I disagree with the use of Apple tech to solve corporate problems. I work with protected information and use standard tools every corporation should be using. The problem with Macland is that Apple does not support secure computing. Try writing email to their HIPAA support address. So far they have not responded to a single one of our emails in the last 3 years. They don’t exist. Apple has no FIPS-140 support. They do not have a single certified device on the NIST FIPS 140-2 list.

 Apple is like a gold hammer if home computing is a kind of nail. Works pretty well together and looks nice. But the hammer is expensive and has to be replaced pretty quick. When you smack the business screw with the gold hammer, all kinds of crap goes wrong. Eventually when your business puts a heavy load on the screw, everything will fall apart.  I’m looking for the right tools to go in my toolbox. Not the one the popular comedian on TV uses. I’m a professional IT person, not a comedian.

I’d like to start a table to show a comparison of just Dell laptops with Windows, Red Hat vs Apple full OSX and iphoneOs. I’d like to stick to features useful to a medium to large business, not a group of 10 developers. Over time I’ll add links to each item to show a source for data directly on a government site. For the most part this is a cheat sheet for myself but if anyone else finds it useful let me know.

To the apple fanbois who will find this site, if you have helpful comments to keep this accurate, fire away. Just keep in mind that I’m in the big kids playground where Ford vs Chevy doesn’t matter. Individual products that meet government requirements matter. FIPS 140-2, HIPAA, HITECH, FDCC, USGCB are the types of regulatory issues I have. If you don’t have emails coming to your inbox every day with compliance reports… well just keep your flamebait to yourself please. You can’t learn about this stuff overnight. It takes years and a decent size staff. Until you have lived in that world, you don’t shed bias to examine this rationally.

I believe this is accurate as of March 2011.

Why is it taking so long for the Apple tablet to come out? It is getting beat over and over again. The Nvidia tablet, Dell slate, old school dell xt, oqo gear. Apple does things for good reasons.They are waiting for a a perfect storm of ideas. Small light touchscreen tech is maturing this year. Battery life is better with atoms and SSDs. And-

I’m guessing the Apple tablet is running a thinned down OSX. Probably named OS 11. It will be super lightweight, just some wireless drivers, graphics, small fast storage. Exactly what the standard cookie cutter Chrome OS machine will be later this year. All the manufacturers are ramping up on the touch screen slate. Apple will be fashionably late as usual (like on the current lack of security patches,) and dazzle us with some overpriced gadget. As always, I won’t buy one because I can’t afford the lack of bang for bucks. But if someone gives me a toy that cool I’ll be ever so happy.

Where does this leave me? Errr ummmm… Yipes. MS has been working on their own cloud for a long time. I wonder if it will arrive in time before the google hurricane.

So there is my crazy prediction for 2010. Apple iSlate or whatever is running a ChromeOS style OS, on near netbook hardware, and sold at Verizon with cell service. If they don’t have a light OS, goodbye Apple, and welcome google vs MS for the next cold war.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/163836/eight_reasons_your_next_computer_should_be_a_pc.html

There are many many other reasons the cycle won’t be broken. Macs are cool, just not going to dominate.

Home users tend to buy what they have at work. Mac refuses to support old OS and software choices. Too many businesses get stuck in a rut where they run an old Windows OS because of an old application. Can’t do that on a mac. They want a low renewal and replacement age.

This can be seen in so many ways. Hardware that breaks a lot. Not ever easy to maintain. Even the G5 tower had impossible to remove processors despite their incredibly high failure rate. Wasn’t the G5 tower supposed to be all easy to swap things in and out of? pshaw. Macs are created to be as disposable as possible. Cracking all the imacs open has always sucked. The CRT monitors were always having huge issues. The mac air overheats. Just check the apple forums. Same problems, same chinese innards, different sticker. 

Mac is a closed system. Which is why it works well. It should as it is written/built by Apple(still amazing considering the amount of code for any OS.) They are getting close to the thin line between monopoly and cool small competitor. A closed system can’t survive with a large market share because law suits will force them to stop being a monopoly. No more scuttling mac clone vendors, software has to be supported longer, programs from 3rd parties cause kernel panics. Viruses and spyware runs rampant on OS’s that have too many 3rd party applications not conrolled by the MAC. Not a pc I want to own. I like the low market share closed system macs I own now. They don’t crash too often, have more patches than raggedy ann, but look good and keep clickin. Security through obscurity rocks. 

Mac can’t possibly keep the insane stock price can they? I hate when a stock is overvalued because it is trendy to own vs performing. Here are today’s numbers to compare-

top 2 rows are today, dividends are bunk from me looking on google quick.

yeah dividends are hard to predict right now, but go google it yourself. still more than 0 for the last 3. I don’t have any stock at $100 a share that doesn’t pay. 

Overall my psychic prediction is this- Mac can not have a large market share and still be Mac. If they get big, you will see malware, crashes, clones, and windows running on mac hardware. OR you will still see rabid mac fans supporting a small company that popularizes cool tech. Notice I didn’t say innovates, creates, invents.

Iphones cannot do data encryption. In my opinion this is an auditors dream. SOX, HIPAA, DOD, PCI compliant companies can’t use an Iphone. So every health care, publicly traded company, payment card industry and a LOT of government. Companies who value their intellectual property can’t use an Iphone.

So my questions are-

1. When will someone write storage encryption software
2. Who has a CEO who won’t give it up
3. Who has employees with iphones and how has it affected you
4. What other regulatory agencies are out there that require data encryption
5. Blackberrys have single factor authentication (i think rsa isn’t out for it yet) does this violate HIPAA if patient data is emailed
6. Who will be the first to misidentify SSL as encryption for storage in this thread
7. Any other thoughts

Please feel free to comment. If a Mac developer stops by, please pass the word on. Exchange support does nothing for me if the email is stored in the clear inside the iphone. And once you have encryption built in I’m pitching my blackberry and getting one.

Have to say I like linux. I don’t like an applicance like a mac over a truly open source linux box. But if you want a closed source systems with the market share you better sharpen your windows tools.

OS	mac	windows (dell t5400)	red hat/ubuntu (dell t5400)
price	$10,547	$9,802	$9,802
proc	2*3.2GHZ quad core	2*3.2GHZ quad core	2*3.2GHZ quad core
RAM	2GB	8GB	8GB
RAID	mac raid pro	perc 6	perc 6
HD	2*300GB SAS 15k rpm	2*300GB SAS 15k rpm	2*300GB SAS 15k rpm
Video	Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB	Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB	Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB
display	20″ cinema display	20 Dell digital	20″ dell digital
cd	dvd dual layer burner	dvd dual layer burner	dvd dual layer burner
mouse	3ish button mouse	5 button optical	5 button optical
warranty	applecare 3 year	dell 3 year	dell 3 year