"David P. Schwartz" wrote:
> 
> uh, did you mention to them that sticking with Apple and upgrading to OS-X _IS_ switching to *nix?  Filemaker Pro will undoubtedly port
> their stuff over, so what's the issue?
> 
> I'm not being "pro-Apple" here, just pointing out what might not be obvious to some folks.  I understand that OS-X has a pretty complete
> *nix implementation under it's skins -- I seem to recall it might be a FreeBSD derivative -- with a Mach microkernel at its core.
> 
> You want to remember, the real VALUE in your clients' situation is in their current applications.  If you don't need to recreate these
> apps for any other reason, don't force them into a solution that leads to unnecessary expenses just because of the move.
> 
> Also (and this is addressed to ALL so-called "consultants"), consider that your opinion of the "long-term viability" of one company or
> another, and Apple in particular, is totally irrelevant.  For instance, everybody "just knew" that Borland was going to shrivel up and
> die because the big bad Borg (Microsoft) was going to kill them (or assimilate them).  Well, a little consideration leads one to the
> conclusion that it's not in Microsoft's best interest to have all of their key competitors die.  MS settled a lawsuit and then invested
> further in Borland mostly to keep them alive, just as they invested in Apple before that.
> 
> Apple fans also need to remember that Microsoft has a very LARGE software division that earns SIGNIFICANT revenues through the existence
> of Apple Computer, and it's far cheaper for them to make another investment in Apple to keep them alive than to let them die and loose a
> few billion dollars of income.  Similarly, Borland is the ONLY independent software development tools vendor left in the market place,
> and it behooves MS to help them stay alive if only to make things APPEAR like they HAVE some competition!  It also helps that Borland
> has TERRIFIC tools, just as Apple has some great products, too.
> 
> If your clients would be willing to invest in Microsoft stock rather than Apple, tell them that their stock would take a big drop if
> Apple closed its doors because Microsoft makes so much money selling software to Apple customers, and see what they think of them
> apples...
> 
> Not to mention the fact that, if all their competitors died, that would be a very clear signal to the powers that be that MS is, in
> fact, a huge monopoly that poses a very large threat to competition in the market place -- so strong that even their strongest
> competitors couldn't survive.  Not good.
> 
> Finally, my experience in these situtions is that if you start getting clients to question their fundamental business decisions, they
> start rethinking just about everything, including what the heck they're doing talking with you (a lone ranger) instead of a larger more
> "established" firm that won't go out of business due to an unfortunate car accident one night. You might find that you've won the battle
> and lost the war.
-----------
I think that you missed my point.

I have migrated a lot of my customers from Macintosh to Windows already.
As for the war, it's already been lost. The only thing that remains to
be seen is whether OSX will get enough traction to give Apple enough
impetus to grow - their 4% market share makes them insignificant to the
point that only those who are already invested in Macintosh
hardware/software can afford to continue on with Macintosh. To grow in
market share, they will have to attract new customers with OSX and it is
falling way behind linux development.

To debate the viability of Macintosh though...is way off topic here.

I'm just getting ahead of the issue - they are still invested in
Macintosh and will remain so at least for the next year. I am doing long
range thinking. I am looking at the viability of using fat server / thin
client for linux desktop use and wondering how well it will scale for 10
users. I see the dividend in Windows 2000 terminal services - low
maintenance requirements on client workstations. I have a number of
non-profit clients and I see this as a terrific alternative. I am
fishing for actual installation - rather than anecdotal information.

Craig