4 ms·

Surprised there is a market for this. Besides maybe Apple are there any companies that have large (>10,000) MAC deployments.

vegabook 11y ago
When I worked at JPM in the late 90s the whole shop was Apple. Ironically, they gave them up just as Steve Jobs was coming back. Doesn't really answer your question directly but it does show that Apple as a mainstream corporate platform can be viable (IBM had them for more than a decade and gave up mainly because AAPL was looking like it might go bust).
- kokey 11y ago
  Funny, I had JPMC in mind when I was reading this article. They're already relatively bring-your-own-device friendly and supply dumb terminals with virtual desktops at the moment, which is probably the best and most cost effective general solution, but I wouldn't be surprised if many business units, especially on the customer facing side, would find this IBM+Mac offering very appealing.
  - arnold_palmur 11y ago
    I'm also at JPMC and (at least in my department) it's definitely not bring-your-own-device friendly - and as someone who wholeheartedly prefers using a Mac, I feel like I had to bend over backwards to get my PC in a state to where I was halfway efficient and comfortable developing on it.
    - vegabook 11y ago
      When they started disabling USB ports, and then I had to fill in forms for some IT dogsbody to install R for me ("open source....oooooh dunno about that! - will have to apply to Compliance for approval")... that's when I decided my days were numbered on the sellside (this was Barcap btw). Nowadays, in all domains of sellside finance, compliance completely rules the roost, and is snuffing out all initiative.
    - kokey 11y ago
      Well, it's bring-your-own-device friendly as far as you can run the thin client on your own device, to your virtual Windows desktop. I don't develop on my Mac, I prefer to do development for Linux and UNIX servers on a Linux development server or image anyway, so it suits me.
allyant 11y ago
Google - They had to write (And open sourced) their OS X Deployment tool: https://github.com/google/simian https://github.com/google/simian. Although not sure if they have over 10,000 OS X instances.
- zalmoxes 11y ago
  Google has 65000 Managed OS X machines. They spoke about their deployment at PSU Mac in July. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrfu9eqlnY&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrfu9eqlnY&feature=youtu.be Slides: http://macadmins.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1567/2015/07/psumac2015-66-PSU2015-Google_Open_Source.pdf http://macadmins.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1567/2015/... Facebook also has 16000 Managed Macs. I think they're the biggest users right now.
ironchef 11y ago
Sure, quite a few: goog, facebook, cisco (they have 15 to 20k of 'em) to name a few. It's largely tech companies of course.
tomelders 11y ago
I get the impression that the demand is there, but not the supply.
pmelendez 11y ago
Microsoft was one at some point back when Macs were motorolla-based.
swalsh 11y ago
Its a growing trend though. Go to almost any university, and 90% of the people there will have a Macbook out. Employees are increasingly going to start demanding them, and it makes sense for IT to find solutions for it. IT's purpose isn't to dictate, but to respond. An organization will run more efficiently if the employees are more comfortable in their computing environment.
- loteck 11y ago
  IT's purpose isn't to dictate, but to respond. It is neither. Its mission is to advise on technology solutions to help an enterprise meet its budgetary and operational goals, to engineer the systems selected to meet those goals, and then support those system. Insomuch that you can get "random employee comfort" on management's list of top priorities, I suppose an IT department could end up in a primarily reactive/responsive role, as non-IT employees demand implementation of whatever solutions they dream up. That's likely to be an expensive and painful way operate a company, though!
- rebootthesystem 11y ago
  My comments are about NORMAL businesses with NORMAL margins, not the Google's of the world operating at 60%+ margins with the ability (and a need due to taxes) to burn cash. > Employees are increasingly going to start demanding them Employees who demand that a NORMAL company pay 10x for a computer are not employees. They are babies who have not a clue as to how business runs and don't care to burn cash in exchange for zero returns. They either get fired or not hired at all. > An organization will run more efficiently if the employees are more comfortable in their computing environment Well, how do you explain the fact that PC's running various versions of Windows grotesquely dwarf Mac installations in companies of all sizes around the world? Want them to be more productive? Buy them a second monitor. A Mac is going to do exactly zero. BTW, I am not a PC or Mac fan-boy. We have large numbers of both platforms, with PC's running Windows or Linux depending on usage. However, we have them for a reason and not because we like one or the other. In the case of Macs the only justification we've been able to find so far is working on iOS apps. Other than that engineering, business, graphics, etc. can be done equal to or better than on a Mac on PC's running Windows or Linux. NORMAL businesses can't justify paying 10x for computers just 'cause. Let's put it this way. Money isn't infinite. NORMAL company: A CEO decides to allocate $200K towards buying a bunch of Macs ('cause they are cool) instead of spending $20K for an equal number of equally capable (in a business context) PC's and allocating the remaining $180K towards sales and marketing efforts. Again, money isn't infinite. Do you know what you are looking at in this scenario? A CEO about to be fired by the board. One of my standard interview questions is: If we hire you, what kind of a computer do you need? You can learn a ton about a person from the answer to this question. Some will say "anything will do". Some will say "I have to have a Mac". Yet others will ask pointed questions about the tools we use, how we use them, how the various teams work and what the various business processes require. The last group are the keepers. And, you know what, in a lot of cases the right answer turns out to be that they need one of each, or even three computers. The point is that they UNDERSTAND these are tools that have to exist in the context of a business process, not on a teenager's desk at home to watch YouTube videos and be cool at Starbucks.
tootie 11y ago
There's a lot of tech companies dealing with 100-10,000 macs. Mine has probably 2000 in circulation.
loukrazy 11y ago
I believe IBM has at least that many. My understanding is that is where these services came from was managing IBMs macs

vegabook 11y ago

When I worked at JPM in the late 90s the whole shop was Apple. Ironically, they gave them up just as Steve Jobs was coming back. Doesn't really answer your question directly but it does show that Apple as a mainstream corporate platform can be viable (IBM had them for more than a decade and gave up mainly because AAPL was looking like it might go bust).

kokey 11y ago
Funny, I had JPMC in mind when I was reading this article. They're already relatively bring-your-own-device friendly and supply dumb terminals with virtual desktops at the moment, which is probably the best and most cost effective general solution, but I wouldn't be surprised if many business units, especially on the customer facing side, would find this IBM+Mac offering very appealing.
- arnold_palmur 11y ago
  I'm also at JPMC and (at least in my department) it's definitely not bring-your-own-device friendly - and as someone who wholeheartedly prefers using a Mac, I feel like I had to bend over backwards to get my PC in a state to where I was halfway efficient and comfortable developing on it.
  - vegabook 11y ago
    When they started disabling USB ports, and then I had to fill in forms for some IT dogsbody to install R for me ("open source....oooooh dunno about that! - will have to apply to Compliance for approval")... that's when I decided my days were numbered on the sellside (this was Barcap btw). Nowadays, in all domains of sellside finance, compliance completely rules the roost, and is snuffing out all initiative.
  - kokey 11y ago
    Well, it's bring-your-own-device friendly as far as you can run the thin client on your own device, to your virtual Windows desktop. I don't develop on my Mac, I prefer to do development for Linux and UNIX servers on a Linux development server or image anyway, so it suits me.

allyant 11y ago

Google - They had to write (And open sourced) their OS X Deployment tool: https://github.com/google/simian https://github.com/google/simian. Although not sure if they have over 10,000 OS X instances.

zalmoxes 11y ago
Google has 65000 Managed OS X machines. They spoke about their deployment at PSU Mac in July. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrfu9eqlnY&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrfu9eqlnY&feature=youtu.be Slides: http://macadmins.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1567/2015/07/psumac2015-66-PSU2015-Google_Open_Source.pdf http://macadmins.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1567/2015/... Facebook also has 16000 Managed Macs. I think they're the biggest users right now.

ironchef 11y ago

Sure, quite a few: goog, facebook, cisco (they have 15 to 20k of 'em) to name a few. It's largely tech companies of course.

tomelders 11y ago

I get the impression that the demand is there, but not the supply.

pmelendez 11y ago

Microsoft was one at some point back when Macs were motorolla-based.

swalsh 11y ago

Its a growing trend though. Go to almost any university, and 90% of the people there will have a Macbook out. Employees are increasingly going to start demanding them, and it makes sense for IT to find solutions for it. IT's purpose isn't to dictate, but to respond. An organization will run more efficiently if the employees are more comfortable in their computing environment.

loteck 11y ago
IT's purpose isn't to dictate, but to respond. It is neither. Its mission is to advise on technology solutions to help an enterprise meet its budgetary and operational goals, to engineer the systems selected to meet those goals, and then support those system. Insomuch that you can get "random employee comfort" on management's list of top priorities, I suppose an IT department could end up in a primarily reactive/responsive role, as non-IT employees demand implementation of whatever solutions they dream up. That's likely to be an expensive and painful way operate a company, though!
rebootthesystem 11y ago
My comments are about NORMAL businesses with NORMAL margins, not the Google's of the world operating at 60%+ margins with the ability (and a need due to taxes) to burn cash. > Employees are increasingly going to start demanding them Employees who demand that a NORMAL company pay 10x for a computer are not employees. They are babies who have not a clue as to how business runs and don't care to burn cash in exchange for zero returns. They either get fired or not hired at all. > An organization will run more efficiently if the employees are more comfortable in their computing environment Well, how do you explain the fact that PC's running various versions of Windows grotesquely dwarf Mac installations in companies of all sizes around the world? Want them to be more productive? Buy them a second monitor. A Mac is going to do exactly zero. BTW, I am not a PC or Mac fan-boy. We have large numbers of both platforms, with PC's running Windows or Linux depending on usage. However, we have them for a reason and not because we like one or the other. In the case of Macs the only justification we've been able to find so far is working on iOS apps. Other than that engineering, business, graphics, etc. can be done equal to or better than on a Mac on PC's running Windows or Linux. NORMAL businesses can't justify paying 10x for computers just 'cause. Let's put it this way. Money isn't infinite. NORMAL company: A CEO decides to allocate $200K towards buying a bunch of Macs ('cause they are cool) instead of spending $20K for an equal number of equally capable (in a business context) PC's and allocating the remaining $180K towards sales and marketing efforts. Again, money isn't infinite. Do you know what you are looking at in this scenario? A CEO about to be fired by the board. One of my standard interview questions is: If we hire you, what kind of a computer do you need? You can learn a ton about a person from the answer to this question. Some will say "anything will do". Some will say "I have to have a Mac". Yet others will ask pointed questions about the tools we use, how we use them, how the various teams work and what the various business processes require. The last group are the keepers. And, you know what, in a lot of cases the right answer turns out to be that they need one of each, or even three computers. The point is that they UNDERSTAND these are tools that have to exist in the context of a business process, not on a teenager's desk at home to watch YouTube videos and be cool at Starbucks.

tootie 11y ago

There's a lot of tech companies dealing with 100-10,000 macs. Mine has probably 2000 in circulation.

loukrazy 11y ago

I believe IBM has at least that many. My understanding is that is where these services came from was managing IBMs macs