soup,
I agree with your points and the sentiment of the article. I just left a company after 12 years. When I started (84') sales were under $100M. Today they're about to break $1B. We started using Macs in 85' in the stores. This was (is) a specialty food company called Trader Joe's. In the early days it was a very creative company and a lot of fun. People were using the Macs for many creative purposes, as well as, number crunching and book keeping. The company changed hands a few years back and the new CEO brought in a new MIS team. The head of MIS is a dinosaur that still worships IBM 360's. Before I left, the rumor was that he was going to get his way and replace the store Macs with PC compatibles.
Because of this type of situation, I think Macs will tend to pop up more in smaller, more creative businesses. If the company becomes successful, then a giant buys them and milk's the cow, usually with an uncreative, uninspired management team. However, I'm not convinced this business model is going to succeed in the future, as it has in the past. Global competition is heating up. Decentralizing forces, like the Web are knocking down economic and geograpghical boundaries. When competition becomes fierce and earnings suffer, corporate leaders may be forced to open their minds about the power of creativity and communication, just as they were forced to reevaluate manufacturing and product design in the 80's. Intranets and the Web could be the primary forces to brimg this about. And if this occurs soon, I think the Mac platform will start to shine.
Maybe I'm a dreamer but hey, it's my money.
Regards,
Scott |
