Using MacBook at Microsoft House question

[PotatoGuardian]

I haven't worked in a company that uses Microsoft solely for more than 6 years probably.

I got a job offer and I asked for a Mac, they responded with:

MacBook is fine. We have plenty of people with MacBook. Only issue that comes with it: it is not recommended by IT and there are minor things that do not have official support (printing, document sharing, etc.). Experience on our Microsoft based infrastructure might not be as good as on a Windows device.

Anyone know if this paragraph means life will be irritating or could I troubleshoot some of this stuff? I dunno

 

[neoprema]

Mostly nonsense as you can do anything really with a Mac. As for printing sometimes they share the printer on a server and want you to auth to it before printing.
My way around this for ages has been to simply find your closest printer, get its IP address by printing the report/config and connect to it directly with Add Printer in MacOS. It also bypasses silly access control.

Document sharing will work too it’s just a matter of logging into those services with your domain account. You can actually join a Mac to a Windows Domain but if they didn’t give that option they’re probably not.

Microsoft and Apple rivalry exists but actually both companies have worked to support each others systems pretty well. Each one knows the value the other has in the business world

 

[PotatoGuardian]

Mostly nonsense as you can do anything really with a Mac. As for printing sometimes they share the printer on a server and want you to auth to it before printing.

Ok thank you. I'm just used to using a Mac now and don't feel like changing again .

 

[bwana]

MacBook is fine. We have plenty of people with MacBook. Only issue that comes with it: it is not recommended by IT

They're just covering their arses. If there are a lot of people using macs there's someone there who knows how to set them up.

 

[PotatoGuardian]

They're just covering their arses. If there are a lot of people using macs there's someone there who knows how to set them up.

In what way? What could go wrong? Or do you think they just saying this so I'm not surprised if something doesn't work and then can't complain

 

[bwana]

In what way? What could go wrong? Or do you think they just saying this so I'm not surprised if something doesn't work and then can't complain

They told you "in what way"?

there are minor things that do not have official support (printing, document sharing, etc.).

They might not be able to offer you the same level of support you could theoretically need in the event something goes wrong.

 

[PotatoGuardian]

They told you "in what way"?

Sorry what I meant was in what way are they covering their arses in response to you. But I also assumed the same, if other people are using Macs surely someone must know how to get things working

 

[B-1]

MS are known to create a worse experience on other OS's than on windows so they are probably just emphasising that. To be honest though I've reached the stage where having a windows machine is just as frustrating so I would go with a Mac for the next one.

 

[PotatoGuardian]

I've reached the stage where having a windows machine is just as frustrating so I would go with a Mac for the next one.

The last time I used a Windows machine which was probably 2019 it was terrible with the new tile looking OS. Maybe I'm being old but I got frustrated after I liked Windows 7. Not to mention the annoying machine restarts for updates.

 

[Hamster]

Anyone know if this paragraph means life will be irritating or could I troubleshoot some of this stuff? I dunno

If they are your average company and you experience a problem they'll ask what machine you are using and when you say Mac the response will be "Sorry, we only support Windows. You can read this documentation for help <link to something you already googled>.

 

[B-1]

The last time I used a Windows machine which was probably 2019 it was terrible with the new tile looking OS. Maybe I'm being old but I got frustrated after I liked Windows 7. Not to mention the annoying machine restarts for updates.

The whole its our OS not yours and we decide what software to reinstall after you removed it is also a pain. After updates you find a lot of bloat has been reinstalled and you eventually just give up trying to streamline things.

I'm installing Linux dual boot and living with web apps and lesser experience and I'm actively driving our development toolstack in another direction every chance I get.

 

[MentellusMaximus]

It generally means IT leaves you alone, which is often a good thing.

 

[ubercal]

I haven't worked in a company that uses Microsoft solely for more than 6 years probably.

I got a job offer and I asked for a Mac, they responded with:

MacBook is fine. We have plenty of people with MacBook. Only issue that comes with it: it is not recommended by IT and there are minor things that do not have official support (printing, document sharing, etc.). Experience on our Microsoft based infrastructure might not be as good as on a Windows device.

Anyone know if this paragraph means life will be irritating or could I troubleshoot some of this stuff? I dunno

Its true.Supporting macs defintely works in a Windows environment , however it just plain annoying having macs in the environment.Certain things dont play nicely and while you can make it work , it just wastes IT's time.Macs dont support things like central GPO deployment.Certain things in Azure like azure file services also dont play nicely with macs.I wanted to deploy something in Azure recently , and it only supports windows 10 and 11 , so i had to cancel the project , as we have a fair number of macs in our environment.