On Feb 23, 2005, at 11:41 PM, Dyna wrote:
Perhaps I should clarify that I'm largely comparing hardware here-
So was he.
OK, so let's compare hardware... I work for America's 3rd largest employer, the Postal Service. They've been sucked into the Micro$oft vortex and the official laptop and desktop OS is Windoze, while the official handheld OS is WinCe. Fortunately the serious computing like reading addresses is done with Linux. Almost all the handheld devices we use died a rapid death, there are a few laptops, and desktops everywhere. The laptops and desktops are supplied by HP/Compaq along with a very profitable service contract. Most of these PCs are assigned to supervisors some of whom have so loaded their hard drives with porn that they can barely do real work. We even have a supervicor who has brought his game input devices to work and plugged them in.
The demands on this computing "machinery" are pretty low- word processing, e-mail, and accessing a web based truck tracking system. The desktops are too new to justify replacing, so probably the best solution for those users would be switching to Linux OS and bringing the tech support in house. One of the advantages of Linux is the ability to set up the porn surfers and game nuts displays for text only...
Ultimately these PCs will need replacing and for the desktops the Mac Mini looks attractive. However, it's reliability is still an unknown and it costs twice as much as a PC running Linux. There is however potential for expanding the mobile computing into the trucks. However, given management's view that drivers are too stupid to operate a computer and would abuse them if they could, this is not likely to happen anytime soon. Basicly management sees computers as a control device and a spy in the cab rather than an enabling device for drivers.
Thusly the only computers in the truck are unauthorized, like mine. For 3 years I shagged my Pismo to work and it was a wonderful tool, making Postal manuals, union contracts, etc. instantly available in the cab. Unfortunately management was jealous of the Mac's abilities and scared of the potential of a computer enabled employee. In fact, they became so paranoid that they seemed to be looking for justification to subpeona my hard drive.
That Pismo is now so unreliable that I don't bring it to work anyway. Now if Apple's premium laptop only lasted 3 years in the truck 40 hours a week when I babied it, how long will an iBook last living in a truck 168 hours a week with sometimes indifferent users? Maybe a year at best.... I suspect that after the first round of repairs Apple would label the mass failures abuse and refuse to repair them even under AppleCare. Our techs would then be overwhelmed by stacks of dead Mac laptops, waiting forever for overpriced proprietary parts from Apple. I doubt there would be a repeat order...
Clearly my employer would need something like a Panasonic ToughBook for their trucks, and even after Windoze was evicted and replaced with Linux it would be far more reliable than any current Mac portable and thusly have a lower lifetime cost. I found an even more elegant solution, a Sharp Zaurus 6000 handheld running Linux OS. It has built in Wi-Fi, does basic word processing, is hardened to the point it is rated for a 1 meter drop, has no hard drive to subpeona, and because it fits in my pocket management doesn't know it exists anyway.
None the less, there is still a small market for Apple at one of the world's largest computer buyers- one of our most disliked middle managers has used his discretionary purchasing authority to decorate his top floor corner office with 3 G4 towers and giant LCD displays. He does nothing with them that I can't do on my handheld, and is giving Apple a bad rep amongst his subordinates, who now see Apple as the big bad boss's toy...
holding a tiny Linux light in the pitch darkness of Windoze,
Dyna
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