PBS columnist: IT hates Macs because 'Macs reduce IT head count'

PBS's I, Cringely, the pulpit via MacDailyNews ^ | August 15, 2003 | Robert X. Cringely

[_Jim]

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

Perhaps this is the layman's experience where he puts his PC through literal hell - in the ten plus years of using a 33 MHz 386(w/copro)-based Win 3.1 machine dedicated to running an established suite of design/development tools from the same era as the PC I've got *no* complaints ...

[CurlyDave]

Agreed it is another issue entirely... it is next to impossible to justify spending 3-4 times the cost of a PC per desktop for a MAC. When you can get machines from dell for ~ $500 a pop spending 1000-2000 per MAC just doesn't cut it.

About 3 years ago my company issued an edict that everyone had to use a PC. I managed to bootleg a Mac & now I have one of each on my desk.

Every morning when I turn on the PC there is a message that the IT department is going to "push" yet another update onto the PC. This always takes 5-10 minutes and maybe one day out of 5 requires a restart.

Now I turned the machine on because I wanted to use it, not update it. I guarantee you the company looses 30 minutes a week for every computer on this update thing. That is 25 hours per year. Given what they bill my time for, our customers should be clamoring to donate a Mac to me.

Real costs of professional employees are $100 to $200 per hour. You can not justify saving $500 to $1000 on a computer when you are going to throw away twice that much per year on lost productive time because of the choice you made.

And I haven't even begun to think about how much Sobig and Blaster cost us. Whole company email system down for several days. My Mac was immune to both.

[MaryFromMichigan]

We still run some programs on our power mac 6100/ 66 MHz.
Hubby is a computer geek and keeps our computers optimized.
There can be life left in those old machines, but at 66 MHz, that life is at a slow pace.
Glad you get such great productivity from yours.
Kudos.

[CurlyDave]

A quick search of Apple's website turned up 1444 game titles available for the Mac.

OK, "no games" is an exageration, but none of my kids has ever wanted to use my Mac for anything. On the other hand, they were always whining to use my wife's PC, back in the days she used one, so they could play an important game of Doom or some such nonsense while she was trying to use it to earn money.

And, they all had their very own computers, but somehow if you load enough games on a PC it stops working. The only surefire way to get it up and running again is to re-install Windows, which wipes out all of their vital saved games, so they hate that like sin.

[Kenny Bunk]

Wingy, move to Czech Republic, or Romania. THe Amiga is alive and well there. Now kidding. They even have Amiga developers.

[Glenn]

I used to like OS X, but got tired of the change in policy from "free updates" to "gimme gimme gimme".

I'm calling you on it. How many upgrades have you had to pay for with OS X? Stop whining.

I have 3 Macs, including 2 Powerbooks and a G4 1.25 dualie. I also have a Dell Latitude, a Linux server, and a hand built W2K screamer I use as a test server for work. In addition, I have an AS/400 I use for testing. MSDN costs me $900/year so I can maintain my test environment.

If you can't afford the few bucks it takes to stay current, then get your Abacus back out, shut off your 2400 baud dial up line and go back to paying the post office to send your mail.

[Benrand]

Slow and expensive is what they are. We are pulling out the Mac we use for our network map maintenance and going to AutoCad. It's a case of the software for the Mac not being there and the Mac not being friendly with the majority of our machines.

It's as much of a pain in the ass to use as anything anyway. I have yet to meet a serious network manager who uses a Mac in his daily work. It's Linux or some variant of Unix.

[RWG]

Unless they come out with a generic cheap G4 for $4-500 like Pcs,or Linux they wont be getting my vote...check out lindows.com then.

[sergeantdave]

PCs are great for target practice and make fine stools in the garden when picking cucumbers.

[pageonetoo]

Your last statement eschews the truth of the matter, that you are fixed in your ways (aren't we all?)...
You use the term "dollar for dollar", and yet are willing to spend tons of cash and accept all of the down time, that comes with that technology...
Since 1984, I have owned Macs... from many different generations... I am going to spend the bucks to get a G5, because it is the fastest and best digital media converter, available! I love the iMovie softare that Mac provided me, at no extra cost... I was able to make a video clip, convert it to QuickTime (another Apple innovation, FREE), and email it to my family around the country... that evening after he was born, my family was able to see, live, in digital color video, my grandson, and daughter in the hospital... with sound!
It is simple enough! Apple gives you more for your dollar...!!!
My first Mac came with word processor, database, spreadsheet, and drawing programs IN THE BOX! Sure, they (Macs) were new, and this gave folks something to use right away! Good marketing... heard of .Mac? It is for Mac folks, for a $99 ayear fee, you get tons of freebies! AOL was started for Macs!
I could go on, like the good Mac disciple that I am, but you get my idea...
I had a timex-Sinclair, a C-64, 2-C-128s, an Amiga, and Mac's... now, just Macs...
There is only one thing I regret!
I have to use a clunky emulator to run Microsoft Flight Simulator... Microsoft won't support Macs! They couldn't buy them (though Gates tried to copy them, and lost a lawsuit!)
I think your single most important remark was ""I hated PC's and would have moved up to a Mac". That statement says it all!

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Good Lord, what a lot of hostility. Did I offend your God or something? Just expressing an opinion.

I've been an Apple developer since 1989, and a user since 1984. Not particularly impressed with Apple's latest toolsets. (Very, very, primitive environment.) But as you don't appear interested in a rational discussion, I'll let you have the last word.

[pageonetoo]

How much software ON YOUR COMPUTER did you PAY for? You must not like commerce!
Do you have any "copies" of software, for which you did not pay, or only paid for a cd-rom disc, to copy it onto?
Do you run a business?
They are out to make money, not satisfy the whim to have the LATEST!
Business is smart to try and make money from its products... dumb to give it away... why do you think they have those long passwords... which may have been handwritten on that cd-rom?

[RnMomof7]

Free Trade, as it is set up at present, is the most terrible danger America has ever faced. Control of our food, water, resources, needed goods, will be far out of our reach and in the hands of an appointed committee.

I am a Mac user too , I will never own a PC. Macs are tanks, They run and they run . There are ten year old macs still operating without a problem .

In a way I hope they do not become more popular because one of the real perks are with such a small market share no one bothers to make worms or viruses for them. So while the rest of the computing world was trying to fix their PC last week , Mac users just chugging along

BTW Gamers can have the benefit of the Linix system and the games of the PC

One can purchase a "virtual PC" program that allows the use of any PC software

[John Lenin]

Maybe if Apple wasn't into gouging its customers they would sell more PC's. What do you think ? It is very shortsighted of Apple to price themselves out of the market, I'm sure Bill Gates laughs at Apple everytime he looks at his net worth.

[RnMomof7]

I've been very happy with OS X. I have never gone so long (on either a Mac or a PC) without a problem (and, man, there were SO many problems with the HP running Windows 98 when I was in my thesis advisor's lab).

I have not had a problem with OSX , have had with Safari though , it goes down once a day . Safari is a great browser and I do not want to return to Express.

Any Mac users have any ideas?

[RnMomof7]

opps the paste was supposed to be

I'm a Mac User and most of the reasons I've heard that others don't use Macs is the lack of games to play on them. I've never had any problem finding games I like to play, but then, I don't spend all my time playing games either. Umm my bad:>)

[Vermonter]

Any Mac users have any ideas?

Have you got the latest version of Safari? I have had minimal problems with it.

Two things to try: Try the empty cache option under the Safari menu, and get a hold of MacJanitor and run it.

Also, if you don't normally do it, run fsck occasionally and use the disk utility to repair permissions whenever you update system software.

Good luck

[kylaka]

I paid for and own every piece of software on my machine, including the $20 shareware programs. And I can run software made for my old 80286 and DOS 3.0 on my P-4 running XP. Where did you bury all your old MAC stuff? In the backyard with the dead pets? After all, you paid for it 8 times over.

[ThinkDifferent]

Slow and expensive is what they are.

With the G5, Macs are fast and expensive.

I have yet to meet a serious network manager who uses a Mac in his daily work. It's Linux or some variant of Unix.

Erm, Mac OS X is a rather nice Unix.

[Vermonter]

ping!