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Anne-Marie Concepcion is director of Seneca Design & Consulting
and is an active author, designer, webmistress and visionary. We thank her for letting
us pass along her response to a call for help.
1800 PCs vs. 9 Macs - Help!
Matthew asks:
__ Can you help me please. My company wants to change
our department from Macs to PCs. We (the DTP lot) have been using Macs for at least
9 years now, using Quark, Freehand, Photoshop, Illustrator, MS Office and Painter
amongst others. They want to swap the Macs because it's easier on the company network
as we are currently outnumbered (11 Macs to 1800 PCs).
__ Can you please give me any stories, problems, issues
that I need to know about if we do change. All our printers/suppliers still use Macs.
__ Should I fight for the Macs or just give in and get
a PC. (Just how good are they?)
Anne-Marie responds:
I have lots of clients who are in a "Mac island" in the midst of tens,
hundreds, or thousands of PCs. They usually are existing happily alongside their
PC brethren because the MIS people have taken the time to learn a bit about how Macs
work, and how to best hook them into the PC network and PC servers. (I even know
of MIS people who were hired partly because they knew how to support the Macs as
well as the PCs-the CEOs understood how mission critical the Macs and Mac support
was to their enterprise.) Macs are full citizens on these networks, having access
to their own (and other) partitions on the Novell fileserver, getting their files
backed up along with the PC files, sharing the company's T-1 line, Intranet, and
company-wide e-mail and calendaring system.
__ In some cases, such as Mac users needing to access
PC-only server software, MIS has simply added a PC to the Mac network for their use,
or installed SoftWindows or Virtual PC so they can run Windows off their Macs. Both
these software solutions support PC networking and access to PC-only peripherals.
In some other cases, MIS sets up a PC server that's dedicated to the Mac group, and
only the PC server is networked to the other PC servers company-wide; it acts like
a PC gateway. In yet other instances, they've installed software on the PCs that
allow them to access Mac file servers and peripherals, or to set up cross-platform,
peer-to-peer filesharing.
__ And then you occasionally run into MIS/management
like yours. They're not familiar with the Mac (if you're on your own as far as Mac
troubleshooting goes, you know what I mean), and they regard any issues that have
to do with cross-platform concerns as added work, and another reason to "standardize"
on Windows (I'm diplomatically trying to avoid calling them "lazy" and
"unprofessional," here, you understand). In fact, they're often actually
"fearful" more than anything, because they don't know the answers to cross-platform
problems and they're afraid to try...they have enough problems supporting the damn
PCs. Solving Mac-specific or cross-platform problems would mean they'd have to actually
read something new, talk with companies they've never talked to before, visit booths
at COMDEX they've never set foot into, etc.
__ They are trying to lessen their risk of failure,
and to reduce their workloads, plain and simple. They use Apple's shrinking market
share as their primary weapon in convincing the CFO/CEO to replace the Macs with
PCs.
__ [Now, for all you PC users reading this that do design
and publishing just fine, thank you very much, and are firing up their Reply commands
to blast me to oblivion <grin>, believe it or not I don't mean to imply that
PCs suck. I'm implying that some MIS people suck. When you're used to working on
a platform for nine years, as Matthew stated, and you're very productive in that
environment, and the MIS support staff has no experience with other platforms used
for your specialized niche but still wants you to use them; then you should fight
for the platform, because it's key to your satisfaction in your worklife...regardless
if it's Mac, PC, Amiga, UNIX, whatever. ]
Back to Matthew's situation...
When you combine forceful, but secretely Mac-fearful MIS management, with CFO/CEOs
who are naieve enough to accept their MIS guy's computer opinions as gospel, and
toss in a Publishing/Design Manager who hasn't been promoting the importance of their
department to the company's bottom line enough, or who doesn't have enough clout
or is intimidated by MIS-types, you end up in your situation. My heartfelt sympathies
are with you.
__ You should know that you'll probably lose this fight.
Once it starts, it's like a juggernaut--hard to stop in its tracks. It's not fair,
of course--witness the thousands of other PC-heavy companies who are having no problems
supporting their Mac design/publishing networks--but it happens a lot.
__ In my experience, the *one* strategy that has any
hope for you is to challenge the central assumption here: Your Macs are interchangeable
with the types of PCs and Windows software which MIS has a proven track record of
supporting in your company.
__ In actuality, of course, your Macs are your/the company's
publishing/typesetting system, and not just another brand of PC. Publishing departments
have *always* required specialized hardware and software, from hot lead to stat cameras
to Fontographer. In your situation, Macs are used not as a result of a long-ago decision
of which OS to use, but as a replacement of the old-style proprietary publishing
systems like Atex, Dewers, etc. So what if there's only 11 Macs and 1800 PCs? The
reason for this is because there's only 11 people in the design/publishing department.
Would the MIS people ever have suggested you replace your ATEX system with PCs, because
ATEX had only 11 users?
__ I doubt it--your publishing system has a great variety
of specialized functions that just aren't being carried out elsewhere in the company's
PCs. A decree from MIS to toss out the Macs and use PCs would be like a golfer getting
rid of his putter because the other clubs are cheaper and they hit balls too.
__ Your MIS/CIO people are undoubtedly "unclear
on the concept" since they're not in the publishing field. It would behoove
you, your staff, and your management to do some powerful education here. Convince
the powers that be that while PCs might easily replace Macs that are being used for
word processing, spreadsheets, or web browsing (and vice-versa, of course, but that's
beside the point <g>); they cannot replace ones that are used for high-end
publishing without a helluva lot of pain, money, ongoing additional in-house support
costs, vendor and staff turnover.
__ They should, in fact, count their blessings that
the company's publishing/design deparment can get away with desktop Macs and off-the-shelf-software,
as opposed to those hugely expensive proprietary systems that required custom software
and expensive maintenance contracts. Cross-platform networking issues are easily
resolved, comparitively speaking.
__ Is the MIS department prepared to support Quark/Photoshop/Illustrator
on the PC? Ask them what other PCs in the company are currently running that software--if
they can't tell you any of any significance, then they *really don't know* what they're
getting into. You need to emphasize this to the decision makers...then come up with
a list of the costs involved, and the unknowns.
Software: Are they prepared to set up and troubleshoot
PCs that need to manipulate 40MB images in Photoshop, while Quark and Word and Netscape
and whatever are still open in the background, along with the hundreds of application-specific
and system-wide Extensions they require? Are they ready to install 64MB to 512MB
on each of the new PCs? Are they ready to invest in a new font library, since Mac
fonts can't be used on PCs? How do they propose to replace the Mac-only Quark Xtensions
and Photoshop/Illustrator plug-ins you're currently using? (If you're using any Mac-only
software that's critical to your workflow, it would help your case.)
Hardware: How many PCs they're supporting right now
can accept without hassle all the SCSI devices you currently have hanging off your
Macs? Ask them to demonstrate how easy it would be for a regular PC user to hook
up a scanner, ZIP, Jaz, Syquest, and external hard drive to a PC, and get them all
accessible and working right in the space of a morning. What if, for some reason,
a peripheral isn't showing up--Mac users would check SCSI IDs and termination, end
of story-how would a PC user troubleshoot that? (Or will they be requiring you make
a service request from their tech support staff every time you need add a peripheral
or troubleshoot a SCSI chain?) If any of the staff is currently using two or more
monitors, ask them what would be involved in hooking up a second monitor (and getting
the two to work as one unbroken desktop) on a PC?
Are they ready to replace Mac-only printers with PC ones, and upgrade the printer's
RAM to handle the size and complexity of your files? Can they resolve PostScript
printing problems-are they even aware of the significance of PostScript, how the
entire design/publishing workflow centers upon this language?
__ What is the MIS department proposing to do about
the lack of system-level color management in the Windows/NT OS, which the MacOS has
had since 1990? (I'm not an expert at this aspect, but I have been to plenty of publishing
conferences where this glaringly missing functionality on Windows is acknowledged
by users of all platforms. If color is a major issue in your DTP department, you
might want to search the Net for more technical info.)
__ Equipment and software aside, ask them about staff
training. Mac users with a minimum of OS knowledge can install software, add/delete
fonts, troubleshoot extension problems, add a printer to the network, read and write
to MacOS and PC peripherals. What level of Windows knowledge will the staff require
for the same functionality?
__ And then the vendors, and by extension, the industry.
Make a list of the vendors you've used in the past couple years (the ones you've
sent computer files to or gotten computer files from). Call them and let them know
your company is considering switching to the PC platform. Ask them if they'd still
be able to work with you. Undoubtedly, some will have no problem-many service bureaus,
some freelancers. Ask these people about their level of experience in working with
PC files--what's the ratio of Mac vs. PC jobs that come in? Any special requirements
you should know about if you'll be sending PC files? Any extra costs?
__ For the ones who won't be able to support you, ask
for referrals for their PC brethren. Are there any? Is the field of PC-savvy publishing/design
vendors as wide as Mac-savvy ones? They're out there, of course, but you should start
doing your homework now. If you lose this battle, you'll need them.
What about staffing issues? What's the local field of
PC-based graphic design, production, illustration, and photography professionals
look like?
__ Check out Human Resource's file of resumes that came
in over the transom...how many high-end design/publishing candidates list PC experience
vs. Mac experience? Call some temp agencies...what's their ratio of PC vs. Mac-based
temps in design and publishing? Call the local colleges--what platform are they using
to teach design and publishing?
__ For all these vendor and staffing questions, if the
PC-qualified group is significantly smaller than the Mac-qualified group, how does
that bode for the company's bottom line? The field of choices is smaller...might
that not imply longer turnaround, higher fees, lower quality (due to fewer people
at the top)?
__ Present the results of your investigation to the
decision makers. If there's any favored, long-term vendors who will not be able to
handle your PC files with confidence bourne from experience, point that up. Extra
costs, point that up too. What the hell, throw in the fact that Microsoft showed
its commitment to the publishing industry by choosing not to show up to Seybold.
(IOW, fight dirty if you have to.)
Let me know how it goes!
Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie Concepcion is director of Seneca Design & Consulting
at: http://www.senecadesign.com
Contact her at: amarie@senecadesign.com
(UG Network News)
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