Need some Advice from a "Windows on Mac" Pro...

[hellodon]

Hello!

I work for a great company that lets us mac users use our macs (we actually started out all mac but we have had some PC guys creep their way in over the years).

Anyway - with the owner and the original crew still loving and using macs, we get our macs and we all work together on our filing systems and anything needed.

Well - the time has come where we have outgrown our infrastruction (we're an e-commerce business) and part of the big plan in 2010 is to rebuild with a new system.

Our IT guy came to me today and basically said a lot of the people we're speaking with about new systems don't necessarily have mac solutions. They have GREAT solutions to our overall needs, but of course the mac is still the little guy in these huge systems and that means us mac users may have to use windows for some software needs.

So what he wanted me to find out is what is the BEST solution to present a windows software on a mac? Terminal emulation? Boot Camp? Terminal Server? Obviously I know you can run Windows on a mac, I just never have. Its never had a purpose for me so I just havent bothered. I left Windows many moons ago and I havent had a reason to go back.

So - if anyone knows the best solution for business, please let me know so I can pass the info along. I know we wont be running STRICTLY on windows, but I have a feeling some external software to deal with our databases and customers may have to run on Windows, so we're looking for the best solution to make it easy on us mac users who don't necessarily WANT to work on Windows.

One of the big things to keep in mind is we have to be able to easily switch over because MOST work will still be done using the mac...but there will be software that may require switching over to Windows quickly so we want to avoid having to restart and boot into Windows to check on something with our system then have to reboot and start back into OSX to get back to our other work - that's definitely something we can't be doing.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much in advance!

 

[ViViDboarder]

Hello!

I work for a great company that lets us mac users use our macs (we actually started out all mac but we have had some PC guys creep their way in over the years).

Anyway - with the owner and the original crew still loving and using macs, we get our macs and we all work together on our filing systems and anything needed.

Well - the time has come where we have outgrown our infrastruction (we're an e-commerce business) and part of the big plan in 2010 is to rebuild with a new system.

Our IT guy came to me today and basically said a lot of the people we're speaking with about new systems don't necessarily have mac solutions. They have GREAT solutions to our overall needs, but of course the mac is still the little guy in these huge systems and that means us mac users may have to use windows for some software needs.

So what he wanted me to find out is what is the BEST solution to present a windows software on a mac? Terminal emulation? Boot Camp? Terminal Server? Obviously I know you can run Windows on a mac, I just never have. Its never had a purpose for me so I just havent bothered. I left Windows many moons ago and I havent had a reason to go back.

So - if anyone knows the best solution for business, please let me know so I can pass the info along. I know we wont be running STRICTLY on windows, but I have a feeling some external software to deal with our databases and customers may have to run on Windows, so we're looking for the best solution to make it easy on us mac users who don't necessarily WANT to work on Windows.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much in advance!

Your infrastructure people should be able to find some multiplatform solution for you...

But if not then your best bet is to just use Bootcamp. Note that this will only work on Intel Macs.

Bootcamp will let you reboot to Windows where the computer will function ENTIRELY as a Windows computer would. You will need to have a Windows license for every computer that you want to install this on though.

 

[IvanLasston]

I work for a midsize business and a lot of our large systems stuff runs activex and windows. What I have done is load windows into bootcamp - and run parallels on that bootcamp partition. This way I can run windows in a window - access all the ERP, CRM, systems and still run mac. Then if I need to run something full speed I do have a choice to reboot into bootcamp.

Parallels has easy data sharing between the two drives too. Bootcamp can mount it as well but again the biggest benefit of running the bootcamp partition in Parallels is you don't need a reboot. I do recommend getting the most amount of ram you can if you are planning to run a virtual machine. I have 4GB and generally my swap runs about 2-5GB when running Parallels with 1GB of ram allocated. I am looking at upgrading to 8GB of ram.

 

[hellodon]

Thank you guys for the help.

The infrastructure people SHOULD be able to work with macs but sadly, some of the larger ones that offer the most features that we need, don't have a mac solution. We havent picked one yet, looking at 11 different ones...of course SOME do work with macs but most don't...and may require some windows software to access certain parts of the system.

Bootcamp does require a reboot to switch - that was the big issue on what we DON'T want to have to do because it will be mostly mac use, occasional need for a quick switch into a windows software...so it sounds like Parallels and a partition might be a better option for us as we'd all need to be able to have it open in a window within OSX like you are Ivan.

Thanks again! I'll pass this info along!

 

[cderalow]

dedicated inhouse windows server running in a remote desktop client.