“Today, half of Serena’s workers opt for MacBooks over Lenovo laptop PCs when they’re hired or due for a hardware refresh, bringing the number of Apple users to about 100 out of 800 globally, according to Ron Brister, senior manager of worldwide IT operations at the Redwood City, Calif.-based maker of application development tools. Users like having a choice, and the number of support calls has declined,” Brandel reports.
MacDailyNews Note: This note is for Mary and Ron specifically: If you think you see Uncle Fester pulling up in black and white Geek Squad VW bug, you are not hallucinating and it’s no joke. Run!
Brandel continues, “‘Gone are the days when IT dictates how people get their jobs done,’ says Brister. There have been no problems when it comes to interoperability with Serena’s Windows-based data center. And thanks to a discount from Apple Inc., the MacBooks cost roughly the same as Lenovo ThinkPad T61 machines, according to Brister… And the company’s iPhone now offers business-friendly features such as increased security, e-mail synchronization with Microsoft Exchange and a software developer’s kit. On top of that, Apple’s Intel hardware can now use virtualization software from VMware Inc. and Parallels Inc. to run Windows on the Mac.”
“Michael Gartenberg [JupiterReserach analyst], acknowledges that Apple hasn’t made a major push into the enterprise, but he thinks it’s in the cards. He points to the next major OS X release, currently called Snow Leopard, which promises integration with Microsoft Exchange. ‘It’s just a series of slow steps that allow Apple to become a credible player in the market,’ he says. ‘As we move into 2009 and 2010, we’ll see a strong, concerted effort to go after this market in a big way,'” Brandel reports.
“With the MacBook, Brister sees lower failure rates and gets fewer support calls. Most users are now running applications directly on Mac OS rather than using VMware’s Fusion virtual machine software to run Windows on their Macs, or they’re using cloud-based software such as Google Docs,” Brandel reports. “Fusion users tell Brister that applications run better in an image on the Mac than they do on Lenovo hardware. And costs are competitive, he says.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Slowly, inexorably, the pressure builds until… Boom!
> acknowledges that Apple hasn’t made a major push into the enterprise, but he thinks it’s in the cards.
It seem to me that Apple doesn’t need to make a “major push into the enterprise” because users (the employees) are doing it themselves. All Apple needs to do is continue to enable the technology, so that the IT folks (who want MORE support calls NOT LESS) have fewer and fewer real excuses for not allowing the Macs into their “enterprise.”
People get comfortable with the platform they use all day at work and become numb to the pain which is why Apple NEEDS to get MailApp integrated properly with Exchange services. GAL, Calendar, Communicator, Live Meeting. These are my compatibility issues at my corporate job.
One reason I started working for myself five years ago was to get away from the world of Windows.
I have no compatibility issues, since we use Lotus Notes. The client is a massive lump of bloat, both Windows and Mac, but it is truly cross-platform.
The only compatibility issue is in the locked-in mindframe of IT drones, from low-level management all the way through the IT ivory tower. Eventually, it will continue to break down, certainly helped by the push from CEOs who have tried it at home and discovered whole other way of computing.
Serena Software Inc really sounds like a good comparasion to any of the Fortune 500 companies that would be needed for this to even be accurate.
What don’t people get about on a scale of 1,000, 5,000 + that this will never happen. The cost upfront is way beyond anything any CIO would sign off on. Sure you’ll have some small companies or pockets of Mac adoption but this is a fantasy and will always be a fantasy. Now if Apple decided to license the OS to install on any capable intel box it would be a different story but the whole closed system approach is always going to limit them.
Still not getting the whole let’s run windows in VM – that totally goes against any cost savings angle you could use. Why would any company want to handle the nightmare of CAL for Apple’s email program on top of Office? I could see Entourage as it’s still Microsoft dollars and then still have Windows CAL. No matter how to dice that up your paying WAY more for the same seats.
If you actually read the article it reads more like why NOT to use Apple in the enterprise.
RE: “Another week .. another Mac taking over drivel…”
This obviously is yet another leming who does not “get it.”
The reason why Apple Macs are superior to PCs “Mr. Drivel” is that Apple tightly integrates the OS and application software with the hardware. If you expand the hardware choices to all manufacturers of crap beige boxes, the compatibility problems will increase exponentially and you’ll just end up with a third-rate, Windows-like environment in which components don’t always work properly with the hardware.
Get it now?
That said, Apple may yet license the Mac OS to other hardware vendors some day. Who knows? But I would bet that even if the geniuses in Cupertino do this, Apple’s hardware always will work better with OS X than third-party hardware.
That is actual a flawed arguement as both hardware is technically the same. intel is intel. Video is Nvidia etc. So It would likely run the same if you benchmark it.
Also the arguement is this goes beyond Apple’s wonderful intregration with OS X and iLife. OS X running many of the needed enterprise applications usually fails as 1. they don’t work and 2. need to run on windows in VM (which is actually slower) so I don’t know why you don’t “get” that.
First of all, Apple is a company that worth like $95 Bi and I’m sure they don’t use windows in their. Maybe M$ office. Second the hardware should be attached to the OS for better integration and user experience. Comparing the personal computer with the automobile industry, make think if I want to replace the engine of my Lexus and install a Porsche engine on it, should this be possible?
Game. Set. Match.
Bingo. Bango. Baba-booee.
“And thanks to a discount from Apple Inc., the MacBooks cost roughly the same as Lenovo ThinkPad T61 machines”, according to Brister…
Hey! I thought Apple didn’t sell to enterprise. How did these guys get discounts? I guess Apple DOES care after all!
“Gone are the days when IT dictates how people get their jobs done”. Those days are not gone in my workplace. IT are about to lock my Mac off the network, because….. get this…… they cannot guarantee network security with a Mac attached.
I’m about to have one of their crappy PCs inserted into my office, much like a probe in a certain orifice (and about as much fun), and they have given every indication that they intend to try and have my Mac confiscated (bitter battle ahead).
I don’t know where these commentators get the idea that the enterprise world is about to change. As far as I can tell, it bloody well ain’t.
Why should Apple “push” into enterprise anyway? Their main focus is consumers and small businesses. In case no one here noticed, there are a lot more small businesses out there than huge corporations. Small businesses don’t need (or want) the kind of bureaucratic nightmares that the enterprises call “IT”. Exchange server is a huge resource hog. It requires full time IT staff just to keep it running! I run a Linux server in a small business, and I barely have to touch it. We don’t even have an IT person, I’m the primary “maintainer” and that is not even close to my main area of expertise or responsibility. I use a MacBook Pro, and I just switched my boss to one, too. He got tired of us having to flush his (and everyone else’s) XP box 3-4 times a year, while I just keep on being more productive with a LOT less problems. We have one Vista user and she only had to reload her computer once last year, so I guess that’s an improvement, but her network performance sucks and I have had to help her figure out where MS moved all the crap (like the menu bar!). Vista 2 can’t stop the migration, and enterprises will eventually catch on, so why chase low-margin, high-maintenance sales?
By the way, I’m sure some “IT” person here will tell me that having to reload our XP boxes is the “reason why we need IT”. Every one that I know that works for an “Enterprise” goes through the same BS of crashes, malware, viruses, and general slow-downs after you just use the computer for a while that we have at our small business, sometimes worse. So don’t even try that crap, OK. Winblows is not secure or efficient, it never has been. The only thing that it’s good for, as far as I can tell, is justifying large IT departments. It takes an army to reload that many computers so often.
Why bother responding to “another week drivel?”
And SAB, I think you’re right on the money!
Is that the sound of another IT guy crapping his pants?
IT guys UNITE! Do you want to loose your jobs by letting machines, that don’t need your services, infiltrate your company? The more Macs allowed into your company mean fewer IT guys. If you love your job, start an anti-Apple program in your company NOW before it is too late! Once the accounting departments get wind of the lower costs involved in using Apple products, YOUR IT JOB WILL BE GONE!
@Micro Me & SAB
My guess is it will get worse with the economic recession. IT will use this as a means to “save money” by “streamlining” the hardware they support. I expect with Win7 there will be a new wave of get rid of Mac’s in the enterprise, so buckle your seat belts.
And unless the CEO does use Apple, IT will likely be successful.
Forget about using desktop virtualization…enterprises can avoid the duplication of licensed seats by using a Citrix Zen server. Access it from the intranet or internet, and you have access to a virtual Windows desktop or even just specific programs that open in a window on a Mac, side-by-side with your mac apps. We use Citrix every day without any issues and it is supported by one IT employee in an organization with over 7,500 employees plus over 1500 external users (physicians, with a large portion using Macs). By the way, that one IT employee currently uses a MacBook as his primary work computer. At least there is some hope…
I wish someone would do a comprensive study on this beyond what users “prefer” to work on. Do a hard fact cost analysis, cost to benefit and then let the facts (and numbers) do the talking.
I wish it was as simple as replacing hardware but it’s not you have extensive testing to do to validate what applications work or not. User training for those not accustomed to Mac etc. Apple needs to get serious about enterprise and provide white papers and studies that show this or it will strictly be pockets of users and small business.
There will always be IT staff regardless of what is on the users desktop. Be it on-site, contracted, out-sourced someone has to provide support, regardless if there are more or less issues. But then again maybe most Mac users are used to bringing their device to an Apple store or mail it to Apple like this article outlines.