ODDREE.COM

A Positive Vibe

After all that negative venting I did, I decided I could stop being a "cry baby bitch" (as Mannox would say) and try to start thinking positively again. Halfway through my MCSE it's blatantly obvious that I don't really like the product all that much, and I don't want to spend the rest of my career pushing it upon the masses. That being said, I need to continue to study for my MCSE. It's job security, and maybe a raise, right?

And now for a quote.

Expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then try to bring those things into what you are doing.

Who said it? Steve Jobs. I really like the way that guy thinks. He was a horrible person to work for. This is certain. But the guy really has a mind for innovation. People tend to give Apple a lot of crap, but I am always looking at what they are doing and saying "why isn't anyone paying attention to these people?". Their products never cease to amaze me. I think Steve Jobs is an artist, trapped in the position of an IT innovator. Crossing Jobs with a team of software engineers, and you get the perfect mix of design and engineering.

And while the world will never make "the switch", I would like to somehow work Apple products into my career. So I bit the bullet and took a stab at it. Last night I wrote up an email to my boss, and the head of consulting. I basically said "why not have some support for Apple integration?". OS X works very nicely with Active Directory. Who knew? Many enterprise companies have a couple of Apple notebooks running around unsecured, and they have no idea how to fit it into their PC infrastructure. That's where I could come in ... theoretically. So I asked, "just how many requests have we had for Apple support", and also, "is this a course of business that our organization would be interested in".

I'm not sure what the response was, but as I told my wife, I bet they made the kind of face you make when you smell a dog fart. Lips curled, eyes scrunched. Not suprisingly, I heard nothing back. As I tromped through the cubical farm today I was grabbed by one of our sales people. She had been speaking with one of our State accounts who had asked, "do you all support Apple products?". The timing could not be better. I told her to e-mail my boss the details immediately. I need proof that this market exists!

I have heard that 5 percent of the worlds computer sales are ... Macintoshes. I hear a figure like that and I think "that many?". Honestly, you don't see too many people running around with Macs. But ... they are 'out there'. And corporate America seems to be struggling with trying to make them fit into the Windows Server environments. There's a niche in there! I'm telling you!

And so, as I study for my next big exam (oh boy) I think I will put together some ideas on the side. Perhaps I should serioulsy do some homework on this in weeks to come, and really put a foot forward. Who knows, perhaps they will buy me some nice books from Apple, and a Powerbook.

Current Mood: A bit more cheerful


Historic Comments
Hey Ray, Apple sells more then 700K+ units each year, small number compare to the PC but it's still a large amount.
oc12 | 08.19.04 - 3:53 pm | #

I was able to pull together some newer statistics. Today, about 11.8 percent of the computers sold are Apple. But, that's worldwide. Apple's product line appeals more in other countries (namely Australia and Japan).

I also read that well over 20 percent of education computer sales are Apple. Not a surprising figure there. I almost expected a larger number in that category.

-Ray
Ray | 08.19.04 - 6:25 pm | #