Re: [Fed-Talk] Apple - Boot Camp - Windows XP on a Mac
Re: [Fed-Talk] Apple - Boot Camp - Windows XP on a Mac
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] Apple - Boot Camp - Windows XP on a Mac
- From: Rex Sanders <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 09:48:14 -0700
At 9:34 AM -0400 4/5/06, Dave Hale wrote:
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/>http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
Some thoughts about this development:
- Agencies that say "thou shalt run Windows only on Dell" or something
similar, won't like Mac hardware coming in the back door that can boot
Windows so easily. We will see more pressure to prohibit Macs, and to
migrate from Mac hardware to Dell hardware.
- So called Enterprise Applications that require Windows now have one less
major reason to ever go cross-platform. "Just boot into Windows" will be
the answer, particularly when we have agency-wide licenses for Windows, and
no up-front cost excuse not to run Windows. I hope everyone on this list
knows that the support costs for Windows far exceed the cost of buying a
Windows license. Other Parts of our Agency don't want to hear that point.
We already fight that battle when the Windows-heads learn about Virtual PC:
"Just boot into Virtual PC". Quoting:
At 9:12 AM -0600 4/5/06, Michael Pike wrote:
Looks like Microsoft has won the battle...
- Many of our Mac users will boot into Windows from time-to-time, killing
any support cost benefits. Many Macs will cost *more* to support than
Windows boxes, because we'll need to support two very different operating
systems.
- I'm 99% certain our admin staff will be forced to dual boot in the near
future, rather than pressuring headquarters to deploy cross-platform
applications. That's 10 more copies of Windows we'll need to support. I'd
rather switch our admin staff to 100% Windows and stop the battles with
headquarters. Apple loses 10 customers. We'll be pressured to repeat this
process for people who don't have seriously compelling reasons to run Mac
OS. Apple loses more customers.
- Security of Mac hardware will be much more suspect. With Mac hardware
running only Mac OS, our security worries were much less. In the near
future, nearly all our desktop hardware will have the capability to boot
into Windows, with all the security headaches that come with it. Apple
even hints at that on the Bootcamp web site.
I know this train's left the station, so here's what I would like to see
from Apple:
- Some way for system administrators to "lock down" Mac firmware so Mac
hardware can't be booted into Windows without sys admin approval. Maybe
that capability is already built-in, but explicitly documenting it would be
nice.
- In ARD, a way to find Macs that have been modded to run Windows (firmware
version?); find Macs with Bootcamp installed; and find Macs with Windows
partitions.
And what I'll need to setup:
- Software that watches Macs over the network to see if they've booted into
Windows, so we can have a talk with that user. Do you really need this?
Have you installed antivirus/antispyware? Have you configured to
authenticate through AD? Have you followed the Windows STIG? ...
-- Rex Sanders, USGS
email@hidden
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