IT Panel Says Boot Camp Won't Sway Purchasing

by , 10:25 AM EDT, April 6th, 2006

silicon.com conducted a survey of IT managers and found that most aren't interested in bringing Boot Camp-enabled Macs into their organizations. The survey was conducted with silicon.com's 12-man CIO Jury IT user panel, and they were asked if the ability to run Windows XP on a Mac was more likely to make them try out or switch to Apple hardware in their company.

Nick Clark, director of IT services at Tower Hamlets College, said "It sounds like a total support nightmare," commenting on the fact that Apple will not be offering any Windows support for its hardware.

Other IT bosses on the jury felt that they could get comparable hardware from other companies for much lower prices, and that Apple needed to lower pricing to be more competitive before they would purchase any Macs.

LDV Vans IT director, Christopher Linfoot, feels that Apple's decision to release software that lets Windows run on the Mac is aimed at "computer hobbyists" rather than business users. He commented "It is possible to buy Windows PCs far more cheaply than equivalent Macs so why would any business buy Mac hardware just to have the option of running an operating system they don't need?"

Of course, a survey that involves only 12 people shouldn't be considered as a fair representation of all IT managers, but it does show that Apple still has work to do to convince corporate buyers that its hardware deserves a place on the office desktop.