Mac workplace penetration loosens Window's stranglehold on enterprise
While the enterprise market remains a predominantly Windows-based environment, Macs are creeping into the workplace as the popularity of tablets driven by Apple's iPad slowly erodes the walls of Microsoft's once-impenetrable fortress.
Analyst Michael Silver, a Gartner Research vice president and research director, outlined the firm's outlook on the enterprise desktop space saying that not only is Window's dominance being threatened by tablets, but a shift in user demand is pushing an influx of Macs into the workplace, reports MacWorld.
Silver hedged his statements, saying that while IT managers can no longer ignore Apple's platform, "[the desktop] is still 90-something percent Windows," and "thin clients will have 4 percent or so by the end of the year."
Estimates see Mac's share of the enterprise market hovering at around 5 percent, but the consumerization of IT is slowly forcing companies to accept Apple's products as part of the everyday workflow. According to Gartner research, 60 percent of companies currently don't allow Macs in the office, though the tide is changing as 64 percent of businesses will likely allow them to be adopted over the next few years.
Leading the charge in bringing the Mac into the workplace is a combination of demand for Apple's mobile devices and a more affordable computing options for OS X. A recent study from Good Technology found that the top-six most-activated devices in enterprise were all Apple products, with the iPhone and iPad accounting for 79 percent of total activations.
Traditional views frown upon Apple's computer system because of higher perceived costs associated with using the platform. "It used to be, 'How do we keep Macs out,'" Silver said, but the prices have come down and the playing field has evened out.
While an average Mac setup runs $1,622, a Windows machine costs $1,513 and software makers charge slightly more for Apple-centric products. Average IT labor expenditure for Macs is lower with $636 compared to Windows' $781, however companies report a wide variety of experiences in this department.
Silver notes that the days of saying "no" to Mac in enterprise are coming to an end as Apple computers are seeing a surge in popularity with upper management and executives.
"Saying 'no' could be a career-ending decision," Silver said.
Analyst Michael Silver, a Gartner Research vice president and research director, outlined the firm's outlook on the enterprise desktop space saying that not only is Window's dominance being threatened by tablets, but a shift in user demand is pushing an influx of Macs into the workplace, reports MacWorld.
Silver hedged his statements, saying that while IT managers can no longer ignore Apple's platform, "[the desktop] is still 90-something percent Windows," and "thin clients will have 4 percent or so by the end of the year."
Estimates see Mac's share of the enterprise market hovering at around 5 percent, but the consumerization of IT is slowly forcing companies to accept Apple's products as part of the everyday workflow. According to Gartner research, 60 percent of companies currently don't allow Macs in the office, though the tide is changing as 64 percent of businesses will likely allow them to be adopted over the next few years.
Leading the charge in bringing the Mac into the workplace is a combination of demand for Apple's mobile devices and a more affordable computing options for OS X. A recent study from Good Technology found that the top-six most-activated devices in enterprise were all Apple products, with the iPhone and iPad accounting for 79 percent of total activations.
Traditional views frown upon Apple's computer system because of higher perceived costs associated with using the platform. "It used to be, 'How do we keep Macs out,'" Silver said, but the prices have come down and the playing field has evened out.
While an average Mac setup runs $1,622, a Windows machine costs $1,513 and software makers charge slightly more for Apple-centric products. Average IT labor expenditure for Macs is lower with $636 compared to Windows' $781, however companies report a wide variety of experiences in this department.
Silver notes that the days of saying "no" to Mac in enterprise are coming to an end as Apple computers are seeing a surge in popularity with upper management and executives.
"Saying 'no' could be a career-ending decision," Silver said.
Comments
WinPC + Support: $2,294
Does that include the actual costs for apps, like virus protection, or is that just for the base purchase.
Also, that's about double the average WinPC cost for consumers if I remember correctly. Surely a business can't be buying those $400 desktops and notebooks you find at pretty much every store with an electronics department but that still seems higher than expected. I wonder if "Windows machine" also refers to Win servers.
This just in....
IDC predicts Windows will dominate enterprise with a 100% market share by 2016.
If we're using the IDC's rationale we'll have to predict that iPads replace nearly all Windows Servers by 2016.
Tables will be turned.
Given a *choice*, what employee actually *wants* to use Windows?
It's something we've had to put up with for years. That basically describes Windows and all its parts: something to be put up with.
But this isn't the same market we saw 10-15 years ago.
Funny thing is, MS still thinks it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Tables will be turned.
Microsoft's current priority is that the tablets will be turned. Unfortunately, Windows 8 is still unusable on the desktop, much less in the tablet space.
All those tablets and computers we're seeing… Is Windows 8 out now? Have they released it, or have those machines just been announced? Because I'm using the Consumer Preview and… it's not… good. At all. The nicest I can say about it is it's in pre-alpha. They've changed too much too incorrectly for it to be accepted by consumer users, much less businesses users.
And it refuses to recognize my 4870 (and ATI refuses to make Windows 8 drivers for that card), so every time I boot into Windows, it shows up 640x480 stretched on my 27" Cinema Display. Oh, the driver that I have installed WORKS, but this is what I have to do to get it to work properly: I have to click the welcome image, type in my password, hit Enter, scroll over to Control Panel, open Hardware, click Devices, click my computer in that list, click Components, click the 4870, click the Administrator button, click the Drivers tab, click "Update", click "Search the Internet for updates", wait for it to download and install, click OK, THEN… this is the… THEN… I have to click "Revert" to go back to the driver I was just on. Then the screen goes black and comes back 2560x1440, perfectly fine.
Yes, it's a "preview", but come on.
I don't think the problem has ever been with the OS, but with the HW. Not that Macs are more expensive than a comparably 'PC' but you have absolutely zero options once you go all in with Apple. When you use Windows, for better and worse, you can have PC vendors lessening their profit margins considerably to get that large account. There is simply no incentive for Apple to fight tooth and nail once you're a Mac OS shop. I'm seeing a slow change but the dynamics of their business models are so diverse that until the OS is 100% agnostic of the apps and users get an allowance toward a machine I can't see Apple dominating with Macs in the enterprise. That said, I sure would love to see it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Microsoft's current priority is that the tablets will be turned. Unfortunately, Windows 8 is still unusable on the desktop, much less in the tablet space.
All those tablets and computers we're seeing… Is Windows 8 out now? Have they released it, or have those machines just been announced? Because I'm using the Consumer Preview and… it's not… good. At all. The nicest I can say about it is it's in pre-alpha. They've changed too much too incorrectly for it to be accepted by consumer users, much less businesses users.
And it refuses to recognize my 4870 (and ATI refuses to make Windows 8 drivers for that card), so every time I boot into Windows, it shows up 640x480 stretched on my 27" Cinema Display. Oh, the driver that I have installed WORKS, but this is what I have to do to get it to work properly: I have to click the welcome image, type in my password, hit Enter, scroll over to Control Panel, open Hardware, click Devices, click my computer in that list, click Components, click the 4870, click the Administrator button, click the Drivers tab, click "Update", click "Search the Internet for updates", wait for it to download and install, click OK, THEN… this is the… THEN… I have to click "Revert" to go back to the driver I was just on. Then the screen goes black and comes back 2560x1440, perfectly fine.
Yes, it's a "preview", but come on.
Too bad Microsoft keeps thinking Apple 2012 will become Apple 1985. That mistake was resolved and this corporation is only going to evolve and expand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Just give it a few more years for today's 20-somethings to become corporate warriors.
Tables will be turned.
This is especially true since Microsoft has been absent from the phone and tablet market for nearly six of those twenty-something's lives. Microsoft is not as well known to this new generation as is Apple. In addition, Microsoft has gained a tarnished image and is thought of as stodgy and behind-the-times.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I don't think the problem has ever been with the OS, but with the HW. Not that Macs are more expensive than a comparably 'PC' but you have absolutely zero options once you go all in with Apple. When you use Windows, for better and worse, you can have PC vendors lessening their profit margins considerably to get that large account. There is simply no incentive for Apple to fight tooth and nail once you're a Mac OS shop. I'm seeing a slow change but the dynamics of their business models are so diverse that until the OS is 100% agnostic of the apps and users get an allowance toward a machine I can't see Apple dominating with Macs in the enterprise. That said, I sure would love to see it.
Do you know that enterprise has had NO ability to get competitive prices on their "big iron"? IBM quote a price and that's it. It's worked for IBM for decades and it works for dozens of other manufactures outside of the technology industry.
Furthermore, when the price is squeezed too much, the quality of the after-market support suffers. Computers are now like smart phones in that the cost of ownership is more important than the initial purchase cost, and Macs rule in that category.
When computers cost several thousand dollars, it was more important to consider initial purchase costs... those days are gone.
Ding, Dong, the witch is dead!
I have a couple of good friends that own a GM dealership in British Columbia, and this year they have switched all servers and front end computers to Mac where they could, they also laid off a full time IT person in the process.
While I am sure some peoples milage may vary when it comes to Mac support; in my own experience in the oilfield where we have also done the same, Apple has manage to make lots of year over year savings when we can let IT people go.
Quote:
"...and software makers charge slightly more for Apple-centric products."
Oh? I take "Apple-centric" to mean just that: software that concentrates on the Mac platform first, not Mac versions of PC software like Office and PhotoShop.
Therefore, Apple-centric software is hugely less expensive to accomplish the same tasks head to head, and more productive to boot:
iWork vs Office
Pixelmator vs PhotoShop
FCP vs Avid
Server Software and licenses per seat
etc.
In my organisation we tried to introduce MACs, but the users rebelled and now we have to install Windows 7. They couldn't cope with OSX said it was too hard to learn. After days of training they still couldn't work out how to burn a CD. Go figure! - It has got me really frustrated as I have to see the world change on the outside as people move to MAC but the staff still want their Windows......Hummpf!
I was at an Apple store not too long ago and overheard someone basically was at the point where they were getting ready to take their Windows computer and take a sledge hammer to it. When you have people going to the Microsoft stores and the way they attract customers is having their employees perform the dumbest dance I have ever seen in my life makes me think Microsoft is in real trouble. There are videos of this and it has to be the most embarrassing thing to see.
How would you like it, if you are a CEO or CIO of a decent sized company that walks into a Microsoft store to buy something for his/her home computer and the employees are dancing in the store making a total spectacle of themselves to attract customers? I would be embarrassed that I used Windows. I wouldn't walk to the Apple Store, I would run as fast as I could. i think Apple is like some fast food restaurant with employees wearing funny costumes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Market_Player
I have a couple of good friends that own a GM dealership in British Columbia, and this year they have switched all servers and front end computers to Mac where they could, they also laid off a full time IT person in the process.
While I am sure some peoples milage may vary when it comes to Mac support; in my own experience in the oilfield where we have also done the same, Apple has manage to make lots of year over year savings when we can let IT people go.
More high-tech jobs destroyed. Great.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Also, that's about double the average WinPC cost for consumers if I remember correctly. Surely a business can't be buying those $400 desktops and notebooks you find at pretty much every store with an electronics department but that still seems higher than expected.
My experience with enterprise is that they buy the cheapest, nastiest $400 PCs... and then insist on buying an outrageously expensive support contract to go with them. Or, even worse, they rent the PCs for ridiculous price. The same happens in government. It's tragic.
It could be that the next big growth story for Apple will not be in television, but rather, Macs in the workplace. And Tim Cook is really the perfect person to be leading Apple for such a push.
I still haven't figured out how to deal with umask on a Samba server after the Leopard update. (Anybody know? File permissions are set at 755 from Mac despite being "forced" by samba to 777 or 775.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Given a *choice*, what employee actually *wants* to use Windows?
It's something we've had to put up with for years. That basically describes Windows and all its parts: something to be put up with.
But this isn't the same market we saw 10-15 years ago.
Funny thing is, MS still thinks it is.
I agree with you in your conclusion re MS. However you need to understand that there are still a vast number - probably a large majority - of people who think that Windows OS is better or at least cheaper. They still believe the old propaganda that Macs are limited/toys/not-compatible.