The switch is on and Steve Jobs is taking no prisoners. For many businesses the bright light over their head has come on and they are dumping their PC's for Macs. In this article I'll share why Apple with their line of Mac computers is winning the war for desktop share, recommend some cool books on Apple, and show you where you can find a list of the best Mac applications for business in one place.

Why businesses are switching to Macs

1. Apple is targeting small businesses with thier line Mac OS Servers. Apple designed it's new servers primarilly for small businesses which often need the features of a server but lack the budget to hire full-time IT staff. Only Mac OS X Server combines the latest open source technologies with Apple's industry-leading manageability and ease of use. And because it's all based on open standards, Mac OS X Server can easily integrate with your existing network infrastructure and provide services for mixed-client environments.
2. Business people are fed up with the heaaches associated with Window based PC's. Businesses have discovered that Apple computers and it's Mac OS X are the best platform for managing their businesses. It's not just small businesses that are making the big switch to Macs. Among the business elite that have switched, at least some of their departments, from PC's to Apple computers are Home Depot, Goggle, Oracle, and the U.S. White House.

The fact is that we all want the same things when it comes to computers. We want our computers to: work every time; be 100% compatible with our enterprise and applications; and have a high degree of immunity to the prevailing threats out of the box. Apple computers represent the best option to accomplishing these things. Consider this small list of Mac facts.

• Macs are built on the worlds most reliable operating system, Unix.
• Apple's custom operating system OS X isn't just Unix but, with the exception of its user-interface and management tools code, it's open-source Unix. Apple integrates and specifically tunes its hardware for an additional 80 open-source projects, such as Apache, MySQL and JBoss for the Mac.
• Becasues Apple developed OS X after the widespread use of the Internet it was designed to be more secure.
• Most Mac technical support personnel argue that the machines are far simpler to manage than Windows boxes. According to an article in Macworld when Genentech Inc., a multibillion-dollar biotechnology firm in South San Francisco went through a upgrade on both its Mac and Windows systems, one technician could completely upgrade six OS X machines per day, while on the Windows side, one person could complete only two or sometimes three PCs each day. And for the entire company, seven technicians handle nearly 2,500 Macs.
• Macs cost less to own. Most experts will tell you that the difference between TCO (total cost of ownership) for an equally outfitted PC and Mac are not much different. But when you take into consideration the soft cost of being down and dealing with tech support that's so widely associated with PC use the Mac blows PC's away. Not that I would recommend that anyone do this but I have not run virus software on my Macs...ever. Consider this, If you own a small business with 20 employees on PC's what does it cost if you get a virus?
• Winn Schwartau, the network security expert whose well-known Mad as Hell series of articles carefully disassembled the truth behind the crumbling Windows infrastructure, conducted a test to determine which TCO (total cost of ownership) is lower that of a PC or a Mac. His reason for conducting the test was to determine if the higher price that Apple charges for it's Mac computers is justified. He was astonished by the results, "For my small enterprise, owning a WinTel box for three years costs twice as much as owning a MacTel. When I talked with several of our clients, I found that the burdened cost of ownership per PC - just for support - ranged from $1,300 to $4,000 per year." He now recommends that all small enterprises and home offices migrate completely. You can read Schwartau complete article by clicking here.
• Apple has effectively eliminated any reason that a person needs to purchase a PC because all Apple computers can run both Windows and OS X simultaneously.

If you evlauate Mac vs. PC and are honest with your answers you will likely find that you can get many of your enterprise endpoints more secure than ever for a lot less than you thought and decrease your down time.

I only use Apple computers in my business. I've created a guide for the Mac business user to help them with locating applications and information for use in everyday business called 'How to use Mac Computers In Everyday Business - The Ultimate Guide'.

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