Getting Hung Up on the Apple-Microsoft War

[Bill Campbell]

On Fri, Aug 11, 2006, James McDonald wrote:
>Net Llama! wrote:
>> Quote of the day, in the NYTimes:
>> "... the market-share figures includes sales of computers to corporations, 
>> which buy hundreds of PC's at a time. And the corporate world long ago 
>> standardized on Windows. It makes no difference how superior Mac OS X or 
>> Linux may be; the world's I.T. staffs will switch their entire companies 
>> away from Windows the day Rush Limbaugh votes for Hillary Clinton.
>> After all, the I.T. people know where their bread is buttered. If Macs are 
>> indeed less trouble-prone and complex than Windows PC's, they're doomed in 
>> corporations; the last thing the I.T. guys want to do is obsolete 
>> themselves."
>>   
>Hmm I would love to get rid of most of the first and second line support 
>and simply have a few 3rd line support people. Having to wade through 
>the current coporate support structures before you get someone who knows 
>what they are talking about is a fact of life for most windows shops.

As far as I can figure out, most MCSE types only understand the ``Three
R's'' of Windows, Reboot, Reboot, Reinstall, and few can actually diagnose
and fix a problem.  The only other thing they learn in MCSE certification
is which Microsoft software to sell.  This is aggravated by the ability of
desktop users to modify their systems in ways that can cause a wide variety
of problems (and the incompetence of Windows application developers
building systems that require Administrative access to function).

Most of the Linux/UNIX support people I know are far more likely to
identify the source of a problem, and fix the real problem.

Linux/UNIX systems are generally far easier to support via remote secure
shell connections as well.

When dealing with private, for-profit, companies in the small to medium
business marketplace, I always try to deal with the people who actually pay
the bills and are concerned with profitability, not with IT people who's
jobs depend on Windows' issues.

It may be heresy to say this on this list, but I generally recommend using
Apple OS X boxes for general desktop use, with Linux servers doing the back
end work.  While I recommend OpenOffice.org for most office applications,
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac is also available, and the Adobe software
runs better on the Macs than it does on Windows.

There are certainly issues with Apple and Steve Jobs, but whatever they
are, the Macs are far better choices for the average business user than
Windows and they have far fewer issues than Linux for the things that most
desktop users need.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill at Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
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``People from East Germany have found the West so confusing. It's so much
easier when you have only one party.'' -- Linus Torvalde, Linux Expo Canada
when asked about confusion over many Linux distributions.