Some background:
I work for a large multi-location company. My specific location is setting up a small private network to separate us from the company's larger corporate network. This is all happening because the company doesn't want its employees connecting unauthorized devices to the corporate network but we have lots and lots of these unauthorized devices. Examples include various Ethernet enabled data collection hardware and nonstandard development PCs. All of those things will be moving to the private network. The edict goes further in that we are also not to connect unauthorized peripherals to any standard issue computer on the corporate network. So, no non-encrypted USB sticks, no USB hard drives of any kind, no USB evaluation kits of integrated circuits, etc...
I will be needing a second computer at work. There is no site wide drive to standardize on what this second computer is. It is up to individual employee and their manager to get/order what we need.
What I Want/Need To Do:
With all that said, I am hoping that I can get an iMac. My concern is just how usable the iMac would be in a predominately Windows environment. I am hoping to run both OS X and Windows. OS X would handle my work on intellectual property, presentations, and research. Windows would handle my design entry and validation work. I would need to run big Windows programs like AutoCAD and HFSS alongside small programs from Analog Devices and Linear Tech for programming small evaluation kits.
My Questions:
Could I run OS X and Windows in parallel where Windows would sit in its own window accessing USB connections?
Will OS X throw a fit when some odd USB device is connected to the iMac which only the Windows system would use?
How easy it to access network folders that I normally access in Windows by typing "\\[server name]" in the address bar of the "My Computer" window in Windows?
Does anyone use a dual system in parallel at their work? What kind of "gotchas" have you run into?
Thanks!!
-=- Boris
I work for a large multi-location company. My specific location is setting up a small private network to separate us from the company's larger corporate network. This is all happening because the company doesn't want its employees connecting unauthorized devices to the corporate network but we have lots and lots of these unauthorized devices. Examples include various Ethernet enabled data collection hardware and nonstandard development PCs. All of those things will be moving to the private network. The edict goes further in that we are also not to connect unauthorized peripherals to any standard issue computer on the corporate network. So, no non-encrypted USB sticks, no USB hard drives of any kind, no USB evaluation kits of integrated circuits, etc...
I will be needing a second computer at work. There is no site wide drive to standardize on what this second computer is. It is up to individual employee and their manager to get/order what we need.
What I Want/Need To Do:
With all that said, I am hoping that I can get an iMac. My concern is just how usable the iMac would be in a predominately Windows environment. I am hoping to run both OS X and Windows. OS X would handle my work on intellectual property, presentations, and research. Windows would handle my design entry and validation work. I would need to run big Windows programs like AutoCAD and HFSS alongside small programs from Analog Devices and Linear Tech for programming small evaluation kits.
My Questions:
Could I run OS X and Windows in parallel where Windows would sit in its own window accessing USB connections?
Will OS X throw a fit when some odd USB device is connected to the iMac which only the Windows system would use?
How easy it to access network folders that I normally access in Windows by typing "\\[server name]" in the address bar of the "My Computer" window in Windows?
Does anyone use a dual system in parallel at their work? What kind of "gotchas" have you run into?
Thanks!!
-=- Boris