Posted on 04/22/2008 1:45:14 AM PDT by Swordmaker
The IT department where I work won’t support or allow Macs or Linux machines for the simple reason that they can’t control them. This is one of those paranoid locked-down shops where they bind everyone up so tight they need a tech to turn the page as they’re reading.
Mass Global Policy’s, SMS, Cisco Draconian firewall, They take state of the science hardware and by the time they are finished, 12-15 minute boot times are common.
They won’t allow Macs because they don’t understand them...
You need a new IT dept. :-) I'm a windows user, and our environment is 100% Windows. If I had 12-15 minute boot times - anywhere I've worked - my boss would be looking to put my head on his desk.
I *do* see a need for mixed environments in some cases, but by and large...Mac vs PC is just a matter of personal preference. Outside of art/graphics/etc, it's hard to make a business case for Macs.
More to the point, in all of the mixed environments that I've worked in the past, Macs generated a dispropotionately huge percentage of the tickets. We're talking 2% of the organization's computers generating 10% of the tickets. Not sure if it's their design, or the fact that people think they can use them like a home system...and break them more often.
...waiting to be called vile names by Mac folks....
With IE8 and forthcoming versions of IE, you’re pretty much going to have to write to W3C anyway.
Rush Limbaugh and President George W. Bush are effete (learn to spell, or get a Mac with a real spell checker) liberal snobs now?
I may buy a Mac someday, but only because Microsoft has crossed over my threshold of tolerance for their antics. I hate being bullied, I hate their arrogance, I hate Vista and I hate having to learn a new interface every time that M$ issues a new OS. Can’t they tweak under the hood without redesigning the dashboard? BTW, I am typing this from a Ubuntu Linux box.
“Actually, Internet Explorer was available for Mac OS X for a while, without much support for ActiveX. Nobody misses it today. “
I do. I miss the hell out of IE. Both me and my spouse have jobs and businesses that require the use of IE. I have VMware and parallels on all my Macs. It sucks. I really miss IE support for Macs - big time. And it is my bone to pick with AAPL.
“With IE8 and forthcoming versions of IE, you’re pretty much going to have to write to W3C anyway.”
But not ActiveX and those insidious little tests that some commercial websites put in by their windows robots to screw with the minds of non-believers.
At this stage, what's good for Mac is good for Linux -- any move toward making Web-based apps "browser agnostic," to use the term in the article, opens up possibilities for Linux, other *ixen, PDAs, cell phones, and new stuff like gOS.
Virtualization on the desktop is great, but server-level virtualization has been around for quite a while -- Citrix, for example. Running a virtual machine on a Citrix server and the client on a Mac is a great solution for Mac or Linux users who only occasionally need to use Windows -- it's easier and cheaper to support than Windows on each desktop, and folks love their Macs.
Name one thing you can do on your PC that I can't do on my "toy." Other than chase down spyware.
AAPL didn't develop IE for Mac, and AAPL didn't pull the plug on it.
The new version of Photoshop sgnificantly reduces art flaking.
The old version of IE for Mac apparently still works on the latest version of Mac OS X - but since it was designed for PowerPC processors, it must run with Rosetta emulation on Intel-based Macs.
No, it isn't. Some tools are better than other tools.
“AAPL didn’t develop IE for Mac, and AAPL didn’t pull the plug on it.”
But AAPL could 1) work a deal with MSFT; 2) be much more active in dealing with incompatibility issues.
But this still does not defeat the concept that IE is needed by a lot of people and a real glitch in using Macs for some people.
“The old version of IE for Mac apparently still works on the latest version of Mac OS X - but since it was designed for PowerPC processors, it must run with Rosetta emulation on Intel-based Macs.”
Completely misses the point and states the obvious. Still the biggest problem for AAPL is IE specific websites that have kept up with IE releases.
My point is that IE6/7 is necesary tool for many people to do their jobs and one reason users should be careful before committing to Macs. I know, I know you can run Windows in a VMs and I do, but that is somewhat difficult for some people. Those that Macs are specifically, otherwise perfect for.
AAPL needs to put some more resources on this.
Who’s to say?
Unfortunately, there is not much that Apple can do about it beyond enabling Windows to run on Macs. ActiveX will not be supported on Mac OS X and Safari.
Ask any craftsman if he could do his job as well with tools bought in the cut rate consumer market or does he buy the best, often spending top dollar?
I just talked to a friend who showed me his brand new $150 carpenter's hammer... and it was by far better balanced than any hammer I have ever owned... and I have bought some top brands in my life.
Does a Chef use knives bought at the Dollar Tree Store or does he spend upwards of a thousand dollars for knives that will serve him well for a career. Both are the same tool and they may even look exactly the same... but there IS a distinct difference and the Chef can instantly which is better.
In the instance of which is the better tool between Macs and PCs, "who's to say" can only be those people who have intimately used both. Generally, that means only Mac owners. Most PC owners have never even touched a Mac, yet Mac users have generally been PC users who switched to the Mac for good and well considered reasons after using Windows PCs for years either at work or at home and getting fed up. PC only users can only relate to their limited experiences with Windows... while Mac users have a greater experience to use when making a determination as to which is better.
Interestingly, I have never seen a Mac user write "It's only a tool" in any forum... that usually comes from people using Windows PCs for work. ;^)>
Yeah, I'm sure MSFT would be reeeeeeeeeeeal accommodating. I mean, all you're asking them to do is devote development resources into a browser it gives away for free that runs on a competing platform.
They wouldn't rake Apple over the coals, would they? Naah. We all know how principled, fair and forgiving Microsoft has historically been with other companies.
2) be much more active in dealing with incompatibility issues.
There is nothing Apple can do to stop Microsoft from introducing proprietary, non-standards-compliant technology in its browser. There will never be ActiveX for Mac or Linux or other OSen, because it's one of the shrinking number of hooks Microsoft has to keep people on Windows.
Apple is not to blame for Microsoft's inability to play well with others. Apple is not responsible for lazy Web developers who use whatever crap Microsoft throws over the wall, no matter whether it drives away customers, and no matter how many gaping security holes it opens.
But this still does not defeat the concept that IE is needed by a lot of people and a real glitch in using Macs for some people.
I'm sorry that you're stuck using Web-based applications that were created by idiots. That's the crux of the issue, and that's who you should be complaining to.
Creating a Web site for one browser on one platform is, and has always been, bad form. But as long as some Web developers are too lazy to build cross-platform sites, you're stuck with Windows. Sorry, but that's not Apple's fault, and in making it easy to run Windows on a Mac, Apple has done all it legally can.
As one of the flaky types in the “art” department (who by the way probably makes more money than you do) the reason “why ‘no Macs’ is no longer a defensible IT strategy” is because it was NEVER defensible.
The usual argument is “security.” True enough. IT fears Macs because we don’t need them the way PC users do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.