MacBook Pros used in business setting causes surprise

I work at Akamai -- the company that serves about 20% of Web traffic, including iTunes, Apple's keynotes and web images, downloads from every major software company, et cetera.

When I first got here in 1999, engineering was all Linux and business was all Windows. Eventually, as engineering became more biznified (if I may coin a word), Windows machines worked their way in. And squeezed IT budgets meant no support for Linux machines. Since we run Linux in the field, engineers were expected to administer their own Linux boxes, and therefore, we had a million different things going on.

I have used a Mac all along for as much as possible. At first, I got a lot of guff for my OS 9-sporting tangerine iBook, but as OS X came out and then got popular, I was able to do all my work on a Mac. When the mini came out, I shut down my old Linux desktop for good.

Now, the company is rolling out Macs. Engineers get either a Mac or Windows PC, and the Wild West world of Linux is only allowed on the development network, away from anything controlled by IT.

Some Linux maniacs are upset, but I think they are secretly happy. Who WOULDN'T want a tricked out MacBook Pro as their official work machine? They can play with their Debians, *buntus, Fedoras, SUSEs, Gentoos and BSDs at home and the development network.

Now, I love walking the halls and seeing Macs everywhere. It's like I'm in heaven! (The stock price doesn't hurt, either.)

I use a MacBook at work, along with a G5 tower. Since I work with Linux/Solaris servers all day, I really like having *nix under the hood of the mac. I work at a university in IT, and every day it seems I see more Macs.

It's good to see that the workplace is finally being inundated with Macs. Low cost, high quality, stable OS, attractive form factor, and the ability to use Windows (if you so desire) are the most common reasons for this paradigm shift. I wonder if Apple saw this coming.

I use the 13 inch Black Macbook. I am primarily responsible for running our Microsoft Consulting and security practices.

When people ask me about the Mac, I tell them that it really is the best Windows PC, as well as a Mac. And I really think that is true. I also like being able to support all os platforms.

I thought when I bought it, that I would spend most of my time in Windows, and play around in OS X. As it turns out, I am in OS X about 90% of the time. I use parrallels when I need it. Two fingered scrolling is worth the price of admission by itself. Working on my Dell laptop seems so uncivilized.

A funny story is that I went to a training class last month that used a Active Script based training enviornment. I pulled out my Mac, and the instructor made a big deal in front of the entire class that in no uncertain terms "THAT MAC THING WILL NOT WORK!!!"

I told him to calm down, and let me worry about that. I fired up Windows, and he was genuinely shocked.

Similiar story here. I was hired 3 1/2 years ago and given and home-brewed PC. After 9 months of perpetual blue screens and restarts, I bought, from my own budget no less, a bottom of the line eMac. Sure, compared to today's machines it is slow. But to this day I haven't had any problems, especially compared to the perpetual issues in our main office, nothing but PC's. The only issue is the manager forgets and sends me MS Publisher docs to review; can't open those.

My friends works for Qualcomm, and many staff members are using iBooks or Powerbooks (and presumably newer machines too). They're far more problem free, and there's less problem with people gaming when they should be working.

Heh, I remember back in 1994 sitting on the train platform in Shibuya on a hot summer afternoon typing away on my shiny new Powerbook 170 ($4400, ack!!!!). By amazing chance, some high-up from Apple in the U.S. happened to see me and walked over to say hello. I got his business card actually, although I wasn't in the mood to work at Apple. That was a trip though.

I agree with michel

" sometimes nasty (windows is beter, windows do that, windows is the only one thing to love , they say, even when I said _nothing_ , I swear ! , people tells me what they love ONLY because they saw my computer, but I swear I do not say anything before) "

I had similar experiences in my University. All these people will some day see light

At NYU it's actually pretty funny. 99% of the Stern Business School students use PCs, and 99% of the Tisch School of the Arts students use macs. I'm not exaggerating. Same with the school computers in the hallways. Walk through stern, it's all dells. Walk through Tisch, it's all iMacs.

I use my MBP for dayly use, wich includes my work as a rails developer.
I usualy get some stunned remarks when visiting a customer, but that is susually turned into a "wow" or "neat" at their end.

But it is indeed uncommon to see other apples at work, except in my office where everyone has a mac :p

hm.. not surpisingly half my business school class are mac users.. and the rest are stupified by the sleek Mac OS X. Business as usual.