RE: [WinMac] Studies on cost of Macs/PCs in offices???

David E. Stewart(dstewart[at]io.com)
Thu, 17 Sep 1998 19:33:13 -0500 (CDT)

"There is no such certification system because there is no need for one."

I disagree with this statement, because I believe there is more than one
reason for having an open Apple-centric certification. There's much more
to it than training IS workers to troubleshoot and manage complex systems,
or
even making talented people easier to spot in a stack of resumes when
hiring. It's a marketing thing, and Novell and Microsoft have mastered it to
improve their market penetration.

When NetWare came out, it didn't become a de facto standard because it was
incredibly better than any other networking platform. It was good, and it
got better over time. But Novell used their CNE program to train people to
be NetWare evangelists and enthusiasts as much as technicians. People who
know the technical ins and outs of a platform are going to inherently be
better advocates for your platform. Apple of course has relied on their army
of evangelists for survival, or they wouldn't be around at all today. But
since Apple shut down their Apple Certified Server Engineer program, and
makes Apple Authorized Technician training available only to authorized
resellers, there are very few resources from Apple committed to actively
expanding and enhancing that force of evangelists.

When Microsoft turned their avaricious gaze on the NOS market, they didn't
just design a multithreaded OS with TCP/IP and IPX support and expect
businesses to come running. They saw the success of the CNE program and
copied it, knowing that the more MCSE's out there, the more people in IS
departments were going to be able to advocate WinNT in a technically savvy
way, and influence the decision makers in corporate America. Then they
deliberately put features in their NOS that make administering a network
easier, to compete against NetWare.

Apple has no interest in this market. They are content to sell boxes and
develop a workstation OS. They don't understand (or if they do, they're just
not serious about it like MS is) that if there were more AppleTalk or
Apple-centric networks out there, it would translate into more sales of
Macintoshes. Yes it would take a herculean effort, but look at Microsoft.
Say what you want about their monopoly-ness regarding Win95/98, but they
have earned the market share that WinNT/NT Server holds right now, and
they've done it by ruthlessly pursuing the marketing of their platform while
Novell and others have slept. And a big part of their success is due to the
MCSE program, attracting thousands of talented people to be advocates of NT.

Personally I'd rather support 200 Mac workstations and a server than 30
Win95 machines. I'd have fewer headaches and more time to sit around
web-surfing. But if the Mac support job pays $30K/year and the
Wintel/network support job pays $45K, who's kidding who here? Sure it's
taken me more than a year to learn all the IRQ's and config.sys stuff, but
once you get past that it's not that much more difficult, just more
time-consuming. I'm one of about 60-70 former Power Computing tech support
reps, and there just weren't enough Mac support jobs to go around when we
all left, unless we wanted to go back to being contractors at Apple for
$12-13/hour. There were plenty of mixed Mac/PC support jobs however, and
so most of us have had to strech and learn the other side of things. When
we did, we found ourselves making more money, and in some cases a LOT more
money.

I admit that businesses would save lots of $$ in support costs by using
Macs, and if the Fortune 500 ran on Apple hardware there would be much fewer
jobs in IS than there are now. But the lack of an Apple networking
credential contributes to the corporate world's perception of the Macintosh
as a "mickey-mouse" platform that can't handle the demands of an enterprise
network, and keeps talented people from going very far as Mac-oriented
networking professionals. Yes, there will continue to be a niche of small
businesses and universities that "get" it, but Apple can't make great
inroads into corporations on their present course no matter how good their
desktop OS and hardware is (unless they were suddenly able to make them a
lot cheaper). It's a marketing thing.

If anyone knows of a position supporting a massive network of iMacs, with
Apple servers and one or two NetWare or NT servers, please let me know
immediately :) Otherwise, I'm going to continue to pursue my MCSE because I
*know* there are great career opportunities awaiting down that path.

--ds

> ---------- Original message ----------
> Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 13:02:05 -0700
> From: Darron Spohn <dspohn@clicknet.com>
> Reply-To: The Windows-MacOS cooperation list
> <winmac@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu>
> To: The Windows-MacOS cooperation list <winmac@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu>
> Subject: RE: [WinMac] Studies on cost of Macs/PCs in offices???
>
> Pierce, Ian 9/16/98 12:40 PM said
>
> >So, decent mac techs are hard to find. Plus, with no MCSE-style
> >certification system, you have to rely on asking the right questions of
> >candidates for the job to make sure they know what they are doing.
>
> There is no such certification system because there is no need for one.
>
> >why would anyone but a real mac lover bother mastering that one-button
> mouse
> >and sad attempt at multitasking?
> >
> Because you don't have to pay someone $60k-$70k per year to keep a
> 60-computer network functioning. You don't have to retrain end users
> every time you upgrade software. You don't have to tolerate shoddy and
> inconsistent interfaces among applications. You don't have to spend two
> days downloading drivers to make your new modem work with the network
> card that came with your computer.
>
> How many more examples would you like?
>
> Macs cost less to own and operate than WinTels. That's why people keep
> buying them. Network admins keep recommending PCs so they'll stay
> employed. Networks admins' refusing to support Macs is tantamount to
> insubordination, or the tail wagging the dog at the very least. Admins
> get paid to support networks, not dictate choices to the people who have
> to use the systems 40 hours or more per week.
>
> The bottom line, at least in my department, is that we can get more work
> done and get our publications printed at far less expense than if we used
> Windows. Any network admin that tries to tell me to switch back to
> Windows will have a fight on his hands, and I'll have the chief financial
> officer on my side.
>
> Darron Spohn
> Publications Manager
> PinPoint Software
> http://www.clicknet.com

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Thu Sep 17 1998 - 17:36:38 PDT