Thursday, July 29, 2010

When will Business realize the approaching wave of Apple users has arrived?

We want a Mac!
Starting a couple of years ago the first wave of college graduates entered the business world that had never used a Windows machine. Right now I'm looking over the 15 or so people gather in the local coffee shop - all on their computers, and only one using a Windows machine.

Being a Business Management Software guy - I struck up a conversation with her and asked about her Windows usage. Yep - because that's what her company uses. She has a Mac and an iPad at home (I don't even have one!), and hates having to use Windows - I told her to change jobs - she asked me for one. Well maybe, because she currently sells software and I'm guessing pretty good at it. Even with the Windows handicap!

The conversation then gets into how a business would go about moving to an all Apple environment. Of course you need to start by using xTuple ERP and putting it on a Mac server (hosted or local) - because you can't convert your company unless your ERP can run on a Mac. Since open source xTuple ERP is cross platform (Mac, Linux and Windows) you can start replacing clients with Mac's as the old machines become obsolete. In the meantime start using OpenOffice for documents, spreadsheets and presentations and Thunderbird for email on the Windows machines.

Then your world's is all roses and sunshine! 

(And special thanks to my Windows focus group of one!)

6 comments:

gonavy89 said...

Although not a multi billion dollar company I own a small business and converted it over to Mac a few years ago. I became so frustrated with the amount of effort and troubleshooting associated with the windows platform.

For small businesses, the biggest issues is a good Mac friendly accounting platform. Quickbooks is available, but it is the bastard stepchild of the windows version. I currently run a windows simulator in order to run Peachtree, but I will dump it if a viable option becomes available.

The resistance in corporate switching, I believe will be with the IT support folks. Most will want to stick with what they are comfortable with, not what might be best for the end users. And, at least at this point, most corporate IT support has primarily windows experience.

Unknown said...

@gonavy89 - that's one of the things OpenSurge is about - bringing enterprise class software to people that want to run on Mac.

You can install xTuple ERP on a Mac Mini and run up to 20 concurrent users. Users can run Mac, Linux or Windows (and a mixture). Or we will put it in the cloud on an Apple server or a Linux server - you still get to use Mac clients.

We also have started an online version of PostBooks starting at $34.95/month for 3 users. All the details aren't on the supporting website http://www.myPostBooks.com, but are coming. PostBooks is likely enough for a small business - GAAP compliant, open database, full accounting, inventory, etc.

Let us know if you have questions.

wide_open said...

If you could compile the full Postbooks client on an iPad (or build a full xTuple app) I would be very, very impressed.

As it is we are currently looking at a Linux based tablet solution for our warehouse.

Unknown said...

While no doubt it would be cool to have an iPad client for xTuple (and making this post on my iPad), what exactly is the goal? There is an app for CRM already and one that integrates a bar code scanner into the iPad, but the entire client? It doesn't really make sense, the cost differential between the iPad and a "complete" computer is not enough for justification.

Hey - if you are really interested then give us a call or drop us an email because one of the great things about open source is the ability to do anything you can imagine
Http://www.opensurgegroup.com

Nish said...

Mitch,
I just stumbled across this post.
What exactly is the difference between a mypostbooks.com subscription and an OpenSurge cloud implementation of Postbooks?

Thanks,
Nish
www.springtechllc.com

Unknown said...

Nish,

The idea with myPostBooks is to have a managed instance of PostBooks on a shared server. Priced to be competitive with Quickbooks online, this is for the small business will self-train using the manuals, videos and forum. (We are still working on the myPostBooks website.)

The hosted options for the commercial versions (and PostBooks) is for dedicated servers. This gives the user full access to the server. OpenSurge hosts these either on Apple Servers or Linux depending on what the customer wants.

Thanks for the question.

Mitch