From: Rich Gauszka 


http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci1251637,00.ht
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"Can we truly come up with a front-end application that will perform
enough of our business functions so that it can meet our operational
needs?" he asked. "Right now I've seen a proof of concept, but
it's a pretty big leap from proof of concept to actual production."

Auto Warehousing, the largest automobile processing company in North
America, receives, accessorizes and ships to dealerships 5.5 million cars a
year. A lot is at stake if he switches to Mac.

Another big turnoff: strong-arm sales tactics. Last year, Microsoft
notified Frantz that he might have some improperly licensed software
products in his environment. Microsoft wanted to send some analysts to
search through the company for any license violations.

Frantz was surprised because he kept meticulous records of his purchases
and license. He did an internal audit and shared the results with
Microsoft, but Redmond wasn't satisfied. Eventually Frantz turned the
matter over to his lawyer, who informed him the accusations were likely
some sort of sales tactic for a Microsoft asset management product.

"We considered ourselves a good and loyal customer," Frantz said.
"That left a bad taste in our mouth."

Frantz said he knows there are technological challenges, too, in moving to
Macs, but he thinks it's worth exploring, at least.

"We see some things we could gain by moving iMac equipment onto the
shop floors. The ability to do some videoconferencing, with cameras and
microphones built in. We see some other technologies emerging that might be
able to offset the cost of hardware, plus we have to buy new equipment to
upgrade to Vista anyway."

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