Mac's work everywhere!

[marold280]

im 16, doing my work experience at ENJO UK in London. Before I go the manager says "do you have a computer ?" "yes".
So I turn up the next day, go in, say hello.
Its a room with 4 desks each with cream monitors and chugging towers.
I get out my macbook and put it on the desk.

The manager says, "oh, sorry the internet doesnt support Mac's, we'll lend you the old laptop (points towards a 2 inch thick laptop)

So I assure him that it will work and he just denys it.
Plug in the network cable, instantly works. lol.

Next He says, "oh you need internet explorer for the admin program (im doing web html editing)"

meanwhile *boots up safari* Of course it works instantly.

Just thought i would give you my experience. They were amazed by my 3 year old macbook. (I am too i didnt think safari would work =S)

 

[waterskier2007]

nice, gotta love that. i always did that at a summer job i had for 5 years. they were amazed (and sort of pissed off) that i could connect to their network and view all the files on all the servers

 

[Jon-Luke]

Nice One!

 

[Boneoh]

That's funny. Isn't it interesting how strange people can be? This guy obviously had no clue what he was talking about. He just spouted off out of his ignorance and was immediately proved wrong!



Better to just say, "I don't know if it will work, let's give it a try".

 

[Consultant]

Great that you can show those people something.

Unfortunately the world is full of idiots.

 

[iShater]

What is sad is not their lack of knowledge about the Mac, but of their systems.

 

[belvdr]

What is sad is not their lack of knowledge about the Mac, but of their systems.

In their defense, they may not have a Mac to test the application, so they are left to what the vendor says.

As for the network connection, that seems plain silly.

 

[Tenebrous]

im 16, doing my work experience at ENJO UK in London. Before I go the manager says "do you have a computer ?" "yes".
So I turn up the next day, go in, say hello.
Its a room with 4 desks each with a disgusting cream monitor and chugging towers.
I get out my macbook and put it on the desk.

The manager says, "oh, sorry the internet doesnt support Mac's, we'll lend you the old laptop (points towards a DISGUSTING 2 inch thick laptop)

So I assure him that it will work and he just denys it.
Plug in the network cable, instantly works. lol.

Next He says, "oh you need internet explorer for the admin program (im doing web html editing)"

meanwhile *boots up safari* Of course it works instantly.

Just thought i would give you my experience. They were amazed by my 3 year old macbook. (I am too i didnt think safari would work =S)

Here's another possible explanation for his behavior: it's a power trip. You see that A LOT in the IT world.

 

[futureswitcher]

My dad asked me to burn him a CD of his company's files for mass duplication. I said OK, and put the blank CD into my MacBook. My dad instantly stopped me, insisting that I do it on a windows computer. Not wanting to argue, I created the master cd on our family's vista computer. It didn't work. So he was going to drive to his office (10 minutes away) at dinner time do it on his work computer (XP). I stopped him and copied it on my mac...worked beautifully.

He hasn't made fun of my mac since.

 

[illegallydead]

Unless it is some horribly specialized thing, your Mac can do anything that a PC can. They generally play pretty nice these days, as you proved.

I am thinking that the Mac prejudice here may have come from what used to be a legitimate reason. Back in the 80's-90's, mostly after SJ left, Mac went WAY downhill in the business world. I know a good few people that have horror stories of Mac's being just god-awful in a business setting, especially when trying to play nice with PC's. So, perhaps this guy hasn't had any experience with Mac's in the last decade or two. That is the only logical reason I can see for someone to straight up say that no, Mac's won't work.

As others have mentioned, it is sad that the guy had that little knowledge of his own network, and seemed to be that much of an @$$ about it.

That being said, you may want to drop the "disgusting cream monitor" and "DISGUSTING 2 inch thick laptop" attitude BS. If you want to keep the job/internship/whatever, rubbing the guy's face in the fact that your Mac worked, and having such a prissy attitude about older design is not a good way to ensure that you are kept around for any length of time. If they let you use your Mac, great, but you may very well have to use one of their computers, and you should get used to the fact. Someone who gloats about Macs and complains about PC's in an all-PC work environment is about as welcome as a peace & love hippy is at a gun show...

 

[G5Unit]

Unless it is some horribly specialized thing, your Mac can do anything that a PC can. They generally play pretty nice these days, as you proved.

I am thinking that the Mac prejudice here may have come from what used to be a legitimate reason. Back in the 80's-90's, mostly after SJ left, Mac went WAY downhill in the business world. I know a good few people that have horror stories of Mac's being just god-awful in a business setting, especially when trying to play nice with PC's. So, perhaps this guy hasn't had any experience with Mac's in the last decade or two. That is the only logical reason I can see for someone to straight up say that no, Mac's won't work.

As others have mentioned, it is sad that the guy had that little knowledge of his own network, and seemed to be that much of an @$$ about it.

That being said, you may want to drop the "disgusting cream monitor" and "DISGUSTING 2 inch thick laptop" attitude BS. If you want to keep the job/internship/whatever, rubbing the guy's face in the fact that your Mac worked, and having such a prissy attitude about older design is not a good way to ensure that you are kept around for any length of time. If they let you use your Mac, great, but you may very well have to use one of their computers, and you should get used to the fact. Someone who gloats about Macs and complains about PC's in an all-PC work environment is about as welcome as a peace & love hippy is at a gun show...

I'm think he was just trying to emphasize the point, I'm sure he would never describe it like that verbally

 

[drossad]

Had a similar experience to the OP's story when I switched to a Mac for work. It was awesome.

They just work!

 

[illegallydead]

I'm think he was just trying to emphasize the point, I'm sure he would never describe it like that verbally

Well ya, I am hoping that it is just storytelling, but still...

 

[iDAG]

It just goes to show you that some people are still uneducated when it comes to Macs and PCs.

 

[belvdr]

Had a similar experience to the OP's story when I switched to a Mac for work. It was awesome.

They just work!

Unless you need JInitiator, then you can be hosed.

 

[miles01110]

While that's a little extreme, you all realize that there are many IE-only "web apps" that Safari won't work with, right?

 

[almostinsane]

Not just web apps but if their domain is AD based then GPO's and login scripts wont work, network connectivity could be limited if they use IPSEC, and you could be shut out of mail if they use Exchange.

There are a lot of limitations when you get into the corporate world where MS is in full force.

 

[devburke]

and you could be shut out of mail if they use Exchange.

Only for 2 more months!

 

[marold280]

with regards to the insulting the monitors and the laptops, i didnt say that in front of his face. its just my personal thoughts and they needed to be added to this. And i dont actually use their email so exchange wouldnt be a problem. (but yes it is coming out in 2 months so lol)

 

[belvdr]

The Exchange support remains to be seen if it will be useful. The previous Exchange support was minimal in the fact that meeting requests sometimes didn't work, calendar sharing wouldn't work, etc.

It appears it's just autodiscovery of the email system that is the big component, and that requires it be enabled on the Exchange server. It appears they are still using iCal and Mail for their respective areas.

Additional support, such as integration with other Office products (SharePoint in particular), is's not there either.

As for the comments, they do make you sound like you have a bad attitude and being very non-receptive.

 

[ajpl]

I've met and had to aid people just as stupid and ignorant about IT and guess what they used Macs. Stupidity is platform agnostic and in my experience those who use Macs tend to be less IT aware on the whole. Why? Macs are advertised as being easier to use, so are more likely to be used by those who are not techy.
Smug and superior atttudes like those shown in this thread are exactly why I don't advertise I use a Mac, as people will often assume you're up yourself because of this sort of asinine nonsense.

 

[ajpl]

As for the comments, they do make you sound like you have a bad attitude and being very non-receptive.

The moronic thread title says it all really.

 

[belvdr]

Stupidity is platform agnostic

I like that statement. I'm not saying 16 year olds know nothing; but if a 16 year old walked into our company thinking they were going to school us on the use of PCs and how a Mac system is so much better, they wouldn't have their head up for long. At that age, you simply don't have the broad and/or deep knowledge to school anyone at a company larger than 50 people. Each system has its place, and unfortunately, the Mac system cannot do the things we need to do. I wish it did.

That said, I have seen some 16 year olds with pretty nifty tricks up their sleeves, but by and large, they didn't have the concept of the big picture. It was the "here and now" type of thinking that kept them from touching anything that would impact more than 1 user.

The fact the manager let him just plug in was interesting enough. We don't let any 3rd party system connect to our network without our folks going over it first to ensure there's no immediate danger. We actually had a contractor with a Linux system and a cron job that would nmap the network when it had a link. Needless to say, we politely said no thanks and it was not connected.

 

[MisterMe]

...

I am thinking that the Mac prejudice here may have come from what used to be a legitimate reason. Back in the 80's-90's, mostly after SJ left, Mac went WAY downhill in the business world. ...

Nonsense. Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996. In 1996, the newest version of Windows was Windows 95. Most users were still running Windows 3.1, Windows 3.0, or one of those and some version of MS-DOS.

On the Mac side, we were happily running System 7.5 on our Power Macintoshes or Mac clones. Our Power Macs were so powerful that they could also run Windows under SoftWindows simultaneously. The Mac fans among us were eagerly awaiting System 8 (codename Copland). The clones and Apple's handling of Copland drove to company to the brink, but that did not affect our user experience one iota.

Given a choice between a Gateway 2000 running Windows 95 or a Power Macintosh 9500/200 running System 7.5.3, I'll take the Mac any day.

 

[illegallydead]

Nonsense. Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996. In 1996, the newest version of Windows was Windows 95. Most users were still running Windows 3.1, Windows 3.0, or one of those and some version of MS-DOS.

On the Mac side, we were happily running System 7.5 on our Power Macintoshes or Mac clones. Our Power Macs were so powerful that they could also run Windows under SoftWindows simultaneously. The Mac fans among us were eagerly awaiting System 8 (codename Copland). The clones and Apple's handling of Copland drove to company to the brink, but that did not affect our user experience one iota.

Given a choice between a Gateway 2000 running Windows 95 or a Power Macintosh 9500/200 running System 7.5.3, I'll take the Mac any day.

I don't really have time at the moment to find the research and facts to prove you wrong, but most of what I am referring to is the software side, not how powerful the machines were. At one point, I seem to recall that Microsoft pulled Office from the Mac, which more or less spelled it's doom for the mass business market (sure, it was still popular among graphic pro's, etc., but I refer to the MASS market).

Anyway, all I can say for sure right now is that I know multiple people that still harbor some animosity for Mac's because, back in the day, they had way, way too many terrible experiences with them in the office. That is all I am saying, is that the guy in the OP's story could simply be harboring ill will because of a certain part of Mac's history...