Yay, We Got Our Mac Back!

As we mentioned in our previous post, Mac® computers have become ever more popular at Munich-based IT consulting and software engineering company MaibornWolff. Their combination of sleek design and solid workmanship—plus their operating system’s proverbial stability and usability—have been winning over more and more staff members of all specialties. One crucial group eyed those Apple® devices with significantly greater reservation, however: the company’s IT department, grappling with the fact that the MacBook® laptops, predominantly used for Microsoft Office applications, could not be administered in a professional manner.

Then a decision was made that was a fierce blow for MaibornWolff’s Mac fans: They were allowed to keep their laptops but couldn’t work on them. Only Windows notebooks of a specific brand were to be used internally, with Microsoft Office 2010 (which was officially supported) installed on them as the sole option. What a disappointment!

Shortly after, there was a change in the IT department’s leadership. Jacob Tewes, the team’s new leader, perceived distinct signs of discontent. The Mac computers were sorely missed.

Figure 1: Jakob Tewes, Head of IT Infrastructure

Though willing to find a solution for all, Jacob firmly barred one alternative: simply reactivating the MacBook laptops fitted with Microsoft Office for Mac. His belief was that the functional shortcomings of the Microsoft Suite’s macOS® version were simply unacceptable, and the expected support effort was less than calculable. The decision he then made may be called a Solomonic one. The Mac computers could return from exile—however, they had to be fitted with the Windows version of Microsoft Office.

There are several ways to fulfill this precondition. You could go with the Apple software, Boot Camp®; you could use some kind of freeware, or you could consider a virtualization solution that enables OS swaps without restarting the system. Read our case study to find out which solution Jacob chose—and why.