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Macintosh - the ideal tech's machine

It's almost funny: I keep running into so-called "Windows technicians" who are carrying MacBooks and MacBook Pro's. Bill Gates probably isn't as amused as I am, but really, Macs are the ideal tech support machine.

OS Freedom

What else can run Windows, OS X and multiple flavors of Linux all on one machine? I run Windows XP and several Linuxes in Parallels and VMware, plus a copy of old SCO Unix that I need for support now and then.. and they are all windows I can Alt-Tab between and even cut and paste between most of them. I have Finder access to the Windows and Linux "drives", and I can network them to meet any need.

You could put up copies of Windows 98, XP without IE7, Win 2003 - whatever your need, your only limit is disk space. Well, RAM also if you really were going to run them all at once, but that's not the case usually: you run them when you need to test something or help someone through a procedure where you can't quite remember the exact menu choices. As you can "snapshot" all of these virtual machines, you can feel free to install any software or make any patches, registry changes and so on: when you are done, just revert back to your saved snapshot and all those changes disappear.. you start over clean as a whistle.

Connectivity

A MacBook is ready to talk to just about anything out of the box - Mac networks, Windows networks, ssh, telnet, ftp: it's all ready to go. With Leopard, that's all gotten even better, but if you do have any odd needs, virtualization again comes to the rescue.

Viruses and Malware

On the Mac side, I don't have to worry a bit about exposure to almost all Windows viruses and malware - very few cross platform exploits exist at all. But with the Server Edition of OS X, Apple allows virtualization of Mac OS X also (I really wish they'd let us do that on non-server editions!), which would give you the same ability to hack and test and revert to pristine condition.

Developers and Web Designers

The virtualization capabilities are also wonderful for web designers - you can quickly and easily see your page under dozens of OS/Browser combinations.

Mac's ship with development tools, and of course any Linux you install under virtualization also has all that, so Mac's are a wonderful environment for programmers developing cross platform applications also. Many open source apps will compile easily on Mac OS X, and the few that don't of course can be run under virtualization - there are very few situations where you need anything but this one machine!

Software

I'm of the opinion that Macs come with the best built in software there is, but that's arguable, especially from a Linux perspective. Even so, many popular Linux aps have Mac equivalents, and if not (as mentioned above), they'll often compile easily or you can run them under virtualization.

But out of the box, Mac's really do have so much more software, and most of it is tightly integrated - a very good example of that is how Time Machine can be used to restore individual mail messages. Mac's support for digital cameras is simply beautiful, and the list goes on. Of course once again if there is "Windows only" software you need, it can almost certainly run under emulation.

Hardware Support

With support for USB and Firewire, and Bluetooth, the only time I've felt hampered by the platform is when I needed access to a floppy drive, but even then I can often use an image under virtualization, and the need to do anything with floppies is becoming a very rare event. I can hook up my Mac to almost any monitor if I need to.. silly as that may sound, it's a quick test for "is it the PC video card or the monitor that is not working". With a USB to SATA/IDE Adapter, I can access and test a lot of PC drives, also.

I haven't had to use this yet, but MacBooks also support 34mm ExpressCards that are replacing PCMCIA cards.

One hardware feature I have had to use often is the backlit keyboard - this is very handy in low-light situations.

What about Linux?

With one major exception, any Linux laptop has many of these same abilities. That exception, of course, is the ability to run OS X. If your tech support needs don't include an Apple hardware, you could do just as well with Linux. However, Linux can be trickier to install on laptops - you have to pick your hardware carefully. More importantly, Mac's are more and more likely to be found in any business environment, so being familiar with the OS and having a Mac to connect with is a definite advantage.

Summary

It's really plain to see that a MacBook or MacBook Pro or even an iBook is a superior machine for a Windows support tech to carry. It offers the best of everything, complete flexibility and real power in one package. For the traveling tech, MacBooks and Powerbooks have a sudden motion sensor that can help protect your machine should it get knocked off a desk. The MacBooks have a magnetic power connector that makes that much less likely anyway.

How about you? If you are a tech or support person, do you carry a Mac? Would you like to?

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