“Axel Springer AG, one of Europe’s largest newspaper publishers, with 10,000 employees and more than 150 papers in 30 countries, including its flagship Die Welt, announced on Friday that it is switching its entire operation from PCs to Macs,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
CEO Mathias Döpfner lists four reasons for the change:
• Most of the company’s layout work was already being done on Macs
• Macs are more user friendly than other computers
• Apple creates the most elegant computers
• Macs are cheaper to buy and easier to maintain than they were in the past
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Boom!
take that bitch!
first?
Boom indeed.
That is a very bad idea.
@ Axel Springer IT department: looks like you’re gonna be out of a job soon…
@Axel Springer IT department is obviously one of the MCSE’s on staff.
Hey, do you know what do do if you have a MCSE on your porch?
Pay him for the pizza
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Springer has made an extraordinary dump!
More and more are seeing sense.
The chairs will be flying high and fast in Redmond… will some of them reach orbital velocity at last…?
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That said: Springer’s most notable product is the raging tabloid “Bild”, among a bunch of “merely” conservative publications of somewhat less horrible reputation. I’d prefer them to just go out of business, but at least they’re kicking Ballmer against the shin with this. Not that they’d be able to compensate the bad karma they’ve accumulated before…
They’re a startin’ boys, they’re a startin I’m tellin’ya….
An them’ll become a flood u mark my word.
Well, maybe that putrid heap of cellulose called ‘Bild’ will now look better… The content will be as rotten as before, though.
Axel Springer is now dead, but he was known as a right-of-center guy, who, in an age where nearly everyone had given up on German reunification, built his corporate headquarters smack up against the Berlin Wall. In addition to Die Welt, Springer Verlag also publishes Bild, a very popular tabloid that is the German equivalent of the National Enquirer. Neither was considered entirely objective during his lifetime.
(US politics is skewed to the right compared to Europe, so if he had crossed the Atlantic without changing any of his opinions, he’d be moderate to left of center.)
Who cares about one little newspaper company? I don’t, as long as I’ve got the banking world and the US government and military…..
One more nail in the MS coffin. Fsck off, monkey boy!
That’s 10,000 macs which will be running Windows within a year.
Doesn’t matter if they ever run Windows or not, Apple gets credit for 10,000 systems sold either way…
Note that they will still use Windoze where they have to. So M$ will still get blood money for a while. It’s the hardware companies that are losing out in this sale.
If the ASP is between $1000-1500, Apple will receive $10-15M in hardware alone.
It will also provide a good example of a successful company transition. The move to Intel enabled this as well since users can be weaned off M$ over time.
What exactly is the average age here on MDN. I’m going to guess 10 or 11… The posts here are not only childish but silly.
From what I read of the stupid s%&t;being posted here, (1) Macs shouldn’t be allowed unless the user is a left wing nut-job somewhere left of Karl Marx. Sorry I’m a red blooded, Limbaugh listening, Fox watching, conservative who won’t give up my Macs or iPhone because Steve Jobs doesn’t agree with my politics.
Somehow you people think that a total switch to Macs would allow for the elimination of IT. It’s obvious to anyone who actually works in a corporate environment that you people have absolutely no idea what an IT department is or does…
Nothing like starting Steve Ballmer’s reign with a passionate statement of confidence.
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@SK
Man, get over yourself.
@Ballmer:
It’s the part about the military on Doze that REALLY scares me.
What do Axel Springer’s politics, or SK’s, for that matter, have to do with using Macintosh computers?
Every day I thank God for creating Steve Jobs and his hippie lefty cohorts in hippie lefty Northern California for making the best computer and OS in the world.
@SK “…you people think that a total switch to Macs would allow for the elimination of IT”
No, but most of the Help Desk PC troubleshooting staff would need to be retrained in more enjoyable tasks like cleaning toilets, even HR.
Actually, they should have been on Mac’s to begin with, being a newspaper and Mac’s being chief in graphic design uses.
“@HolyMackerel
No, but most of the Help Desk PC troubleshooting staff would need to be retrained in more enjoyable tasks like cleaning toilets, even HR.”
As I suspected, you haven’t got a clue what an IT department is or does…. “Help Desk PC Troubleshooting” is probably 5% of IT’s duties. You’ll learn that when you grow up..
@SK
Rush Limbaugh is a BIG Mac user and fan. Check some of the posts here on MDN earlier this year.
And by BIG, I’m not referring to his physique. (Although, if the shoe fits…..)
They are switching to Macs but not “dumping Windows”. Articles I have read said they will be installing “OS X, Windows Vista or Windows XP” on these systems.
@SK:
Your comments are inane. You seem to want to show how great you are. Its a waste of effort.
Have you got laid in the last 5 years?
Didnt think so.
Every day I thank God for creating Steve Jobs and his hippie lefty cohorts in hippie lefty Northern California for making the best computer and OS in the world.
Praise Apple all you want, but in terms of company history it really hasn’t done very well. Much like the Democrats controlled Congress ruining the US economy right now.
Leftists have grand ideals, but lack experience.
Microsoft on the other hand catered to everyone and changed according to what the market needed instead of making only three hardware models and one OS for 20 years like Apple did.
So what do we have now? Microsoft owns the desktop and Apple owns a few niche products. Now of course Apple “gets it” and has made many deals with other companies, Pepsi, Starbucks, AT&T;and so on.
The world is global, protectionism and socialism has failed time and time again. (New Zealand for example) Learn Steve Jobs lesson and don’t vote extreme LEFT.
@Raving:
If you’re serious, you’re full of crap.
If you’re not, you’re not as good as Zung Tang.
@SK,
You complain about stupid posts at the same time that you admit to watching Fox. Talk about stupid!
@Raving MacHead. “The world is global, protectionism and socialism has failed time and time again. (New Zealand for example)”.
New Zealand was once protectionist, but it was never socialist. And our current open market policies have bought their own set of serious problems and failures, which is why we’re now retreating from them.
Now, back to Macs……
@Raving,
You’re a raving lunatic: “Much like the Democrats controlled Congress ruining the US economy right now.”
The Democrats have had a technical majority that can’t even think about overriding a veto. Face it: Republicans have been in charge since Clinton left office and the mess we’re in is because of them.
@Raving MH
And the GOP rightists don’t know how to govern because they subscribe to Reagan’s tired old adage. “The government that governs least, governs best.”
I’m wondering if M$ heard that one (i.e shoe) fall?
“Praise Apple all you want, but in terms of company history it really hasn’t done very well. Much like the Democrats controlled Congress ruining the US economy right now.”
Idiotic statements like this are what conservatives want the sound-bite gullible public to believe.
Clinton handed Bush a record budget surplus. Bush quickly eroded this with his irresponsible tax cuts and increased spending, and we now have a record deficit. Let’s throw in an unneeded war AND those tax cuts and we have a recipe for economic disaster.
Leave your political statements for the appropriate posts.
“@LOL
You complain about stupid posts at the same time that you admit to watching Fox. Talk about stupid!”
I’m sorry, I was wrong. Couldn’t agree more!!!! As the Mac Faithful here mentioned, Apple should turn down these sales to a conservative publication because they don’t agree politically with Steve Jobs.
“@ Big Harry
Your comments are inane. You seem to want to show how great you are. Its a waste of effort.”
And of course, I’m insane because I don’t understand business like you do. Of course, like you fanboys say, when the world goes 100% Mac there will be no use for IT departments…..
Thanks for straightening me our guys. I wish I knew as much about business as all of you guys do!!!! Man, you guys ae really sharp!!!!!
@SK,
The stupidity of your post has nothing to do with Fox News’ political leanings. Their reporting is shoddy at best, and their positions are juvenile. That you watch them says bad things (I don’t want to use ‘big’ words, so you’ll understand) about your intellect, not your positions on the issues.
don, that isn’t a Reagan line, but dates far before him. And maybe true. Reagan and his followers actually Believe the government helps though help themselves. So they help themselves to everything that isn’t nailed down…….
Reading the German articles about this news (e.g. Macwelt), it would appear that they are going to ‘replace’ about 12,000 computers with Macs, and use Windows only on some of them, i.e. when it’s not avoidable.
This is really great news, because it will encourage even more German firms, who might have been playing with the idea of switching, to take the plunge.
The Springer Press took this decision mainly on economic grounds, because those departments in the firm which were already on Macs had shown that the TCO was less.
Moreover increasing numbers of their reporters and other employees were using their Macs at work.
A secondary reason was that Macs have a better image. That’s not unimportant in the publishing world.
@SK “…as I suspected, you haven’t got a clue what an IT department is or does…”
Then you don’t know what I do. Now sit down, shut up for a change and maybe you might learn something. Plus, learn to take comments as light-hearted humour when they are obviously so.
“@LOL
The stupidity of your post has nothing to do with Fox News’ political leanings. Their reporting is shoddy at best, and their positions are juvenile. That you watch them says bad things (I don’t want to use ‘big’ words, so you’ll understand) about your intellect, not your positions on the issues.”
Ahhh, Got ya. You don’t like Fox and you want to use small words so that I’ll understand. Got it! You’re a condescending public assistance bum! LOL to you too!!! Sure hope Obama gets in so you get a bigger handout every month!!!
BTW, I am 50 years old and put myself through college and “earned” two degrees. No need to use “little” words. I already understand.
You’re scum looking for a handout… Crank up CNN there you trailer trash piece of shit!!
@SK
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see what you get for admitting to being conservative and also being too serious??!!
Just go along with the boys here and let them show you what they know
Don’t worry, it doesn’t take them long.
Apple scares me.
and then SK outs himself
“And of course, I’m insane”
He said it, no one else did.
Who needs IT when my 8 year old can network every mac in my house? It’s that easy, a child can do it.
Now SK, I’m not saying that IT departments aren’t needed in corporate america. Typical upper-management follows the intellect that it is not their responsibility to complete these technological personally, hence making it a necessity to have an IT department. But, I do have to say that I see the changeover as bringing cut-backs to the table in the near future.
Also SK, congrats on the two degrees “earned”. But, your degree isn’t but pieces of paper that simply state that you showed up for enough classes and manage to sufficiently score above failing. The proof of knowledge is how the information that you supposedly ascertained while in such college (BTW, were these “online” colleges?.. sorry, just asking) is projected in your everyday (re)actions and projections concerning said information. Providing a solid and knowledgeable answer in which it relates to utilizing said information is what lights the candle.
Now, I don’t know if maybe the degrees that you have “earned” relate to the topic at hand or not, but if they do, I would question and doubt either how significantly you committed the knowledge that was “taught” to you or how well you retain said knowledge after a given period of time.
Anywho.. really this is just me saying.. dude, you’re rude. Even if you are old. It’s not excusable. Good luck in your pursuit of peace and happiness! <:-p
MM
MDN magic word: SEVEN – as in my son was SEVEN when he set up his first Mac network.
I’m really beginning to hate reading the comments here. Every time I do it feels like I’m gawking at a crash on the highway.
Another MDN post turns into political bullshit.
You’ve all been divided and conquered. Sad.
@SK
You are right-on about the intellect on this MDN site. I just ignore them.
When they grow up they’ll come around to the real reality and eventually realize what fair really is and the bad effects handouts have.
@HazMatt: Yeah, and I’m the guy behind the gawkers blaring my horn and yelling at them to move it. I’ve got shit to do!
This place is getting as bad as ZDnet with the political posturing and dick-tossing.
@ SK:
I called your comments INANE, not insane, an entirely different word.
Inane: Silly or stupid. (from the latin for empty, vain)
That was my description of your posts.
Insane: abnormal perception, behaviour or social interaction. (latin – not healthy)
That was your description of yourself.
Please read the posts carefully to avoid this kind of confusion in future.
Growing up – a quick analysis.
Its sad to see the number of posts which argue that once we have all ‘grown up’, we will see the truth, use Windows, vote Republican, become racists, etc. etc.
This points to the disgust adults have for children, usually brought about by their bad treatment at the hands of adults when they were young.
Its more evidence of the number of dysfunctional relationships between parents and children, and the need for immature adults to take out their frustrations on their own children, who are captive victims.
Sadly for the commenters here who advocate ‘growing up’, it often means that they will inflict their own frustrations on their children, just as their parents made them feel that children are less than adults.
By this ‘grow up’ logic, we must also assume that very old people are the best of all, and that the ‘grow up’ crowd are all at least 90 years old.
Thats probably why IT departments contain all the useless fucks who love Windows – they are too old and demented to see anything else.
Inevitably, if computers continue to develop, IT departments must disappear.
Surely this work could be done by a computer, rather than some fat, unfit, Windows IT fool sitting in a dark room surfing porn on the web, and logging on to extreme right-wing websites?
Apple lead the way in making IT-free computers a possibility in the not too distant future – we hope.
@Asmodeus,
This place is getting as bad as ZDnet with the political posturing and dick-tossing.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
People, STFU about politics already! I believe this blurb about Axel Springer is pretty damn good news for Apple. Ya think?
[By this ‘grow up’ logic, we must also assume that very old people are the best of all, and that the ‘grow up’ crowd are all at least 90 years old.]
70-somethings that think it’s ‘reasonable’ for a woman with polio and a younger woman with 4-6 times a day IBS, to do without a toilet for the weekend. Or, that it’s reasonable for these women to trundle down 40 odd feet of hallway in their bedclothes to a locked bathroom in a locked office — at 3-am.
Their ethical barometer doesn’t seem to register that their $1500 kitchen floor em-betterment, or the $18,000 they burned thru trying to get rid of the resident gay guy, seems to pale in comparison to the $332 paid for the weekend O/T plumber rate. Their ethical barometer doesn’t seem to have difficulty intimidating said gay guy into siding with them. Well, he’s not their prey anymore. So, who could blame him?
Yeah, 70-something co-op members who have nothing to do with their day, who’ve bullied full-time working professional co-op members out of every committee, really warms my heart to granny & gramps.
I always thought that respect EARNS respect. That it’s not something that you ‘just get’ — like the white hair. ‘Hope I die before I get old’, indeed.
I will fscking hang myself if I become an unethical fsck, like this.
FWIW, I”ll be fifty in August — and I’ll be seeing Radiohead — for my third time, about a week before. Be vital and true, until you draw your last breathe.
http://www.greenplastic.com/lyrics/areminder.php
I guess this sort of behavior is what we get when the content (MDN’s takes) get more and more juvenile all the time as well (not on this one, but lately…). The overall “I’m a silly fanboi” atmosphere that is now status quo here only encourages stupid comments like those from SK and those arguing with him.
I guess this site will soon simply be a teenage hormonal driven flame-fest with mac news serving simply as a backdrop.
Oh well.
@SK
People as completely conditioned and programmed as your kind should abstain from any comments…
Poor robot!
Sorry Expected… but this was too tempting!!!
@Dave in Zurich
Thanks for your wise analysis! It is a well coming fresh air in this forum… Keep a child’s heart in a mature brain, that’s the real human challenge!
SK, do yourself a favour: fuck off.
@Harvey –
I would question your comparison with Bild Zeitung and the National Enquirer.
Bild is more along the lines of the The New York Post or The Sun newspaper out of London
Why bother, most of the people commenting on here live with there mom, hence the large number of “First” posts. As if anyone cares.
You can be liberal or conservative and use macs, and yes, these “bums” dont have any idea what the IT dept. does.
My suggestion is to move to a different forum. Macdailynews.com has been a poor source for mac commentary for a long time, and are usually late with the stories.
What is truly amazing is that so few companies of size haven’t switched already to OS X. It would be to Apple’s advantage to make a less expensive expandable computer than the Mac Pro, and come up with an updated line of monitors, for those who don’t want all-in-ones.
@SK
For someone that “earned” their degrees and went to college, you’d think you would know the difference between “there” and “thier.”
Folks, hate to break it to you, but IT departments predated the existence of Windows. In fact, those of us that were in that particular discipline were administering UNIX-based mainframes that bore a striking resemblance to FreeBSD, which shares a close relationship to Darwin, the foundation of OS X. So, before you go belittling those of us that work in IT, chew on that for a bit. Someone has to work the projects to implement new technologies at large corporations – and not everything is point and click, even if it’s running on a Mac.
Unfortunately, the folks on here tend to have an extremely myopic view of the world and think that all of us are Windows-loving drones with no affinity for any other technology.
This is just all in fun for lots of folks, don’t worry about convincing anyone, don’t worry if people on a Mac forum think bad things about Windows users.
Trash talk is now a way of life for many folks. Jump in and have fun, but don’t dip your toe in and bitch about the temperature of the water.
SK you have plenty of friends here to keep you company, why do you think the threads get so long? Lots of back & forth. No opinions are changed, but MDN loves the hits.
Enjoy yourself, that’s all this is for.
To the people who want an IT-free world, you probably need to have a different perspective.
IT is great so long as it helps a business to adapt, grow and thrive in a competitive world: in other words, IT that is aligned with the needs to the business and recognises that it is an internal supplier is in a good position to start with.
The best IT functions are the one which minimise the amount they spend on creating vainglorious infrastructure and massive support empires and maximise the amount they spend enhancing the business on behalf and at the request of the business.
If you find yourself in a meeting with an IT guy who is raving about some new piece of gizmotastic engineering and he/she can’t actually verbalise a single strategic or tactical business benefit that will be derived from implementing said gizmo but can go on about how they’ll have to go on a dozen training courses, you probably need to have that person shot as a lesson to others.
BTW, they aren’t allowed to recycle any thoughts from a hardware or software companies’ white papers: there are too many companies that bought into MSFT’s SMS vision on the basis of some platitudes that someone heard at a conference or read on the Net.
Another key test is how they respond to the phrase: “IT is a means to an end, not an end in itself.”; if they start to hyperventilate at this point, don’t give them a paper bag – it’ll save you money in the long run.
Another good thing is to get the f**kers who make the IT decisions and write the strategies to sit in your office rather than in some large IT ghetto: it’ll help remind them what pays for their wages.
It’s interesting that Axel Springer’s CEO made the video announcement to the staff at AS: it shows a sense of leadership and vision that should be applauded even if AS are the German equivalent of Fox.
Must be the weekend as all the nutjobs are commenting on MDN. SK, you have two degrees….man am I impressed. And you are 50 as well. Cool. Only problem is that you make derogatory and immature comments which hides your so-called level of education quite well.
And for all those liberal vs conservative idiots, ever hear of the word tolerance and respect for your fellow man?
If you are going to crap on people at LEAST be funny.
“@shizzer
For someone that “earned” their degrees and went to college, you’d think you would know the difference between “there” and “thier.”
Yes, Thanks for straightening me out there Shizzer.. BTW, what’s “thier” mean?????
Funny how the MDN kids love to play grammar police when they have no idea what they are talking about,,,
“If you find yourself in a meeting with an IT guy who is raving about some new piece of gizmotastic engineering and he/she can’t actually verbalise a single strategic or tactical business benefit that will be derived from implementing said gizmo but can go on about how they’ll have to go on a dozen training courses, you probably need to have that person shot as a lesson to others.”
Actually you probably just met MCCFR.
SK – The world’s Number 1 dickhead.
Amused…
Presumably, you have something to back that up like some knowledge of my CV and some of the multi-million dollar WIndows projects I’ve delivered to major Global 500 companies?
Presumably, you’ve also been in the project meetings where I’ve had to stop permanent IT staff from treating those projects as their own personal toy stores?
In my world, you don’t get a penny unless you can prove how it will save or make money. If it’s just status quo stuff, I’m genuinely disinterested unless its the replacement of something that’s about to die. That’s why – with my new customers – I actually act as a brake on their expenditure.
BTW, one of my customers recently had a pitch from a Windows specialist to upgrade their network in comparison to the side-by-side Mac or Windows quote I gave them.
Their quote for a Windows infrastructure was £50,000, my quote for Windows infrastructure was £60,000 – because I was delivering more flexible storage and my quote for a Mac infrastructure was £27,000 with SAN and tape library.
Guess which option they took – especially when I promised them unlimited remote support based on fixed retainer fees (again lower than the Windows specialist) for the next three years. Because I put my money where my mouth is.
I can only assume that, as you don’t even have the guts to register, that you (rather like most Microsoft Windows “partners” I’ve come across) wouldn’t have that same courage.
I also assume you’re the same asshat I’ve been arguing against for the last few weeks. And, if you are, then you’re exactly the sort of person who shouldn’t be working in IT given that the only thing you seem to care about is the continuing hegemony of Microsoft without caring whether that hegemony is appropriate.
Here’s an interesting question: if you actually had a position of responsibility – which is an enormous leap of imagination – and Microsoft were trying to flog Windows Vista, Office 2007 and the latest generation of servers (Exchange/SQL Server/Sharepoint/etc.) to you, would you buy it without doing any competitive research or would you actually try and do the responsible thing and check out the opposition even if that opposition didn’t run on Windows?
How can anyone take you seriously when you spell at a 3rd grade level?
@SK
you have 2 degrees and you are 50 years old and your way of being the bigger man or more intelligent is using insults like “you trailer trash piece of shit!!”
Most people do not know what IT departments do. The smart ones mostly all know windows and linux and hopefully stepped foot into the mac world as well. Which using linux they should feel pretty comfortable with a mac. I think what most are saying is there are a crap load of “tech support” people out there who are “only” windows. Those people will need to learn a new operating system. Though if they are that narrow minded to stick to learning only one OS then they have dug their own grave of stupidity.
What’s the point of Tech Support if you only know Windows?
I love a challenge, I’m well versed in every flavour of Windows, Unix, Linux, OS X, OS 9, OS/2, basically anything people use to input on a keyboard.
I couldn’t imagine only ever using one OS. Variety is the spice of life.
You make a good point jtc: there is more to life than Windoze.
@jtc
I think you have something there. During the 1990s I saw company after company move from 90% Macs to 90% Windows as the Mac-literate IT Manager left and the HR department recruited a PC-only-literate replacement. There was nothing wrong with the technology or the staff, only the lack of a sufficiently large pool of Mac-literate management to choose from.
While I encourage the use of Macs in enterprise and know their benefits, I don’t see tide changing since it is the IT management, not their support staff who make the big decisions. And their aren’t enough IT Management-level courses from Apple to educate them. The other battle is the uncertainty over the US economy and election, so companies are holding back on unnecessary spending such as new computers, applications or support staff.
So while we argue over ‘whether’ a company can or should go Mac, the situation is that very few ‘will’, even if all the conditions are right.
“I can only assume that, as you don’t even have the guts to register,”
Or we are not dumb enough given the glitch a few weeks back which exposed all the registered MDN user’s email addresses.
Until you actually use your real name instead of an alias and post your resume and some references to back up what you say, you’re just as anonymous, we just have to go on the content of you posts. And those mark you down as being a self important ignoramus who overestimates his knowledge and abilities.
Sorry, I meant months not weeks, but it was somewhat concerning to see all the supposedly anonymous email addresses up there. Hence I wouldn’t be likely to register in case the same happened again.
Congratulations, you’ve established the thinnest excuse ever for not registering.
1) I’m registered here using my .Mac address, which is my least spammed e-mail address by several orders of magnitude.
2) If you’ve got even a halfway-decent e-mail service, you could set up an alias – which I’ve done – register using that address and then promptly disable it.
In any case, well done for trying to squirm out of the real point! £50K for a Windows solution, £27K for Mac.
Self-important maybe. But sufficiently honest to post a point that you – my cretinous little chimp – cannot actually counter; namely, for businesses who are growing aggressively, Windows-based infrastructures that deploy according to the Microsoft model (i.e. no other products other than Microsoft’s) are more expensive to implement and more expensive to support and maintain.
If you fully spec a 75-user SBS2003 R2 setup, it costs you over £6,500 in licences and CALs in the UK.
To create a functionally similar Mac OS X Server costs less than £1,000.00 which is the cost of implementing a truly cross-platform e-mail server that supports Outlook (on Windows), as well as mail.app and Entourage on Mac.
And if you have to grow beyond 75-users or you need to split the server load across multiple servers, the first thing you’ll have to do is purchase your Transition licences which, in the UK, is another £3,600.00.
So, you’d rather spend £10,100 in licences to get to user #76 than look at another solution, even if the vendor of the other solution is willing to offer unlimited remote support for less than the cost of limited support.
Answer the real point, instead of the stuff you want to focus on.
Come on Apple – more, big business, more…
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Axle Springer group is one of the largest publishing and media houses in Europe. Its far from one little newspaper company.
A good friend of mine worked at their US office here in NY, and passed away this February after a motorcycle accident.
The current US director is on vacation, but we emailed and he is very excited about the switch.
I think in general if a big company like this makes the switch, it can be a great catalyst for other companies that were debating a switch over especially in Europe. Apple needs market share in Europe… so this is a great thing. 12,000 units is a big number. Plus all the other components.
“2) If you’ve got even a halfway-decent e-mail service, you could set up an alias – which I’ve done – register using that address and then promptly disable it.”
So why even register if you’re using a home/consumer email site rather than your proper business email address, and even then using an invalid throwaway address? Isn’t it just much simpler to not register than to jump through all those hoops to protect your privacy?
“more expensive to implement and more expensive to support and maintain.”
And Linux costs you $0 licenses, so using your incredibly simplistic math, which must be the basis of your incredible business insight, that IT costs are totally due to costs of client access licenses, Linux must be the cheapest and best platform.
He just lost half a billion Euros in failed businesses. What does it matter throwing away another 50-100 million or so on a failed IT migration?
I doubt anyone will use this guy as a model of sound business judgement.
@ Coward…
Duh! Because every opinion I express here is my personal opinion as opposed to the opinion of the company I run!
As I wrote earlier, I still give my clients the choice of Windows networks or Mac networks. Whereas in my personal life, I would rather stick needles in my eyes than have anything to do with Windows (actually, I’d rather stick needles in your eyes).
BTW, your Linux canard is enormously amusing: sure enough, Linux is cheap to implement – but if I want corporate-grade support to go with, let’s say RedHat, my clients will have to come up with $6750.00 every three years just for operating system software and another significant four-figure number for the application stack.
Please tell me you’re not so dumb as to implement an infrastructure for a company without having some serious support available or some flakey distro that doesn’t even have proper support because you’d lose any remaining credibility that you might have around here.
As another point, I give my customers the choice of either carrying on down the Windows route or migrating to Mac. And I don’t rely on lies, myths and FUD unlike many Windows resellers when they’re selling against the Mac platform (Mac networking isn’t compatible with proper networks? Please give me a break).
If they can’t do a simple comparison of total cost of ownership or just aren’t willing to believe that a Mac-based setup costs less over a five-year ownership, I’ll sell them the Windows setup and make more money on the original deal and more money every year afterwards as they pay me for support.
NO SKIN OFF MY NOSE!! I either make money by having servicing more Mac customers with less resources, or I make money by simply charging Windows customers what they should pay for implementing such a ludicrously poor platform and in line what the rest of the Windows Priesthood charges.
Your problem is that you’re only capable of focussing on a single parameter and making that the fulcrum of the debate: the interesting thing about selling Macintosh as a platform is that it teaches you to think holistically about the entire value equation.
Don’t feel too bad about it though: mono-dimensional thinking is a problem with many bigots and cult members.
Throwing hundreds of millions of Euros away on failed business ventures?
Microsoft Zune! 534 days to sell two million units. Even iPhone – which Windows cult members like to say is a fallure – has done better than that.
$4 billion lost on XBox to the end of 2005, might start making money by the end of 2008.
Maybe Axel-Springer are trying to get away from the stink of failure.