Gartner's Dulaney says the best way to support Apple in a mixed enterprise is to use browser-based applications. "There's very little capability to do client/server integration where there's code on both sides," he says. However, DeCanti also runs into trouble using Apple's Safari browser, because it's not supported on a lot of Web sites. At one time, Apple was proactive about garnering more support for its browser, but that too has dropped off, he says.
DeCanti says it's disheartening to no longer see enterprise-level products like the Xserve featured on Apple's home page and to hear that Apple discontinued the Xserve RAID product. And while Apple engineers used to call on Werner for ideas, "it seems they've really pulled back," he says. "It's disappointing for those of us who've been working to get the product to work well in the enterprise and not see any improvement."
In terms of support, it's difficult to find third-party consultants, DeCanti says; in fact, the last one he found has since been hired by Apple. He feels fortunate to have found a local Macintosh-certified repair person to perform on-site service. "Apple would probably be quite pleased for [the third-party support] ecosystem to be stronger, but at the same time, they're probably impinging on resellers' business by expanding the retail network," Gottheil says.
DeCanti agrees with Brister about the difficulty of supplying global offices with Mac equipment; for Werner's Shanghai office, the closest Apple facility is in Hong Kong.
A parallel universe
Meanwhile, some users contend that the perception that Macintoshes don't play well in the enterprise is largely exaggerated. Ben Hanes, senior systems analyst at Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), has been supporting Macintoshes for more than five years. Half of the research organization's 600 computers are Macs, with about two dozen running Parallels virtualization software.
Hanes' data center is a mix of Apple and Windows servers, with Windows running on the database and file servers, and Apple Xserves running applications that touch the Web, including a mail server, a Web server and an iChat server. "I definitely stick to the philosophy that whatever is on the perimeter is Apple technology because it's proven to be secure," Hanes says.