KEY POINTS:
First, an apology. When I flippantly wrote a fortnight ago that utility computing held the promise of liberating computer users from the Nazis of the IT department, I was being unfair.
IT staff have the difficult job of keeping complicated systems running, while trying to keep an often
demanding - and unruly - bunch of users happy. Unruly because, given half a chance, many of us would be downloading cool stuff that gives our bland PC (no, not that kind of PC) existence a bit of personality.
We think personality but the IT department thinks viruses and porn and all manner of other mess that it will be called upon to clean up. So to give them their due, paranoia and tyrannical tendencies - in small helpings - are probably useful characteristics in an IT staffer. Sorry to all those who took offence at my use of the N-word.
Let's not forget communication skills too, though. If the IT department keeps users informed of the limits in terms they can understand, everyone should get along just fine.
Not meaning to descend into flippancy once again but there's another way of guaranteeing the happiness of computer users - give them all Apple Macs. If not personality, then good breeding - in the form of a range of delightful-to-use built-in programs, thoughtful design and quality manufacturing - comes as standard.
I can hear harrumphing from the IT department already. But don't be like that. If there was once a reason to dismiss Macs because they didn't fit into a PC (you know what I mean) world, that justification is now gone. And if there used to be an argument against them because of the premium price Apple products command, that's also lost some - if not all - validity. Macs will set you back $300 to $400 more than the equivalent Windows machine but advocates will tell you they take less maintenance.
It remains the case that PCs running Windows rule the roost in most organisations and software for Windows is more abundant than for the Macs - although programs like Adobe's Creative Suite, available for both platforms, has its origins on the Mac. Given that IT departments quite reasonably dislike things that make an already complicated job more so, refusing to support Macs was therefore once justifiable.
Not any more, though. The latest Macs, which are based on the same family of microprocessors as Windows PCs, have not just one personality, but two.
This feature of Leopard, the version of the Mac operating system that was released late last year, is called dual-boot. It relies on Boot Camp, a component of Leopard that allows Windows XP and Vista to run on a Mac.
This is revolutionary, especially for organisations that have a need for the graphics and multimedia-handling capabilities Apple hardware is famed for.
AUT University has latched on to this, buying 150 new Macs at the end of last year which, with 100 existing machines, will be running the Mac OS and Windows.
"The great thing about dual-boot is its versatility," says computer technician Rene Burton. Providing students with hardware that will run both Mac and Windows software means they can keep up with cutting-edge technology. "That lets us offer what is available in the real world."
But he concedes they're venturing into uncharted territory. Efficiently installing Mac and Windows software on dozens of machines at a time, and maintaining them, takes considerable commitment.
Burton, and colleague Takeo Echizenya, as trailblazers, described what they've discovered to an audience of IT support staff from other tertiary institutions late last year. There was a great deal of interest. Burton says: "We were stopped throughout by questions."
It's not all plain sailing. For one thing, there is the added cost of a Microsoft Windows licence. For another, there can be glitches in getting Apple peripherals - from my experience, the wireless Mighty Mouse - working with Windows.
And just to prove IT is complicated, there is more than one way Windows will run on a Mac. While Boot Camp lets the Mac start up either in Windows or the Mac OS, using what's called virtualisation software - VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop, for instance - allows Windows to be installed to run simultaneously with the Mac OS.
Virtualisation is great for swapping between Windows and Mac programs, at the the price of slightly poorer Windows performance.
You might imagine Microsoft would prefer Apple to just go away. But last month it relaxed Windows' licensing rules so more versions could run on the Mac OS and released a new version of Office for the Mac.
If two companies which were once implacable foes can see benefits in getting along, perhaps IT departments might be persuaded of the Mac's merits as well.
* Anthony Doesburg is an Auckland-based technology journalist.
Far to go
Apple has been making a comeback, but it has plenty of room for growth - latest figures suggest Apple's share of the New Zealand computer market is about 5 per cent, vs 95 per cent for Windows-based computers.
