Todd: While I agree that Vista running on an adequate machine is probably okay for the end-user, out of about 65 Vista to Mac conversions I’ve done in the last six months (most are home users) only 1 has actually wanted Vista over all the available options, and 3 or 4 (5 tops) have wanted Windows XP over Vista or OS X. About 85% of these are switching to Mac Mini’s and are reusing their old kvm. The rest are spread across the rest of the mac offerings.

I’m going to stop while I’m ahead. I could argue the finer points of Mac vs. PC for months (Actually, I have been) and I enjoy the debate too much!

So, that’s my two cents (unless, of course, there is some really good software architecture or network layer handling discussion that starts up…)

Also, Nathan, Dell may be able to sway Microsoft to continue selling Windows XP Pro. They are the largest distributor of Microsoft OS’es in the world, and my corporate rep there tells me that they are willing to stop selling Microsoft products on their business machines (they will switch to linux) if they are forced to switch to Vista and it isn’t fixed.

The primary company has about 40 employees and is 20% migrated. The sister/partner companies each have about 5-10 employees and are all 100% migrated. We have experienced a drastic drop in support calls! Somewhere in the 80% neighborhood!!! Productivity has also increased pretty drastically.

We’ve reduced the per person cost of IT per year from around $3500 per person to around $1100 per person (and that includes the initial investment to purchase macs and replace all of the servers with mac or linux servers!) And, we expect that number to drop a little after we absorb the cost of the hardware, in about 18 months.

We’ve also migrated several custom “Windows-only” applications that were written specifically for these companies to be able to run on a mac. I don’t have them running natively, yet, but they are running on emulation platforms and are more stable being emulated on a mac than running natively on windows! (As a matter of fact, the programmers are amazed at how much easier it is to develop software for Mac, and are considering revising their products, and encouraging their other customers to make the switch.)

To me, one of the big reasons for this is simply because the apple platform is closed. I can’t go to Walmart and get parts for my Mac. When I go to Walmart, I am getting a device that was manufactured as cheaply as possible and has a driver that came from who knows where, and might not be very stable. Software developers must accommodate this lowest common denominator in their applications, which renders the applications less stable, and thus the operating system.

Apple has a closed system, where they control all the hardware. So the OS and the third party apps are focusing on a much more stable lowest common denominator, thus resulting in the potential for more stable software.

Certainly, there are downsides to Apple, like their recent Microsoft-like stunts. But the market doesn’t need everyone to switch to Mac, it needs everyone to engage in healthy competition. Microsoft needs to start developing competitive products and considering the needs of the end user. And, I think the recent surge in Apple popularity may help bring that about. I think it’s also important for Microsoft to respond, so that Apple doesn’t become the next Microsoft…… (However, you will never, NEVER, find me using Microsoft products again, without some miracle. I’m sold on Mac, personally.)

Nathan, the next time I go out to Houston, Kansas or Nevada to check on the setup I would be happy to let you know and you can come along and see how things are going. Most of those shops are all Mac minis. The mac minis in the larger (and more local) company won’t be installed until after September, based on the current rollout schedule.

I wasn’t aware that you could get MACs for that cheap. I stand corrected.

Another thing to consider: support. I know I need to learn MACs (I need more time!!). Are you prepared to support the machines? And, more importantly, are you prepared to teach me the ins-and-outs of MACs so I can support them too?