I'm a Mac

[scott]

Three weeks ago I ordered a new Dell computer. They emailed me twice postponing delivery. First for two weeks then for a month. I canceled the order and ordered an HP computer. It arrived last Friday. I spent 30 hours trying to set it up and configuring the software I need - crashes, glitches, tech support calls, incompatible peripherals.

Tuesday night I gave up, called HP and told them the computer was coming back.

Wednesday morning I drove to the Apple Store. 20 minutes later I bought a shiny new MacBook Pro. An hour after I got back to my office my new Mac was up and running without a glitch.

In three days I have grown to enjoy the simplicity of my Mac. I turn it on and do my work.

A computer is a tool to help us achieve. Why do we tolerate inferior tools from the likes of Dell, HP, and Microsoft?

Now, I'm a Mac.

[scott]

More...

Dell sent me the computer order that I canceled. I had to spend almost an hour getting them to take the shipment back. Now they keep calling and emailing wondering what went wrong. Dell no longer means great customer support.

Last week I had a problem with my iphone. I went on the Apple website for help. It was easy to find and follow the instructions. When the solution did not work, the Apple website asked me if I wanted more help. I replied yes. They asked when they could call me - they actually set up an appointment with me when they would call. At the appointed time they called - the guy was helpful but could not solve the problem. He set me up with a "Genius" at my local Apple store - again giving me a choice of appointments. In ten minutes I had a new iPhone to replace the broken one.

Apple gets it. They understand what a computer user wants and how customer support should respond to the inevitable problems that come up.

The insurance industry could learn a great deal from Apple.

[Big Dog]

Sounds more like a PEBCAK error to me.

The computer I use at work is made by HP and works just fine. My laptop at home is made by Gateway and works just fine. My wife's laptop is made by Dell and works just fine. All three run either WinXP or Vista without a problem.

Having worked either directly in or with IT for years, I wouldn't say that HP, Dell and Microsoft produce "inferior tools". It's usually more of an end-user issue than anything.

[scott]

Why should technology be difficult for anyone to use? Don't we buy computers to make our lives more productive?

The same week I bought my HP computer I bought a washer and dryer - both purchases were about $2,000.

The HP "cost" me hours of dealing with tech support, searching for upgrades and drivers, buying new peripherals, and generally messing around with the damnable thing.

Who would put up with that kind of effort with a new washer/dryer? Why should we tolerate it in computers?

The appliance store delivered our washer/dryer, took away the old, and plugged in the new. We started washing clothes immediately with no calls to tech support.

I bought my Mac at the Apple store, they installed my software. I brought it home, plugged it in and started working.

[scott]

I just received an email from a forum visitor asking about Macs and agency management systems. Here is my reply:

Macs have been able to run Windows software for some time. Also, several vendors offer hosted agency management systems that can run on any computer with an internet connection.

[Big Dog]

I have quite a number of friends that have Mac's. Some do run Vista or XP using Parallels, Boot Camp or some other emulation environment. However, I'd have to argue that the average insurance agency isn't technologically savy enough to be able to set up a Mac in this fashion.

Additionally, as most insurance agency management software is written for a Windows environment, purchasing a Mac and emulating Windows just to run it seems to be counter-productive.

I have to wonder what software and peripherals you were trying to set up on this HP you purchased. Additionally, are you emulating WinXP on your Mac or Vista? There is some older software that is incompatible with Vista, and there are some hardware (i.e. peripheral) manufacturers that refused to provide Vista drivers for their older hardware.

[jpmorgan5150]

I'm a big apple fan- I'm typing this from a hotel on my iPhone. That said, I have a new appreciation for Microsoft after using both exchange server and sharepoint with office 2007. We are going to provide document workflow through sharepoint and outlook and it is very slick.

I've got a mac at home and am not convinced that mac is ready for corporate. We have a web served management system and it requires Internet explorer, as do several of our company websites. Until that changes I don't see mac running in the insurance world.

I do love simple user interface though. Microsoft could learn a lot and should be worried about mac going corporate.

[jpmorgan5150]

Not to get too personal - Scott, you look a little like the PC from the ads!

[larsimo]

My wife currently has a Mac and I have a PC (Vista). I will say that the Mac is perhaps more pleasant to look at (eye candy) however it does not come even close to the number of apps that the PC can run (and folks, it isn't even a contest).

I also owned a Blackberry Curve prior to owning my 2 month old Iphone and after doing an extensive research and physically testing all of the big name phones out there, I must say that NO PHONE, absolutely NO PHONE comes even close the Iphone. It is simply mind bogling the stuff that the Iphone does.

Conclusion: Apple, I will keep your Iphone, but as far as computers are concerned I will keep my Windows thank you very much.

[Big Dog]

Agreed on the iPhone. One of the smartest things Apple did was to work with Microsoft and allow direct integration with Exchange. It makes it a lot easier than trying to get Crackberry Server to operate properly and integrate with Exchange. We're constantly having issues with BB Server.

[mica.cooper]

Scott,

Its all in what you want out of your experience. We usually only buy Dell. Yes, the support is TOTALLY HORRIBLE... the trade off is that we usually pay less than half for MS as we would Apple, AND get much better hardware. As an expert heavy user, the price and hardware is more important than eye candy and feel good support. Apple is usually pretty good at that. We also have a LOT of software that runs only on 2000 or XP and does not run very well on the VM implementations that allow Win on Mac.

Mica
PS. To get better support from Dell, do NOT buy from the consumer side, only the small business side.

[susqugirl]

I am a PC user in my professional life but a Mac user in my personal life. I will never buy a PC for personal use; however, as an insurance professional, I actually do prefer them at the office. I think they are more network-friendly and for the amount of applications that are custom built in this industry, I honestly don’t think a Mac could cut it. (Not to mention a lot of people are surprisingly still afraid of learning how to use a Mac when they know nothing but a PC. It’s really very similar!!!)

My home computer is used primarily for photos and music and I couldn’t be happier with Mac’s software for those applications. The PC ones I have used on and off through the years leave a lot to be desired. I also think Mac has a better track record with viruses and crashes. In all the years I have owned computers, I have had a couple crashes here and there but I never lost any data and I have never had a virus. (Knock on wood!)

Bottom line, I have always viewed Macs as a consumer friendly product and PC’s as Corporation friendly products.

[scott]

I have received a dozen emails on this thread. Someone even said they are sending me an Apple T-shirt. XXL please.

As an solo-preneur consultant I have the luxury of not dealing with agency management systems and the software provided by insurance companies. My clients are insurance buyers and I mentor individual insurance people. My computer needs are direct and pretty simple - you would think.

I took a quick look at Applied's website. They offer a hosted agency management system that would seem to take much of the hassle out of the admin side of an agency management system. No upgrades, no backups, no server crashes, no IT people, or IT consultants.

Would an agency then even need a network? For $50 per user Google will host your email. Couldnt you then run a ten person agency with ten computers with internet connections?

Before I started my consulting firm I ran an 8 person agency (OK, helped run). We had a peer to peer network and a server that ran our agency management system. We spent a fair amount in maintenance, repair, upgrades, backups and the like. None of which was selling insurance. I was always taking calls from CSRs telling me that this or that was not working.

Is a hosted solution / cloud computing viable for a small agency?

[Big Dog]

To answer your question as to whether an agency would need a real client/server network, that depends upon the size of the agency.

If it's a small, maybe up to 10 people (and that's pushing it), you could get away with a peer to peer network, even with a small file server. But...go beyond those 10 people and you have limitations. From there you could look at something like Microsoft Small Business Server to handle authentication, file server management, and even e-mail (SBS includes a stripped version of Exchange).

I'd still be interested in knowing what software you were trying to install on your HP that caused it to crash.

Hosted/"cloud" computing is viable, but it's all dependent upon the speed of your internet access. If for whatever reason, internet access goes down, you're screwed. That's the advantage of having an in-house system.

[scott]

Dog, This crash was not caused by pilot error. Email me off-line if you are that interested. I was loading/configuring the normal programs and peripherals. Tech support for MS and HP couldn't get the stuff to work either.

I agree that working online puts you at risk if the internet goes down. However, is that threat overshadowed by not having to maintain a system? Every reader/agency would have to judge that for themselves.

I push my mentor clients to decrease work intensity. Is outsourcing server/software maintenance a way to simplify agency management so people can focus more on client service and insurance sales?