A tale of 2 internets – update…

Well the Brother DCP155C arrived and is currently sitting next to my iBook, working fine.

As you may know, the journey to this point wasn’t easy.

My first choice of retailer to buy this product from (PC World), would not let me buy this product, because of incompatibilities with their website in conjunction with a Mac. I sent an email complaint, but guess what? I’ve had no reply. No doubt it was deleted immediately by the Windows-biased support staff.

After finding a retailer who did want to sell me the product (Amazon), I also found that the company used to ship the item’s website (Parcel Force UK), also did not work with Mac’s. I also have received no reply from their complaints department as to why. I’m not at all surprised.

But now that the all-in-one printer is here, I’m very pleased with it.

Upon opening, and finding that all the documentation was not in English, I had to resort to reading the installation instructions from the CD. Not too much of a problem, but a minor hiccup. Upon reading, I realised that the printer driver was a CUPS based driver, and the scanner was TWAIN based.

What does this mean? Well basically I won’t have to rely on third party software to print or scan, it’s all compatible with Printer Set-Up and Image Capture.

This is great news because when an Apple update occurs, most likely the all-in-one will still work without needing a separate update. It’s also compatible with Airport Express, so when I do buy that, I’ll be able to print wirelessly.

The cartridges are also pretty cheap – £8.00 each, and the photo-quality prints are really good.

The other capability of the printer is a built-in card reader. This allows you to print off pictures from a digital camera without plugging it into a computer. A great side effect to this is the 5-in-one card slot, also acts as a card reader, so when you put your card in, if your Mac is connected, it appears on the Mac desktop and automatically imports the pictures into iPhoto.

The scanner can also be used as a photocopier, again, not needing to be attached to the Mac to do this.

All-in-all I cannot praise this all-in-one enough, you get a printer, scanner, card reader & photocopier for £50.00 – a bargain.

It’s a pity that I couldn’t have got this from PC World, but hey, it’s their loss not mine. I can certainly see that I will be avoiding PC World in the future.

So much code for so little life…

So another so-called virus raises its ugly (well, slightly less than better-looking) head.

And Mac users yawn…

And PC users scream…

And tech columnists spin tales of woe and doom…

The OSX.Desperation, (sorry OSX.Macerena) virus, stretches the definition of the term ‘virus’.

People use the word virus to describe all sorts of computer problems, in OSX.Macerena’s case they’re partially right, the program infects all files that reside in the same directory, it doesn’t actually damage the files however.

It can’t infect outside of the directory it’s in, so it is light years away from the kinds of viruses that infiltrate PC’s where just connecting via ethernet can infect your PC with all sorts of nasty stuff.

My views on viruses in regards as to how it affects my working life is one of careful indifference. I have ClamXAV installed on all the Mac’s in my studio, and I try to run them once a week or so, but this is more to keep the Windows IT Manager off my back than it is to actually search and destroy a theoretical Mac virus.

Let’s just imagine that we all wake up one morning to find a serious Mac virus has appeared and it’s infected a lot of Mac users. It’s the one we’ve all been waiting for (for various reasons).

The one that’s got all Mac users worried, all PC users happy (look Mac users, you get viruses as well – I haven’t made the wrong choice in dedicating my life to this pile of shit that is Windows!), all tech columnists extremely happy with their hit counts, and all anti-virus companies salivating with unbridled lust. What then is a Mac users next step?

By its very nature, it will only affect Mac networks, so Windows businesses have no worries. Only Mac users need to do something.

And what is that something? Download ClamXAV, or one of the dozens of freeware apps that will pop up the very next day to eradicate the virus, install the one of your choice, and run it. Virus gone, job done, back to productive work.

Why the potential threat of a virus necessitates the need to install anti-virus (at least one that costs money), is beyond me. Symantec anti-virus gobbles up at least 40% of your CPU even when it’s idle, so why should we install it?

No-one really asks the question however as to why? Why do people write these things in the first place?

Most of the time it’s to make money by turning your Windows PC into a zombie so that it can be used to send out spam, or it’s to install a keystroke logger so that they can find out your credit card details.

But in our case it’s different. These attempts are designed to wipe the smug smile off all Mac users faces, or in one case, to stub out a lit cigarette in our eyes.

What causes such hatred towards us, what have we done?

We’ve dared to got against the grain is what we’ve done. We’ve dared to suggest that the choice of computing platform that most IT people choose is the wrong one.

Most Windows IT people have extremely insecure personalities. Being nerdy, or a spod is something that has made them very unpopular since school. Used to a lonely life, and being picked on in their youth, they see IT as a way of grouping together with other like-minded individuals, and exercising some power for a change on all those people who ridiculed them. They might not be popular, have bad skin, smell and generally have zero social skills, but they can make you feel inferior in awe of their Windows IT skills.

And, by it’s very nature, when you use Windows, you need people like this. The whole Microsoft infrastructure makes them feel wanted, needed and superior. Whole careers, whole lives, even whole personalities are propped up by the Windows monopoly.

Then, along comes Apple and all their Mac users (and to a certain extent iPod users), with our different, fruity computers threatening all of this.

We have no respect for these people because we don’t need them. Free of the need of a geeky friend or spoddy IT support staff, we see them as they really are – sad, lonely nerds with no people skills and personalities moulded by spending far too much time fixing Windows, when they’d be far better off staring out of one for a change – this might actually stimulate an original thought.

Windows geeks, spods & nerds may not even realise this, and not admit it to themselves, but Mac users touch a very sensitive nerve that strikes at the very core of their being just by existing.

This raw, sensitive nerve is exposed every time a Windows IT Manager tries to shut down a Mac department, every time a Windows web designer ignores the Mac, every time a Windows colleague makes a jibe at the expense of Mac colleague, and every time a sad, lonely Windows geek in his bedroom, has another crack at that Mac virus he’s been working on for the past couple of years, and still can’t get to work properly.

In the Macarena code is a message from its author, it reads “so many problems for so little code”. Obviously this little statement illustrates that they are having difficulty in getting a Mac virus working.

It doesn’t occur to the author that the Mac OS is stable, well written and naturally secure from the ground up. Under ordinary circumstances any normal person, with a stable, well-functioning personality would switch platforms, or at least give the Mac some credit. But we’re not dealing with normal people, we’re dealing with people who have severe personality disorders, and they’re really pissed.

In order to vent their frustration, they’ll go back to their Dell PC in their bedroom and have another go. Best of luck.

I’ll still be here using a stable, productive, virus and problem free Mac-based network waiting for your next effort, just like the other 20 million plus Mac users out there.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes next, but only from a morbid fascination as to the motivations of people who’s lives operate like this, I won’t lose any sleep, nor will my Mac experience any downtime.

Jonah and The Whale…

Or to give its longer title:- Advice on setting up, running and maintaining a Mac-based design studio in a PC-based company.

The rather irrelevant title to this article relates to its metaphor of existing and thriving inside a huge organism without being part of its lunch, i.e. how can a Mac-based design studio co-exist with a rabid, Microsoft-loving, multi-headed Windows IT department who eat Big Mac’s for breakfast? (Or is it Mars bars? which would explain their complexion).

In order to illustrate my rather over-zealous stance here, you need to understand some of my experiences over the last 15 years. These have been illustrated in some of my other posts.

Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Windows IT managers have a hard-wired hatred for Macintoshes. I’m not going to get in to the reasons for this, as any decent psychoanalyst could write several papers on the motivations, and layered, contradictory and self-served reasoning with these people.

My experiences have been so consistent from company to company, I have often wondered if all IT managers have some website somewhere where they swap techniques on how to get Mac’s out of their company – I’ve yet to find it (and I have looked).

Note I say ‘their’ company, because as we all know, most IT managers either do run the companies they work for (because the MD hasn’t a clue how computers work), or because of a Napoleon complex the IT Manager’s think they actually do.

All in all, I’ve worked for about 5 separate companies over the years and each job has entailed starting up an in-house design studio from scratch within the larger PC-based organisation.

Right from the start I’ve assumed that the reception from the Windows-based IT department would be hostile. Some are better than others, but all have shown signs of Mac-hatred, (or maybe it’s envy?).

This hatred usually starts even before you’ve started your new job. In one job, I learned of a 10 page document that was delivered to the MD on why not only the Mac was a bad choice, but why a design studio and the designers therein were a bad idea. Luckily it was ignored. Why was this? Well because the MD was heavily involved in print management at his company, and he spent a long time with Mac-based design houses, so he new how good the Mac was and the benefits that it could bring.

In another job, on my first day I was presented with a document outlining the things that I could not do, in terms of IT within the company. Most were irrelevant because of my setup (more of which later), but one item outlined the fact that they would not allow the Mac-version of Office on the network. Their workaround was to have a PC in the department that solely ran Office. This basically sums up Windows IT people. It doesn’t matter how inefficient the solution to a task is, the solution will be the one that serves their interests, not the users. In the end, I bought Mac Office myself personally, and didn’t tell them. Safe to say they didn’t notice, because as we all know, the documents are platform independent.

Once Windows IT Managers grudgingly accept that a Mac is coming to their company, their next steps vary. Some, outwardly don’t even acknowledge that it’s happening. Inwardly however they certainly do, and they’ll put a few barriers in motion that will make your life difficult. It’s important to realise that they will do anything, ANYTHING, to get Mac’s out of their company, and you need to be ready for all eventualities.

THE IT CHARTER DOCUMENT:

Most companies have an IT charter which outlines what you, as a user are allowed to do on their network.

These are usually over-draconian, but understandable, given Windows’ swiss-cheese record. They will try to update this document to include the Macintosh. So, you will not be allowed to install programs, surf the net, install fonts, add hard drives etc without their say so. They can’t do it either, as they don’t know the Mac, but that’s not the point. The point here is that they are trying to put you in your place.

It’s impossible to run a reprographics department under these circumstances, so the way around this is to strike before they do. Get a document together which outlines a few key things, and have this ready even before you start the new job:

• Their lack of knowledge regards Mac’s, and your greater understanding of reprographics, and the IT that’s involved.

• The fact that as part of your work, you install fonts, programs, change hard drives etc all the time, they won’t have time to do it for you and may do it wrong.

• Make a definite distinction between Office IT, and Reprographics IT, they are 2 different things. You’d be surprised how ill-trained most IT people are. Their Windows IT department does not understand the IT that’s required for Reprographics.

• If needed, get to know the company that recommended to the MD to choose Mac’s in the first place. Chances are he will respect them more than his own IT department, so get them to back you up and maintain that good relationship with them, they could get you out of a sticky situation.

• Make everyone understand that a design studio is a deadline-driven department. If a computer has problems, you cannot afford ANY downtime. With you doing your own IT you can make sure that their is none (if you follow my guidelines), with them doing the IT, it could be days before you’re up and running again. Play on the bad experiences the MD will have had with his own IT department.

• Play the Mac’s trump card – no viruses. It’s important now more than ever, that you keep on top of the latest developments in this area, regarding Mac OS X and viruses, because you can bet the Windows IT department is as well. Be ready to counter any arguement FUD, with the facts. Mac’s are getting more attention from Windows zealots and a Mac virus is coming – you need to be ready.

• If their is any disagreement, ask for a 6 months trial. If there are any significant problems in this time then you’ll give in, (but there won’t be, if you follow my guidelines).
If you do this, then anything that the IT department says has no effect on you.

THE HARDWARE SETUP:

This part is the most important part of the set up and guarantees that the Windows IT department won’t even know you exist – and therefore will have no ammunition to kill your department.

I’ll keep it simple, just the basic set-up, but in it I’ll sow the seeds to allow your department to grow.

The workstation – a mid to top range tower, with as much memory as you can get away with.

Monitor – needs to be colour managed, so a CRT is best, although LCD are getting better in this area. Aim for the biggest screen you can get, and get 2 if possible.

Storage – aim to handle your own backup – this is VITAL as it could be one area where the Windows IT department gets a foot in your door. If they handle your backup they can complain that your files are too big to backup, you slow the network down etc. so do it yourself. Backup software – there’s only one (substandard) choice – Retrospect.

Scanner – most scanners are pretty good now, the technology is so mature that the only thing to differentiate them is software. However I still don’t rate the bundled software in any package so just go for a scanner that’s compatible with Vuescan – a shareware application that’s as good as it gets.

Printers – You’ll need an A3 laser for quick proofs, and a colour calibrated A3 inkjet proofer. Most models from Xerox and HP are good choices here. Password protect them if you can, and don’t connect to any PC printers that show up on your network.

Network hardware – here’s the crux to your setup. It’s vital that you separate your network from the PC network. Never, NEVER have your network running through their servers. Never just plug your ethernet into the ethernet wall socket. It’s always best to have your own internal gigabit ethernet switch, where you plug all your Mac’s, printers etc. Then have one ethernet cable running from this switch to the connection to the wall socket which is routed into the PC server network. This way you can disconnect it at any time – for reasons I’ll get to shortly.

Network software – Do NOT, NOT, NOT connect to any kind of VPN, or Active Directory network. They’re just too flaky to be reliable and will give the IT department more ammunition. Keep your network totally separate from their’s. Set up all your Mac’s with fixed IP addresses, do not rely on the Windows server giving out IP addresses with DCHP. Get a range of IP addresses (10-20) from your Windows IT department and setup all your Mac’s & printers with these addresses with a few spare.

Email – this is one area where you may face problems and it depends on their setup. In my experience, never connect to an Outlook Express Server, it just doesn’t work reliably. If you have no other choice, then I pity you. From a stability standpoint you’re probably better off running Outlook through an emulator or separate PC. You need to put aside your prejudices in running Windows and remember what we’re after here is stability and not to give the Windows IT department ammunition in closing down your Mac’s.

If you can, see if your company has a webmail version of their email server, you can connect Apple Mail to the address this is at. I have this setup at the moment and it works fine. You’re also good from a stability standpoint because you’re not connecting to their server, your connecting to their webmail as if you were using a browser.

Internet – Windows IT managers have a weird attitude to internet access. They see it as a privilege that they give out. You need to take this away from them. Try and get your own router installed that connects directly to the internet. This way you can control what’s seen, and change the password so you control it. If the IT department complain that you don’t need access, make the excuse that as IT admin for the Mac’s you need to update them over the internet, you also need to buy stock photos over the internet, you gain design ideas from here, you transfer artwork this way etc.

Viruses – you’d think that this wouldn’t be a problem. However I’ve seen IT managers feign ignorance concerning the lack of viruses for the Mac in the hope that they would fool the MD, so this is why you’ve already pointed this out in your charter document that this isn’t the case. However you must play the good citizen, so install ClamXAV, an open source anti-virus that doesn’t have much overhead and run it once a week.

The last piece of advice is for your future. Once a company realises that they have a design department, your workload will quickly grow beyond its initial remit, so expand as quickly as you can, and take on more people. Try and get jurisdiction of the website, and get it away from IT, which is where it usually resides. A new member of staff who specialises in the web would be a good bet here. Once this person is under you, then you have the website and all that entails, such as web access, FTP access to the web server (which you can use to transfer large artwork files to remote agencies), and even the company intranet. A lot of power can be got here in terms of your standing in the company – and this all runs on Mac’s. Get as many workstations as you can into the company, but keep them under your control, don’t let the IT department have any say in who administers them.

Why all this paranoia? Well it’s because over the years I’ve seen what these people are capable of, and what lengths they will go to as part of their sad little lives.

What if I told you that one IT manager tried to hack OS 9 Mac’s on the network, using a utility that’s passed amongst IT people, trying to crash them? I found this out by noting the times of the crashing, and they stopped when we disconnected from the network, unplugged the PC connection from our switch, and when the Windows IT manager went on holiday. The software had a legitimate purpose, but had a side effect of crashing a Mac if you wanted (nicely convenient). He was told to stop using the software, after my intervention.

Another IT manager purposefully ran ‘tests’ on the Virtual PC clients on the PC network that purposefully caused them to belly-up and needing to be completely reinstalled? His excuse? When he saw the name ‘Virtual PC’ on the network he thought they were virtual PC’s that didn’t really exist and you could run tests on them.

Remember the problems that Safari had a while back, when if you configured a JPEG in such as way, it would crash Safari whenever you viewed a webpage that contained said JPEG? I wonder how such a jpeg ended up on the front page of a companies intranet that I was working for? It took over a month to get the IT department to update the page.

What about rules on a companies email server that purposefully missed in filtering out spam to email addresses that were on Mac’s (so we got inundated with spam), and filters that gave Mac emails a low priority? I found this out after a Windows IT Manager left the company.

Or another time when a Windows IT support staffer kept on sending 50mb jpeg files to our colour proofer over the network (by mistake of course) to jam it up. This happened so often we had to password protect it?

The only time, in 15+ years of using a Mac have I ever got a virus was when I accepted a floppy disk (which had been infected with the MDEF OS 7 virus), from the Windows IT Manager. How it got on there is anybody’s guess, I have a good idea though.

And the deliberate unplugging of connections to the iSDN line in one company I worked for, which happened so often, I stopped complaining and simply walked into the IT server room and plugged them back in? Apparently it was a in-joke with the IT department.

So you can see why I keep the Mac department isolated from the PC network as much as possible. The key here is to almost run the Mac department as a business with a business. Keep it all separate as far as you can – even run your own email server if that’s possible, which is something I’m looking into.

Your ultimate, long-term goal is to have your own full-service, Mac-based studio, that is totally independant, with its own network, in the belly of the beast. If your department gets really big (10+ people), you need to start thinking about becoming your own Mac-based IT manager. Then maybe, just maybe, when the MD walks around your department, seeing a productive, virus & hassle free department that works 24-7 that’s based on Mac’s, he’ll start to ask important questions as to why the Windows side of the company is plagued with problems all the time and needs an army of IT staff to keep it running, when it seems your department runs itself.

Your overall, more short-term goal, is to become as independent and as invisible as you can. If you cause no problems on the network, they have no ammunition, and without this, they cannot launch an attack on your department.

A lot of Windows users and potential switchers, go on about Mac-zealotry and the reasons for it. I fully understand where the zealots are coming from. We are angry. Angry that we have to put up with this every day.

When someone posts lies about the Mac, and they then get flamed by angry Mac users, there’s a good reason for it – THEY STARTED IT.

Get the Windows IT manager out of your department, and keep him out – he’s no business there (pun intended). Good luck.

A tale of 2 internets…

Recently a direct mail flyer from Staples dropped through my letterbox. Now usually, these kind of things end up in the bin after a brief flick through, but something this time caught my eye.

As part of my job I produce a large amount of direct mail, so I always feel obliged to flick through any direct mail I receive because I understand how much hard work goes into creating these things. Not just in terms of design, but the logistics of making sure that stock is available roughly when the direct mail is likely to hit a doorstep is an art in itself.

Anyway, the thing that caught my eye in this instance was an all-in-one printer from HP. I don’t remember the model, however it was for sale for the very reasonable price of £49.99.

That seemed a great price to me, so I did a little research on the model, to find out what kind of compatibility it had with the Mac. After a little searching on-line I regrettably found out that it was a dog. HP’s driver’s were either flaky or non existent, and the printer itself wasn’t particularly good quality.

However, upon looking around I realised what good value all-in-one printers were, so I convinced myself I needed one (I don’t have a printer at home, I usually do any personal printing at work), and looked around for a decently priced printer with good Mac support.

I quickly discovered that the best printer’s came from Brother, and after a quick search online I found a discounted Brother DCP-115C on PC World’s website for £45.17 (online price only).

So, credit card in hand I decided I would purchase it, and here’s where my troubles started.

After placing the printer in my virtual basket I proceeded to the virtual checkout. Before I could pay (thank goodness in retrospect) they needed to locate at which branch this product was located, and if it was near, you could go and pick it up yourself.

Except it didn’t work. The part of the page that gave you the locations of the nearest PC World remained blank.

So I tried Firefox – this was a little better, it actually displayed the locations, but on clicking proceed, the website declared I hadn’t made a choice, and wouldn’t let me proceed.

So I tried Camino – a similar result to Safari.

So I tried Internet Explorer – even worse, it actually crashed the browser.

So I sent an email directly to their complaints department and gave up. I assume this will be picked up by PC World complaints, passed onto the Windows-based webmaster, he or she will simply smile and throw the request in the bin, along with all the others.

But I still wanted a printer, so undeterred, I tried various other online stores and none of them had the printer I wanted at the right price.

In desparation I tried Amazon. I’ve used Amazon before and been amazed at their Mac-support. Their website works flawlessly, and in this case that had the exact printer I wanted. A few clicks later it’s bought and I’m now waiting for delivery.

Guess I’ll be using them in future and to let them know how pleased I am with their service, I sent them an email thanking them for their Mac-support.

But (there’s always a but isn’t there?) my story doesn’t end there.

I’m still awaiting delivery. It’s not late, but Amazon have sent me an email and a link to track the order, so I decided to find out where it was.

At the moment it’s in the hands of Parcel Force UK, so armed with a reference number I visited their website to find out where my package is.

And guess what? Their site doesn’t work with Mac’s. There’s no indication that it doesn’t work, but when you get to the part of the site that displays the information you want, it’s just not there.

I’ve gone through the same steps as I used with PC World’s website, with the same results, including the email complaint, which I assume again will make it through to the Windows-biased webmaster who will silently guffaw to himself and throw the request in the bin.

It’s hard to say what part of all this makes me more angry. If the website simply did a browser check at the start of the process and informed me that this site didn’t work with Mac’s, I wouldn’t have a problem (much). I wouldn’t waste my time with it and move on.

But the problem here (and this seems to be more and more common), is that they don’t announce this at all. They simply let you click through their site, until you get to the part that doesn’t work, and you curse and curse that you’ve wasted your time – again.

Maybe they realise this, they just want to piss Mac users off as much as possible.
All this hassle, and I haven’t even installed the software to run the printer yet. Let’s hope this goes smoothly.

My main concern here is switchers. They are used to going to any online store and (viruses notwithstanding), having no problems in buying online. With the Mac it’s a nightmare and they are all too quickly going to regret their purchase.

It could just be my bad luck I suppose (I do bank online with no problems), but their has to be a solution here.

Virtualization springs to mind. It wouldn’t help me as I have an iBook, but couldn’t Wine (and open-source virtualization tool that emulates the Windows API, so you can run Windows apps without running Windows) help in this situation?

I don’t mean running a version of Internet Explore for Windows on your Intel Mac, what about a plug-in for Safari, that (using Wine), emulates the parts of Internet Explorer that are needed so that we have 100%, transparent compatibility with our Windows friends (I say friends through gritted teeth).

Maybe then Mac users won’t be classed as second-class citizens on the net, and we can end the 2-tiered internet experience.