> From: tech-boun...@lists.lopsa.org [mailto:tech-boun...@lists.lopsa.org] > On Behalf Of Tim Kirby > > Much to my surprise and contrary to many years of prior stance > to the contrary, a "fast track" project has appeared at $WORK > with a view to "supporting" Mac laptops as an alternative to > the Dell windows systems - certain area, in particular in > engineering, have seen a proliferation of people bringing in > their own systems and I guess there's a sense that the powers > that be would rather provide and support $WORK owned machines > than have a network full of home boxes. Things such as cost > and the like are understood and will be factored in so when > managers sign up for employees to have such machines they will > know the impact on their budget... > > The more interesting aspect is what constitutes "support"; > the windows guys perspective they wax lyrical about group > policies, imaging systems etc. etc. ... which leads me to > ask whether any of this body have any useful experience in > "managing" such machines. I'm open to pointers to useful > resources, but I'm particularly interested in anyone who is > actually "doing" this at some level. > > And offline responses are fine if you don't want to admit > to it in public :)
I use and support Win, Linux, and Macs at work. (And solaris.) We've found them to be cost-competitive with the Dell Latitudes that we offer windows folks. We find that users' preference is mixed - approx 50/50 prefer win vs mac. A lot of the mac users are just "experimenting," they're curious what the hype is about, so they take a mac just because I told them they could. I would say, the most important factor in the whole thing is: The existing windows admins perceive it as a threat, and are unwelcoming and resistant and oppositional, often deliberately saying or doing things to undermine the successful adoption of macs, such as proliferating stereotypes about higher cost and "it can't do anything you can't do in windows." I would say the best way to prevent this from happening to you is to embrace a philosophy where you welcome it as a new technology, which is better in some ways and worse in some ways. View it as a learning opportunity, and make sure your colleagues do the same. Is there anything specific you'd like to know about it? _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list Tech@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
