Mac in the Enterprise

Back in the day, when I was selling Apple Macintosh computers into corporate accounts, Apple actually had a corporate or enterprise computing message. This was when built-in Ethernet was a revelation of a personal computer. Back then (1990-91), a Mac was actually a better network citizen than a PC with Windows. PC's usually didn't have enough memory space to support the operating system, the Windows shell, the expanded memory drivers, the NIC drivers, the Network login client and so forth and still be able to do useful work. Especially if you wanted to run a client/server application at the same time as Lotus 123 and WordPerfect.

For those of you who weren't around then, PC's ran in the lower 640K or RAM (that's Kilobytes, not Megabytes or Gigabytes) and typical business PC was lucky to even have one Megabyte or RAM installed.

For those not totally locked into Microsoft or more likely Novell Netware back then, the Mac wasn't that bad a business computer. In '91, you could get a Mac IIci with a 12" (13"?) monitor, extended keyboard, up to 4 MB RAM, built in Ethernet and more for about $3000. A Compaq DeskPro 386s with the same features cost a bit less, but was much harder to setup and connect to the LAN (with Windows) and had only 1MB RAM.

Selling a Mac to a company that was open to the possibility was essentially a TCO argument.

Since those days, Apple has all but abandoned efforts to sell their products as enterprise computing tools. Sure, Macs are in offices all over, but they've mostly stayed in the content creator niche.

But Apple has been making in-roads over the years through stealth. I think it started with the first OS X laptops. When these appeared, the PowerBook was the first commercially available and supported, reasonably priced laptop computer running  UNIX. And it ran UNIX while also supporting Microsoft Office. This immediately made these laptops popular with UNIX administrators who needed mobility and the ability to create reports and so forth using Microsoft Office file formats.

Just by becoming comfortable, indeed happy, with OS-X made system administrators more open to the Mac.

Then came the iMac. Especially, the LCD screen models. Any company that wanted to have their publicly visible offices look cool, modern and up-to-date had to have them. That they machines also took up less desk space and could run Office app's, made the iMac a much less risky choice.

(I don't know what the current stats are, but a year after OS-X was released there were more Apple computers running UNIX sold than all desktop UNIX sales for all versions of UNIX combined.)

Next came the iPod. Not  a business device? Maybe. But almost everyone had one. So Apple was now a friendly face to even the most belligerent Apple hater. Even Bill owned one!

Now comes the latest assault on staid enterprise computing. To quote ZDNet:

What’s great about the MacBook Air is that this machine appears to be a new twist in Apple’s stealth campaign into the enterprise. The MacBook Air is all about switchers.

Who will be customers of this classy machine? Captains of enterprise and commerce. Traditionally, these customers have been Windows users. But now they will buy Apple’s new ultralight and join the ranks of switchers.

Read related story: Do switchers now rule the Mac?

These executives are helping to drive the adoption of the Mac in the enterprise and mid-market companies.

» Why does the MacBook Air make so many so dumb? | The Apple Core | ZDNet.com

 

If you don't think this is the driving force, just visit places like Gizmodo. For instance this thread about what Sony has said about the MacBook Air. Besides all the stuff about how the Air isn't a power user computer, and it doesn't have this or it doesn't have that - the usual geek parade of complaints - the same point about stealth adoption is made by several folks.

BY CHINHSTER AT 01/16/08 11:49 PM

@nachobel:

Before the MBA was announced, I told my boss what the rumored ultra portable was supposed to be like and that if the rumors were true, it would be too expensive for most people. He travels first class and told me he has observed that there's no shortage of people who would pay for something like that in business/first class regardless of cost. The MBA would be perfect for him because he never uses the optical drive or a wired network, travels often, and doesn't use much local storage space preferring online storage instead, and carries his laptop everywhere he goes.

After the keynote, I got a text from him saying he ordered the MBA... the $3100 one.

This is the real purpose of the MacBook Air. When you start seeing the fashionable folks with them everywhere, including in Vogue, on TV and in the Movies, people are going to want them. A lot.

You don't think turning the Logo upside down on Mac laptop covers was an accident do you?