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Recommend Apple, Lose Your Job?
rocketjam writes "While examining whether outsourcing tech work to India is really cost-effective, Robert X. Cringely takes a look at the old conspiracy theory that IT doesn't recommend Apple solutions because they need less support, thus endangering IT professionals' job security." Cringely argues: "Ideally, the IT department ought to recommend the best computer for the job, but more often than not, they recommend the best computer for the IT department's job."
That's because they can't afford an IT department after spending all that money on Macs.
Maybe the REAL reason IT doesn't recommend Apple is because:
1. They cost three times what a comparable PC does.
2. Less variety of software
3. Highly proprietary systems whose replacement parts can only be bought though Apple.
4. Most users are already experienced with Windows.
5. Not geared towards engineering/computational/production environments. All that leaves left is the art geeks.
Bottom line...I work for a relatively small company 50 employees, and if I deployed Apples here it would be an unmitigated disaster. Accounting, payroll, the software that controls our machines, etc would all be broken. Imagine what kind of problems a company several times larger than us would face. I don't buy this tinfoil hat ranting from Cringely. Apple is not getting a break not only for the reasons mentioned above, but because people already have a tremendous investment in existing infrastructure that they would have to scrap and start from scratch if they wanted Apples.
-R
If I wanted to think of the Indians, i'd go gamble.
http://use.perl.org
As an Apple service man and systems technician all I have to say is
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Lower maintenance my butt. OS X is not ready for the enterprise, period (not that windows solutions are quite all there either).
The reason I don't recommend Macs is because:
1.) The hardware is horribly overpriced and difficult to maintane (single vendor, hard to get parts, history of parts availibility probs, etc)
2.) Apple has lousy support for large corprate leases (in business you never ever buy desktops).
3.) Poor local warranty service in most areas of the country (think on-site, 24x7, 4 hour SLA everywhere in the country...just like Dell or HPaq)
Now if OS X was available on several platforms and carried by several vendors, then I would go for it (as long as licensing made sense), but I wouldn't touch Apple hardware with a ten foot pole in the business setting.
Note: I have two macs at home (and 4 x86 machines...and soon to be one x86-64 machine) all running Linux (the macs run Mac-On-Linux).
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
Wow...typical Apple Zealot answer. And you guys actually sit around wondering why everybody hates you.
I have to say: updating these machines is a completely and utter waste of my time and skills but it definatly keeps me employed. My boss is so apathetic that he never wants to make changes. I've offered on several occasions of virus outbreaks in the company to switch everyone to mozilla mail so we'd stop getting those Lookout (Outlook) viruses. But no!
Did you also offer to write a centralized, shared calendaring package, shared address book, full contact management system and meeting scheduler for them? Or did you just think they used Outlook for email?
Coming soon - pyrogyra
"Ideally, the IT department ought to recommend the best computer for the job, but more often than not, they recommend the best computer for the IT department's job."
Kinda like McDonalds recommends their own food, EB Games pushes their special magazines and BestBuy recommend a warrenty/the items that give them the most profit and kickbacks.
I guess this is another one of those WELCOME TO CAPITALISM!!! WHERE YA BEEN!?!? moments...
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