My PowerBook odyssey

About a year ago, I enthusiastically switched to OS X running on a PowerBook laptop. Since then I’ve experienced the ups and downs of managing enterprise IT from a PowerBook. As a personal device, my PowerBook has become the center of my digital life in a way that my Windows laptop never did, mainly because I love the look and feel. Yet running OS X in a typical enterprise is not problem-free. A positive experience, yes, but not perfect.

Let’s start with the aggravation of things that didn’t “just work” this past year. Before the PowerBook came along, I spent considerable time researching inexpensive scanners that had document feeders. I found one with the Visioneer 8650 and used it for months with my ThinkPad, but when I tried to hook it up to my Mac, it didn’t work because only Windows is supported. That’s not Apple’s fault, but it’s the kind of surprise that enthusiastic switchers might run into.

When it comes to PC integration, OS X receives high marks for integration with Windows networks; I had no problems printing to printers on our Windows domain, and mounting Windows file shares has been a snap. But if you must use native Windows applications (think Visio), all roads lead to Virtual PC. As regular readers of this column know, InfoWorld outsources its desktop support function. Our outsourcer maintains a standard disk image deployed through Altiris’ RapiDeploy that makes building preconfigured PCs with all our key applications ridiculously simple.

Unfortunately, Virtual PC consistently stalls when attempting to install that disk image, even though it’s a Windows XP install that works on a wide variety of PC hardware. I haven’t tried the disk image with the recently released Virtual PC 7 yet, but it’s a mistake to assume that PC disk images generated by broadly used enterprise products will work. This shortcoming has been annoying enough that I have to hold onto my ThinkPad to investigate software issues in our PC environment.

When I look past those obstacles, the OS X environment shines — especially within an IT group such as ours (one that primarily administers back-end Linux servers with a heavy dose of open source software). During the past year, I’ve built a complete development environment on my PowerBook, compiling Apache, Perl, and PHP from scratch on the command line and easily replicating our Linux development environment on my laptop. I never have to fumble around for an SSH client like I used to with Windows, a small convenience that has been a huge time-saver.

On the end-user management side, deploying Apple Remote Desktop has made it simple to administer the Mac environment. I haven’t uncovered any robust outsourced management options for the Mac environment, though — most companies still rely on the on-site “Mac pro” to troubleshoot. Granted, Macs can be easier to manage, but they still require knowledgeable, skilled support staff when deployed in any significant numbers in an enterprise environment. Even Apple hasn’t yet delivered the nirvana of truly self-healing desktop systems — although I wouldn’t be surprised if it was eventually the first.

In the end, the sheer elegance of OS X prevents me from dismissing it as just another operating system. I can’t offer the Mac my full and blind devotion as long as I have to keep my ThinkPad close by to run IT. But I’m keeping my PowerBook closer.