04/14/2008, 7:35pm, EDT
Monday, April 14th
Analyst on the myths of Apple and Business
Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research has published an article addressing the suitability of Apple products -- the Mac and iPhone in particular -- for business purposes. Noting that Most IT departments are not deploying Macintosh systems in large numbers and those that are are deploying are usually in niche spaces such as graphic arts, Gartenberg says that the Mac OS has changed significantly in the last few years and says that Apple's systems now offer a reasonable alternative for Windows systems used in businesses.
Gartenberg first addresses the myth is that Apple computers are expensive relative to their PC cousins, saying that Macs are price competitive with PCs and that the premium for design and innovation is not out of line with that users already pay for name brand systems from vendors such as Sony, HP or Lenovo.
Also addressed is the myth that there is a lack of software available. On this topic, Gartenberg says "While Mac OS X does not offer the same sheer number of titles that Windows offers, there is an abundance of business software for Macintosh. In some markets, such as content creation, there is actually more software available for the Mac. In addition, Microsoft offers a complete and compatible version of Office for the Macintosh so knowledge workers can easily share documents and communicate with colleagues across platforms."
Finally, Gartnerberg addresses the myth that Apple uses purely proprietary protocols. "Today, Apple is one of the most standards driven operating systems you can purchase. From MPEG 4 support in Quicktime to full TCP/IP support for networking and WiFi protocols for wireless access," said Gartenberg, concluding "Apple systems can be a seamless fit for many organizations. Time to get over the myths and take a closer look."
Filed under: iPhone, Apple
Other story tags: Windows, business, web, research
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Microsoft are dicks.
How may IT directors want to cut their staff in half and who has the most influence over the switch.
But past that, Apple still has no formal enterprise policy. How long will any OS be supported? What about hardware? Are they even committed to offering security fixes to Leopard, let alone Tiger (you cannot find one word from Apple whether security updates will even be provided). Then again, it is a company that has no problem dumping their RAID without even telling anyone.
Maybe you do, but when I worked in cubicle-land with Outlook, nobody shared addresses, at least not on a level that couldn't be done with LDAP.