Being a Mac in a Windows world

So you hear this all the time. "I'm a Mac user - I don't want to use Windows. I don't like it/It sucks/It gets viruses..."

Whatever. The Mac is far from perfect.

I"m a Mac user too. For the last 3 years I've been struggling to bring the Mac on par with Windows in the "Real World" of business. I had it easy the first couple of years. I worked in a cable broadcast environment, where the Mac already had a presence in motion graphics and marketing. It was also commonly used in associated companies in other broadcast production services, so there it wasn't a matter of bringing the Mac in from scratch, it was a matter of integration and trying to bring parity to the Mac platform. Parity was a challenge of mindset - the IT group there was so entrenched in "The Windows Way" that the Mac was still Mac OS 7/8/9 - pretty, for making pictures, but not a real computer. During my career there, all the easy work was done, and some of the hard work as well. When I left, all the Mac systems were bound to a "Magic Triangle Cylinder of Destiny" environment with AD/OD management, SSO login processes, and IT viewed them as another piece of the environment, no longer just a pretty picture-making box. I may write more about my experiences there, but this is about my current experience, mostly to keep me sane.

Here, at my new job, I really am a lone Mac in a Windows world. I've moved into IT support for a large regional hospital/medical group. I was brought in to plan and develop an integration plan for Macs in the environment, as the entire IT group here is (again) living in Microsoft land. I was here for almost 3 weeks before they took one of the 8 (yes 8!) Macs they had and let me get started with this project. In the next few articles I'll describe the process I've gone through, mostly for my own sake but also for those who might accidentally stumble across this and either have additional information or need to do something I've already done. Stay tuned...