NSW Traffic Authority Switches to Mac

[MacRumors]

ComputerWorld.com.au reports that the New South Wales Traffic Authority will be switching to Macs.

According to the article, the agency will deploy 1200 Apple G4 iMacs across 140 registry offices.

The Apple rollout is a continuation of RTA usage of open standards-based software and systems. The further adoption of open source is being undertaken to provide more choice of vendors and to guarantee RTA systems are providing value for money

The switch appears to be away from Windows/Intel boxes. Apple has recently been attempting to increase their enterprise sales, and this may represent one of the early successes.

[abbazaba]

theres no such thing as too many macs

[sethypoo]

Originally Posted by abbazaba

theres no such thing as too many macs

Yes, there is.

Too many Wintel boxes=anti-trust lawsuits, monopolization, and other bad things.

Too many Macs=same result as too many Wintel boxes.

[gekko513]

I bet this means new PowerBooks next tuesday

[afields]

This obviously points to new 3ghz powermacs.....

[hvfsl]

Originally Posted by gekko513

I bet this means new PowerBooks next tuesday

People seem to be saying this in every thread.

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

ComputerWorld.com.au reports that the New South Wales Traffic Authority will be switching to Macs.

According to the article, the agency will deploy 1200 Apple G4 iMacs across 140 registry offices.



The switch appears to be away from Windows/Intel boxes. Apple has recently been attempting to increase their enterprise sales, and this may represent one of the early successes.

A nice win for Apple Australia. Now if they would look at the bloody exchange rate and do something nice for us all -> at least they got the emac costing right but why should we suffer over inflated prices on most other things, ESPECIALLY software. Glad to see that got hammered by the Barrow in the Australian on Tuesday. Damn right.

[spaceballl]

Apple is actually SELLING computers now... in bulk! This can't be bad.
-Kevin

[mvc]

Moving to open-source eh? No-one sells more Macs than Microsoft.

[aussiemac86]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

A nice win for Apple Australia. Now if they would look at the bloody exchange rate and do something nice for us all -> at least they got the emac costing right but why should we suffer over inflated prices on most other things, ESPECIALLY software. Glad to see that got hammered by the Barrow in the Australian on Tuesday. Damn right.

I am soooo in agreement here with the exchange rate, and whilst the emac is an improvement it is still not all that close.

i.e. emac on us site is USD$800
emac on aus site is AUD$1200
Based on this the exchange rate is 61.5 US cents to the australian dollar, by todays paper the actual exchange rate is 76.4 US cents, and it has been well above 70 cents for several months now.

the PM's are even worse
for base models
Aus site- AUD$3200- in USD(current exchange rate)$2432
US site - USD$1800- in AUD(current) $2368
That is an exchange rate of 56 cents!
Thats a AUD$832 difference, it would be cheaper to have one shipped over here from the US privately, however i wouldnt then be elligible for my edu discounts, which just about even it out.

I know this doesnt take into account taxes and stuff but seriously, can anyone give a decent explanation of this discrepency?

Also i may have stuffed up some maths here so forgive me but im fairly sure they are correct.

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by aussiemac86

I am soooo in agreement here with the exchange rate, and whilst the emac is an improvement it is still not all that close.

i.e. emac on us site is USD$800
emac on aus site is AUD$1200
Based on this the exchange rate is 61.5 US cents to the australian dollar, by todays paper the actual exchange rate is 76.4 US cents, and it has been well above 70 cents for several months now.

I don't think its that bad compared to pretty much everything else in the Apple computer line.

$800 US = (@75 AUD:USD) = ~$1066 + gst = $1,173. Thats pretty good to the Aussie $1299. $125 extra AUD is ok. I've been conservative on the exchange due to recent falls that will likely continue.

$1000 = (@75 AUD:USD) = ~$1333 + gst = $1,466. Aussie is $1599. ~$130 aint to bad.

Sure I would prefer to see a more exact match but its about 11/12% above what a direct exchange should be, which is far better than the 30-40% other machines are currently at.

[748s]

Originally Posted by aussiemac86

I know this doesnt take into account taxes and stuff but seriously, can anyone give a decent explanation of this discrepency?

it's the buzzle levy.
apple lost over $30au million in the great buzzle fiasco.
we're paying for it.


next time i'm at the rta i wont be hearing, "the system is really slow" or "all the computers are down".

[agility]

Originally Posted by aussiemac86

I know this doesnt take into account taxes and stuff but seriously, can anyone give a decent explanation of this discrepency?

Also i may have stuffed up some maths here so forgive me but im fairly sure they are correct.

There's a lot of assumptions that you're making though. they're reasonable assumptions if you've never run a business that imports good and must reconcile with a foreign company. The issues of FX (exchange rates) is a business and accounting nightmare. What most companies of any scale do is hedge against the foreign currency. i.e. they buy US dollars (through a financial instrument) to establish a fixed basis for a period of time. If you have hedged 6 months or 12 months in advance then your cost of US dollars is fixed for that time.

It's actually much more complex than this, but this will give you some insight as to how these things work. Importers just don't buy "on demand" using a credit card at whatever todays FX rate happens to be. Also... noone ever gets the FX rate that is quoted on the news or in the newspapers...

J

[winmacguy]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

A nice win for Apple Australia. Now if they would look at the bloody exchange rate and do something nice for us all -> at least they got the emac costing right but why should we suffer over inflated prices on most other things, ESPECIALLY software. Glad to see that got hammered by the Barrow in the Australian on Tuesday. Damn right.

I think the poor exchange rate has more to do with George W going to war with Iraq than with Australia, but still great to see Apple making inroads into Federal Australian Government in a security critical enterprise environment.

[aussiemac86]

I think the poor exchange rate has more to do with George W going to war with Iraq than with Australia, but still great to see Apple making inroads into Federal Australian Government in a security critical enterprise environment.

I think you have missed the point ya kiwi, The exchange rate is actually bloody good for once( recent months have been best in like 10 years) . We were complaining about apple australia refusing to pay any attention to the fact that this should be making computers cheaper in relation to those sold in the US.


Also on a minor point, NSW traffic is a state not federal govt dept.

[winmacguy]

Originally Posted by aussiemac86

I think you have missed the point ya kiwi, The exchange rate is actually bloody good for once( recent months have been best in like 10 years) . We were complaining about apple australia refusing to pay any attention to the fact that this should be making computers cheaper in relation to those sold in the US.


Also on a minor point, NSW traffic is a state not federal govt dept.

With regards to the exchange rate, we also get hit pretty hard since Apple NZ has to buy from Apple Australia.

( I did partially get your point

NSW traffic may not be a state or federal govt dept (pardon my ignorance, we dont have states like OZ or US in NZ), but it is still a great move for Apple.

Cheers

[iggyb]

Originally Posted by winmacguy

I think the poor exchange rate has more to do with George W going to war with Iraq than with Australia, but still great to see Apple making inroads into Federal Australian Government in a security critical enterprise environment.

Yeah, I had a bad day at work on Monday...must be Dubya's fault. I had a bad hair day yesterday....Dang that George!!! Ever since he was elected, I've gained almost 20 lbs. ARGH! Dubya made me gain weight!!!!

[iggyb]

This is a great start. I hope the trend continues. With the Unix-based OS, the reliability, and with anti-Windows sentiment going around....keep your fingers crossed.

[winmacguy]

Originally Posted by iggyb

Yeah, I had a bad day at work on Monday...must be Dubya's fault. I had a bad hair day yesterday....Dang that George!!! Ever since he was elected, I've gained almost 20 lbs. ARGH! Dubya made me gain weight!!!!

You obviously missed the point I was making ( although I got corrected by another poster from OZ saying the exchange rate was great for Australians)

My point was that ever since George W sent US troops into Iraq looking for Weapons Of Mass Destruction (also known as Iraq's Oil Supplies), the US economy has been languishing, the unemployment rate has increased and the currency rate of almost everyother country outside the US has risen while the US dollar has dropped in value against most other currencies in a big way.
If you think I am miss informed then prove it.
Cheers

[GRAHAMUK]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

A nice win for Apple Australia. Now if they would look at the bloody exchange rate and do something nice for us all -> at least they got the emac costing right but why should we suffer over inflated prices on most other things, ESPECIALLY software. Glad to see that got hammered by the Barrow in the Australian on Tuesday. Damn right.

I agree in this case, but normally "The Barrow" is a jerk. I hate reading his column (though I am compelled to because it's about Macs). He mostly serves up cold news that I read over a month ago on Slashdot, usually stated as fact without critical analysis, and the impression it leaves one is generally not as positive towards Apple as a reading of the original story might suggest. He appears to me to write up FUD which actually does little to promote Macs, maybe he's really working for the other side? The SMH does a far bettr job in its "Icon" supplement. (Recent stupid iPod scare stories apart that is).

[ChrisH3677]

I read Mac Man and Bleeding Edge in The Age's Green Guide. MacMan is one of the main reasons I switched. I kept reading his articles and salivating.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...man/index.html

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...dge/index.html

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by ChrisH3677

I read Mac Man and Bleeding Edge in The Age's Green Guide. MacMan is one of the main reasons I switched. I kept reading his articles and salivating.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...man/index.html

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...dge/index.html

Thanks. I've bookmarked those.

[doogle]

Originally Posted by ChrisH3677

I read Mac Man and Bleeding Edge in The Age's Green Guide. MacMan is one of the main reasons I switched. I kept reading his articles and salivating.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...man/index.html

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/...dge/index.html

Yeah the Macman he really is under-rated as a writer. He has done much good for the Apple community (at least in Aus)

BTW Someone earlier referenced the Buzzle disaster as the reason for the disparity in exchange rates/cost of Mac...I think he was right.

[eSnow]

Pretty ironic they are switching to Macs to establish OpenSource... As those who have been around back then will remember, Apple was most hated [tm] company among the OSS crowd back in the days of System 7.x.

Tempora mutantur - in 15 years, MS will be the provider of best of breed office apps for Linux

[Frisco]

Really Good News!!

I hope this starts a major trend away from Wintel---towards Macs. I hope the rumor of FedEx switching to Macs is also true.

The world would be a better place if more companies used Macs! I for one would enjoy going to work a lot more