Companies need collaboration and solid email/calendar. Add a good Office suite and solid storage tech and you can keep your company running strongly. Apple has the advantage that they've really improved OS X in these areas and with virtualization they have access to software that doesn't even run on OS X.

And it would be a lot more productive if they didn't have to restore all their data from viruses and lost corporate secrets due to spyware.

Better late than never!

Apple will be providing a serious contender to the MS Exchange Server solution with Leopard, but Bonjour already provides the means for simple messaging and collaboration right now. Not to mention, there are also open source alternatives to Exchange that are easier to support and run on the Mac.

I don't think Apple can build a good support unit specifically for big enterprises in a few years, but it is a big and important market. Yet another reason to license osX to Dell and others, 10.5 will be the turning point for sure.

Having apps are nice, but Apple would need to be more flexible in the support contracts for them to really push into IT. With any PC, if parts blow up on you, you can easily swap out this or that, install a PCI card to replace some functionality, and off you go. With Apple, EVERYTHING has to be brought in to them to be fixed (whenever Apple gets the parts, that is). And every replacement part Apple has is way overpriced, meaning the IT departments have to get Applecare for the computers or risk just tossing them after a year and a half.

If you've got a office full of G5 towers, for example, you just have to wait for the power supplies to fail, send it in, and hope it gets back quickly.

I understand your arguement, but this is where spare machines come in. We have 2 spares, so when one does blow (which does happen), simply transfer the info and take in the busted machine. When it comes back, that is my new spare :)

they do offer parts kits for xServes (or at least they did last year) so youre not waiting around for a server to be fixed.

"Yet another reason to license osX to Dell and others"

I loathe this arguemeent because it is just stupid.

Apple makes money from hardware! this is a FACT! licensing OS X to someone else will sink hardware sales which will affect the bottom line (as well as losing control on the hardware/software connection)

Do you seriously think giving up the hardware/software control and losing money is a good business strategy?

Different companies have different needs. I don't like the idea of spare machines as a solution. I have two or three spare laptops for my users but they are not meant to be used for an extended amount of time. We are an all Dell shop and I have to say that their warranty service is fairly decent. I get a full 3 year warranty with 4 hour or next business day delivery of parts or they send a tech out to do the replacement. Applecare can't compete with this and I do get to speak with an American when I call for support. I had a motherboard go bad in a laptop at one of our Alaska locations. This place is in the middle of nowhere and we where still able to have the user up and running the next day. The downtime for a defective part is small and it keeps my users productive.

A majority of my users are in remote locations, different parts of the country or they are on the road more than they are in the office. Spare machines are worthless for them if they are not in a position to get one. By the time I ship a spare machine to them, the warranty service that Dell offers would have taken care of their issue. Our company can't wait a week or more for something as simple as a power supply so going with Apple would not work.

As much as I dislike Dell, I can't see switching our company to Apple without some kind of guarantee that my downtime would be at a minimum. Apple's enterprise support has a long way to go and my company doesn't have the time or patience for downtime of a week or more.

I see your point, but keep in mind that your situation doesnt sound like the norm of corporate America :)