Apple computers

[MossRoad]

As I posted back in post #10....

"About MacStadium

MacStadium is the leading provider of enterprise-class Apple Mac infrastructure providing scalable, reliable, and secure private clouds and dedicated servers for workloads that require macOS."

 

[drssg]

Yep... and I can go one better... Have the original boxes and packing when bought new and a Apple 40 cps daisy wheel printer and a box of decals apple sent me... Working minimum wage a 3000 purchase was 3x more than I paid for my car!

Amazing. I'll estimate that $3000 equates to about $10,000 in today's money. Things sure have changed.

 

[Ortimber]

On an off topic question, if you work in an IT department, do you write your own software / code, or do you buy canned programs and have to have a 3rd party re write programs if you see changes need to be made in the software?

My company is an aerospace machine shop, so we write programs to control our machine tools, but do not write any software that is used by our computers. If we need to alter default CNC parameters/logic, it’s outsourced to a 3rd party.

 

[Sigarms]

What a silly question..... you outsource everything so you have no employees! :laughing:

The irony is if you have people (employees) that know what they are doing on how to write your own software programs, you don't have to outsourse anything.

I've found from my own work experience that a IT person is more along the lines of a "network adminstrator" that can't do jack crap if a program has to be changed and what the IT person does is make certain that everything is plugged in on your side. You want "real work" done, you have to re write the software which the company (who pays the 3rd party software company) IT employee has no clue on what to do.

DO NOT ever call your IT department a "Network administrator" because they don't know how to write code LOL.

 

[jaydee325]

If you like Mac's, they are the best.

If you like Windows, then those computers are the best.

There, did that clear things up?:laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

The irony is if you have people (employees) that know what they are doing on how to write your own software programs, you don't have to outsourse anything.

I've found from my own work experience that a IT person is more along the lines of a "network adminstrator" that can't do jack crap if a program has to be changed and what the IT person does is make certain that everything is plugged in on your side. You want "real work" done, you have to re write the software which the company (who pays the 3rd party software company) IT employee has no clue on what to do.

DO NOT ever call your IT department a "Network administrator" because they don't know how to write code LOL.

There's two different schools of thought about what I.T. should be.

School 1 provides working hardware and software and support for how to use both, resolve issues, develop solutions, work with the users, etc...

School 2 provides working hardware and software. The end. It's up to the users to figure out how to actually use it.

I was in school 1 for a long, long time. Then we were forced by corporate to follow school 2 rules. It was the time when I.T., basically a cost center, because they don't generate any income, switched to a revenue center, because corporate I.T. charges child companies for their services. So child companies have to budget I.T. expenses that go back to corporate I.T.

It's about the time I.T. changed from being helpful saviors to despised weasels. :laughing:

I saw my time coming to an end and side-stepped a reduction in force by taking a position in maintenance. Got back to working with my hands. :thumbsup:

 

[Sigarms]

There's two different schools of thought about what I.T. should be.

If you're in the IT department, IMO you write the code for the software your company uses to function as a business.

The reality is most "IT departments" do nothing but plug and play with eletronic devices, don't write code or software for the company who employes them, and at best act as an intermediary to the actual software people per worse case scenario and get charged an arm and a leg to make the most basic changes because it's a canned software that is bought.

I've had way too may "we can't change that on the invoice because we didn't write the program and it's too expesnive to change it" so deal with it people who graduated with people who can't even write code but have a fancy title of "department head of the IT department" LOL.

I'm spoiled, my wife writes code and she does very well for herself because SHE can make the changes or add things that people want per the computer system they want.

 

[RalphVa]

People tell me that Apple computers are really wonderful and that I should ditch my Dell with Internet Explorer and Windows 10. I'm pretty computer savvy.
What do people with Apples think?

I recently inherited an iPad from having used it in a Yoga class. It's my 2nd use of Mac stuff in the last 15 years. Mac stuff is irritating in that I often find myself not knowing how to do something very simple. Can usually Google it online and find out what to do.

The more "apps" I add, the longer it takes the iPad to boot up, and it just sits there not telling you a thing until the startup screens actually pop up. At least Win10 usually gives you that little circle going around to show it's doing something.

The applications are nicely integrated, and then they're not. They're just a set of keyboard movements that are standard across Win10 that seem a tad different from "app" to "app" on the iPad. On Facebook or Twitter, for instance on the iPad, I find myself accidently bumping the screen and going somewhere that I don't want, and I rarely seem to get back to where I was.

Nice to not need security software but bad in that all the "apps" have to come from the AppStore. No other source, it seems.

Ralph

 

[Maxify55]

2 yrs ago, I bought an iMac with a 27" monitor
The mother board fried in the first 30 days.
Of course, they fixed it under warranty but
after 2 yrs of extra slow glitchy operation I gave it to our church for the deduction.
What a boat anchor?
We love our iPhones & get new ones every 2 yrs like clockwork.
Love our iPads, as well, but iMacs?
People either love 'em or hate 'em.
You don't find out until you own it and they're very very pricey.
Save the extra money they want to feed the Cupertino Beast and stay Windows with the rest of the world.
You'll always have the fringe people that likes them but they're just far too expensive unless you're a professional talking to anopther professional.
Most of the rest of the world uses Windows and can't help the fringe in their world but
we will take their money.

 

[Ken45101]

I agree, Apple has their way and expect everyone to think and work like they do. I have an iPhone and a MacBook that I am typing this on. I have photos on the iPhone but I cannot transfer them to the darn Mac laptop (much less to my Windows PC). That darn Apple ID is hard to type on a phone and I usually get it wrong. They even sometimes demand it for free downloads! And now they want to add another level of password security? No, no, no.

 

[Ken45101]

I'm typing this on an 8 year old Mac Mini. I also have a 6 year old Dell/Windows 7 computer on the desk. That was bought primarily for ham radio software.

If you are happy to stick to what Apple wants, the Mac is pretty good. I use it for email and web browsing.

One interesting tying: I have virus protection running on the PC, nothing on the Mac. I recently ran MalwareBytes on both computers. The Mac came up clean despite no protection. The Dell had 220 suspicious or bad files on it even though it runs with full time protection. Hmmm.

 

[MossRoad]

If you're in the IT department, IMO you write the code for the software your company uses to function as a business.

...

If you're in the IT department, you do what your employer wants you to do.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm typing this on an 8 year old Mac Mini. I also have a 6 year old Dell/Windows 7 computer on the desk. That was bought primarily for ham radio software.

If you are happy to stick to what Apple wants, the Mac is pretty good. I use it for email and web browsing.

One interesting tying: I have virus protection running on the PC, nothing on the Mac. I recently ran MalwareBytes on both computers. The Mac came up clean despite no protection. The Dell had 220 suspicious or bad files on it even though it runs with full time protection. Hmmm.

What's even more fun is when your anti-virus program thinks an upgrade to software is malware/virus and kills it! :laughing:

My old employer had that happen on numerous occasions over the years on production software. Splendid.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

If you like Mac's, they are the best.

If you like Windows, then those computers are the best.

There, did that clear things up?:laughing:

And if you use linux, you get work done.

Almost all the computers that run operations that I’ve worked on for the last 30 yrs run something Unix. In the last 10+ yrs Linux.

99% of desktop computers for email, office and sw development at work are windows.

If you want to customize your system and not run stock machine you don’t go apple.

If you just turn it on and browse the web use a chrome book.

If you want Apple Pay for apple.

 

[aczlan]

I'm typing this on an 8 year old Mac Mini. I also have a 6 year old Dell/Windows 7 computer on the desk. That was bought primarily for ham radio software.

If you are happy to stick to what Apple wants, the Mac is pretty good. I use it for email and web browsing.

One interesting tying: I have virus protection running on the PC, nothing on the Mac. I recently ran MalwareBytes on both computers. The Mac came up clean despite no protection. The Dell had 220 suspicious or bad files on it even though it runs with full time protection. Hmmm.

That would depend on what the suspicious file is, I have seen numerous cases where the antivirus software thought that a Windows component was spyware or a virus.

If you're in the IT department, you do what your employer wants you to do.

Exactly, we have a couple of software programs at work that are critical to making things function (especially at certain times of the year).
Some of them we pay for support on, some of them we had custom built to our specifications, all of them we do as much as we can in house, but there are places in the program where is simpler and more efficient to deal with someone who works with setting up a program day in and day out versus someone who knows more or less what makes it tick, but has to dig and try to remember the details.

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

And if your vendor support contract costs less than an in-house programmer, well, you eliminate the in-house programmer.

 

[dragoneggs]

Not that my opinion is worth more than anyone else's here but I will spew my experience with 'PC's over the last fifty years and where I am now on the matter of Apple vs. Windows OS and hardware.

Apple hardware lasts longer than other
Apple support better
Apple OS much harder to mess up...
Apple much more expensive
Apple doesn't have as many programming options
Apple syncs easily with all related devices
Apple doesn't need paying for antivirus software
Apple can run windows (Parallels software)... l love it.


I have had many and still do use desktop Windows PC's and laptops (furnished by my company) over many years. I have had only a two Apple MacBook Pro laptops over the past 8 years. My boneyard of computers is full of windows based machines. Every Apple device I have purchased (iPods, iPads, iWatches, etc.) all still work and have been passed on to kids, grandkids, etc. as I upgraded. Can't say that about windows based stuff.

About 3+ years ago my first MacBook (5years old) was failing and I took it to Apple to fix. I spent about an hour in the store and after diagnostics they found the problems and could fix it but the time for parts was more than 30 days so they said they would not fix it but...

Long story short they offered me a brand new 15in Pro Retina display in exchange for about $350! Thought I died and went to heaven. I didn't believe them until I walked out of the store with a brand new $2500 laptop for $350. Loving it and typing on it as we speak.

Unfortunately, our IT department is only issuing windows OS machines. Our company needs to comply with the latest ISO and DoD regs for security reasons and they don't want to deal with multiple platforms and OS, so now I carry a crappy HP (with supposedly so much security built in), my MacBook Pro (that I do as much work on as I can unless I need security access, my iPad, and my iPhone. Four pieces of computer equipment when I travel and I am on the road about 100 nights per year.

The only machine I have problems with is the company issued Windows PC. And it is not the hardware... my company issues me a new laptop every two to three years and the sync and VPN connection problems continue to persist. I can't fault them too much as the security regulation 'goal posts' continue to change.

I could go on and on here but after using windows hardware and software for many years and still do, I prefer Apple products. Bottom line, Apple costs a fair bit more but if you have multiple devices, phone, tablet, computer... then it is a no brainer to me. If you don't care to sync your data, and are not a 'power' user, then save your money and get a windows device. My :2cents:

 

[Sigarms]

If you're in the IT department, you do what your employer wants you to do.

My point is there is a difference in technical ability between an IT person and a network administrator.

Salesforce is huge in business right now. The reason why it's so big? Because companies don't have their own IT department to write their own software for customer service management on what THEY want.

 

[Sigarms]

And if your vendor support contract costs less than an in-house programmer, well, you eliminate the in-house programmer.

After getting costs to add changes on simple "in house changes" (that the house couldn't change LOL), it would be far cheaper to have an in house programer IMO (pretty much starting off a 2k and up for ANY small change).

You also hit the nail on the head with the term contracts. Contracts change...

Biggest issue is IMO is companies buy canned software without testing it enough out in the field to get exactly what they want.

 

[Katahdin]

Salesforce is huge in business right now. The reason why it's so big? Because companies don't have their own IT department to write their own software for customer service management on what THEY want.

My old company has a sizeable IT department and we had other CRM packages like Siebel. My view is they went to sales force because the business just wants to outsource everything IT and put it in the "cloud."

Anywho, back to Macs:

My first Mac was an Amiga 500 with a MacPlus emulator that used real 128K Mac ROM chips

I picked up a used IIsi at a pawn shop for college.

Bought the first new Mac 9500/120 with my student discount, it was the first PCI mac, and at $4400 it was crazy expensive for my part-time lab pay at $8.30/hr, but you could get an Apple Loan like a car loan. It probably paid for itself for the photoshop and web work I was doing at the time. I made that Mac last for years with processor upgrades, the CPU was on a daughter card, but eventually the 50Mhz bus made it too slow to keep. That big sucker had 12 DIMM slots and 6 PCI slots.

After burning out from Web work I went into UNIX administration, bought the first Mac mini G4 for home use. That is the last personal Mac I bought for myself.

I set my Mom up with 2 generations of the intel Mac Minis, they never had problems.

That all said, when I went to replace my personal laptop this year, I tried hard to justify a new Mac for home web/email/video playing and I just couldn't do it. I went with a 15.6" ASUS full HD chrome book instead and I'm pretty happy with it so far.