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Microsoft Barring Many of its Employees from Buying Apple Products with Company Funds?

Don't blame them.

Makes sense. But still, what's it going to say when MS employees get caught at conventions toting iPhones? That given the option, an MS employee would rather pay for their own iPhone than be stuck with a free craptastic WinMo POS? Now that's what's funny...
 
Hahahahaha. Schadenfreude big-style.

By the late nineties I was so mad at M$ - they'd killed off several platforms through either their sheer monopoly or actual illegal unethical practices like forcing PC manufacturers to offer alternative operating systems. Amiga, Acorn, neXt, Be OS, etc. - elements of those platforms dumped all over M$ technologically.

Then the internet got massive and it was 90% built on UNIX/Linux not NT.

Then neXt got the Apple brand pasted on top and the cult machine the 'web was invented on' was now the Mac.

Then iPod, iPhone, iPad...

One of the barriers to business using an alternative platform in the past was that the front-ends to many companies databases were Windows-only. Now many front-ends are web-based so you only need an up-to-date browser and you can use anything.

M$ - 30 of producing utter rubbish has bitten you on the bum. If you had confidence in your own crap you wouldn't be banning Apple. Get with the times - no one wants ***** Windows 8 tablets. Bring Office to iPad - make some money.
 
How will they copy the next version of OS X now?

If Microsoft bars its employees from buying Apple products, how will they copy the next version of OS X?
 
It's not like an MS employee is banned from owning a Mac product; just barred from purchasing it with company funds. That seems reasonable. I would expect Apple to have a similar policy in place. I don't think Apple would be too pleased to find their company money being spent on Windows computers.
 
They know the secret:
MICROSOFT CODE ON APPLE IS A STEAMING PILE OF BULLCRAP!
Old bugs, new bug, unusable new GUI and so on.
 
spaceballl said:
Seems smart to me. A friend of mine used to work at Red Hat, and he told me that almost all the non-dev employees there used Macs. How about some pride in your own products?? Everyone there should have been on RHEL!
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Using a Mac != running OS X. They could very well be running RHEL.

To me, a Mac is more about the superb quality hardware than software (as polished and perfectly integrated as it is).
 
tigress666 said:
Or really even just saying what they are willing to spend on their business even if it wasn't a competitor (it's nice when companies give you a choice but that isn't a right. I think my roommate is stuck with Dell machines for his job cause they have a contract with Dell so he doesn't even get a choice of which Windows machine. And he certainly can't use a Mac cause the software they need doesn't run on Mac). If they don't want to spend money on an Apple product, that is their prerogative.
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Your roommate does not work for Dell. It is not the same to compare a licensing agreement with a specific vendor (who may also be a client or sponsor) with Microsoft's employee purchasing policy which is about using company funds to buy the competition's technology for office productivity unless necessary in their specific job requirements.

I see no issue with the policy either, but I can say with confidence I don't see the need for establishing such a policy at Cupertino headquarters anytime soon!

It's kind of like sending a memo to all Bugatti employees stating they shouldn't drive a Yugo as their company car.
 
Because Apple's offices are full of PCs, Windows Phones, Xbox 360s & Surface Tables all bought with Company funds?

The directive will only have stipulated that employees don't buy a competitor's product out of Microsoft budgets where a Microsoft alternative is available. It's about economising on budget and ensuring ecosystem compatibility rather than looking to hurt Apple in any way.

I guarantee you Apple has the same directives in place, and I know for a fact Google does.

Seriously. Apple is sounding more and more like a religion every day.
 
Non news IMHO. Did HP allow Dell computers, does Goodyear company cars use Bridgestone, etc? Does Motley Crüe listen to Guns 'n Roses?

Really rhetorical question: I wonder what would happen at Apple if someone wanted to used a Dell computers? (See the rhetorical part, I KNOW this doesn't happen).

I also wonder if Apple forces its employee to go to Lion. Maybe some are reluctant to leave SL, as some on this forum are.
 
GenesisST said:
Non news IMHO. Did HP allow Dell computers, does Goodyear company cars use Bridgestone, etc? Does Motley Crüe listen to Guns 'n Roses?

Really rhetorical question: I wonder what would happen at Apple if someone wanted to used a Dell computers? (See the rhetorical part, I KNOW this doesn't happen).

I also wonder if Apple forces its employee to go to Lion. Maybe some are reluctant to leave SL, as some on this forum are.
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Depends on Dept. My buddies who do basic IT work are given MBA's that are updated quite frequently. Non-apple machines are used as well, but they aren't provided by the company. If you go in BJ's you'll notice a few apple employees sneaking out their android devices, but those are mostly contract workers. I had a long talk with this dude at Yiassoo about how that goes down and he basically said the further you are away from corporate buildings and into the satellite offices across the street, you'll see less Apple machines.

Edit: by less I mean 1 out of 10 contractors instead of 1 out of 50
 
I cannot believe Microsoft let staff buy the competitors products with company money in the first place.


I wonder how many iPad3 orders there would have been if the policy did not come into effect beforehand.
 
flynndean said:
I guarantee you Apple has the same directives in place, and I know for a fact Google does.
Click to expand...

What?
Google banned the use of Windows on its enterprise network due to security matters, that's all I know. Apart from that, what directives are you referring to?
 
The real news here is that Microsoft USED to let people order Apple stuff. It's pretty amazing that it was allowed for so long.

Buying competing products reminds me of my job in college delivering pizza, though. We got so tired of pizza, we would call other fastfood places and make swap deals, like trading pizzas for foot long sandwiches. They were tired of eating their own stuff as well :)
 
So can MS employees purchase other products using the company's money? They only said they cannot purchase APPLE products.

Why don't they buy a bunch of Samsung tablets using the company's money, sell them on ebay and use the money to get iPads. Problem solved.
 
I see nothing wrong about this - ESPECIALLY for the marketing, etc arm of Microsoft.

Externally - it's an image thing. If you have execs at tradeshows, seminars, meetings, etc and they whip out an Apple product vs a PC it's a bad message. And people do notice/comment.

Now - clearly Apple computers can run Windows in a VM - but that doesn't negate the big Apple logo on the device. And the iPad doesn't run Windows at all.

Do you think Apple allows members of their staff to purchase Windows and PCs for use? Of course some people would snort and say why would they - they suck. But that's irrelevant. Point is - unless it's required for their research/use - there's no reason to allow it.

As someone else said - if I worked for Pepsi - I wouldn't expect Coke to be in vending machines.

If I worked for Samsung, I wouldn't expect I could (with company money) purchase a Nokia phone.
 
A Hebrew said:
I don't blame them. Maintenance and just purchasing Apple products costs way too much. Company funds should be used wisely on products that get the job done the best way, not the trendyish way.
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The maintenance cost on Apple products is simply nothing compared to the maintenance cost on PCs. The effort, time and money required to keep a Windows machine healthy and efficient is completely laughable. The only half-way effective marketing the PC makers have ever done was promoting the false perception that their machines are somehow more cost effective, but if you examine costs (both time and monetary) over the course of any reasonable time frame the Apple products remain strong, and the competitors just drag through the mud.
 
This is good news. People seem to have forgotten that Macs run windows just fine, though.

Rather than MS employees running windows on MacBooks, etc, to do their work, they are instead forced to buy crappy HP junk, that is constantly in the shop.

This lowers productivity overall, and will cause MSFT to get even further behind.

Plus, their employees will be less exposed to the state of the art, a nice bonus.
 
A Hebrew said:
I don't blame them. Maintenance and just purchasing Apple products costs way too much. Company funds should be used wisely on products that get the job done the best way, not the trendyish way.
Click to expand...

It might blow your mind that the best way is often with Apple products.
 
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