Business time: PC versus Mac

The jury's out, as per usual, on what is the better platform. There are several camps on this issue - those who have to use PCs at work; those who prefer PCs; those who don't realise there's an alternative to PCs; those who can't afford alternatives to PCs; those who prefer PC yet have to use Macs at work (a small group); and those who prefer Macs.

But what if you look at the issue from the perspective of what's best for your business rather than from according to personal preference?

Traditionally, a PC was better for your business. Microsoft was huge, everyone else was using Windows too, PCs were cheaper, they integrated easily with everyone else, yadda yadda yadda.

Creatives may have preferred Macs but hey, business people expect creatives to be weird, right?

Steadily, Apple worked on the issue, making the files produced by Mac applications more and more compatible for sending to PCs running Windows. Eventually (already quite a few years ago) it was no longer necessary to use file converters to create versions of files created on Macs to send to users on Windows PCs. This had been a drama - what system, exactly, did the recipient have? What parts of the file would translate successfully, and which might not? It was often hit or miss.

Microsoft helped, making the versions of Office for the two platforms more and more compatible over the years to the point where barely anyone thinks about it any more. You just send the file; of course they can open it.

Adobe helped through its process creating more and more Mac equivalent software for Windows until its Windows business outstripped Mac. Luckily, Adobe's Mac business has stayed strong enough that it hasn't stopped developing for the Apple platform, although this has been something of a seesaw process over the years in some applications.

Nowadays, the issue of whether to go Mac or PC is much less clear cut. While Apple computers still (usually) cost more than PCs in up-front purchasing, reports on so-called "return on investment" often come out in favour of Macs.

The lack of a real virus threat to date takes away one IT nightmare, replacing it with another - that your IT staff might need to retrain. Not to mention, incipient IT staff resistance to change. Sometimes this is for good reason, sometimes this is for reasons that no longer stack up.

The fact Apples can now run Windows pretty easily has been a big factor in easing the transition to Macs, in some cases, while actually saving money in others.

For example, like some other educational institutions, the NZ IT trainer Natcoll used to have to train web developers partly on Macs and partly on PCs, but then replaced both suites with room of Macs running Windows alongside Mac OS X.

In an article called How Switching To a Mac Can Save You Countless Productive Hours from the computer repair company Save My System in London advocates switching for reasons of system and application integration, and because it perceives Mac users as more productive.

Meanwhile, after initial resistance, companies are also becoming much more accepting of the iPhone. For example, Michael Loo was concerned that the phone might not keep corporate data secure. As vice-president for global IT at telecom equipment vendor, he also thought the iPhone's lack of a keyboard was a bad thing.

For a year, his company declined to provide support for employees who wanted to use the device at work, but then he caved when Apple made iPhone OS more secure, says BusinessWeek.

Another advantage for the iPhone is that application development is still so hot, big firms can conceivably develop their own marque software specifically for the device, giving them competitive advantages.

iPhone OS 3.0 will add more security and management features expected to make it more attractive to large companies, says BusinessWeek. In another article by the BW writer Rachael King, the iPod touch is discussed as a business device - iPod touch sales have taken off in the last few months.

Another BusinessWeek correspondent, Arik Hesseldahl, talks about the Microsoft ads targeting Apple recently - remember, this is looking at the issue from a business perspective. He says "A 17-inch PC may cost a lot less than a 17-inch Mac. But you get less, too, including security, multimedia tools, and, some say, satisfaction."

Michael Schneider, a dyed-in-the-wool PC user, switched to a Mac after upgrading 80 per cent of his work force to Macs in 2006. He writes, in an article on PC World, "But something changed. People started doing things quicker. Work started flowing faster (I estimate by about a third). After seeing how I could still use Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel on a Mac using Parallels, I decided to take the plunge myself."

I'm interested to hear of NZ companies who have made similar discoveries, for or against.

- Mark Webster mac.nz