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PCs, etc..
As an IT professional for a large organization, I see the amount of work it takes to keep a fleet of PCs running. We have more front-line helpdesk guys than all other IT combined. Now, to be fair, that's not just PC support -- it's also printers, and applications, etc.
And yes, we do allow enterprise use of Apple devices. (Or BlackBerry, or Android. I don't make the rules, but if I did, I also wouldn't care. Whatever the user wants to use is fine, provided it meets some base requirements.) We have one service (well, no, two -- BB has its own) for managing portable devices. We set policies, hand out the URL for automatic setup to the end-user, and that's about it. Ironically, people talk about the security risks, but we can remotely brick them, they're way more difficult to get into without authorization, and easier to enforce usage restrictions than PCs.
For the PCs, we have a couple guys that build images, we have an AV server that requires care and feeding to make sure clients and definitions are being pushed. We have a patch-management system for which we do the same. We have another tool for software inventory. It's nowhere near as set-and-forget, but that's the difference between a closed device and the herd of cats that is a general purpose computer. It's not a fair comparison, but it doesn't have to be. The "toys" are much easier to manage, and the management tools are much more reliable. Not fanboy-ism, just fact.
Then there's support. When someone drops a phone, we may have to replace it because of a broken screen. Other than that, there just isn't much in the way of support. The number of tickets where a user has issues with the OS or the base software (browser, etc.) of a mobile device is non-existent in comparison. Of course, there ARE more PCs, so it's hard to say exactly what the real ratio is, but there are very very few instances of where it should work but doesn't on, e.g., an iPad, or even a Droid.
But the biggest difference is the immediacy of the portable platforms. You're right, there isn't smoke billowing out of my Windows 7 box. I never said there was. But, every morning, I wait for the stupid hard drive light to quit shining after unlocking, while all my open apps are reloaded from the swap file. For some reason, when I click the "Bold" button in Word, my computer has to load something from disk for 5-10 seconds before the font changes. I don't have a dozen apps in my systray, and I'm not working with huge documents. A dozen browser tabs, an Excel sheet, a command prompt, a couple Notepads, and a file browser window. I have 2GB of RAM, that shouldn't be a strain. It gets worse the longer it's been since a reboot. I know, I should reboot more than once a month or two -- but on the other hand, should I? I don't reboot my phone that often...
There have been times when I've chosen to open a PDF from my iPhone rather than on the computer because Acrobat takes way too long to load, and scrolling performance is BETTER on the phone. Seriously... that's just ridiculous.
How long did it take before full-screen YouTube videos could play without dropping frames on a brawny PC? Yet I can twirl an iPad in circles, letting the rotation flip the video in full-screen, without skipping a beat.
So .. the computer and my phone are both computers. The difference is the software. I don't want my phone running the full version of Windows. I don't EVER want to see InstallShield before taking a call. Just... work. Please.
I have the same viewpoint regarding tablets. They're convenient because they don't have the baggage of a full general purpose OS. Bringing that mess forward to more limited hardware is not a great long-term solution. It's never worked in the past, why would it work now?
And yes, we do allow enterprise use of Apple devices. (Or BlackBerry, or Android. I don't make the rules, but if I did, I also wouldn't care. Whatever the user wants to use is fine, provided it meets some base requirements.) We have one service (well, no, two -- BB has its own) for managing portable devices. We set policies, hand out the URL for automatic setup to the end-user, and that's about it. Ironically, people talk about the security risks, but we can remotely brick them, they're way more difficult to get into without authorization, and easier to enforce usage restrictions than PCs.
For the PCs, we have a couple guys that build images, we have an AV server that requires care and feeding to make sure clients and definitions are being pushed. We have a patch-management system for which we do the same. We have another tool for software inventory. It's nowhere near as set-and-forget, but that's the difference between a closed device and the herd of cats that is a general purpose computer. It's not a fair comparison, but it doesn't have to be. The "toys" are much easier to manage, and the management tools are much more reliable. Not fanboy-ism, just fact.
Then there's support. When someone drops a phone, we may have to replace it because of a broken screen. Other than that, there just isn't much in the way of support. The number of tickets where a user has issues with the OS or the base software (browser, etc.) of a mobile device is non-existent in comparison. Of course, there ARE more PCs, so it's hard to say exactly what the real ratio is, but there are very very few instances of where it should work but doesn't on, e.g., an iPad, or even a Droid.
But the biggest difference is the immediacy of the portable platforms. You're right, there isn't smoke billowing out of my Windows 7 box. I never said there was. But, every morning, I wait for the stupid hard drive light to quit shining after unlocking, while all my open apps are reloaded from the swap file. For some reason, when I click the "Bold" button in Word, my computer has to load something from disk for 5-10 seconds before the font changes. I don't have a dozen apps in my systray, and I'm not working with huge documents. A dozen browser tabs, an Excel sheet, a command prompt, a couple Notepads, and a file browser window. I have 2GB of RAM, that shouldn't be a strain. It gets worse the longer it's been since a reboot. I know, I should reboot more than once a month or two -- but on the other hand, should I? I don't reboot my phone that often...
There have been times when I've chosen to open a PDF from my iPhone rather than on the computer because Acrobat takes way too long to load, and scrolling performance is BETTER on the phone. Seriously... that's just ridiculous.
How long did it take before full-screen YouTube videos could play without dropping frames on a brawny PC? Yet I can twirl an iPad in circles, letting the rotation flip the video in full-screen, without skipping a beat.
So .. the computer and my phone are both computers. The difference is the software. I don't want my phone running the full version of Windows. I don't EVER want to see InstallShield before taking a call. Just... work. Please.
I have the same viewpoint regarding tablets. They're convenient because they don't have the baggage of a full general purpose OS. Bringing that mess forward to more limited hardware is not a great long-term solution. It's never worked in the past, why would it work now?
Posted by nwallette
22nd Jun
