Might have to lose my apple... :-(

cazziebo

When I started my job over two years ago I was given an apple ibook g4. Completely new to me but I have grown to love it.

We have since been joined by several accountants who have insisted as a company we change to Microsoft. Think my apple might be on its last legs - the battery now lasts for less than an hour, the h key is a bit dodgy, the mousepad doesn't work.

I now have a dilemma - whether to buy an apple battery myself to give me a few more months or give in to the evil Microsoft bullies..? I don't want to pay out a lot of money for a battery to find the laptop gives up on something else soon.

jje_2

Personally if i could buy a cheap battery i would but if i had to pay bully boy Apple prices i would not bother .

jje

TonyLisaP

Will your company supply you with a MS Equiped laptop?
I wouldn't bother with the Apple personally but it is up to you of course.

unrich

If you have a good reason to stay with apple then stay.

Up to now you have managed to collaborate effectively with colleagues and there have been NO compatibility problems with documents/data/information you exchange.

You have required NO IT help/support/infrastructure in managing your laptop over 4 years.

By switching to Wintel machines there will be a training requirement to bring you up to speed with Vista. The training requirement will have cost implications. Lost time. Time taken to achieve current levels of productivity, money/budget required for training.

You require IT support to ensure your current levels of up time. i.e. NO down time in 4 years. Can the bean counters say that you will continue at the current level when they switch you to Wintel.

Who's budget will the extra costs of switching to Wintel be coming from? Your budget or that of the people suggesting the switch.

Also choice of hardware is defined by choice of software. You select your software to support your business activities. Then you look at the system requirements of the software and select hardware capable of supporting it. You don't ask an accountant to choose you a laptop and then select the software that can run on it!

I'm pretty sure (even as a bit of a wind up, let your boss know what you're doing) if you send a memo round detailing the kind of arguments listed above the beancounters will all be switching to apple.

cazziebo

Thanks everyone.

There are only five of us in the team and my job is a bit different from the accountants. The accountants say there isn't an acceptable equivalent for Excel in Apple - they won't migrate whatever. They're accountants!

Unrich, I think my argument would be stronger if I had learned more about how to get the best out of apple in the time I've had it. Apple is really so easy to use, and it usually installs things automatically when required.

Thanks for your points, I'll use them to construct an argument for sticking with it. I'll think more about whether to get another battery in the meantime.

[Deleted User]

Errmm.. can't they just buy the version of Excel for Apples?

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/excel2008/default.mspx#/building_charts/

I use to have a Powerbook in my old job and we had MS Office for Mac back in 2003

TonyLisaP

A very strange argument as MS Office has pretty much always been available for MAC's.

cazziebo

Maybe should have explained it's one against four - I'm the only apple user now. The original two have since retired.

No way will the bean counters consider changing. (And one of them has just got himself an ugly new Dell!) The argument he will use will be I could get a dell for not much more than £300. A new Apple Mac would be at least twice that.

I'm resigned to doing it eventually, just want to prolong my apple days as long as I can!

frogman_2

Cazziebo, if you really want to keep the Apple...be brave!

Just say that you can run MS Excel on Macs and there are other apps., that your clients run, that require you to stay on the Mac platform.

In fact, I'd demand the new Mac Air!

Fortune Favours the Brave!

jje_2

Get a new Laptop on the company write the old one off as not working and take it home to play with . Where it may live far longer .

jje

PROLIANT

Apple has no place in this world anymore, along with IBM AIX and legacy UNIX, love them or hate them microsoft is the world leader and too right, how many of you on here use Novell, UNIX, IBM AIX(IBM's version of UNIX), Apple, Linux operating systems, not many albet.