4 ms·

Why do city workers need Macs anyways? They should be using eMachines. Good that Apple pulled out.

by qq66 14y ago

jonknee 14y ago
Why should the city have poor quality equipment? Besides things like reduced support costs and that Macs only made up a very small percentage of the city's computers, don't you imagine there are city jobs that would be better served with a Mac? I'm sure there are web and print designers on SF city staff for example.
- qq66 14y ago
  The city should have the bare minimum equipment possible required to perform the functions required of it, because it's purchased from tax revenues, which are forcibly extracted from the population, and thus should be spent only on things that are necessary for the proper governance of the city. Sure, web and print designers should have Macs if they need them but it's pretty clear that a lot of people who don't need them have them.
  - wonderzombie 14y ago
    Yes, heaven forfend that a public employee should have anything more than the lowest possible standard of work and/or living. This kind of thinking is shortsighted at best, for obvious reasons. I'm not saying they should all get two 24" monitors, but if all you give people is the bare minimum to do their job, for all the money that you save up front, I suspect you're not gonna get much more than the bare minimum in return.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    ______ employees should have the bare minimum equipment required to perform the functions required of it, because it's purchased from money that belongs to shareholders, which invested for the purpose of earning a return, and thus should be spent only on things that are necessary to support the business.
jtchang 14y ago
That is incredibly myopic. Almost to the point that your statement implies you are above civil servants. I certainly believe that some city workers would benefit greatly from macs. And how about programmers? Web and graphic designers? Not everyone in civil service is a case worker.
- astrodust 14y ago
  Maybe qq66 is the kind of boss who gives you a 2004-vintage Windows XP machine that's so full of dust you can't even tell what components are inside and expects you to work 16-hour days on it without overtime.
  - qq66 14y ago
    If you don't need to do anything that you can't do effectively on a 2004 machine, why would you need anything more? City employees are welcome to buy iPads and Lexuses with their own money (although it comes from my pocket, it's theirs to dispatch as they see fit), but when it comes to spending mine, they shouldn't have anything beyond what they need to perform their job function.
    - astrodust 14y ago
      You know what I love? Waiting a tiny eternity while a city employee waits for their crappy, slow computer to load up a simple form so they can help me with something routine. Next time you're put on hold for that reason, remember money spent on appropriately powerful hardware is never wasted.
- J3L2404 14y ago
  Are there programmers and graphic designers that are City employees?
  - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
    I don't see why not. But even if they are contractors and not full-on "city employees" they are still likely to be working on city issued equipment which makes their actual employment status a moot point.
astrodust 14y ago
Don't be a dick. Purchase cost is a tiny fraction of the lifetime cost of a system. Your IT department's time isn't free. A single incident could cost several hundred dollars when you count lost productivity and technician time. Each time you don't have an issue you save money.
- qq66 14y ago
  This would be a valid reason to spend more money upfront. If this is the actual reason (not just the reason put on paper), I'd be pleasantly shocked.
  - nickv 14y ago
    Man, I hope you don't run a business. A small upfront cost that will make your employees more productive is a worthwhile cost. We are all government employee's bosses (as you so gleefully say), so we should want them to be as productive as possible. There's a reason the most successful companies give their employees good equipment -- it makes them better employees. I don't understand why you think somebody working in the City would be different? Unless you want them to be less productive?
    - astrodust 14y ago
      "What's this with wanting two monitors? I say you share one with someone else. Think of the money we'll save!"
xbryanx 14y ago
To do cutting edge graphic design. To program in python. To develop engaging new web applications for government data access. I know you can do these on my OSes, but I'm guessing your view of government "computer work" might be slightly limited.

Why do city workers need Macs anyways? They should be using eMachines. Good that Apple pulled out.

by qq66 14y ago

Why do city workers need Macs anyways? They should be using eMachines. Good that Apple pulled out.

Why should the city have poor quality equipment? Besides things like reduced support costs and that Macs only made up a very small percentage of the city's computers, don't you imagine there are city jobs that would be better served with a Mac? I'm sure there are web and print designers on SF city staff for example.

qq66 14y ago
The city should have the bare minimum equipment possible required to perform the functions required of it, because it's purchased from tax revenues, which are forcibly extracted from the population, and thus should be spent only on things that are necessary for the proper governance of the city. Sure, web and print designers should have Macs if they need them but it's pretty clear that a lot of people who don't need them have them.
- wonderzombie 14y ago
  Yes, heaven forfend that a public employee should have anything more than the lowest possible standard of work and/or living. This kind of thinking is shortsighted at best, for obvious reasons. I'm not saying they should all get two 24" monitors, but if all you give people is the bare minimum to do their job, for all the money that you save up front, I suspect you're not gonna get much more than the bare minimum in return.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  ______ employees should have the bare minimum equipment required to perform the functions required of it, because it's purchased from money that belongs to shareholders, which invested for the purpose of earning a return, and thus should be spent only on things that are necessary to support the business.

jtchang 14y ago

That is incredibly myopic. Almost to the point that your statement implies you are above civil servants. I certainly believe that some city workers would benefit greatly from macs. And how about programmers? Web and graphic designers? Not everyone in civil service is a case worker.

astrodust 14y ago
Maybe qq66 is the kind of boss who gives you a 2004-vintage Windows XP machine that's so full of dust you can't even tell what components are inside and expects you to work 16-hour days on it without overtime.
- qq66 14y ago
  If you don't need to do anything that you can't do effectively on a 2004 machine, why would you need anything more? City employees are welcome to buy iPads and Lexuses with their own money (although it comes from my pocket, it's theirs to dispatch as they see fit), but when it comes to spending mine, they shouldn't have anything beyond what they need to perform their job function.
  - astrodust 14y ago
    You know what I love? Waiting a tiny eternity while a city employee waits for their crappy, slow computer to load up a simple form so they can help me with something routine. Next time you're put on hold for that reason, remember money spent on appropriately powerful hardware is never wasted.
J3L2404 14y ago
Are there programmers and graphic designers that are City employees?
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  I don't see why not. But even if they are contractors and not full-on "city employees" they are still likely to be working on city issued equipment which makes their actual employment status a moot point.

astrodust 14y ago

Don't be a dick. Purchase cost is a tiny fraction of the lifetime cost of a system. Your IT department's time isn't free. A single incident could cost several hundred dollars when you count lost productivity and technician time. Each time you don't have an issue you save money.

qq66 14y ago
This would be a valid reason to spend more money upfront. If this is the actual reason (not just the reason put on paper), I'd be pleasantly shocked.
- nickv 14y ago
  Man, I hope you don't run a business. A small upfront cost that will make your employees more productive is a worthwhile cost. We are all government employee's bosses (as you so gleefully say), so we should want them to be as productive as possible. There's a reason the most successful companies give their employees good equipment -- it makes them better employees. I don't understand why you think somebody working in the City would be different? Unless you want them to be less productive?
  - astrodust 14y ago
    "What's this with wanting two monitors? I say you share one with someone else. Think of the money we'll save!"

xbryanx 14y ago

To do cutting edge graphic design. To program in python. To develop engaging new web applications for government data access. I know you can do these on my OSes, but I'm guessing your view of government "computer work" might be slightly limited.