Scot Finnie, writing for Computerworld (also in the IDG network), has decided to take a look at using a Mac for everyday work. He’s been on hiatus from the Mac since about 1995, so his perspective is likely to be typical of a corporate user.
Thus far, he’s had two issues. First, he got some faulty RAM from a third party dealer. It happens, though I’ll note that I’ve not had an issue with OWC or Crucial personally. Second, he’s had excessive crashing with Lotus Notes for Mac.
For reasons I’m still figuring out, Notes has been troublesome on my Mac. During the first several days, I experienced frequent crashes of the Notes client. Working with my IT department, we weren’t sure whether the problem was the result of issues with the MacBook Pro itself or whether it was my Notes installation. We reinstalled the Mac OS X 10.4 operating system from the ground up and then reinstalled Notes and my other corporate applications. The frequency of the Notes crashes diminished, but any crashing isn’t acceptable. So we installed the Notes client on a second MacBook Pro 15 and found the problems were evident there, too.
More than likely, there’s something amiss in my Notes mail database or the client configuration. I figured out a work-around that keeps the client from crashing, and I suspect that it will lead us to the proper solution. But there’s no joy yet.
Considering he’s using 6.5, I’d sooner suspect that Lotus Notes for Mac is buggy (users I’ve known have said as much) or that it was a Rosetta issue. He then sums up his first installment.
Progress on the temporary-Mac front will be reported in future updates. And I expect to wrap up with a final assessment of whether the Mac is a viable alternative for real people with real jobs. You can also expect a long-term wrap-up on Windows Vista once it’s officially out.
Dude. Real people with real jobs? Come on. Windows is used in many corporate environments, but it doesn’t have a lock on “real people with real jobs”. Just a bit insulting.
Why didn't this guy put Parallels on the Mac and then load Lotus notes in under Windows????
Scot Finnie, writing for Computerworld, should have done his research first and knowns about Paarallels!?
SERIOUSLY, why bother testing a mac and then writing about his experiences if he's not going to think things through in the first place. Hello, Apple even provides Boot Camp for difficult programs to make sure you know you can run whatever program you need on a mac.
I also love how these would-be Switchers never suggest that Mac has always been viable, rather they use a tone that suggests the Apple has finally made a product worthy of a PC user's attention.
Maybe real people with real jobs don't use messes like Lotus Notes. About a year ago my work transitioned away from Lotus because there were so many problems getting it to interact with the rest of the world.
(If my information is out of date and Lotus is more friendly to the outside world please ignore me)
Of course real people with real jobs use Macs! And have done so since the beginning (1984). I was one of them in the 80s. As a writer, I chastise myself for using hyperbole -- when, clearly, the Mac side of my audience didn't get it. The sentiment I was conveying was actually a gentle chiding of Windows users, some of whom may tend to think that there's no software on the Mac. If you read the whole story, and connect the dots, I think you'll see there's a connection to other things written in the story that support what I'm saying. I agree, the hyperbole was too subtle though.
About Lotus Notes: Like I have a choice in this? Like any corporate end user has a choice of email programs? Yes, Mac Notes 6.5.x is very buggy. But other Mac users in my company are not having the problems that I've had. Other Mac users in the company also don't have Notes for Windows installations in addition to their Notes for Mac installations. I suspect that's where the trouble lies.
I started using Notes in 1991, and I've hated it ever since. IBM has promised recently to improve its Mac support in the 7.0.2 and beyond releases of Mac Notes. We'll see.
About Parallels: If you'd actually read the story with the quote MacUser is referring to, you'd know that I did install Parallels, and I've been using Parallels on the Mac since fairly early in that product's beta phase. Apple ran a quote about Parallels on its Web site from a story I wrote last spring. So, I'm not just some stupid Windows user who doesn't do his homework.
Even so, I consider Parallels a last resort. I'd prefer to work on the Mac with actual Mac software, and only use Parallels for things that can't be done any other way.
Hope this clears a few things up.
Sincerely,
-- Scot Finnie, Computerworld
"I consider Parallels a last resort. I'd prefer to work on the Mac with actual Mac software, and only use Parallels for things that can't be done any other way."
I wish more people (from both sides of the Mac/Windows fence) would adopt that thinking. It doesn't matter if you are a user or developer... Parallels and/or Boot Camp should be used as either the last resort (as you mentioned), or as a tool to ease the transition to the Mac... just like we had Classic to ease the transition from OS 9 to OS X.
i'm a real person with a real job
:despise:
Don't worry. Scott Finnie is a pretty die hard Windows/ IE fan. I used to browse his articles every once in a while.. I stopped when he started dogging pretty hard on Firefox 1.0.
I'm not sure if I'm a real person at all... What's a job?
Hi Scot Finnie, sorry that I didn't read your story in more depth, that was just bad manners of me, to be honest. I clearly wasn't doing my research before posting!
I also agree that parallels is I guess a last resort, and a useful tool.
My only other comment I can give though is this, it was be really really nice every one in a while if people were to point out that Macs were in wide use in many many corporations before MS came along and won the corporate world over.
But seriously sorry Scot Finnie.
Chris, no apology is necessary. I love Parallels too, by the way. It's a great product. As a long-time Windows user, I'm just trying not to use it as a crutch!
About my browser of preference? It's Firefox, and has been so since well before it launched. My review of Firefox 1.0 was overwhelmingly positive. Asa Dotzler and others linked to it. Just setting the record straight, here. Vague recollections become "facts" on the Internet.
Finally, because it directly pertains to this blog post and comment area, I've written something on Computerworld about the "real people, real jobs" statement:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005712&pageNumber=4
-- Scot