Apple and Windows

[people3]

Hi

This may be an age old question but I’ll ask it anyway

We currently run an all windows setup:

Windows 2008 Server
Exchange 2007 (outlook clients)
Windows xp and windows 7 Desktop
Office 2007 (heavy PowerPoint and publisher use)

And we have about 100 users across 3 sites

A couple of our directors have asked about having Macbooks instead of pc's.

Personally i have no real experience of Apple's and have resisted due to support issues and cost.

If we did get a Macbook running lion, would I need to do anything to my domain \ network to allow the Macbook to connect and authenticate from AD - share and edit files from the network drives (NTFS).

Also how will a Macbook effect load of the exchange and servers (is it the same as a PC)

And finally are the any other things that I will need to look out for.

Thanks in advance

 

[jmd0252]

If you have never looked at the Apple OS, there will be a STEEP learning curve. Especially coming from a only windows environment. The "strain" on the network is just like any other machine, bells and whistles will not start going off, and light flickering, etc, etc LOL.. I personally have never connected a MAC to a windows domain, it should not be a big deal,, Printer drivers will be different, different OS. Thru Office for Mac,, I cannot remember what the "catchy" name just now, everyone can share files, hook to an exchange server, etc, etc..If you are supporting one of the people at the top,, get a MAC and work with it,, like I said there will be a steep learning curve to jump to the Apple OS. But,, the Apple OS, does not have near the overhead that Windows does,, so a 2 GIG Mac, runs as good or better than a 4 GIG Windows machine. Talking memory here,, My wife does not even run an anti-virus on her MAC. You can always do a goole serch, get and read one of the coming from windows to apple books.. Yo may find that you like it more than you realize, just don't be afraid. They do not BYTE,, lol..

 

[drlex]

Since neither PowerPoint nor Publisher are available as a Mac OS version, would you not require those with Macs to run Windows either as a boot OS or within virtualization (Parallels or Fusion are recommended)? This will reduce the issue to just being a few more Windows devices on the network.

soi là, soi carré

 

[spamjim]

My wife does not even run an anti-virus on her MAC

I'm not sure that is a great idea to promote. Macs do not get Windows malware. Macs get Mac malware.

neither PowerPoint nor Publisher are available as a Mac OS version

PowerPoint is available on Mac. Publisher is not. If Publisher is a key element to your business, I'd avoid Mac. It is too much of a nuisance to manage inexperienced users with virtual machines.

Why are you not considering Linux? It is free, does not require any new investment in hardware and comes with the same hassle you would experience with a migration to Mac OS X.

 

[drlex]

thanks for the correction, spamjim - I was thinking of Access. I do know that issues arise from the interchange of Mac and Windows versions of PowerPoint files.

soi là, soi carré