German publisher drops 12,000 PCs for Mac; more

[AppleInsider]

One of Germany's largest newspaper publishers will become one of Apple's largest-ever customers when it converts all of its 12,000 computers from Windows systems to Macs. Also, the latest beta of Flash Player 10 promises to boost sluggish performance with Apple computers.

German firm in record PC-to-Mac shift

In a major overhaul of its IT system, German publisher Axel Springer AG said it has struck a deal with Apple to replace every one of its 12,000 active computers with Macs.

Axel Springer produces the popular German newspaper Bild and becomes the single-largest company in Europe to depend entirely on Apple hardware for its day-to-day business. The shift helps modernize the publisher's culture, according to company chief Dr. Mathias Döpfner.

The total cost of ownership of each system over its useful lifespan and simple design are also cited as reasons for the switch.

The company will use all of Apple's desktop line, including the Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro, and should also use MacBooks and MacBook Airs for its mobile workers; depending on the context, users will either run Mac OS X, Windows XP, or Windows Vista. The iPhone will also be on hand, Apple notes.

All company-owned systems will be Macs within the next one to two years, though Axel Springer says self-purchased Macs and iPhones will be usable with the company network from July.

Flash Player 10 beta updated

Adobe this week has released Flash Player 10 beta 2, a new test version of its major animation plugin update.

The latest beta addresses a number of minor bugs and new features but is touted primarily for its speed on Mac OS X. The Apple platform has been characteristically slow in some browsers but runs at least three times faster in benchmarks thanks to a new drawing engine and hardware video acceleration, according to Adobe developers.

Version 10 also adds 3D effects, custom filters, and dynamic Internet streams that can lower or raise quality depending on the speed of the viewer's Internet connection.

Beta 2 represents late development and should translate to a final release soon.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

In a major overhaul of its IT system, German publisher Axel Springer AG said it has struck a deal with Apple to replace every one of its 12,000 active computers with Macs.

Congratulations to Springer AG.

Obviously Springer has done their homework. Something that a number of trolls that repeatedly surface on this sight could learn by doing the same thing.

[hdasmith]

Flash 10 can't be in that late development - YouTube doesn't work with it!

[bdkennedy1]

Once those people get switched over to Mac they'll wonder how they ever did without it.

[Marvin]

I'd hate to be the tech support at a publishing firm if they try to run Office on the Macs. I wonder how many calls they will get about why it runs so much slower than their old computers. I guess the more people that start using Macs for business, the more software developers will move their asses in getting the performance and support up to scratch.

Case in point: good news about Flash but long overdue. Classic example of poor support. If they've managed to squeeze out a 300% performance improvement, clearly they were doing something very wrong up till now.

I hope they finally fix scrolling support on Macs too.

[Jimzip]

"The latest beta addresses a number of minor bugs and new features but is touted primarily for its speed on Mac OS X"

Thank you, but about time Adobe!! It's been years since Flash has run well on Macs! I feel like an idiot every time I try to show my friends the latest flash wizardry and the animation slows to a crawl..

Jimzip

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by hdasmith

Flash 10 can't be in that late development - YouTube doesn't work with it!

Sure it does!

You may want to check a few things on your Mac to see why it may not be working.

[solipsism]

I wonder if the computers were given freely by Apple or at a severely reduced cost as part of a fee for an intense, upcoming marketing campaign.

"Axel Springer AG is one of the largest newspaper publishing companies in Europe, having over 150 newspapers and magazines in over 30 countries, including several Central and Eastern European countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and western European countries"

Could Apple be using Springer's media juggernaut to advertise their products much more aggressively to the EU? IF you are going to do it, a liberal paper would be the place for Apple. The first German Apple Store is opening up this year in Munich, but that link seems purely coincidental considering the reach of Springer.

"The five socio-political preambles that were written by Axel Springer in 1967, amended in 1990 following German reunification and supplemented in 2001 are part of the articles of association of Axel Springer AG. They paint a liberal picture of the world.

• To uphold liberty and law in Germany, a country belonging to the Western family of nations, and to further the unification of Europe.
• To promote reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support the vital rights of the State of Israel.
• To support the Transatlantic Alliance, and solidarity with the United States of America in the common values of free nations.
• To reject all forms of political extremism.
• To uphold the principles of a free social market economy. The corporate constitution defines fundamental sociopolitical convictions but does not offer opinions."

[alexius]

Flash 10 B2 breaks youtube here too...

[JeffDM]

The article doesn't give a source on the switch to Macs. From a TUAW article, I did find a source, in German:

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Axel-...meldung/110435
http://www.springer-verlag.de/inhalt...esse/6242.html

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by Marvin

I'd hate to be the tech support at a publishing firm if they try to run Office on the Macs. I wonder how many calls they will get about why it runs so much slower than their old computers. I guess the more people that start using Macs for business, the more software developers will move their asses in getting the performance and support up to scratch.

Business also needs to push apple to come out with a real desktop mid tower.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I wonder if the computers were given freely by Apple or at a severely reduced cost as part of a fee for an intense, upcoming marketing campaign.

Bartering is not free or severely reduced. Just the method of payment is different.

Think about it. Just how small do you think Springer or Apple are?

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

Business also needs to push apple to come out with a real desktop mid tower.

Why? So that they could play games?

Interesting, "Survey, 8 in 10 businesses now using Macs." http://www.computerworld.com/action/...intsrc=hm_list

[eAi]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Why? So that they could play games?

Interesting, "Survey, 8 in 10 businesses now using Macs." http://www.computerworld.com/action/...intsrc=hm_list

Indeed. For your average office worker a Mac Mini is all they need. For people doing more advanced stuff, an iMac is fine. The iMac is fine even for many people who'd think they'd need a Mac Pro. Sure, a Mac Pro is faster, but considerably more expensive!

The one area I think Apple does need to expand is making MacBooks with larger screens - a 15" MacBook would be ideal for many people, the current MacBooks are just too small for many people... Apple may want to upsell them to a MacBook Pro, but that really seems overkill and defies the point of having a Pro line at all. The MacBook like should provide what your average consumer wants, and they want larger screens for watching videos on and being more productive with...

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Congratulations to Springer AG.

Obviously Springer has done their homework. Something that a number of trolls that repeatedly surface on this sight could learn by doing the same thing.

They made a bad move, PC's are waay better.

/take the bait

[min_t]

I hope you guys uninstalled flash 9 b4 installing flash 10 beta. Youtube works ok on mine.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by min_t

I hope you guys uninstalled flash 9 b4 installing flash 10 beta. Youtube works ok on mine.

Worked fine for me, too. Though I first removed flashplayer.xpt and FlashPlayer.plugin from /Library/Internet Plug-Ins before installing.

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Why? So that they could play games?

Interesting, "Survey, 8 in 10 businesses now using Macs." http://www.computerworld.com/action/...intsrc=hm_list

no so they can have a system that is easy to open up and replace parts in. Also there is need for people who don't need the power of the mac pro but the mini is too under powered for there work. The Imac build in screen is not that good for all kinds of work and in a office AIO do not fit in that well as screens get replaced at a differnt time scale that the rest of the system.

Right now the mini is very over priced for it's hardware next to other systems and it add up in a big office.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

no so they can have a system that is easy to open up and replace parts in. Also there is need for people who don't need the power of the mac pro but the mini is too under powered for there work.

Performance is hardly a problem. Most business apps don't need more than a bare minimum of graphics power, and a 1GHz single core machine is plenty of power to run most business apps.

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Performance is hardly a problem. Most business apps don't need more than a bare minimum of graphics power, and a 1GHz single core machine is plenty of power to run most business apps.

not with vista, and all the other background stuff running at the same time.

also 1gb ram is low in a new system now days.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

no so they can have a system that is easy to open up and replace parts in. Also there is need for people who don't need the power of the mac pro but the mini is too under powered for there work. The Imac build in screen is not that good for all kinds of work and in a office AIO do not fit in that well as screens get replaced at a differnt time scale that the rest of the system.

Right now the mini is very over priced for it's hardware next to other systems and it add up in a big office.

Those are all reasonable statements, but from my experience the thinking is a bit old school. The prices of computers have down so far over that many corporate IT departments don't do break/fix in-house, they just give you a new machine and ship the old off for repair or wait for an authorized service tech to make his rounds. Also, I can't recall a single Dell machine that didn't come with a monitor in several years. In many cases, the monitor stayed in the box as the current one was CRT thus had a bigger screen or it just wasn't worth the trouble to setup if the new and old were equivalent sizes.

I've also seen companies use a great deal more notebooks, which are technically an AIO. I've seen these issued to people who aren't even traveling much as their main machine docked to a full size keyboard, monitor, mouse. When I started in the tech field notebooks were often loaned to people who were traveling and then turned back in when done. Could this be a trend that AIOs are becoming more popular in the workplace because companies aren't concerned with upgrading machines as much as they with downgrading the cost-center of the IT department with cheaper, less experienced staff and/or giving them higher concerns than troubleshooting a hardware issue?

[physguy]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

Business also needs to push apple to come out with a real desktop mid tower.

Apparently not.

[DCJ001]

Originally Posted by min_t

I hope you guys uninstalled flash 9 b4 installing flash 10 beta. Youtube works ok on mine.

Good point. I assumed that everyone had run the Flash uninstaller before installing the Flash 10 Beta. That's probably your problem.

[wheelhot]

Yeah, I agree with other people who says that Apple dont need to have a mid tower desktop. Most people who request these stuffs are gamers and if Apple deliver it, heck their next request would be fully upgradeable mid tower desktop.

If games is your life get a Windows PC, its much cheaper.

[FuturePastNow]

They're most likely buying through a large distributor (you don't get 12,000 Macs from an Apple Store), and presumably they're getting some bulk discount, but I doubt they're getting the computers free or even at a significantly reduced cost.

[Ptrash]

Originally Posted by solipsism

I wonder if the computers were given freely by Apple or at a severely reduced cost as part of a fee for an intense, upcoming marketing campaign.

"Axel Springer AG is one of the largest newspaper publishing companies in Europe, having over 150 newspapers and magazines in over 30 countries, including several Central and Eastern European countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and western European countries"

Could Apple be using Springer's media juggernaut to advertise their products much more aggressively to the EU? IF you are going to do it, a liberal paper would be the place for Apple. The first German Apple Store is opening up this year in Munich, but that link seems purely coincidental considering the reach of Springer.

"The five socio-political preambles that were written by Axel Springer in 1967, amended in 1990 following German reunification and supplemented in 2001 are part of the articles of association of Axel Springer AG. They paint a liberal picture of the world.

• To uphold liberty and law in Germany, a country belonging to the Western family of nations, and to further the unification of Europe.
• To promote reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support the vital rights of the State of Israel.
• To support the Transatlantic Alliance, and solidarity with the United States of America in the common values of free nations.
• To reject all forms of political extremism.
• To uphold the principles of a free social market economy. The corporate constitution defines fundamental sociopolitical convictions but does not offer opinions."

Actually, Springer was a well-known rightest who fought a public relations war with German leftist students during the 60s. Also, see the entry for Bild at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild

"Bild was modeled after the British tabloid Daily Mirror; although its paper size is bigger, this is reflected in its mix of celebrity gossip, crime stories and political analysis. However, its articles are often considerably shorter compared to those in British tabloids, and the whole paper is thinner as well. Bild has been known to use controversial devices like sensational headlines and invented "news" to increase its readership. The policy of having a topless woman on its front page virtually every day has also been criticised by German feminist groups.

From the outset, the editorial drift was unabashedly conservative and nationalist. The GDR was referred to as the Soviet Occupation Zone (German: Sowjetische Besatzungszone or SBZ). The usage continued well into the 1980s, when Bild began to use the GDR's official name cautiously, putting it in quotation marks. Bild heavily influenced public opinion against the German student movement of the years following 1967, after the assassination attempt on activist Rudi Dutschke. A popular catchphrase in left-wing circles sympathetic to student radicalism was "Bild hat mitgeschossen!" (Bild shot at him too). At the height of left-wing terrorism around 1977, Bild took a strong stance that could be said to have contributed to the climate of fear and suspicion.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War in Europe, Bild's editorial stance seems to have become more centrist. Despite its general support for Germany's conservative parties and especially former chancellor Helmut Kohl. Its rhetoric, still populist in tone, is less fierce than it was thirty years ago. Its traditionally less conservative Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag even supported Gerhard Schröder, a Social Democrat, in his bid for chancellor in 1998."

[edit] "

[ksec]

Originally Posted by FuturePastNow

They're most likely buying through a large distributor (you don't get 12,000 Macs from an Apple Store), and presumably they're getting some bulk discount, but I doubt they're getting the computers free or even at a significantly reduced cost.

I thought Apple would have talk with them directly. And you only need 2 - 3 big company in every continent to start it off. Salesforce.com in US.

Then they could start publishing article on how sucessful the switch was. Total Cost of Ownership lower due to lower server license etc.

And then software development will start for these company. Making ways for Apple into cooperate world.

[Frank777]

If Canada had a decent accounting package from a top tier software house (Intuit, MYOB, Sage) we'd see business conversions like these happening daily.

[mdriftmeyer]

Flash is horrid not only on OS X but worse on Linux and they can't even be bothered to have a 64 bit Linux version. It's constantly eating CPU cycles and since it's not OpenMP aware could possibly use the other core(s) available.

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Flash is horrid not only on OS X but worse on Linux and they can't even be bothered to have a 64 bit Linux version. It's constantly eating CPU cycles and since it's not OpenMP aware could possibly use the other core(s) available.

There isn't even a 64-bit Windows version of Flash. At this point, I can only assume that Adobe doesn't give a damn.

[ascii]

All these years with Mac users having a slow Flash player and finally Abode hires someone who can use Shark on OS X.

[randomthot]

hmmm...the timing of this is interesting. a faster flash is likely to make itself more likeable by Steve? Is that their strategy? While also making life on iPhone more difficult without flash? (although no mobile platform really supports flash). And all just before the iPhone 3G launch...sounds like Adobe isn't in the position they want to be as the mobile platform world takes off!

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by solipsism

Those are all reasonable statements, but from my experience the thinking is a bit old school. The prices of computers have down so far over that many corporate IT departments don't do break/fix in-house, they just give you a new machine and ship the old off for repair or wait for an authorized service tech to make his rounds. Also, I can't recall a single Dell machine that didn't come with a monitor in several years.

But you don't want to be shipping out the Hard disk off for repair with rest of the system. also they may just end of swapping the hard disk to a other system while waiting for one to be fixed.

Some systems that come with a monitor have a lot choice and you get better ones by add $50+ more. Also you are free to move them around.

Also with the imac screen size is tied to cpu power and you may a need bigger screen but not that much cpu power or you may need a lot of power but don't have the room for the big screen that come with the imac also there is space that imac takes up with it's cd / DVD on the side.

Originally Posted by solipsism

I've also seen companies use a great deal more notebooks, which are technically an AIO. I've seen these issued to people who aren't even traveling much as their main machine docked to a full size keyboard, monitor, mouse. When I started in the tech field notebooks were often loaned to people who were traveling and then turned back in when done. Could this be a trend that AIOs are becoming more popular in the workplace because companies aren't concerned with upgrading machines as much as they with downgrading the cost-center of the IT department with cheaper, less experienced staff and/or giving them higher concerns than troubleshooting a hardware issue?

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

no so they can have a system that is easy to open up and replace parts in. Also there is need for people who don't need the power of the mac pro but the mini is too under powered for there work. The Imac build in screen is not that good for all kinds of work and in a office AIO do not fit in that well as screens get replaced at a differnt time scale that the rest of the system.

"…replace parts in…? What parts? Hard drives?

It is interesting that Apple has such a high customer satisfaction rate and if you check the discussion forum, as well as surveys re customer satisfaction in business, you would be hard pressed to find anybody postin the issues that you are attempting to raise.

Considering the current Mac rate of growth in consumer, education and business markets, your criticism doesn't appear to be justified.

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

Right now the mini is very over priced for it's hardware next to other systems and it add up in a big office.

What other system runs OSX, XP, Vista and Linux?

Name any business software that won't run on a Mac Mini.

Now tell these folks that Mac Mini is under powered:

• http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/astrazeneca/
• http://www.macminicolo.net/
• http://www.squarebox.co.uk/threshold.html

[Joe_the_dragon]

Originally Posted by wheelhot

Yeah, I agree with other people who says that Apple dont need to have a mid tower desktop. Most people who request these stuffs are gamers and if Apple deliver it, heck their next request would be fully upgradeable mid tower desktop.

If games is your life get a Windows PC, its much cheaper.

No pro uses want a system at $1200 to $2000 price that they got there g4 and g5 systems for. The mini is weak for it's price and the mac pro is over kill at $2300.

The imac would be nice if they HAD A GOOD SCREEN for that kind of work.

[hezekiahb]

Originally Posted by alexius

Flash 10 B2 breaks youtube here too...

try repairing permissions, every version of flash I've ever installed has had tremendous permissions issues & hasn't run properly until I repair & reboot.

[Eriamjh]

Here's another link:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/07/...nger.goes.mac/

Macnn has a link to a german site: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Axel-...meldung/110435

[coffeetime]

Add me to the list of folks who can't get Flash 10 beta 2 to work. I try to watch videos on CNN, and it comes up saying that a flash plugin is missing. Yes, I ran Adobe's "Uninstall Flash" program before installing the beta 2 of Flash 10, and searched the disk to make sure that both flashplayer.xpt and FlashPlayer.plugin were removed from /Library/Internet Plug-Ins. Then I installed the beta 2 Flash 10 and searched again. I don't know if this has something to do with it, but it only installed the flashplayer.xpt file and not the FlashPlayer.plugin file. Going back to Flash 9 until someone can help me out.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by Joe_the_dragon

But you don't want to be shipping out the Hard disk off for repair with rest of the system. also they may just end of swapping the hard disk to a other system while waiting for one to be fixed.

What business would put in Mac Minis or any other computer system for that matter without a server based/backup/standby strategy?

And if you are big enough to have an in-house IT department, for a few hundred dollars get somebody to become an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. Heck, you don't have to take the AppleCare Technician Training course to replace a hard drive.

http://training.apple.com/

Just is case you weren't aware of it, Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Adobe, Toshiba, Sony, etc., all offer certification courses.

[FuturePastNow]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

What business would put in Mac Minis or any other computer system for that matter without a server based/backup/standby strategy?

And if you are big enough to have an in-house IT department, for a few hundred dollars get somebody to become an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. Heck, you don't have to take the AppleCare Technician Training course to replace a hard drive.

http://training.apple.com/

Just is case you weren't aware of it, Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Adobe, Toshiba, Sony, etc., all offer certification courses.

It isn't a matter of backup, it's a matter of possibly confidential information on the drive. Businesses can't let that leave their control, even if it's going to a service center.

The Mac mini is fine for businesses, it's just too bad you need a knife to get it open.