RE: administrative staff using Macs?

Added discussion...

===============

Mac portables as a factor...The Mac portables are highly effective machines, very reliable, and  competitive buys (more competitive than the towers).  I suspect that a larger proportion of Mac users have switched to portables than Windows users.  This may be another factor in how many macs show on the campus network--or drop off the network.  (See Michael Sinatra's same-thread email of 7/22/03.)

[I've been a bit surprised more administrative staff (especially those in managerial or analytical positions) haven't moved onto portables.  With Mac encryption, security is fairly reasonable for the financial data that might be stored on their systems.  And most data are actually stored in the BFS system, not locally.]

Productivity, BFS/BAIRS and MacOS 9/MacOS X/Windows...I know that I've seen many admin types using MacOS 9 still, because (I'm guessing) the local support hasn't moved them to OS X.

What's really horrid about that is that I immediately discovered a big jump in BFS/BAIRS productivity when I could finally dump OS 9 altogether:

+ it moves faster

+ BFS crashes went away (unless it was on the BFS server)

+ window sizing is much better

+ much better control over the printing side

+ you can quickly swap out of BAIRS to check email or do some other task while an SQL report is processing

+ you can log into BFS and BAIRS at the same time

Those departments using OS 9 for BFS/BAIRS work are seriously damaging their people's productivity.  And of course as a Mac advocate, I find it irritating when BFS/BAIRS productivity of a three-year-old MacOS is compared to that of a current Windows OS.

At this point I'd say my productivity in BFS/BAIRS, due to decent equipment (Powerbook Ti 667MHz G4, 512MB RAM) and MacOS X's multitasking capabilities, seems to be greater than our Windows people (I don't know their specs, but the Dell towers they use are only about a year old).

The reports on BAIRS have matured with fairly useful options; I have never needed anything from our Windows financial people, except a BIS-related pull of data for a payroll history over three years by employee.  (Our department has only one license for BIS, and it's on a Windows system.)

I don't know anything about the HRMS.

Another thing...with Mr. Ellison looming large, the reliance on PeopleSoft as we know it is a fast-shifting factor.  Who knows what we'll see in the next year?

- Marilyn