[MW Forums]

Computerworld looks at whether the Mac will gain more of a foothold in corporate networks. more

[elCapiton]

" because the servers must be reconfigured to support Internet Message Access Protocol and Post Office Protocol 3 for inbound mail and Simple Mail Transport Protocol for outbound traffic."
Oh no, you mean the MS email servers have to support standards??

[montgomery_burns]

One important issue that is not mentioned is ease of servicing Apple hardware. Of all the major computer manufacturers, Apple imacs and laptops are the most difficult and time consuming computers to take apart. Replacing even the most basic components requires totally taking the whole computer apart and stripping everything down to bare metal. PC oriented IT staff are in for a rude awakening if they expect to simply start taking Macs apart like any other PC. People like to mention AppleCare, but simply having a warranty does not make the hardware any easier for a technician to take apart. Dropping off Macs at an Apple retail store inside a shopping mall is not enterprise support. For far too long, Apple has shown total disregard for hardware serviceability. Having thin, shiny imacs means nothing if your technicians can't repair them easily. Corporate IT managers considering adding Macs should talk to an Apple account representative and demand hardware that is easy for their technicians to take apart and service. They should arrange for an Apple technician to come over and demonstrate taking apart an imac or MacBook Pro in front of the IT staff. And then watch the Apple tech promptly get laughed out of the building.

[LeeSF]

<shrug> Not true in my experience. My last company (3000 employees) had a mix of Mac and PCs, desktop and laptop, and the effort to keep them running seemed about the same. The Mac tech I worked with did the easy stuff directly, and sent the harder stuff out to a 3rd-party service company. In some cases Mac laptop repairs were easier on users, because you could either swap the hard disk into a loaner, or put the machine into target disk mode and copy everything to the loaner. That seemed harder to do with the PC laptops, such that users would be scrambled for a few days without their docs and email.
Mostly a case of neither better nor worse, just different.

[cebritt]

"Jaquith also noted that companies are hesitant to introduce the Mac because they want to focus on as few operating systems as possible and, he said, favor a monoculture in which all machines are the same. Most corporations are continually looking for ways to manage their infrastructure more consistently and measure network performance, and the Mac (and, for that matter, Linux) just introduces another variable. Many companies also prefer the old familiar technology that Windows XP provides."
I find it interesting (in a snake-eating-a-rat kind of way) that while in the rest of our world we've come to appreciate the benefits of diversity in nature and people, the IT world still clings to the old monoculture model.
We used to plant forests of genetically identical super trees until we realized that once a pest is introduced, all of the trees are at risk. Gypsy Moth, Chestnut Blight, Dutch Elm Disease and Emerald Ash Borers are examples.
The Graduate School of Business at The University of Texas in Austin standardized on Dell PCs a few years ago and kicked the Macs to the curb. I laughed my bottom off when their entire network was compromised and taken down for several days due to a virus.
So using the IT model, let's get rid of women in the workplace because they require separate bathrooms and they want maternity leave. Let's get rid of religious people because they don't want to work on Sundays, Easter and Passover. Let's get rid of vegetarians because they want special food. No Spanish, French or Chinese allowed either. Screw the benefits of diversity, we want everyone to be the same because it's easier and cheaper. Sheesh...

[celiawessen]

I think it all comes down to convenience. If you had a bucket full of screws, a few - screws thrown in there will, forgive the pun, screw you up. But if you had two buckets of screws, one full of and the other full of -, it'd be easier to manage. You also need the right tools for the job, but you don't want to invest in them unless you have enough screws to turn. It's always a hassle when you have "a few loose ones". You'd probably throw them out or put them away somewhere and forget about them, right?

[folklore]

I'm a former PC tech who switched to Macs when I went to grad school.
Frankly, after seeing how poorly they manage their PCs in my department, I'm quite glad I use my MacBook Pro and do all my own tech work anyhow. My department's IT staff is slow but at least they're incompetent. They'd never survive in corporate IT.
The good news is that the university is mostly platform-neutral, with the exception of a few departmental Novell shares that I almost never really need access to anyway. Novell support for OS X is basically nil.

[Rhywun]

If I asked my company's (~300 machines) IT department to support my Mac, they'd just laugh at me. In fact, they will only support equipment that they give you. That means I have a crappy Windows laptop that I dread having to use every once in a while in an emergency.

[leicaman]

Nonsense. I've installed SATA cards in Mac Pros and Powermacs, and I've replaced hard drives, set up RAIDS, installed graphics cards, even installed a processor update once. And I have installed and updated many versions of the Mac OS.
I don't know where you get the idea that Macs are hard to take apart, unless you're talking about iMacs. So don't get iMacs. Get Mac Pros. Easy to fix, easy to open. Don't even need a screwdriver to install the SATA cards. Try that with a cheap PC with sharp edges inside that can cause a biomedical toxic situation if someone cuts himself. Oh wait, I'm getting a big silly. Like your argument.
We use HP PCs at work, all non-standard parts, difficult to upgrade, and cheap as dirt. Who upgrades computers any more? Just toss 'em and buy new ones. I find Mac Pros are way easier to maintain.
And I'm not even in IT! I'm a photo editor who has supported our Macs exclusively until IT finally decided that Macs have encroached enough in so many departments of the company they have no choice but to have a Mac support person in the office. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[jhmaughan]

In his first sentence, the parent specified iMacs and laptops as the Macs that are very difficult to service. Mac Pros are definitely easier, but usually IT will not be putting a MacPro on everyone's desk. Nine times out of ten they would use a Mini (if they have the KVM already), an iMac (because they are more cost effective in the three to five year cycle IT tends to go through), or a laptop (which is where Apple is gaining the most ground right now).

[megatrick]

<<<Likely related to signed server message block connections. Jaquith downplayed this glitch, noting that most corporations probably dont have server security protocols set so high that the Mac operating system would have trouble accessing shares.>>>
Bet some WILL after reading this article.
"Hey Todd, we can really screw those MacHeads. now... Just crank up the SSMB connection protocol and we won't have to deal with those guys anymore.... Tehehehehehehe.... "
"Great idea, Gary."

[JScott]

I just got my IT manager to switch to a MacBook Pro. His words after a day of using it... "this things is f*ing fast!". The only thing is he mainly runs Vista on it. Oh well, baby steps.

[sw00p]

I've only ever run into that problem using Windows machines (irony, gotta love it). Next time I'll plug my Mac into the network, just to verify ...
FWIW I use my Macs on the corporate networks I have access to - unofficially but with tacit permission, of course - and, agreeing with what others have already mentioned, I just don't care whether they support my OS choice or not, just as long as I can get everything to work in some fashion. I agree with the article's premise (minus the pundits' seeming FUD spin) - "we're here, we're on your network and you'd better just stop crying and deal."
See ... sometimes that "foreign" Mac on your network belongs to the new kid in development, and sometimes it belongs to the CEO. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[MacTel]

There's usually a handful of this type of article every year on Macworld. I read them nevertheless, and I'm for Macs in the workplace of course. However, Apple needs to make a statement about where they stand with enterprise computing and lay down some roadmap as to where they'd like to go with their offerings to lure small, mid, and big business.
Without a roadmap of some sort, Apple will not be taken too seriously as an alternative to Microsoft. Apple needs an event dedicated to its non-consumer customers. Leopard seems to have more server (better mail and calendaring) technologies that could convert many SMBs to Apple. Yet Apple needs partners like Oracle and IBM to come out publicly and support Leopard whole-heartedly with their respective wares as well.
Apple doesn't have the resources to be a Microsoft in having a product for every whim of business. They need to foster VARs and solution providers and get the message out that Apple cares about having a foot in corporations.
But if Apple just wants to be a consumer shop then it is time to panic because the real support for businesses wanting to use Macs won't be there.