Converting my office to Mac?

[Metatron]

Has anyone had any success converting thier office to macs? I convienced my company to buy a Xserve Raid for a file server which turned out amazingly well. I set it up using folder redirection so I can backup just the xserve instead of 100 computers scattered accross east texas in our remote offices. I requestioned a iMac 17" in hopes that I can start replacing our old dells with iMacs. Was wanting to know how the transition went for any other or you IT guys.

 

[zap2]

Not my office but my house

My house was a all PC house 2.5years ago, now every computer that is used daily is a Mac. Honesly it was plug and go, very easy

 

[medea]

Should be much easier these days since you can still run Windows off them while transitioning. Is all the software your company uses available for the Mac OS?

 

[mad jew]

What sort of office is it? What sort of uses do you have for your computers? It should be quite simple, even if you do need Boot Camp for a while.

 

[Metatron]

We are a Blood Bank. Or software for blood banking is SafeTrace which is ran on a Sun server and used on each pc with a terminal emulation. Microsoft office, of course, marketing uses the well know adobe suite and every department uses crystal reports.

The problems seen are that in the future SafeTrace will be a windows app as it is being coded in visual basic supposedly. That will be the nail in the coffin and it is times like these I actually love java. Also crystal reports is not available on the mac.

 

[CanadaRAM]

It's all about the software.

Choose the software based on the business needs.

Choose the machines based on their ability to run the software reliably.

Then among the machine choices, choose the supplier based on the total cost of installation and maintenance over the lifespan of the machinery.

To do anything less is not responsible.

 

[celebrian23]

I agree with CanadaRAM. This shouldn't be about personal preference but about what kind of computers will serve the business better. If you have to run everything in bootcamp, what's the purpose of having mac computerrs?

 

[zap2]

looks like MS got you stuck into there OS, yes you could use OS X w/ boot camp but it would be a waste. Do some research to find alternative apps for your XP only Apps, but don't rush the switch.

 

[topgunn]

My plan on making the switch in our offices depends on one thing; virtualization. We have a proprietary software package that runs our entire company and it only runs in Windows. It is by no means a CPU hog. If Apple introduces virtualization in 10.5 and it works well with our apps, we are switching. I am really hoping that Apple includes all of the XP API's so that we can simply run exe's without having Windows installed at all. Apple had access to these API based on the Apple/Microsoft deal that ended in the summer of 2002.

 

[gekko513]

Whatever you decide, ask whoever makes SafeTrace if they have and/or will have a solution for Mac OS X. That way they'll at least know that the demand is there.

Besides... running business critical stuff in a virtual machine, like Parallels, can often be a very good idea if the data is stored remotely. The virtual client doesn't have to be stopped and started like a normal computer, instead a generic image with the client can be distributed to the physical computers by IT. To start the client in a working state "revert" it in Parallels... It's like starting a computer from deep sleep. Instead of shutting down and storing changes to client, just quit Parallels and start over from the original image upon next session. This elimininates lots of sources of malfunction and risk of getting viruses or spyware.

Upgrading the client is as simple as distributing a new image.

 

[Dunepilot]

Whatever you decide, ask whoever makes SafeTrace if they have and/or will have a solution for Mac OS X. That way they'll at least know that the demand is there.

My experience of asking a Windows-centric software developer that question in my last job was for them to ignore me for a bit. You have to remember that a lot of these people are very blinkered against the Macintosh.

 

[topgunn]

By the way, this is what I am hoping for. The article claims that Apple has Windows apps running on OS X machines in Cupertino just like they secretly had an Intel version of OS X. I will be placing an order for 40 iMacs and 10 PowerMacs as soon as this is confirmed to be in place in 10.5 and working as I expect it to.

 

[gekko513]

My experience of asking a Windows-centric software developer that question in my last job was for them to ignore me for a bit. You have to remember that a lot of these people are very blinkered against the Macintosh.

That's not surprising, but all the more reason that anyone with a demand for Mac software make themselves heard.

 

[Metatron]

I absolutely agree with you CanadaRam. The idea was to make it switch only if everything can run properly. The FDA basically lives here and anything short of perfection gets the front door chained. When it comes to 10.5 supposedly having MS API’s, will it truly run windows apps without crashing, or is this just pie in the sky? I did the requisition for the iMac approved. I have a high trust level at my company that what I say will work as promised. Not everyone uses SafeTrace and crystal reports…like marketing and administration, and in the short term it can be emulated inside terminal or another like program. Is there a crystal reports viewer for Mac? IT builds all the reports and everyone else just refreshes them.