using a mac in windows envionment

[leigh_boy]

a few people in the org are looking for macs, the trouble is everything we have is windows based.

apps we user are office, dynamics ax - ( mainly on terminal server) and adobe pro. we also use 3cx phone system and use the application on the machines not sure if their is a mac version, i will look.

downsides as far as i can see are, having to purchase a different version of office that im not sure will be covered by our enterprise agreement?

lack of in house support for macs. cant use group policy and im also not sure on the availability for printer drivers.

any comment to make on this? im not sure if my statement on the downsides are 100% correct.

 

[Cuchulain]

They don't NEED macs they just want them, just tell them no outlining the reasons you've already stated.

 

[HecFam]

We had a client that uses macs in a windows environment (windows server, Generally not a huge amount of stuff). They have Parallels running in Coherence mode which somewhat works with Sage, but they need two copies off office, one windows, one mac for output to email to work. Only thing is, Firstly, You will need to spend more money on the Parallels program and a windows licence and if they are not too techy, they may have problems juggling two OSes, generally it looks and feels ok, but you may need to drill home what programs are windows specific.

Also it depends how you do office licencing, i know office365 licences can work for both PC and Mac, so you may be able to save some dosh there. I think there is a new version of outlook coming out soon for Mac, just bare in mind there are some different features on windows versions that aren't on Mac, like read receipts aren't on 2011.

Generally Printer drivers are ok. A lot install automatically using the ones from Apple. Other big printers with fierys are a bit of a pain, but there usually are drivers out there even if you do need to go through 3 or 4 to find one that works.

They had Adobe Creative cloud as well, which was pretty handy, each user had 5 licences i think which could work on both PC and Mac. So that helped.

You may just need to check if the programs are Mac compatible. Mavericks now has SMB as standard i think, so windows file shares should be ok.

Would be easier just to use PCs, but i can see the appeal of shiny things. My main concern would be the phone application, i know they can be quite picky.

 

[MagicBoy]

You've pretty much covered it. Try to dissuade them.

I found issues with SMB on 10.7 and 10.8 in our environment after Apple stopped using the open source samba. Not tested 10.9 yet for a variety of reasons.

Office 2011 won't be covered under a Windows EA, you'll need to buy a license via Select for each machine.

Sad to say, but Apple kit really isn't suitable for corporate use any longer.

 

[SCOLANATOR]

I use my Retina Macbook Pro (Late 2013 Haswell) in Windows as much as I use it on OS X and it runs perfectly, infact I don't think it's ever crashed on me. I do quite a lot of gaming on it as I don't currently have a rig as I need it for travelling to and from uni.

It's a seriously capable machine, yeh it's expensive but I wouldn't say there's any problem to running Windows on it, it will run it as well as any other dedicated Windows laptops.

 

[leigh_boy]

I use my Retina Macbook Pro (Late 2013 Haswell) in Windows as much as I use it on OS X and it runs perfectly, infact I don't think it's ever crashed on me. I do quite a lot of gaming on it as I don't currently have a rig as I need it for travelling to and from uni.

It's a seriously capable machine, yeh it's expensive but I wouldn't say there's any problem to running Windows on it, it will run it as well as any other dedicated Windows laptops.

i wouldnt want to go through puting boot camp on them all, because our EA says we must already have a windows license for the machine, so that extra cost, the price of the machiens are not an issue we spend 1.5k / 2k on every laptop we have here. we buy about 10 + a year.
i think its safe to say its a no go really apart from our designers who only will use macs. annoyingly.
never had issues with smb on mac.

 

[Beerbaron]

They don't NEED macs they just want them, just tell them no outlining the reasons you've already stated.

This, no one needs a Mac.

Its a pain in the ass when you come across vendors that don't support Mac. Make life easier and tell them Linux or nothing. You will save the company money as well.

 

[theheyes]

Unless it's part of your remit to provide the choice, I would politely tell them no.

 

[Caged]

It's definitely possible to make Macs play nicely in a Windows environment as long as you know what you're doing.

I guess you could be the stereotypical IT guy and just tell people that they can't use their platform of choice, but I don't really see the benefit in not letting people use the platform they feel the most comfortable on. Otherwise it's a good opportunity to add another string to your bow. If the company isn't interested in the software needed to manage Apple systems then obviously you'll have to disappoint the people who want the Macs.

 

[MagicBoy]

We took Mac support in-house a few years back. Some users were asking for it, and the third party that was supplying and support Macs were generally clueless and charging a fortune for kit and "support". IT were getting involved anyway as invariably they were trying to access our infrastructure. On the upside I got training out of it.

That said we're trying to wind down Mac support as we've lost about half the users, and the depts don't want to pay for upgraded Macs and the management tools. There's one machine that uses FCP, there's no reason the rest cannot be migrated to Windows.

 

[theheyes]

It's just common sense. Letting end users dictate their platform of choice is not a luxury most can afford. You standardize on things for a reason.

 

[MagicBoy]

Insightful post there. Thanks.

I'll tell my Final Cut Pro and Logic users that they're only using a Mac because it looks good. They'll love that.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Please post constructive discussion, and refrain from trolling or baiting.

We are trying to promote a sensible and educated standard of discussion on the forums, and do not want to get dragged down to petty arguments.

I would suggest that if you do not have a useful addition to the Mac threads, that you contribute to one of the many Windows threads.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=9

 

[cokecan]

Tools like Microsoft's System Centre are supporting Mac's more and more now days which while still limited, has some usable management tools in.

I guess for me it very much depends on the company and the need. Licensing costs would also sway my decision (hardware cost is a non-issue if you're buying windows laptops at 1K an upwards). I have no issue what so ever with people who need a Mac to have and use a Mac in the work place, but I would have to question why someone working in HR wants a Mac simply because much of the HR-based software I've seen in workplaces has been typically Windows only. Hypothetically if I opted to give HR Mac's then it could require a good chunk of time to potentially configure Parallels and then teach the user how to use it which often is time my IT team just don't have (isn't this always the case ).

My other concern is the lack of TPM's in Mac laptops. Makes encryption a bit more fuzzy if you're primarily in a Bitlocker/Windows environment, but you could easily argue that maybe Bitlocker wasn't the right choice for the business in the first place if you're considering bringing more Mac's in house.

It's certainly an interesting question and I'm looking forward to everyone else's opinion/experiences