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Apple Forcing IT Shops To 'Adapt Or Die'
alphadogg writes "Many IT departments are struggling with Apple's 'take it or leave it' attitude, based on discussions last week at MacIT, which is Macworld|iWorld's companion conference for IT professionals. Much of the questioning following technical presentations wasn't about Apple technology or products. It was about the complexities and confusions of trying to sort out for the enterprise Apple's practices. Those practices include the use of Apple IDs and iTunes accounts, which are designed for individual Mac or iPad or iPhone users, and programs like Apple's Volume Purchase Program, which, according to Apple 'makes it simple to find, buy, and distribute the apps your business needs' and to buy custom, third-party B2B apps."
I am a geek with good understanding about Linux. I probably know more about computers than your typical Slashdot geek. But you know what? I bought my first Apple product last week and I can see why people like it.
And why I don't think Apple forcing their way is bad? Because they have done much larger good for general computing than Linux and even Windows have ever done. People like Apple's products and that is only because they have "forced" their views about computers. Unless Steve Jobs and others did this we would still look like bunch of nerds and geeks. But Steve Jobs came and changed that. He actually made computing cool. And no, I haven't always thought this way. I did think Apple was really damaging for computing ecosystem, with this exact reason. However, after trying Apple's products I can honestly say what Apple does is good for geeks. Maybe Linux didn't succeed, but we have something much better - cool OS based on BSD.
Seriously, try one of Apple's products. It's not hard to see why they're so popular. And for Linux devs - try to make your stuff more like Apple's products.
an iTunes account have to do with the business workplace and enterprise computing - no iTunes on company computers - problem solved!
Apple is still a niche player. IT shops can easily buy elsewhere, and bring in policies that lock out employee-owned devices. How is this a good business model for Apple?
apple does not have real server hardware at least come at least let sever run in a VM on any base hardware.
The mini sever lacks alot of stuff a real sever has and the mac pro lacks some of the same stuff as well + it's a very poor fit.
So you think because a few million people run Apps that the entire corporate infrastructure, the existing mainframe, unix, windows, and linux systems, and EVERYTHING ELSE is going to change to make ROOM for Apple in the enterprise?
Sir, you SERIOUSLY underestimate your importance to North American enterprises. Even Microsoft isn't that ignorant of their REAL place in the IT industry.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Back in the 1980's they failed to come to grips with what Business Users expected of a PC - thus Microsoft's fortunes were made.
Repeat?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Apple does`nt want to play nice? I`ll set them right up there on the shelf next to the eight-track player. Besides, now that Jobs is gone, Apple is just circling the drain. They all but abandoned their notebooks to chase iPhone and iPad sales. Give it a couple of years. It`ll be "Apple who?"
bah it's too hard, why try?
"Take it or Leave it"?
I would choose to leave it. Apple products, while "cool" and "neat" for the individual user, don't often work well in large enterprise environments.
This is just a fact of life.
Until better management tools are made to "manage" the apple devices / environment, they will still be a secondary (or greater) choice for enterprise environments.
Apple is saying 1 of 2 things, but I don't know which: 1. We created these products without enterprise in mind, like, at all. BUT, we are pretending that this oversight was actually an unconscious foresight: We meant it to be this was, so, do it our way or don't do it, but just don't complain. 2. Or, although we were aware of the enterprise IT paradigm, we purposefully decided to ignore it and do it the Apple way. Strangely, the apple way seams to be to make enterprise deployment of their products almost impossible.
Apple markets their devices to consumers first, and they provide enough support for businesses so their stuff is accepted. This is why Apple paid Microsoft and licensed the ActiveSync protocol, so their devices would get past the corporate blood/brain barrier (which before that, only Blackberries and Windows Mobile devices could cross.)
It is just not in Apple's model to do that much for the enterprise. The XServe did not sell well so it got pulled. Same with Apple's SAN hardware. Even the old Mac Pro doesn't seem to be selling well, and has not gotten a refresh in a long time.
Apple knows that it makes its bread and butter selling to the dedicated fans who have been camping out for days at their stores for the latest iGadget. They know that trying to pitch to the enterprise will have a "meh" response at best.
Another example of this is how Apple handles product releases. As an IT person, I can sign a NDA in blood, and get a roadmap from IBM or Oracle about what they plan to do for future products, when to make sure funds are available for model refreshes, and timing budget constraints. Apple doesn't offer this. There is no way to time when to have funds ready for a product refresh when it comes to Macs or iDevices.
[1]: Ideally, Apple would make a Mac Pro case that could work as a tower, but also fit horizontally into a rack with just a simple drawer style mounting kit (similar to the venerable Ultra 450s.)
Butthurt IT guy.
sadface
Sounds like they've got "Firefox-Unity" syndrome.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Apple does`nt want to play nice? I`ll set them right up there on the shelf next to the eight-track player. Besides, now that Jobs is gone, Apple is just circling the drain. They all but abandoned their notebooks to chase iPhone and iPad sales. Give it a couple of years. It`ll be "Apple who?"
Considering the % of their revenue coming from non-personal computers, I'm surprised they haven't abandoned them. But to pick up the revenue they'd sacrifice they'll need to find a new market nitch to exploit. Better think fast or Samsung will invent it first.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Assuming you meant "server" and not "sever", the license for Mac OS X Server has allowed users to run the OS in a virtual machine since 10.5 (Leopard) in 2007. I've run them before in VMware products with no problems.
Are you serious? They had their most profitable quarter ever, the second most profitable quarter in US history, the fourth most profitable quarter in the world, because of iPhone and iPad sales. And, even though you think they've abandoned laptops, it sure seems like Intel is trying to push other manufacturers to poorly copy the Air with their Ultrabooks, and failing.
Que fanboy.
Recently I had to deal with Apple's App Store. Our agency's purchasing people had no idea how to handle the App Store as the purchase has to be done from the user's computer. I spoke with an Apple government rep and he admitted that things are not set up for companies unless you're buying at least 30 (?) of something. Our purchasing folks ended up giving me the department credit card (now, there's trust!) and let me make the purchase from my cubicle. Not that hard to deal with, but certainly not standard procedure...
It was about the complexities and confusions of trying to sort out for the enterprise Apple's practices
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
There is nothing fanboy about what he stated, they did have their most profitable quarter ever and the second most profitable quarter of any company, behind Exxon.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/24/technology/apple_earnings/index.htm
Gone!
Yes. Apple used to service the server market with rack-mounted Xserve servers, and a seperate build of OSX of servers. Then a few years ago they pulled out of the server market, withdrew the Xserves and rolled the server version of OSX into the main version.
You can run a workgroup or webserver from a Mac Mini. But Apple aren't really pursuing the enterprise server market any more.
Since we can develop our software for any platform that supports web standards, we develop in HTML5 and do application testing on open platforms. We have a single iPad2 for application verification but it is PIN-locked with no iTunes account. No apps other than the what comes out of the box, and all parental restrictions enabled. No movies, no iTunes, nada.
We develop for business and government use. Our clients are choosing Android by 3:1 for this reason.
Apple does`nt want to play nice? I`ll set them right up there on the shelf next to the eight-track player. Besides, now that Jobs is gone, Apple is just circling the drain. They all but abandoned their notebooks to chase iPhone and iPad sales. Give it a couple of years. It`ll be "Apple who?"
They don't need to play nice, they can get third party developers like www.mobileiron.com to do the enterprise..think BES replacement stuff for them.
It's not as detailed as BES but it locks it down properly. It also handles data roaming better.
While you argue proud in the Windows fan boy playground? Kinda callin' the kettle black here bro pot.
I got your post confused with the post below yours. That sarcasm was meant for him.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Apple needs to be more hardware and AIO hdd's need to be alot easys to get to the HDD all other AIO are easy to get to the HDD.
Some places need to be Multi vendor for the hardware WIndows runs on any hardware so apple needs to be a little more open at least have a desktop mid tower.
The mini is small and limited + it's harder then just about any other system to get to the HDD and next to other systems the price needs to come down at least $50 - $100 and the basic mini should have 4gb ram but for other stuff the MAC pro is over kill for people needing more power where you can get say get a dell OptiPlex for a $8000 or less that is better the base Imac + add the fact that in business screens get reused alot and AIO's are a poor fit.
Also that Less then $800 dell comes with a better CPU, 3 Year ProSupport with 3 Year NBD Limited Onsite Service After Remote Diagnosis, more video card choice, more CPU choice and ROOM FOR A 2nd Hard Drive.
Let's say you need a good system to do photo shop, cad and so on. You can pay $2500 for a system 3gb ram (to low for pro work) or you can get a good dell for $1200-$1500 with about the same CPU power, more ram, and lot's more video card choice.
Now apple needs a desktop system (non a AIO for $1000-$1500) it just way to much at $2500 to get a good non AIO desktop.
Apple laptops need better pricing and bigger screens at the lower end $1800 to get a 15" screen?
We all know apple's the one that failed to adapt their enterprise offerings & is now dying in the sector because of that fact.
Given they've just released the 2nd largest results of any company in history, the "Apple is just circling the drain" comment seems to be monumentally delusional.
Next to that the comment "They all but abandoned their notebooks" is merely ludicrous. (Mac sales grew 20%, mostly notebooks, against a general PC trend which was down 9%.)
Until better management tools are made to "manage" the apple devices / environment, they will still be a secondary (or greater) choice for enterprise environments.
While I agree that Apple is very much sitting on its hands here, there is no way to ignore iDevices. It's almost like an "Occupy IT" movement. And the users are relishing our squirming and cursing. And while I'm an sysadmin myself, I'd almost say we deserve it to be on the receiving end this time. It's a comically reversed situation to how it usually works: Users are requiring simple things, you know they aren't that simple and you can't do anything really but learn and work and adapt and curse. Wow, that *hurts*. *They* are the ones who traditionally had to swallow what we rained down on them.
Now *they* are smug and wave their iPads ("it just works") and we have to find a way to make them work and to manage them. How unfair is this? Now *we* are clicking through iTunes for *them*! What goes around comes around, really.
They had their most profitable quarter ever, the second most profitable quarter in US history, the fourth most profitable quarter in the world...
And the most profitable quarter in their entire corporate history, for ever and ever. Doing my part to help that happen :)
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
Yes, they should sell everything and give the money back to the shareholders. Right?
It's spelled "cue". And he's giving the true verifiable facts against your delusions. Given that you are saying what you wished were true rather than what is actually true, it seems you are the fanboy. Though from that post we neither know nor care which particular company it is you're shilling for.
I am an IT admin in a library. Getting Apple setup with some resemblance of control is a pain. Its great at home but once you have to try to manage say 10 of them it sucks. With windows i can control everything with group policy.
Apple is trying with their parental controls and preferences BUT they are not even remotely there yet.
Like others have stated if the app you need is on the app store you are in trouble. It takes you begging and pleading for a credit card number from accounting or the business office. Most of my configuration on a mac involves me going to each mac and changing the configurations. Apples own preferences for time off are wierd. sun -thurs night and fri -sat. They make it so difficult to manage macs in a network.
Dont tell me well script. I dont have time to spend time writing scripts for something that microsoft has a gui for.
Apple needs a TON of work on the managing side of OSX.
PS We do not have the money to buy 3rd party solutions for 10 machines.
Imagine for a moment that Apple actually created a separate Business devision and to be crazy let's also imagine that they don't follow the same sucks to be you atitude when it comes to customer requirements, just maybe, we might see a fully integrated Business IT Environment where things actually worked together.
Apple stays out of Corporate for one reason and one reason alone, they know that they don't have what it takes to hack it in the Fortune 500 world. When I was implementing MIcrosoft SMS 1.0 at Sprint in the late nineties, the software was so bad that we had a monthly "Come to Jesus" meeting where the top Executives at Sprint would rip several new holes in Microsoft Management and they listened and it was finally implemented because they knew their ass was on the line.
Apple's ass is never on the line and to be honest I'm glad it isn't. Do you know how many "Insanely Great" products in the last century never saw the light of day because either their ass was on the line or the inventor decided to bend over and take it. While Apple will never ever compete in the Corporate World, I think Steve rests in peace knowing that they still make "Insanely Great" products.
By the way no one in my family owns an Apple product though I'm leaning toward an iPad but don't like restrictive development rules. RIP Steve Jobs
[The 2007 Mac OS X 10.5 Server EULA] permits OS X Server to run in a virtual machine (VM) as long as each VM is stocked with a different license and the physical system is Apple-made. The new rules don't apply to the client edition of Apple's operating system, which is still barred from being virtualized.
The Golden Master version of OS X Lion (10.7) just released to developers includes the final end-user licensing agreement (EULA) which reveals that users can run up to two additional instances of OS X Lion on their same machine without a need for extra licenses. From the 10.7 EULA:
(iii) to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software.
So apple needs to make a license change so you can use VMware on any hardware useing any base OS with out getting in license issues.
First, let me point out that Apple's model isn't even a fantastic fit for a family, using my own experience. In order to buy music through iTunes, which we do a fair bit of, we need an AppleID. For all the convenience features (like automatically downloading music that any of us buys, for instance), we have to use the same AppleID on all the computers/devices that we use for storing the music, listening to it, or loading it on the phones/iPods/etc. And even with iCloud, this works reasonably smoothly, because you can set one AppleID for your music and another for everything else, so that you can still share music but not, say, email.
OK, but that means that our playlists are shared (which we can deal with by using folders for our individual playlists), but so is the metadata. Mostly, that's a good thing, but what if my wife and I and my sons want to all rate the same song differently? Out of luck: the rating is shared. I could go on about what should be shared and what shouldn't, but the point is that Apple does not make it easy to share some things and not others even within a family. I imagine that trying to work AppleIDs and iDevices into an enterprise must be quite the nightmare from that point of view.
There are solutions to some such problems, and certainly different IT shops have different ways of doing things, which means that for some (including my current one), it's easy while for others it's a complete nightmare. Fundamentally, if you have an IT shop where integrating is easy, there's little reason not to do it. If you'd need Apple servers, or more control over devices (say, if you're regulated, or a government entity), then you're probably out of luck and should tell users — yes, even users like the C-level types — that they're welcome to use whatever they want, but IT cannot support it.
In some cases, this means that IT shops as we are used to them will have to dramatically change to accommodate their users. And in some cases, it means that the users will have to live with the restrictions. I can see some shops moving to a model where internal users are treated like external users, except that they have access to different resources through their (untrusted) network connection to the servers. VPNs would be unnecessary: just connect to resources directly over the network, "local" or remote, and be done with it. In other words, I could see some shops moving to a model that protects the data, but not the desktop. But I think other shops will likely have to dig in their heels, not because they want to be difficult, but because they cannot allow the kinds of practices that Apple would require. (Think of trying to manage a bank's customer data when you couldn't properly audit the machines used to access that data, and then think of trying to explain that to a bureaucrat.)
But in the end, I think that the general purpose computer in a decade or so will be far less common than today. Thin client devices, tablets and the like will replace a lot of computers simply because of cost, maintenance, training and business utility advantages intrinsic to the types. And that means that IT shops will lose a lot of the control that they have now over the user experience. They'll still keep control of the centralized data stores, certainly, but that may be the extent of it for a lot of shops. And that's not necessarily a bad thing: in truth, how many users really need something as powerful and flexible as a laptop? Maybe 10% — maybe? Well, why not make things cheaper and easier for the other 90%, even if it does make IT's job harder in some ways?
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
You guys are missing the point. The CxO walks in the doors with an iPad and tells IT to make it work, because that's what they are there to do. IT then needs to figure out how to make it work for them. The business drives the need, IT is there to serve the business. I know, because I work at a company that makes software to lock down mobile devices. I hear the same story day after day....
(Cr)apple will either give IT shops what they want, or the IT shops will go elsewhere (or not support (Cr)apple products). To most any IT shop this would be no loss at all.
Right now, Apple-(and Steve Jobs-)bashing seems to have the fashionable appeal of . . . well, of a new iPhone or iPad.
Apple's bottom line isn't even to sell people computers anymore. Its to keep people buying phones.
[1]: Ideally, Apple would make a Mac Pro case that could work as a tower, but also fit horizontally into a rack with just a simple drawer style mounting kit (similar to the venerable Ultra 450s.)
i just googled Ultra 450 out of curiosity, switched to Images, and got a bunch of penis pictures! maybe its time to switch SafeSearch back on.. hehe
Someone mentioned apple I better announce my diehard extreme opinion for or against apple and then proceed to defend it before I miss my chance to prove myself a true.. er.. a true asshole. God you people are really frustrating.
I think it all started with the XServes. Yeah, yeah... maybe they weren't an IT hit, but in the College of Education at Penn State, we used them on the Mac side of things. There was 8 at the time I left, some doing OpenDirectory just pushing the ActiveDirectory information from the Windows Server box, as well as hosting Mac software packages, scripts, etc for remote deployments/installs... and others doing tasks such as DeployStudio for quick imagine considering we had over 200 Mac laptops the students used while doing student teaching and other tasks. Each had to be re-imaged on return, and we had different packages for the various models of the MacBooks, iBooks, etc, etc over the years. Some images were even setup to push Mac OS X with bootcamp'ed Windows 7 all in one shot. Extremely handy.
But alas, Apple pulled the plug on the XServes, and replaced them with Mac Mini's and the like. Not too surprising they are doing this too.
"It's spelled "cue"."
This is Slashdot. It's spelled "queue".
I only wish it were a few years ago.
The announcement came in November of '10, three months before they killed off the Xserves (one year ago -- last January).
I'm now surviving on two Xserves (one '08 and one early '10) and a small stack of Minis (due to my two G5 Xserves falling apart last year). We've got big iron on the other side of the house with everything virtualized -- and I'm running Minis...
Apple is not courting enterprise, it's the other way around. The prom queen isn't hurting for dates.
#SickNotWeak
i have a good understanding about linux. but not just the 'gui' stuff like 'gnome' or 'kde'. i also use something called a 'command line'. you can find it in most linux distributions, but most people don't know about it.
it is usually hidden under some obscure menu, and called something like 'the terminal'. but you can usually open one, even if the administrator has tried to lock you out, by hitting ctrl-alt-t. this opens up the 'terminal window' where you can type your 'command line'.
from there, i can use programs like 'ls', to list the files in a 'directory' (its like a folder, but the unix interpretation of what folders are). also i can start up chrome right from the command line; simply type in
chrome-browser
and instantly chrome starts up. i have timed this with a stopwatch, and it is saving me about 30% of my startup time if i run browsers from the command line.
with all of that, i just have to ask, does your precious apple have a 'command line'? do you even know how to find it, or did they 'cut you off' from your freedom, and your human dignity? i just have to ask you, if you hit ctrl-alt-t on a mac, what happens? do mac users even know there is a command called 'ls'?
Considering the % of their revenue coming from non-personal computers, I'm surprised they haven't abandoned them.
The reason they have not abandoned them is because it allows people to buy their flashy new iDevice and pretend that it is good for business and therefore a business expense. If they entered the personal computer market as you say, then they become little more than games consoles with the patronage to match.
A sig is placed here
To display how futile
English Haiku is
It's pretty obvious from the posts on this thread why Apple doesn't want to help these people out. Lot of hate here. If I had to deal with people, I think I'd have the same "take it or leave it" attitude.
We report to our boss, not yours, this includes every time a user refuses to do something we tell them to do.
It's all a big laugh until your boss, or your boss' boss, gets an iPhone. Then comes the knock on the IT office's door.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
Actually it is QUEUE as in "line up fan boy".
not cue as in here is your line to say or the stick you use in billards.
Your friendly neighborhood grammar nazi.
That is what I am seeing with my mega-billion, international major (and majorly regulated) pharma employer. They have heard the demand from employees high on the Apple juice, found the tools, and implemented them with the infrastructure to make iPhone/Pads legitimate business tools. And they did that ahead of Android since that had to wait for devices with 2.2 to be able to remotely wipe them - an absolute requirement the iPhones had first - I am not sure if Win 7 Mango has passed that hurdle yet, but original Win 7 had not - and with employees buying their own iPhones (albeit with corp-negotiated discounts, if not talking their managers into approving the expense), the business case has been made to phase out the previous corp standard/funded Blackberry ecosystem.
BTW, I opted out of that whole mess when I saw how much control they had over my WinMob 5/6 phones, so I am no fanboy. I just forward the few calendar entries I need to organize my work life on my mundane, but serviceable WinMo 6.5 (upgraded!) phone for round the clock support duties, and my HR emails that are quite specific to me in terms of pay, benefits, health programs, etc. I do not need the other 95% of corp email spam loading down my personal phone, and thus giving them an excuse to "own" it.
Anyway, Apple iP* stuff is playing ball in our large league since we have IT support that "gets" it, and understands how to manage it. You haters are venting out of ignorance - I just dislike Apple in a personal way, and give them credit where due although grudgingly and from a distance. A pox on all your houses.
Just throwing a guess out there, but I think a simple explanation for the slowness is that many iOS apps are webkit-based. That means launching those apps requires loading all the support libs for webkit first, which takes time, then running the app via an interpreter instead of just native binary execution.
And it's doing that all with 512MB of ram.
...I'm used to this. They have a very heavy hand, and can be extremely constricting. Ver frustrating, at times. It does not make Macs popular with programmers or IT people. However, it does make Macs popular with users. It has never been a bad idea to be an Apple developer. It has garnered me all kinds of hate over the years, but a lucrative career, as well. You say "Tom-AY-toe," I say "Tom-AH-toe"...
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
-H. L. Mencken
Your friendly neighborhood grammar nazi.
I do hope that was intended to be funny. Hard to tell round these parts.
Apple's philosophy is that they control the devices they sell. Enterprise customers insist that the enterprise control all of the devices on their network. Apple refuses to design/sell devices that they do not have control over. This is an irresolvable conflict.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
'This manager, who requested anonymity, noted a related problem: for individual apps over a certain amount, "gifting" them to users under VPP can be considered "compensation" under federal income tax rules`
Jeez, you'd think a business manager would be proficent in federal income tax rules as they relate to such contracts. Is Apple seriously expected to now impart tax law advice?
'Another "tip" from a speaker on the same panel, John Welch, director of IT at The Zimmerman Agency, was a reminder that "In signing up [for VPP], you have to create a new VPP [iTunes] account even if you already have existing ones."'
From reading the VPP_Business_Guide, I gathered this:
Important information about your Apple ID
* Once your enrollment information has been verified, you'll be asked to create a new Apple IS specifically for the Volume Purchase Program. This Apple ID will be used solely for the Volume Purchase Program and cannot be used with other Apple programs or services.
AccountKiller
Our shop pretty much told Apple to stick their walled garden and iTunes accounts up their ass.
Abstract: Apple is making boatloads of money selling stuff to people. Reconfiguring the company into an enterprise services firm is an unacceptable risk.
'Waaaay back in the day, I was invited to an Apple roadmap presentation for the various big Mac users in the greater LA area (mainly aerospace corps). Dating myself, the main heads up was the upcoming Mac IIfx. The current sealed lips paradigm wasn't always graven in stone.
But, that was before Windows 95 almost ate Apple's lunch, and Macs got kicked to the curb across "the enterprise"... almost simultaneously across North America. Almost as quickly, the ecosystem of Mac-related enterprise solution vendors ditched the platform. When Jobs returned to refocus the company's direction, the focus was on what he had left to work with: consumers (with bones thrown to graphics/video/audio pros). You could see this in his original product mix: iMac, iBook, the restyled G4 mini-towers, and eventually the iPod.
This ended up working so well that quite a few consumers really wanted to haul their Apple gear back to the enterprise... which is how Apple first got there, one MacPlus at a time. Now, with the iPhones and Pads, people aren't just sneaking their toys in, they're putting in purchase orders, and the IT departments are forced to adjust.
It's not completely unreasonable for them to ask Apple to rework their products to make this a bit easier. It may happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath: Apple isn't equipped to service the enterprise, and doesn't want to spend the money to make it happen. The boys and girls in Cupertino would need to spend tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars to set up the hardware/software/people infrastructure - more or less from scratch - to provide reasonable enterprise marketing and support.
And why? There's not all that much profit in selling to the enterprise, except in services. Virtually *all* of the non-Asian computer vendors have reconfigured themselves into enterprise services companies that just happened to sell some hardware/software for them to integrate, and the Asian companies are on the same path.
Apple, meanwhile, is making a boatload of money selling hardware/software to people. There is plenty of foreseeable risk and little known upside to reengineering themselves into the likes of IBM/HP/Dell.
Luke, help me take this mask off
You weren't able to take Apple's "Xserve Transition Guide" seriously when it suggested that you could put two whole Mac Pros on a shelf in only 12Us of space?
Never let it be said that Cupertino lacks a sense of humor...
I'm not exactly a Apple loyalist, I do own their products but also appreciate what many corporate environments have developed the way they did. However, I must say I'm confused by the attitude of some when it comes to running Apple products in a managed environment or suggestions that this is somehow difficult with Apple products (moreso that it is with other platforms).
Apple has run in wholly managed environments in educational settings for decades. Integrating Apple (mostly Macs, but also some iPhones and iPads) into our corporate environment really hasn't been that big of a deal. Yes there were a few hurdles to overcome, but honestly people need to quit whining. In fact, for many things managing our Mac infrastructure is a lot easier and less expensive than our Windows based infrastructure. The main headaches we've had are in regards to a few applications with poorly written cranky installers that require a bit more planning to deploy into the managed environments, but usually it just involves some extra scripting that someone on our team can whip up with only minimal fuss.
Our Windows environment has lots of add-ons, with licenses that charge us per machine, to perform many centralized management functions that we can do with OS X and Apple's own inexpensive yet very powerful tools (e.g. Apple Remote Desktop), which Apple gives out for next to nothing for unlimited clients in a managed setting.
Can you plug an Apple product in and expected it to immediately work with all your existing infrastructure? No. ...but can't they be integrated into a corporate environment with minimal fuss and, for the Apple environment, perhaps even less effort and expense in the long run relative to the typical bloated mess that is a corporate PC setup? Absolutely.
'Adapt or Die' is really the name of the game like it or not.
It's really nice stuff but then it costs a lot of money so it should be.
1996 calling, it wants it's mime back. I dare you to configure Dell, HP, and Leveno products so it will have similar specs to a Mac then compare prices. I did precisely that before ordering the MacBook Pro I'm typing this on. Of them the cheapest was a brand I hadn't heard of before, it was $50 cheaper. The Dell, and I tried Alienware which Dell bought out, cost about $200 more. HP's offering cost more too. Because I planned on installing Ubuntu to dual-boot I also checked out compatibility. The one thing that makes it more difficult to install Ubuntu is using EFI, the GUID Partition Table (GPT), and installing Ubuntu on an HFS+ formatted partition. I'll install Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) onto the internal HDD, Oops, there another problem I'll install Oneiric Ocelot (Ubuntu 11.10) onto a USB external drive which presents it's own problems.
What bothers me is that the OS isn't what it could be. It's better than Windows in my opinion but really I remember putting Snow Leopard on my Dell 1545 just for kicks.
That's your personal opinion, others love Snow Leopard. My MBP came with Tiger and it was about 4 months after Leopard came out before I upgraded. The only reason I did was because Java 6 would only run on Leopard, at least without a bunch of hacking. And as I was a member of Apple Developer Connection (ADC) Leopard was free. When Snow Leopard came out it took me a couple of months before buying it, heck it only cost $29. But it took a few more months before I actually installed it. Although Lion has been out for a while, released on 20 July 2011, I still have not bought or upgraded to it.
I want to like OS X but it's so hard to.
I do like OSX, what I have a harder tyme with is liking Apple. It makes, er designs, terrific hardware a programs great software. With the exception of the Mac though it only takes others ideas then releases its own products. And even with hardware Apple is falling behind. While consumer Macs have had more than one revision since the summer of 2010 the Mac Pro has not been upgraded. Try looking for a Sandy Bridge Mac Pro and you won't find one. One rumor has it Apple will Kill Mac Pros just like they did to the XServe. Since they did they've pushed shops to use Mac Minis for servers, but a Mini can't handle tasks the Pro has no problems with. Of course other rumors have it that Minis with Thunderbolt can have external graphics cards as well as storage attached enabling them to be used instead of Mac Pros. As it is now I'd like to get another MacBook Pro but I don't think I will buy any other Apple product.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Hopefully you got a chuckle. I only use that line when pointing out that someone tried to correct someone else and got it wrong.
Grammar mistakes don't really bother me, I make plenty and we usually know what the original poster means. It just bugs me when someone acts all high and mighty correcting an error and gets it wrong.
Whoever at Apple decided you need to use iTunes to sync contacts and calendar appointments with Outlook should be forced to work with Foxcon for 5 years... making Android phones.
Hopefully you got a chuckle. I only use that line when pointing out that someone tried to correct someone else and got it wrong.
Apparently not only then...
Liar.
I'd swap it for an Android tablet tomorrow if I could. I'm sick of Apple telling me how I can (and can't) use the product that I bought.
When I learned Apple would be releasing a tablet I was excited about getting one. But when the iPad was released my dreams were dashed. I imagined a 17" MacBook Pro with a built-in digitizer, like Wacom's. I guess the only way I'll get one is if I get a Mdbook Pro, which hasn't been released yet, I hire some one to make one, or I make my own. Since I don't have the money I guess the only tablet I'll get is an Android. Then I hope I can install OSX and Ubuntu on it.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The Mac Pro is limited by Intel's release schedule. Since it uses the Xeon line, and not the Core i7 line, Apple is kind of stuck with whatever cpu's that Intel comes up with. If they were to release a new Mac Pro with Thunderbolt and USB3 on it (possibly due after IvyBridge), they'll probably sell a bunch due to pent-up demand.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
At my undisclosed NZ government work, we have a cabinet minute we have to follow - in checking any EULA (through legal) as no staff member can accept indemnity on behalf of the organisation. If found, legal will send the EULA back with a polite request to change it. If not changed, we don't accept, as we're not allowed to (except if the cabinet finance minister signs off).
So if I let individuals go out with vouchers/credit cards, and buy software for organisation use, on either a personal or organisation device, where does that leave ICT/organisation responsibilities, let alone fringe benefit queries?
Food for thought?
Is it really dumbing it down or spending just a few seconds thinking what other users want to do, and improving the interface to do it?
That's why GIMPShop exists? Because GIMP has a better interface that Photoshop?
Your product might be the best and most powerful in the whole world, but if no one can use it, what good does it do?
Thousands if not hundreds of thousands if not millions of people use Photoshop. How is that "no one can use it"? Can GIMP use and edit photos in 32 bits per colour channel? Don't bother answering I will. No it can't!!! The best GIMP can do is 8 bits per channel for a total of 24 bits. People, that is photographers and other artists have been asking for higher colour depths for years but will GIMP developers ever allow it? Again no. In 1998 Robin Rowe offered higher bit depths but GIMP devs refused to use it. So Robin forked GIMP and released FilmGIMP. It is now called CinePaint. And while it has 32 bit colour depths GIMP is still using only 8 bits.
Eight bit per colour channel is fine for the web, at least right now, but it seriously is lacking for professional print work.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
We report to our boss, not yours, this includes every time a user refuses to do something we tell them to do.
It's all a big laugh until your boss, or your boss' boss, gets an iPhone. Then comes the knock on the IT office's door.
Actually, the Boss got Android.
Any IT senior I've known who uses Apple doesn't stay in that position very long. Nor do they use their personal devices to set company policy. Yes I know the Dilbert myths, but in reality that doesn't happen. All I have to do is point out the cost of operating Apple products and whatever complaints the boss has disappears quickly.
I'm sorry to have to destroy the myth for you, but Apple really has no place in the enterprise despite the attempts of fanboys to delude others otherwise.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Well, I see it this way: there are two basic kinds of people hunters and gatherers. This is a broad generalization as we all do some of both but it works as a rough behaviour categorisation.
/. This board has a much higher than average hunter population.
Apple does great with a gatherer since they show you something that is nice and pretty and the gatherer takes it. The hunter on the other hand has a very good idea of what they are looking for and for these people Apple usually is not a great fit. I see the same sort of thing when I go shopping (malls are made for gatherers, outside entrance stores are made for hunters). Mind you this is not to say gatherers are bad and hunters are good or the other way around just that they have different behaviour. If you know what you want Apple is not likely to be your choice since it has little flex to meet those criteria. If, however, you don't know what you want Apple presents a good set of functionality in a pretty package (this is not being derogative but appearance does matter more when gathering in general). This is a very simplified view but it does seem to hold up in general to what I have observed. Apple is fortunate as there seems to be a lot of gatherers out there. I also think that is why they are not so popular on
Just my observation
Sounds a lot like something that happened at the college I was going to back in 1980. They put out a bid for a new mainframe with let's say a performance number of 500. IBM's response was we decided you only need 350 and that's all we'll sell you. Oh and by the way, we won't give you that machine until a year after your install date. We'll only install a 200 on the install date. Guess who didn't get the contract. While the saying "nobody ever lost their job for picking IBM" exists/existed I seriously doubt there will ever be a "nobody ever lost their job for picking Apple" saying.
You can do everything a Mac server could do with a copy of FreeBSD so there's really no reason to have a Mac server.
Mac OS X has built-in encryption (called File Vault), built-in VPN (managed in the network control panel), and one-click VPN configuration files for your users to click on. A tool called Automator which surprise automates things even if you don't know applescript. If you don't give them administrator access, most things are locked down anyway. --Sam P.S It is not quite as good as windows policies.
How about HLS on iOS to use the hardware H.264 decoder. What if I am using FMP4 or RTP? I've got to wrap it into an MPEG TS then serve it back up over localhost HTTP? Insane!
If Apple was smart, they'd contract with M$ to develop solutions for AD... wait, what am I saying .. never mind
Lets try this again. Apple needs to build a LDAP compliant network Management server that plugs into AD network and just blend in, and manages all the iDevices for Enterprise. It would do even better if said server would also allow AD like policies on managed Macs. Perhaps Apple should consider acquiring Dell just to get KACE and port it to an iServer of some sort.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Okay, I'll bite. I think he meant "Cue fanboy," in the way that a director on set would say "Cue woman in red dress." You could also queue your fanboys.
Or, we could all be mistaken and he could be trying and failing to type in Spanish (to keep this on topic, one thing that Macs have always done far more easily than their counterparts running other operating systems is allow easy typing of accent characters). "Qué fanboy?" would be appropriate in this case also. Perhaps he was indicating that he expected a fanboy remark, and was surprised to see facts (on Slashdot!) causing him to remark "What fanboy? I don't see no stinkin' fanboy!"
Do you have source code or an ability to change Microsoft software?
How about Oracle?
How about Steve Gibson's Spinrite?
Almost all commercial software has a 'take it or leave it' attitude. In fact, most "commercial" transactions are 'take it or leave it'. Why is Apple worth writing about here on /.?
Apple cancelled the X-Serve, and it pissed a bunch of us off, but to be honest, Apple abandoned the server market before I started there in 2003. Many people tried in the intervening years to get Apple interested in building a server class OS, and there was never any interest by management, because, frankly, the market just wasn't there.
Apple in the enterprise these days is about individual devices, with back end services running mostly on Linux, and mostly on Dell and similar hardware. They are about the UI and the very nice devices that present that UI between the back end and the human at the device. The point of sale system in Apple stores is one great example of how well this works.
Frankly, the OP sounded like sour grapes: they paid to got to an Apple-themed show, MacIT, put on by IDG, with not a single Apple speaker, and not supported by Apple since Steve decided MacWorld wasn't relevant ...and immediately following that same MacWorld, another IDG show that also didn't have a single Apple speaker or even booth.
I can understand IDG putting on the show, don't get me wrong; reflected glory can be as useful as the real thing when you are trying to put on a show for people who want a show. It'd be great if the post-Steve Apple decided to participate a bit more at one or both of them, instead of letting non-information leave a bad taste in people's mouths..
But an IDG MacWorld with no real Apple participation isn't going to be able to communicate Apple information better than an Apple sponsored WWDC. And maybe an Apple sponsored WWDC isn't going to be much better, without Steve to take the stage.
But then the writer wondered why people were unable to answer questions about enterprise deployment for Apple products. The answer is that obviously, they were not trained to be able to do so, and in the cases where the people knew what they were talking about, they were unable to deliver the Apple message effectively or communicate it clearly, even if it weren't palatable.
The answer they were looking for according to the article? http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf There it is: How to run the software you use to deploy the same set of applications, certificates, and security profiles to a bunch of iPods, iPhones, and iPads. MacBook Air and iMacs and MacPros? Those are just desktop machines and laptops; very pretty ones. Manage them like any other.
-- Terry
Face it, Apple's desire to move into the enterprise space is about on par with most people's desire to have unprotected anal sex with someone who's not only HIV positive, but has full-blown, late-stage AIDS.
Apple simply doesn't have the mindset or resources to take on enterprise computing.
With Joe SingleUser and Bob SmallBusiness, if something doesn't break Apple's way, or they feel that it's not in their economic best interests, they can bury the project with little to no repercussions.
With enterprise computing, large chunks of money and contracts with performance clauses would place far FAR greater demands on Apple to actually deliver. And, if they couldn't, killing the project is nearly impossible without some form of highly visible financial harm to the company.
Additionally, while lots of money IS coming in, the margins are FAR lower than Apple's consumer presence. Apple's shareholders want their fat dividend checks.
The only areas where Apple fits into business are places they're already slam-dunk entries. Content production and the like.
That's without even getting into the reality of real IT groups responding to pushes to transition their business to Apple almost universally going something like this:
*GUFFAW*
"Oh! You were serious?"
*Insane Laughter*
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I am the CTO for the largest IT consulting company in California and I can tell you that we are experiencing exponential growth and that is being driven by companies having us remove apple products from their networks. Our latest was to remove over 4,000 mac computers from the San Diego Unified School District schools. Apple is not forcing IT shops to change or die, the opposite is in fact happening. IT shops are going back to standardizing on one platform, Windows and forcing users to shut up or quit. As mac's are not corporate computers and do not integrate into corporate networks, companies are removing them in droves. I am seeing the same thing happen for iPhone's. The San Diego School District banned use of iPhone's completely. Approved devices are Windows, Blackberry and Android. Get your facts straight before you go spouting nonsense.
Any IT senior I've known who uses Apple doesn't stay in that position very long. Nor do they use their personal devices to set company policy. Yes I know the Dilbert myths, but in reality that doesn't happen. All I have to do is point out the cost of operating Apple products and whatever complaints the boss has disappears quickly.
You're assuming that the IT senior can tell the rest of the organization what to do. That's most certainly not universally true; some organizations (i.e., all the universities I know) devolve budgets in such a way that central IT has very little power in this area, and great heterogeneity results. Servers are usually Linux, but with a smattering of other platforms, desktops are mostly Windows, and laptops are dominated by OSX though with a fair number of Windows and Linux installations too. (Laptops are important in the university sector because so many people have to travel for work.)
The real key to success in this mess is to ensure that all important services aren't locked to particular platforms; having interfaces that conform to standards (what a great many people have long been arguing for) makes this (relatively) easy.
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
A quick rule of thumb:
If the company you work for is large enough to have an "IT Department", then the company you work for is too large, period. It's time to go find a job in a smaller company.
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
We're glad you've come here. We've been worried about you lately and want to talk to you about getting help....
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
While this is true, it doesn't take policies and politics into account. We have three acceptable options that have been approved. WIndows Server, Fedora (I have to keep my Debian projects in my cubicle) and OS X Server. *BSD is not welcome to the party.
I can also virtualize OS X Server and migrate said image to real iron -- but licensing doesn't allow for it and the higher seats insist on remaining compliant.
#SickNotWeak
Apple doesn't give dividends.
I went with a contingent to Cupertino last year where we met with several Apple gurus about mobile devices which the business has demanded. They were very nice people of course, but the undercurrent was clearly, 'this is how it works'. It was very clear that everything is built for the consumer market with anything enterprise being an afterthought, which puzzled me a bit because clearly, they have to run their own enterprise and as we all know, it's very secretive and controlled.
We work in a highly regulated industry and pointed out many features we needed them to understand and support and the response was always to find a vendor who's built a bolt-on tool for that need. We already are and the few enterprise of those tools and apps and they're godawful and clunky. And they're the best out there. We made many points such as, if the (insert regulatory agency's name here) determined that we needed to remove carefully approved information from every employee iPad and iPhone (which needs to be untethered because there isn't always internet, so no central web delivery), that had to be accomplished within hours and the penalties could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, people losing their jobs and potentially jail time depending on the country. In the PC tablet world, this is simple to do. In the end, we received extremely underwhelming responses at every turn and clearly no grasp of our global enterprise challenges - and not really any interest in ways that Apple could help us, either. Different industries play by different rules, different countries have wildly different laws - but not in Apple's mindset. We were there to understand their way; they were not going to understand our way.
In fact, their biggest push of the day to us was to urge us to make the information we provide to employees look really cool (visually, with super-cool UIs), like some of the cool apps do. Make it super cool-looking so the employees love to engage with your information.
Side note trivia: the company Apple store there is the only place on the planet where you can buy Apple logo clothing, if that's your bag. They also have a BJ's Brewhouse in the parking lot right out front of the main entrance.
I wish my company was "circling the drain" to the tune to $30B profit in a year. That would be a horrible downward spiral for my stock options.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
If you haven't seen them positioning Mac as a content creation platform, and iOS as a content consumption platform, you're not paying attention.
The two lines compliment each other, and neither is going away any time soon.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I agree with the parent post.
We recently sat down with some Apple account reps and a technical engineer to ask about using iPads in our school district and how we would manage and support them. They told us point blank that Apple makes devices for consumers (individuals) and not for business or enterprise. That being said they did show us a few "work arounds" for basic device management, but nothing on the scale of a medium to large business or enterprise level.
The problem now is that everyone (students and staff) are already bringing in their iPads, iPods, iPhones, etc. and using them daily. So we've sort of adopted a wireless guest network and let them have at it since they own the devices. We don't support them except for getting them connected to the wireless guest network.
About what? The career? Being an Apple programmer since 1987? The lovely hate? The unpopularity of Macs with many programmers and IT folks? The popularity of Macs and Apple products with end users?
Did I say something to hurd your widdle feewings? Did you program Macs, and end up regretting the career choice?
Did I write something that reduced your eloquence to that of a potted cactus?
Was that why you went AC?
Have a nice day.
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
-H. L. Mencken
Take augmented user records, for instance (used in an AD/OD setup). They worked with 10.5 and 10.6 clients, but stopped working with 10.7 clients. Can I get a simple answer "why won't they work with 10.7"? No. Only Apple mumbo-jumbo. Thanks Apple.
www.itjerk.com
I don't get it. Most IT shops won't touch Apple, and those shops are doing fine. I have worked in IT for over 30 years. I have never seen Apple having much clout in enterprize level IT, and I still don't.
They didn't roll server into Lion. They took a couple of features and pushed everything else server-related into iCloud or other online services.
Compare the services list from Server Manager 10.6 and Server Manager 10.7 - it's about half as long and all the juicy bits are missing :(
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
Except it was new cars; Pontiacs. I spent a couple hours at a Pontiac dealership one time looking for a Sunbird Turbo Convertible. The salesman tried to steer me toward a Grand Am. He insisted I take it for a test drive. As a young guy I figured, What the Hell? I enjoy driving new cars. Afterwards, he was ready to sign the papers. I told him the Grand Am was nice, but I was still shopping for the Sunbird.
He turned and walked away and never came back. I shook my head and laughed. Apparently, there were no Sunbirds on the lot.
"Apple needs to build a LDAP compliant network Management server that plugs into AD network and just blend in, and manages all the iDevices for Enterprise. It would do even better if said server would also allow AD like policies on managed Macs."
Uh, except for the iDevices for Enterprise bit (which I'm not entirely sure about), they already have-- it's called Mac OS X Server. It will replicate AD info for authentication purposes and use separate Open Directory info for management of the Macs on the network. This technique is generally known as the "golden triangle."
You could also use a product called Centrify DirectControl, which as I understand it basically translates AD group policies and applies them to non-Windows systems. I have not used this myself, but it's something that may be worth a look if someone reading this has a need.
~Philly
Apple doesn't give dividends.
Like I said. =)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I think he is right about circling the drain, the visionary leader is now deceased. I think it will be a slow death however (due to current sales inertia and the ipad/iphone) and we won't begin to see the effects for about 5 years. They may turn it around if they can find somebody similar to Jobs to run apple. There are also other things apple can do to fix the problem, like move into enterprise software/hardware sales as most consumers work to pay for there consumer devices and company's want a way to manage the influx of them securely.
For the past 10 years the state of corporate IT has fallen down a hole. It's usually the worst run most expensive department in the company. It's a grave yard of failed vendor/consultant projects that promised to save the world but couldn't even save themselves. I'm glad $APPL hasn't tried to play in that space.
What do you think Mac OS X Server does?
Wake me when I can run XServer on VMWare .. legally. I'm not buying Apple hardware in violation of server consolidation.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
They already did this - it's called Mac OS X Server and it does exactly that and more.
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
All I'm reading here is how IT departments are making their own jobs easier by standardizing on commoditized technology. The attitude of "we mange/we control" exemplifies why users are flocking to consumerized IT products. I think that consumerization and cloud technology will make today's soviet-style command and control IT department a thing of the past, he sooner the better.
I applaud Apple for their "take it or leave it" attiude, if not for that they would be like every other vendor making shoddy bloated products aimed at meeting every inane "feature request" and staying compatible with the seven other versions that their user base is running.
I work with some of the Apple Enterprise team pretty regularly and they are probably the most knowledgeable and genuinely helpful folks that I have dealt with.
I personally don't think Apple has a place in the Enterprise - they cater to consumers, and they don't care about anything in the Enterprise unless it is something that is necessary to make things work for the consumers (i.e. ActiveSync). The attitude that really irks me the most (and Apple seems to be especially bad about this) is the one that every device is disposable. If a device is lost or stolen, just buy another one - phone, tablet, computer, whatever. They clearly do not care about environments where data loss is a concern. "Remote Wipe" is the general answer to this question - you know, since Remote Wipe is impossible to avoid from the device end [/sarchasm].
With BYOD is becoming more and more common, however, and the big issue I have with that is that there is very little visibility into the device itself - how does IT know that a device being brought in by a person is "safe"? Sure you can write policies that say you have to properly maintain your own equipment, but those only let you fire someone (maybe) after the damage has been done. What happens if someone roots their iDevice (or Android, or whatever), sets up the root user with a password of "password" and sets it to be accessible from any network? How do I enforce any measure of security in that type of environment? Sure, some Mobile Device Management applications give you kind of a protected, encrypted environment on the device - which is good for IT - however, I have yet to evaluate any solution that users considered as usable as the native interfaces (granted, it's been a couple of years since I've looked - maybe this problem has been solved by now). And, in the environments I've been in where BYOD was tolerated, IT could not force users to install any applications, and IT could not restrict BYOD devices access to ActiveSync. I guess you can just assume that every endpoint is unsafe, but it can get a bit expensive to properly protect an environment like that - either in terms of hardware, software, labor, or some combination of the three.
Granted, some of these same issues exist on corporate liable devices as well - people can still mess with the device they are issued. However, at least the enterprise can generally enforce things such as requiring users to use some kind of secure MDM environment rather than ActiveSync. Or, if you choose to use ActiveSync, at least something like a Remote Wipe is a little less controversial.
Data recovery firm Passware claims its "Forensic" edition software can decrypt files protected by FireVault 2 in just 40 minutes -- whether it's "letmein" or "H4x0rl8t0rK1tt3h" you chose to stand in its way. Using live-memory analysis over firewire, the encryption key can be accessed from FireVault's partition, gifting the pilferer privy access to keychain files and login data -- and therefore pretty much everything else. If you want to try this out for yourself, conveniently, Passware will sell you the software ($995 for a single user license) without so much as a flash of a badge.
At home with the kids.
lets all go back to Motorola Flip-phones and DOS. Those were the good ole days.
Any IT senior I've known who uses Apple doesn't stay in that position very long. Nor do they use their personal devices to set company policy. Yes I know the Dilbert myths, but in reality that doesn't happen.
Disagree. I've done I.T. sub-contracting at pretty much every Fortune 500 company in the SFBay area and I can't count the number of times I've ended up having to aid members of in house I.T. departments in their efforts of integrating serial modems for laptops from the early 90s into their networks because some ancient corporate officer has been using it since time immemorial and can't be bothered to be required to upgrade.
And let's not even get into the amount of hours I've spent wrestling with serial printer integration! :P
All I have to do is point out the cost of operating Apple products and whatever complaints the boss has disappears quickly.
Whereas all I have to do is point out the financial costs of lost time and productivity from wrestling with configuration hassles and cleaning out malware on Windows, the savings on non per-CPU client site licenses, cost of repeated upgrades, and cost of staff training for updates.
I'm sorry to have to destroy the myth for you, but Apple really has no place in the enterprise despite the attempts of fanboys to delude others otherwise.
I'd hardly describe myself as a fanboi of any technology, but I've definitely seen a slow but steady growth of Apple technologies in I.T. departments over the last decade and as this article shows, I'm clearly not alone in that observation, either: http://goo.gl/vY1lM
I'm honest enough to admit I lie to myself.
and the mac mini, you're still looking at big premiums for those systems.
MacBook Pro 17 inch
Price: $2,499.00
For small office: Dell Precision M6600 Mobile Workstation
Starting Price $3,305.00 Instant Savings $792.00 Subtotal $2,513.00
The small and medium business 2.40 GHz quad core model is the same. And for large enterprises Dell doesn't show a 17 inch laptop with a quad core i7, it shows 2 dual core 2.50 GHz i5s.
Shall I go on and post other OEM configurations and prices?
The iMac is a desktop with zero upgrade ability.
The same applies to all other all-in-ones whether Apple, Dell, HP, or any other. The same with the Mac Mini.
One thing I leared about apple computers: NEVER, EVER 'configure' your systems with apple hardware. The prices goes through the roof.
I actually agree. I've even had an Apple employee tell me that if I want more memory or a bigger disk, to buy them from someone else. Before I ordered my MBP I asked about adding more memory than the base amount and he said if I wanted more then I should get the memory from another store.
Macs are hundreds more expensive than their PC counterparts at best.
Again, look above. Mac compare pretty fairly with Windows OEM PCs, more expensive than some but cheaper than others.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I think Apple's of the mindset that as long as they're expecting developers to build on Macs for iPhone and iPad, as well as use Lightroom/FinalCut/etc. in production environments, there's a need for the Mac Pro.
Have you read any comments forums about Final Cut Pro X? Just a couple of days ago I read some, they almost all agreed to properly run Final Cut Pro X the current Mac Pro were lacking. On Final Cut Pro X’s professional exodus. Can Mini run Photoshop CS5 and Final Cut Pro? More: Apple’s Just A Twitch Away From Killing The Mac Pro Line Forever.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
True until you realize people have to know of and look for GIMPShop. That's also why people aren't switching from Ubuntu 10.04 to 11.10?
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
well every time I see it come up it starts with "I am used to photoshop but because of XYZ I cant get the newest version, the gimp seems ok but ..."
well every time I see it come up it starts with "I am used to photoshop but because of XYZ I cant get the newest version, the gimp seems ok but ..."
Once in a while I'll hear or see that however a more common remark as to why people switched to GIMP from PS is because they learned GIMP does everything they need. For them I say bravo, they're not locked into a single vendor and they're saving money. However GIMP isn't suitable for every graphic artist or professional photographer. And for them I would suggest they try CinePaint and or Krita before buying or upgrading PS CS. They're both deep paint editors.
I haven't followed my own advice yet, but then again I haven't used Linux much and I haven't spent the money on PS CS either. Though I did for Photoshop Elements (PE). When PE is no longer adequate and CinePaint and Krita don't work either, that is when I have to get PS CS, I'll buy an older upgradable version on eBay, or somewhere else, first then upgrade. But I'm hoping CinePaint and or Krita is be fine.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?