Tech Forum

Apple sells a Mac mini for $599 and the Mac operating system has a lot less problems than Windows. Why couldn't we transition from Windows to Mac?

One reason that comes to mind: there's only one vendor for the hardware. Most companies/IT departments are loath to go to single-source unless there is no choice.

Sure, the church is buying Dell today. Not much to prevent them from buying HP tomorrow.

Kaz wrote:Apple sells a Mac mini for $599 and the Mac operating system has a lot less problems than Windows. Why couldn't we transition from Windows to Mac?

My guess would be because the boxes that run Windows are cheaper and the Windows operating system is much cheaper for the Church to purchase.

Although he did not actually come out and say it, this was alluded to in the recent Tech Talk.

One reason that comes to mind: there's only one vendor for the hardware. Most companies/IT departments are loath to go to single-source unless there is no choice.

Sure, the church is buying Dell today. Not much to prevent them from buying HP tomorrow.

hmm I don't see why they would. It doesn't seem like it would be an issue.

lajackson wrote:My guess would be because the boxes that run Windows are cheaper and the Windows operating system is much cheaper for the Church to purchase.

Although he did not actually come out and say it, this was alluded to in the recent Tech Talk.

How much cheaper can someone get a computer for less than $600 without getting something out of the trash?

Kaz wrote:How much cheaper can someone get a computer for less than $600 without getting something out of the trash?

Not much, as an individual. But if you were to be purchasing 5,000 of them, or maybe 25,000? [grin]

lajackson wrote:Not much, as an individual. But if you were to be purchasing 5,000 of them, or maybe 25,000? [grin]

How does the $600 price compare to a price from Dell if someone were to purchase 5,000 systems?

lajackson wrote:My guess would be because the boxes that run Windows are cheaper and the Windows operating system is much cheaper for the Church to purchase.

With Desktop 5.5, the cost of the Windows operating system is irrelevant, provided it can be installed on the Intel Mac hardware.

I would think the licensing costs to the Church for Windows OS / Desktop 5.5 would be the same regardless of the hardware it is installed, be that Dell, HP, or Apple.

So if that is true, then why aren't we already buying Mac?

Kaz wrote:So if that is true, then why aren't we already buying Mac?

Because of the software needs. We have to use our software all over the world. Apple only has a small presence in some of the more developed countries and none in most of the third world countries. No way to service the Apples there. And software development and support in all the languages spoken in the Church is almost non existent on Apples. We would have to write each application for two platforms to use Apples in some markets and not in others.