably wants to hire this guy thinking he’s brilliant. BTW, the comments are worth a look. It’s a shame that the media whores will ignore them.
yes those comments are great, most of those commentators are better writers and better informed than Blum.
and so many are switchers !
Clues and inconsistencies that show he didn’t do ANY research nor bought ANY iMacs in his life:
1. “Every gadget vendor wants a piece of that sexy iPhone/iPod pie”
What does iPhone/iPod got to do with PERIPHERAL SUPPORT?
2. “Apple computers”
Any Mac user, regardless on whether he’s a fanboy or not, addresses Apple laptops and desktops as “Mac” more often than “Apple” itself.
3. “Macs remain a niche product”
MAYBE Macs WERE a niche product, if you call low market share as defining niche or not. Macs ARE for everyone, from kids to students to adults looking for simplicity and elegance to professionals looking to maximise effort and minimise hassle.
4. “All the goofy Apple-centric commands leave users trained on PCs constantly fighting to parse out what the control, option and command keys do.”
What about Ctrl+Alt+Delete? Sticky Keys? Alt+F4? I don’t know about those CODES when i started using windows 9 years ago.
5. “I and my assistants had terrible problems getting all of our company programs to work properly.”
He said he bought 1 iMac. Since when did he switched his whole office to Macs?
6. “particularly those that need basic computing and basic features – Apple is still more expensive and simply not worth the integration headaches for the average small shop”
A lot of small shops in Malaysia are using Macs because (i’ve interviewed them) windows gave them more headaches. Viruses, spyware, and security issues. My college uses Dell, and ALL the students always complain of viruses, corrupted thumbdrives, ruined assignments and projects. I pity my lecturers who constantly deal with viruses ruining their notes and slideshows every single day. Mac is for everyone, basic or advanced. That’s why lots of schools and colleges in USA use Macs.
Valid arguments NOT to use Macs: NONE
Design enhances business and productivity, since it enhances working space (offices) and comfort (retail outlets).
There are only 6 sides to an iMac. How hard is it to find the ON switch?
WTF is an Ethernet Enablement Unit? Congratulations for creating a new product name. How many ethernet cables do you need for your Mac or PC?
if your IQ is miserably less than 10, you can reduce your “quadrants” to 1, and if smarter, you can increase Spaces to 16, though i never use more than 2 at one time.
Complex keyboard commands? Odd mouse? Dude, business owners are above 2 years old.
Business owners rarely sync devices compared to home businesses and normal consumers.
Obviously, he didn’t do his research. he didn’t even get his terms and jargons right.
@derekcurrie
Thanks for the article. That’s the best info I’ve seen on the subject.
Found another one…
http://www.vladville.com/2008/05/antimacfanboism-as-a-religion.html
Stumbled across this one while reading the full thread on Jonathan Blum at Fortune.
I checked it out and since the blog posting was only a week old and still accepting comments, pointed out to Vlad that his “AntiMacFanboism” ignorance was present in iTunes DRM, in how to put “4-6 HD RAID” into a PowerMac (and a Mac Pro) as well as how the Mac Pro is cheaper than a Dell and that his ranting about wanting a cheap midrange tower is increasingly irrelevant when 50% of consumers are now buying laptops, etc. Pretty much most of his claims were torpedoed.
Refreshed and found my post (as well as a few other new ones) now listed on the page.
Checked back after lunch … poof! Its all gone.
Gosh, it seems that Vladimir Mazek can’t take criticism, so he deleted it all. Of course as a MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003 it shouldn’t be at all surprising that he’s exhibiting religious intolerance because in his own words, “AntiMacFanboism … has more merit than the MacFanBoism”.
Good thing I kept a copy. Maybe if Vlad responds to my email, I’ll put it up on my own blog as YA example of a FUDing MS Astroturfer in action.
-hh
OFF TOPIC!
Adrian sez:
“@derekcurrie, Thanks for the article. That’s the best info I’ve seen on the subject.”
Derek sez:
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It’s time for LOVE FEST!
Derek <<admires>> Adrian.
It was kewl that we both got new info out of it.
OFF TOPIC!
-hh sez:
“Found another one…
http://www.vladville.com/2008/05/antimacfanboism-as-a-religion.html“
Classic old school trolling. <<shaking off the dust>>
This troll’s approach reminds me an awful lot of the propaganda methods of the Neo-Con-Jobs, such as the Sean Hannity & Rush Limbaugh humans. Say something stoopid long enough and vehemently enough and someone might believe you. It got a brain dead president elected!
<<snark snark>>
@derekcurrie
“Classic old school trolling. <<shaking off the dust>>”
It really is. The dumb part is that I really wouldn’t have cared that much if he had let my comment stand without comment or attention. That this Astroturfer deleted it and shut down the comments is what drew my attention to his hypocrisy…classical Microsoft.
-hh