time to buy Apple stock?
<http://www.macosdaily.com/misc/cwmoore.shtml>
A Vaccine for the Millennium Bug
By Charles W. Moore, Barquentine Ventures Newsfeatures 5/28/98
Spread the word. For businesses seeking to get the Year 2000 (Y2K)
computer monkey off their backs, a simple and elegant solution is
available right now: Switch to the Apple Macintosh.
Every Macintosh ever built is Y2K compliant, capable of breezing through
the millennium shift and all the way to December 31, 2019 without a
hiccup. A scripting patch to handles dates up to 6:28:15 A.M. on February
6, 2040. Well in advance of the year 2019, Apple will release a revised
Date & Time control panel to support dates up to 29,940 A.D. Any Mac OS
application that makes correct use of the Mac OS Toolbox for clock
functions will have no problem with the year 2000.
Moving to Macintosh won't protect your company from Y2K problems
originating out of house, but it will be a comfort to know that your
internal operations and data is immune.
Of course, this advice runs counter to conventional anti-Mac prejudice in
the business community, the arguments against going something like these:
* "Yes, Macs are great computers for arts and graphics types, and for
schoolkids, but for business you need SERIOUS computers."
Let's get serious then. Macs are indeed the computer of choice in graphic
arts, publishing, and education. High-end graphics work requires more raw
computing power that any business office or accounting task. Macs are
superb word processing machines, and no computer is easier or more
pleasant to learn and use. At present, the slowest G3 Macs are faster
than fast Pentium IIs. In laptops, there is nothing even close to the
Apple PowerBook's performance.
* "Macs are too expensive."
Desktop Macs tend to cost more initially than some similarly featured
Pentium machines, but they offer better value. Apple PowerBooks are
price-competitive with the fastest PC notebooks. Mac's repay any
difference in up front cost during the first year's operation with lower
maintenance, troubleshooting, training, and downtime costs. Studies show
that PCs require from three to eight times as much support as Macs.
Computer consulting firm Gartner Group estimates the annual total cost of
ownership per Windows PC is U.S.$13,187 annually--a figure that has Mac
managers laughing all the way to the bank.
Norris and Wong, another independent consulting firm, found that "The
Macintosh still has a much better architecture than the PC with
Windows95, and its software has far fewer complex interdependencies.
These differences translate into significant cost and productivity
benefits for Macintosh users"
According to a 10,000-firm independent study by Gistics Inc., Mac users
in the digital-media production sector (advertising, marketing, and Web
development), produce on average $26,441 more annual revenue, and $14,488
more net profit per person than Windows users of comparable skill engaged
in similar work activities. The productivity differential enables
digital-media production studios to achieve payback on Mac-based desktop
systems in 4.59 months, while Windows NT-based firms require 12.58 months
to recoup.
The Seattle Times reported on June 18, 1995, "At Intel, where many
employees are true computer experts, the [Data Processing] department
figures on one support person for every 30 Windows computers. The DP
department was astonished to learn that one Intel division had 120 Macs
and got along fine with a single support person."
* "There's not enough business software available for the Mac."
There's plenty of excellent business software written for the Mac. What
software do you need that you think isn't available for the Mac? If
you're already running Microsoft Office, then Office for the Mac makes
the transition painless. If there are some PC-only programs you can't
live without, you can likely run them almost as fast (or perhaps even
faster) in software emulation (Virtual PC or SoftWindows) on a G3 Mac
than they run on your current machines if they are are 486s running
Windows 3.1.
Peter Morris of NH International (http://www.nhinternational.com/), a
recent convert to Macs, notes that "The old PC system was OK but it
provided very basic facilities and the AS400 accounts system was awful
and extremely expensive. Everyone agrees that the move from PC to Mac has
dramatically improved the functionality of our computers and the
reliability has been pretty good, too."
* "I would have to spend money and downtime retraining my staff to use
the Mac."
If your staff is proficient on cranky, user-unfriendly, Windows PCs, they
should have no trouble at all making a smooth and rapid conversion to the
Mac.
* "All of our files are in PC format."
As noted above. Microsoft Office is essentially cross-platform
transparent, as are WordPerfect and ClarisWorks Office. Your PC files in
these program formats will open and run just fine on Macs. Run programs
with no Mac equivalents in PC software emulation.
* "With a Mac office, we wouldn't be able to communicate with other
businesses that use PCs"
Macs actually communicate very well with the PC world. With file
translation utilities like MacLink Plus (ships with every new Mac), and
the Mac's ability to open and read PC-formatted floppies, Zip disks,
etc., communication with PCs is not a major problem. Macs run fine on
Windows NT-served PC networks.
* "But isn't Apple on its last legs anyway?"
Apple has two successive profitable quarters under its corporate belt,
and the hottest hardware in the computer industry--with more to come.
Apple stock was at a 52 week high in early May, and the company has
substantial cash reserves. The Macintosh's future is assured for the
foreseeable future.
*************************************************************************
* David M. Marra, marra@apple.com | Apple Education Home Page: *
* Senior Systems Engineer | apple.com *
* Apple Computer, Inc. | *
* Mid-Atlantic Education (NJ/DE) | Apple Tech Support Online: *
* 610-799-5880 | apple.com *
* marrathon.com | *
* Amateur Radio: N3ODX | K-12 Hotline: 800-800-2775 * |
