Apple and the Enterprise

It's not that Apple doesn't care about the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock and Bones ... oh wait ... uh ... wrong Enterprise. 

Again: It's not that Apple doesn't care about gaining market share in corporate markets. After all, Leopard was recently given UNIX 03 certification; it's a real UNIX folks, unlike so many others. *cough* Linux *cough* Apple also makes the Xserver. Remember that one? Oh yeah, there's also a server version of OS X, been one since before OS X for the rest of us.

It's that Apple seems content to pursue the opposite marketing push that Microsoft followed. Instead of hitting up the corporate IT folk to get the 'wares in the door, and then letting plain old human laziness and need for familiarity gain a foothold in the household, they're using their foothold (swiftly becoming a full on beach head invasion) in the home to gain real Champions of Quality in the workplace. I think this is a brilliant move.

As more and more people find less and less time to devote to the Art of Windows Maintenance At Home, they will more seriously look at alternatives. Many of these people are IT folk themselves; developers, sys admins, DBA's, etc. Many are just plain worker bees who really don't care that much about tech, accept that it works, period. They want a safe computing environment at home, one in which they can leave work behind; namely virus eradication efforts, spyware removal chores, and so forth. They want to use the computer for fun, and maybe some work. But, overall, they don't want the hassles. As an added bonus, if their parents or in-laws purchase computers oblivious to the security hazards that plague Windows, they may actually find some spare moments for themselves, their wives and kids (oh no, not the family!). In turn, they may find themselves with a new found sense of happiness with tech, especially the one piece of tech that connects so much of their lives to the world around us, the computer. Ah, binary bliss.

Lay back on that super soft Pottery Barn couch. Get your head comfy in that wonderful down alternative pillow and close your eyes. Take a few, slow, deep breaths. In ... out ... in ... out. Good. Now imagine, for a moment, if you will, a world of binary bliss where your OS doesn't interfere in the work you need to do. Where the scourges of the internet, the Cyber Criminals riding the invisible currents of the Network Sea, may spy you but can never board your beautiful hardware. Ah, the life of productivity and answering email without care. Surfing the Web for work related research purposes (of course) without worry of surf-by browser-jacking. Wouldn't that be a wonderful world? Now, for a moment, transport yourself to your work. Imagine the institutional gray-upholstered cubicle walls, the creaky swivel chair that never met OSHA standards, the metal desk that squeaks and squeals at every drawer pull. Don't forget that obnoxious co-worker, your boss, who constantly places inhumane and impossible demands upon you. Now, imagine yourself turning your head toward your desk. There before you sits a glorious new iMac, all metal and shiny glass goodness. And, lo and behold, it is running OS X. Ahh, the bliss, the happiness. Your cubicle becomes sunny (with real sunlight), the walls become green, red, pink, blue, yellow and violet with Spring flowers and grass that you never have to mow. Suddenly, that presentation due in half an hour is possible, even welcome! Within a week you forget the Help Desk number, and you notice the IT staff evolving into humans.

Now, as you slowly wake from such a wonderful nightmare turned Eden, think how you can make it your reality. Feel your intense hunger, need and desire to pursue a shiny new Mac at your desk. And, now you see the power of Apple's strategy. The genius of earning the respect and love of the common folk, for it is they who will demand change in the workplace, they who will wrest control of IT platforms and infrastructure choices from the dominating grip and control of the Secretive and Evil IT Department (SEIT DEP). Apple is creating the New Revolution, the one promised to all Humanity in 1984. It is coming. A new Dawn, a new Age of Enlightenment and Real Worker Productivity.