BusinessWeek Online’s Alex Salkever notes that Macs have an opportunity in the Information Technology (IT) space, thanks to a growing awareness about the security risks involved in operating a “monoculture,” or a homogeneous computer network comprising only one platform (like Windows). His comments come in a new “Byte of the Apple” column entitled Finally, an Opening for Apple in IT.
Salkever references the much-discussed security report offered during a CCIA conference last week — the one that resulted in security expert Dan Geer’s dismissal as Chief Technology Officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based @stake, Inc. (In related news, Geer discussed his termination with eWeek on Tuesday.)
“One hates to profit from the woes of others, but that’s precisely Apple’s opening here,” Salkever said. He cited “three key trends” that could pull IT back to the Mac after a long period of ignoring the platform — the lure of inexpensive Unix systems (after all, Mac OS X is built on Unix); the rise of laptop computing (and Apple’s ahead of the industry for overall percentage of laptop sales); and what Salkever describes as “the growing frustration with the Microsoft monoculture” and problems related to viruses, worm attacks and other issues.
To bolster his argument, Salkever noted that PowerBooks were a frequent sight at the last LinuxWorld conference. While he said that Unix workstation users who prefer the Mac are still “small in number,” they’re key players and people who influence buying decisions in IT departments.
All together, these separate factors “have seeded the IT ranks with a young crowd of Apple fans who don’t have the Macophobia that has gripped Corporate America for the past decade.” Hopefully, suggests Salkever, this will turn into “a lucrative roll” [sic] in corporate IT.
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