Ogg writes, “Now here’s the big question: Does your IT department, the guys who think it’s just fine that you’re still using a Windows XP laptop (and P.S., stop whining about it), give a hoot about all this Apple stuff?”
“The pitch [Apple] has been making in recent months is simple: Employees are already using plenty of Apple products on their own time and like them, and the iPad is a great, lightweight tool for Web-based corporate software,” Ogg writes. “If you thought this was just lip service, Apple is even now working with the decidedly old-school consultants at Unisys to approach big corporate and government customers.”
“‘IT managers in the past have said, ‘I don’t want unique experiences,” pointed out Richard Shim, analyst for IDC. For IT department managers, people on different systems often just translates to a huge headache,” Ogg reports. “[But] The Enterprise Desktop Alliance, a group of enterprise software companies that integrate Mac and Windows systems for businesses, said that during its recent survey of more than 460 IT administrators that more and more employees are asking their IT departments for Macs.”
Ogg reports, “The Enterprise Desktop Alliance is predicting that Macs will climb from 3.3 percent of all systems at companies last year to 5.2 percent in 2011. That’s still small, but it represents sizable growth: between 2009 and 2011 one of every four new systems added at companies will be Macs, though much of that will come from companies already deploying Apple machines, according to the IT administrators they surveyed.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mr. IT Doofus: Lead, follow, or, finally, GTF out of the way. Luckily for world productivity, many of the most myopic IT idiots are retiring or soon will be. Here’s to the disappearance of entrenched, unreasonable IT morons dedicated to erecting walls to progress!
Everytime I have this argument with my IT buddy I realize 2 things. He’s never really used a Mac for more than 1 minute. And he is trying to ensure he has a job.
@I CAN HAZ IT doofus?
I can see why everyone is crying in their beer, but look at this: Apple discontinued the Xserve at the same time they began an agreement with Unisys for enterprise sales. They can’t be exiting the enterprise market.
When you sell to consumers, sending outside salespeople to knock on people’s doors won’t work. Instead, you open a store and advertise. When you sell to the enterprise, opening a store and advertising won’t work. Instead, you hire an outside salesforce to call on prospects.
There’s no need to advertise your enterprise business, because the salesforce takes care of that. (How many Unisys ads have you seen on TV?) If you do advertise your enterprise business, it changes your corporate image in the eyes of the consumer, which hurts your consumer business. Would the average consumer be more motivated to buy an Apple product if they knew that http://www.army.mil was hosted on OS X? Or would Apple start to become a faceless corporate giant in their eyes? Apple actively and successfully markets to the US Army. It’s invisible to you, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
My contention is that Apple’s enterprise sales are and will remain
as invisible to you as Apple can keep it, because that’s not the corporate image they want to project to the public.
97%!? Well I’m not one of the sheep… I’ll walk with the 3%
So you guys really think all those servers are running Windows?
Look, it’s sad that Apple doesn’t make the Xserve any more, but what the heck does that have to do with what desktop users are running? Many, if not most of the servers in the back are running Linux variants, but that doesn’t mean anything to desktop users. So IT can’t buy a 1U Apple server any more… That has nothing to do with the laptops they buy. If they’re running Linux and using Windows laptops the argument doesn’t really hold up.
Did anyone notice the reason that Jobs gave for killing XServe? No one was buying them. So how is it all that bad when they shut a door no one was walking through?
And as far as how ridiculous it would be to use MacPros instead, let’s remember the Big Mac
ITs will not feel concerned with a firm that doesn’t produce heavy servers.
The two posters above don’t seem to get why everyone’s pissed off here. MDN regulars are always quick to point out the FUD generated by others. This time Apple have generated their own. If their corporate customers lose confidence and jump ship as a result it’s Apple’s fault, not the customers’ IT departments.
Erratum : The two posters above almux
this is a real setback. Why trust apple in a pro environment? What else will they excise? Now I do use macs privately and have been promoting professionally even worked with them in a pro level. This is undermining.
However what if this is in line with the IOS speculations I have been reading.
What is needed though is a clear migration path and you keep the old shoes before you have the new ones, I.o.w keep x serve alive until moving on. The suggestion of spinning off is a better move.
Ok, egg on face; I thought I wasting on the x-serve topic.
In reply to Jim’s comment “Why if Apple is SO great is windows in like 97% of computers around the world??”
The number of roaches on earth far exceeds that of humans, so why aren’t they the dominant lifeform on the planet?
I don’t believe they will EVER allow Virtualization – since this provides large Amounts of possible Configurations and therefore work to solve Issues…
As soon as Apple would cancel their Xserve EOL and provide an adequate Upgrade to the Line
OR
provide a reasonable “noisy” Xserve/MacPro Hybrid that is 1-2U high and can be either Rack-mounted or stand vertical like a Tower
— then they have the GREENLIGHT!
Hey at least you know microsoft will be around in a few years, not just kill off their enterprise support with 3 months notice. Apple has lost all credability in all areas other than toys. (And this is coming from a die hard apple supporter)
“‘IT managers in the past have said, ‘I don’t want unique experiences’ ”…
…which led to some major disappointment in the honeymoon suite.
I AGREE A LOT WITH JIM. I am in IT business for 14 years already. Mac is better, but not for enterprise. Mac is pretty, funtional, simple and all. But it’s just not for enterprise. Justification for purchasing a Mac does not fit for enterprise whatsoever, software wise, network wise, cost wise. Sorry guys, but Jim is right.
Not good for enterprise eh? When you accept a new job at Google you have two choices for your OS. Linux or OS X.
Mac isn’t good for tired old thinking enterprises…there I fixed it.
I’m a teacher, and I bring my MacBook Pro to school every day. I have never asked IT for help integrating my mac, but can still add every printer in the school, access the internet, etc. It just works. My school Dell just sits there most of the time, except for my computers class where I need to demonstrate things the exact way it appears for students.
I get more done in less time with my mac. So does my wife.
My argument is consistency. I need to be sure that it will work every time, because when you have 30 students sitting around while you try to log in, and your profile is corrupted (a major issue plaguing our division) you are simply not doing what you are paid to do. Teach.
Many teachers in my division feel that IT decisions exist to make life easier for them, not to make our jobs easier. Isn’t that what computers are in enterprise for? Making our jobs easier?
I’m an IT doofus, and have been for the last 20 years. Just for starters, the X-Serve was discontinued. And don’t get me started on the Mac Mini Server or the new Mac Pro Server. Installing server software on a desktop computer does not a server make. They have no worldwide on-site warranty (which I have with Lenovo and HP). No free virtualization software (which I have with Citrix and VMware).
The ONLY thing Apple does offer to the enterprise is that it’s easy to connect an Apple computer to an enterprise network running Windows, AD and Outlook. Note I left out easy managing of iPhones in the enterprise, because it’s anything but.
The apple on your laptop ‘front cover’ lights up only when the screen is illuminated. It is actually just backlit from the screen lighting. You can’t illuminate it when your laptop is in sleep mode. You may be able to have your screen stay lit when you close the cover, however, and if your screen stays lit the apple will stay lit. Not sure why you would want to do this, though.
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/force-factor-reviews-do-force-factor-supplements-work-2369634.html
The apple on your laptop ‘front cover’ lights up only when the screen is illuminated. It is actually just backlit from the screen lighting. You can’t illuminate it when your laptop is in sleep mode. You may be able to have your screen stay lit when you close the cover, however, and if your screen stays lit the apple will stay lit. Not sure why you would want to do this, though.
Force Factor
MDN fuck you. You ever had a real job? Ever had to work in IT? I doubt it. There are a tremendous number of great folks in IT out there who are apple supporters but are handed the ms pos and have no choice. Fuck you fuck you fuck you.
The IT situation is simple. They love the strangle hold they have on the employees of most companies including the CEO. They love to show how smart they are in being able to solve your never ending problems. The companies I own have always used Macs. The first was a Lisa ($10,000) when I was a one man company. The high cost argument does not hold water.
While they expect Apple to control a whopping 10% of the computer market, what they don’t mention is that things are going the way of the tablet and while the ipad might be the best, it is also the most expensive. Apple controls nearly a quarter of the smart phone market? What they don’t tell you is that this has stabilized with Android already surpassing this (http://www.betanews.com/article/Android-usurps-iPhone-in-market-share/1273506043) and expected to be the lion share of smart phones in the coming decade and android has only been around for 2 years!!!! (well 26 months but whose counting).
Common to both:
Hardware is generally reliable (yeah, you can complain all you want but I have owned many a pc and haven’t had a problem with a single one that I didn’t cause myself with liquids or falls). Also, you can’t judge all pc’s because some are made out of balsa wood (what do you expect when you buy a 50$ computer made in Afghanistan).
Pros of apple:
It looks good (Great UI, no lag, intuitive)
Runs fast
Runs reliably
Pros of PC
It looks good enough (but what do I care, all I do is Facebook, and Gmail)
Everything and I mean everything runs on it. You want to virtualize windows inside a virtualized linux and run ie 6 on in that setup – no problem – and you can do it in a number of ways. You want that 15 year old game you played in high school, cool! And you can download the tool that will make it work. Ironically, the only thing that won’t run on a PC is apple after version 10. I wonder why that is . . .
It’s cheap and I mean cheap. A desktop that will run any game is in the 500 region and a decent laptop is not much more. My mom bought one for 300 2 years ago and that thing isn’t much slower than my supped up developer machine. And what the hell do I care how fast it is. I play my games on my phone, check email, and check status updates when I’m not writing my documents in the cloud. I don’t need a hex core/256 GB ram thingy-ma-bob!!!
It integrates with corporate environments. There isn’t an app out there that doesn’t work with a PC that is corporate oriented.
Cons of Apple
Nothing runs on it. My games no run, my apps no run, that nifty tool from widgets are us . . . u guessed it, it no work!?!?!?!?
This shit is expensive. I can buy 3 pc’s, a phone, and a tablet for the price of one apple. For that price it damn well better not break, and it better be intuitive, and it better be fast!!!
But all this is moot because Android is going to wipe them both out. The PC won because of open hardware with a closed windows on top, apples lost because of closed hardware and closed software. Android is going to win because it is open software on top of open hardware. While windows and Apple are going to be scrambling to come up with native APIs to communicate with the TV/Home Security System/Car/Airplane/Remote controlled helicopter/Toy built on top of Android, Android will have all of this functionality built in. Android has won, it’s just that the rest of the world doesn’t know it yet.