Regardless of the merits or motives of Symantec's prognostications, as I have told my clients, just because there are no viruses or malware in Mac OS X, it doesn't mean that there won't be a really nasty one released in the next five minutes. Better safe than sorry.
The other reason to have anti-virus software on Mac OS X, is to prevent those Mac OS X workstations from unwittingly passing on PC/Windows centric viruses. This is especially important in multi-platform environments.
Companies like Dell, Microsoft, Symantec, who believe they can cut costs by outsourcing and shipping customer service and support overseas are learning quickly that while it's helping their bottom line in the short term, it's negatively impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty for the long term.
Companies who believe that customer serivice and satisfaction IS PART of the bottom line, are rewarded with higher profit marigns, customer loyalty, increased customer satisfaction, and repeat purchases.
An example:
Apple Computer has won Consumer Reports award for Technical Support three years in a row. Why? Apple doesn't outsource their support because they believe customer satisfaction and support is part of bottom line. Apple believes that nobody can do support better than Apple for their own products, and they're right.
(To be accurate, Apple does outsource a very small portion of their support to another company in the States for overflow purposes only.)
...that this is no different that Apple's transition from the 68k to the PowerPC.
When the PPC Macs were released, the Mac OS (7?) at the time wasn't fully optimized for the PowerPC, so it required a hardware based 68k emulator. (Although I'm not sure "emulator" is the correct term to use in this case.)
Over time Apple released subsequent versions of the Mac OS that contained more and more PPC optimizations and 3rd party developers released new versions of their software to take advantage of the PPC.
The fact that Mac OS X 10.3 won't be a full 64-bit OS means that Apple is just in another transition with plenty of room for improvements and optimizations over the course of the transition.
They never promised a 64-bit OS. But they are falling back on the "Macintosh Way" saying: Underpromise; Overdeliver.
As they say in the U.K. "That's what I'm on about."
Use the best tool, for the right job, not the only tool for any job.
When I worked in Silicon Valley I saw this philosophy quite a bit in large data centers. When I moved to Seattle and worked in data centers there, they used Windows (and strugled with it) because the mentality was "use Windows for anything/everything so Microsoft will smile upon us and bless us."
I can make many ROI and TCO arguments in favor of Mac OS X, but where the rubber meets the road the most important take-home lesson is:
WWDC isn't exactly a place Steve Jobs likes to announce hardware products...
I can see the logic of that, however, all bets are off regarding what venues are now appropriate for new product announcements, since Apple has all but completely pulled out of MacWorld Expo.
WWDC is an appropriate venue to announce major architectural changes.
After I was diagnosed with CTS over ten years ago, I spent about a month healing and learning Dvorak. I've never looked back since and never regretted the switch. By the end of the month, I was typing faster that I was ever able to type before, and I could type for longer periods without discomfort.
Too bad Dvorak never caught on. My touch-typing speed today is outrageous with Dvorak.
Agreed! I dropped cursive in the 6th grade for my own style, because cursive can be so anti-left-handed, IMHO.
Most of the people I know who write cursive, no matter how young or old, I can't read their writing. So why's cursive so great anyway? Legibility certainly isn't one of the advantages.
Touch-typing, especially touch-typing Dvorak, is much more important.
Well I wouldn't say always take your broken Apple stuff to an Apple store. AppleCare support can be incredibly useful first point of contact in getting your gear fixed, repaired or replaced usually with a very short turn-around.
There are some things that the Apple Store can't do, but at least the folks at the Apple Store can coordinate getting your gear repaired or replaced. The Apple Stores are meant to be the public face of Apple Computer, and they like customers to come in and chat it up, ask for advice or bring in problems. They're not just stores, they're also "Localised AppleCare Nodes" in a sense.
The general rule at AppleCare was (and I stress was since I don't work there anymore) repair it up-to three times, and then replace it. So in my day, in a few rare instances, it might take 2-3 repair back-and-forths before a product was outright replaced.
Also, the Apple Store personnel have a direct line to the top-tier phone techs at AppleCare and access to the internal Knowledge Base and ticketing system.
I left Austin to move back home (the Pacific Northwest) soon after the iPod was introduced, so I can't comment on how Apple was/is handling consumer products.
...I can tell you that customer satisfaction at Apple was job one. Unlike a lot of companies (like the company who's product I support now), Apple believes that customer support is integral to their business and outsourcing support to other companies in out of the question. (Actually, to be accurate, they used to outsource a portion of their support when I was there, mainly for call volume overflow purposes. They may still.)
Sure, Apple like any other business has limits, and has to say no to customers sometimes, but it was pretty rare when I was there. They had very clear and specific lines of escalation for all manner of customer issues.
Another thing is that the agents take a lot of pride in their work, and are given a lot of latitude in helping customers. Not only are customers satisfied, but the support agents are satisfied too.
I've tried to apply all that I learned at Apple to where I'm working now, and it's helped me be the best Macintosh support agent here, and among the top 1% of all agents, which admitedly isn't hard considering that 98% of the rest are all Windows product related agents.
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Regardless of the merits or motives of Symantec's prognostications, as I have told my clients, just because there are no viruses or malware in Mac OS X, it doesn't mean that there won't be a really nasty one released in the next five minutes. Better safe than sorry. The other reason to have anti-virus software on Mac OS X, is to prevent those Mac OS X workstations from unwittingly passing on PC/Windows centric viruses. This is especially important in multi-platform environments.
I'd love to see George W. Bush fired too, but what does this have to do with the topic at hand?
Companies like Dell, Microsoft, Symantec, who believe they can cut costs by outsourcing and shipping customer service and support overseas are learning quickly that while it's helping their bottom line in the short term, it's negatively impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty for the long term.
Companies who believe that customer serivice and satisfaction IS PART of the bottom line, are rewarded with higher profit marigns, customer loyalty, increased customer satisfaction, and repeat purchases.
An example:
Apple Computer has won Consumer Reports award for Technical Support three years in a row. Why? Apple doesn't outsource their support because they believe customer satisfaction and support is part of bottom line. Apple believes that nobody can do support better than Apple for their own products, and they're right.
(To be accurate, Apple does outsource a very small portion of their support to another company in the States for overflow purposes only.)
Since Apple "Steve'd" the disability solutions group at Apple, solutions for the "differently'abled" have been declining or slow to come.
As far as disability solutions are concerned, Mac OS X is not as mature as Mac OS 9 was.
...that this is no different that Apple's transition from the 68k to the PowerPC. When the PPC Macs were released, the Mac OS (7?) at the time wasn't fully optimized for the PowerPC, so it required a hardware based 68k emulator. (Although I'm not sure "emulator" is the correct term to use in this case.) Over time Apple released subsequent versions of the Mac OS that contained more and more PPC optimizations and 3rd party developers released new versions of their software to take advantage of the PPC. The fact that Mac OS X 10.3 won't be a full 64-bit OS means that Apple is just in another transition with plenty of room for improvements and optimizations over the course of the transition. They never promised a 64-bit OS. But they are falling back on the "Macintosh Way" saying: Underpromise; Overdeliver.
Use the best tool, for the right job, not the only tool for any job.
When I worked in Silicon Valley I saw this philosophy quite a bit in large data centers. When I moved to Seattle and worked in data centers there, they used Windows (and strugled with it) because the mentality was "use Windows for anything/everything so Microsoft will smile upon us and bless us."
I can make many ROI and TCO arguments in favor of Mac OS X, but where the rubber meets the road the most important take-home lesson is:
We're sorry SCO, but your call cannot be completed at this time. Please hang up and try again or try at a later time.
WWDC isn't exactly a place Steve Jobs likes to announce hardware products... I can see the logic of that, however, all bets are off regarding what venues are now appropriate for new product announcements, since Apple has all but completely pulled out of MacWorld Expo. WWDC is an appropriate venue to announce major architectural changes.
After I was diagnosed with CTS over ten years ago, I spent about a month healing and learning Dvorak. I've never looked back since and never regretted the switch. By the end of the month, I was typing faster that I was ever able to type before, and I could type for longer periods without discomfort. Too bad Dvorak never caught on. My touch-typing speed today is outrageous with Dvorak.
Agreed! I dropped cursive in the 6th grade for my own style, because cursive can be so anti-left-handed, IMHO. Most of the people I know who write cursive, no matter how young or old, I can't read their writing. So why's cursive so great anyway? Legibility certainly isn't one of the advantages. Touch-typing, especially touch-typing Dvorak, is much more important.
Well I wouldn't say always take your broken Apple stuff to an Apple store. AppleCare support can be incredibly useful first point of contact in getting your gear fixed, repaired or replaced usually with a very short turn-around. There are some things that the Apple Store can't do, but at least the folks at the Apple Store can coordinate getting your gear repaired or replaced. The Apple Stores are meant to be the public face of Apple Computer, and they like customers to come in and chat it up, ask for advice or bring in problems. They're not just stores, they're also "Localised AppleCare Nodes" in a sense. The general rule at AppleCare was (and I stress was since I don't work there anymore) repair it up-to three times, and then replace it. So in my day, in a few rare instances, it might take 2-3 repair back-and-forths before a product was outright replaced. Also, the Apple Store personnel have a direct line to the top-tier phone techs at AppleCare and access to the internal Knowledge Base and ticketing system.
I left Austin to move back home (the Pacific Northwest) soon after the iPod was introduced, so I can't comment on how Apple was/is handling consumer products.
Sure, Apple like any other business has limits, and has to say no to customers sometimes, but it was pretty rare when I was there. They had very clear and specific lines of escalation for all manner of customer issues.
Another thing is that the agents take a lot of pride in their work, and are given a lot of latitude in helping customers. Not only are customers satisfied, but the support agents are satisfied too.
I've tried to apply all that I learned at Apple to where I'm working now, and it's helped me be the best Macintosh support agent here, and among the top 1% of all agents, which admitedly isn't hard considering that 98% of the rest are all Windows product related agents.
I just love running shopping carts into the side of the car to the great horror of my wife, just to demostrate how it can't be dented.