It's the interface, stupid...

So I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with a potential iPad user, and I realized something during that conversation. The "amazing and magical" hype about the iPad isn't the device itself, it's about the interface. HP has a device quite similar to the iPad (at least in initial visible review) coming called the Slate, but it runs Windows. That will be the actual downfall of the device - because a desktop OS isn't a true touch-tablet interface. I've used the HP all-in-one desktop touchscreen - it's a novelty but you really need a keyboard to use Windows effectively. That's what iPad has going for it, along with the other iPhone OS devices, as well as the Android OS devices - the UI is a unique experience focused on a touch-based interface, not a mouse and keyboard.

If you've never really used a touch-tablet interface like the iPad, or a Surface device, you can't understand - even if you use one of the tablet based PCs out there like the Lenovo X200. The interface and the way you interact with the device is what makes or breaks it - so although I am optimistic about the Slate for those Windows-only environments (like the hospital I work in today), I'm afraid that it will fall flat, with a mouse/keyboard UI that fails on a touch based device. Only time will tell, however, if HP and Microsoft "get it" with touch interface PCs beyond the shiny nature of a Surface....

Symantec Antivirus Server for Mac OS X

Well, one of the contractual obligations we have here at the hospital is that all desktop systems have antivirus software installed.

That's not such a big deal, after all there are some obvious standalone AV solutions for the Mac, ClamAV, Intego VirusBarrier, Symantec AntiVirus, and others. The catch is, for IT, we want to manage that client. Immediately the list shortens, and when I'm doing mostly stealth support of the (now almost a dozen) Macs here, I look for the no-cost option.

Strangely enough, we have a super-massive enterprise license for SAV 10- including the Mac Client-Server model. So I start petitioning for a Mac server, running 10.5, before they are impossible to get (after all, I started this a couple weeks after the relase of 10.6). I ask and ask, and now it's January and I have no server. So I have to run this on my own. Fortunately I have a copy of 10.5 server that I can install on ... a Mac Mini. Yes, I am one of those. I believe the Mini has great promise in the role Apple recently promoted it to, as a small workgroup server. Since I am setting up a test and pilot only, not deploying a full live environment, I go ahead and get 10.5.8 Server, mySQL and Web Services going. After a couple odd installation mistakes (I should know by now to actually read the installation guide first, rather than dive right in) I got it all together, with my little cluster of machines running a managed SAV solution.

Frankly, I hope when I start testing the Endpoint version (assuming there is one, I haven't looked) it's a bit more robust. Although the default web interface is functional, it's not really user friendly. No easy way to re-push policy, updates, or changes to systems that may have errored out, really simple (not always clear) error reporting, and a bit of a kludgy interface. But, as of today, I've been running a managed AV environment for about a week on 3 systems, successfully with reporting and all...

Magic Mouse: Long Term Review

So I got a Magic Mouse when they were released.

I love the multitouch interface on my iPhone, and on the newer laptop trackpads, so had high expectations for the mouse. I unplugged my USB mouse (formerly known as the Apple Mighty Mouse) and went 100% on the Magic Mouse with my work iMac. I use it daily as my primary input device in OSX and Windows (via VMWare Fusion). I can say that after months of use (and a battery change) that it is a satisfying input device.

I have no complaints at all - and it works better than the bluetooth Apple Mouse I used before. Sure, there could be more features enabled for input options, but for real day to day use in an office I actually think it's a great product.

I read a lot of reviews of this product, and many people complained about the shape and size of the mouse, and I don't find it a problem at all. Maybe I'm too ... delicate with my mouse use, maybe I'm crazy (maybe both), but I actually think I like it better than the old mouse, or the mouse on my Wacom tablet, or the stock Lenovo USB mouse on my PC.

After regular use day after day, I can recommend it as a solid interface device. Now if I could only use it on two computers on my desk without fiddling with Bluetooth settings....

Scripting smb fun

I'm not a UNIX geek by nature. I'm a Mac guy, but any Mac tech worth their salt isn't afraid of the shell. I've spent more and more time in the shell, knowing that my goal (ACSA) will require a lot of hard-core shell work to get. So when I try to script a silent install of Check Point Full Disk Encryption, it's not the walk in the park it might be for others.

In the end, the answer was simple:

mount -o noowners -v- t smbfs //domain;user:pass@sharename mountpoint

will mount the smb share for all users, bypassing the sudo the script runs under, and enabling access to the share by the FDE Installation package.

However, this foray into shell scripting is getting deeper and deeper as I try to automate my Mac setup more and more. My current favorite utility? Bwana - a great utility for viewing man pages in Safari.

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...