You must remember that IBM is not a Microsoft shop. Never has been. Folks associate IBM with the PC, and therefore Microsoft. Do not forget that the height of its PC days IBM was OS/2, about as non-Microsoft as you get.

IBM is not in the PC business, IBM does not make PCs. It sold that off years ago. IBM is a huge proponent of UNIX, and produces many flavors or UNIX for its many server lines, and of course Linux. IBMs strength comes from its ability, in both software and services, to support heterogenous environments, making them work together. It also supports Windows Server on its x-Series of servers.

Internally, most employees get Thinkpads, as I suspect we still get good deals as part of the sell-off, though as time goes on and the sell off of the PC company gets further in the past, this may change, but I have no info on that.

You mention 1600 employees on Mac. I think you will find that this is actually referring to 1600 employees in the Mac user group. These are folks interested in Mac, and have joined an internal user group. It doesn’t mean they have been issued a Mac for work, in fact I suspect most have not. The Mac@IBM site is employee run, not official internal support…think of it as hints and tips like you read here. (I am a member, and have a personal Mac at home, not one for work).

There are people with Macs, just as there are at any large corportation, and yes IBM pays for them if there is a valid business justification. Otherwise, the standard machine is a Lenovo Thinkpad, which is fully supported by IT. Mac is not to my knowledge.

You also mention IBM employees getting discounts on Macs, or swapping our Thinkpads for Macs. I know of no swap program for any company issued PC, Mac or Thinkpad. But we do indeed get discounts on Macs. We also get discounts on Fords, Chevy’s ,Saabs, TVs, stereos and Walt Disney World park tickets, thru corporate benefits programs. The discounts are not that great, so don’t get jealous. It won’t cause you to buy a Mac over a Dell if you are not inclined to do so in the first place.

I disagree with your tone that seems to suggest there is some big Mac movement in IBM. I don’t see it. But, there are movements in IBM to support what customers use to run their business, as it always has been. As Macs become more prevelant in customer shops, they likely will in IBM too. I suspect that is the strategy, if any at work, not some targeted Mac effort.

I agree that Apple could penetrate the education market massively if they had better training programs, even if they were predominantly video and not in-person almost at all. I think the Mac Mini, or hacked AppleTVs are good bets for commodity-minded businesses looking to follow IBM’s lead. Those computers are so small they’re almost invisible in the market and the media. I think Apple should do more to remind people that they’re available for cheap.

That is the main reason I don’t see companies like the one I work for switching to the Mac – they are too cheap to buy anything other than “commodity” computers for the majority of tasks.

If they could somehow run OSX on their installed-base of PCs, I’m sure they would jump at the chance to eliminate the “Microsoft tax” of per-seat licensing.

Buy a bunch on new computers from Apple… ??

fugetaboutit.

Upgrades from WinNT to Win2K were slow, and we still haven’t migrated all the “boxes” from Win2K to XP.

Vista??? Haven’t seen it yet.

Why would I expect my company to “upgrade” to Macs, when we’re still getting-by with Office 2003?? :P

What’s that all about? If I understand correctly they expect/allow employees to buy and connect their *own* computer to the company network!!? I have only worked in a couple of medium sized US based companies (but working for them in the UK) and I don’t work in IT but this blows my mind. My company would never let us connect our own equipment to the network, much as I’d love to use my MacBook Pro at/for work.

Or did I get that wrong?

Cheers

Steffan

I’m curious to know what’s IBM piece in *that* part… :)