<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Amen Bro.<div><br><div><div>On Sep 16, 2008, at 4:33 PM, Stephen Ollis wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">I don’t deny that we in IT have a good closet full of asbestos suits. But I think you misunderstand where I’m coming from..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">What I am saying is that there is no such thing as a “PC Network” or a “MAC Network”; there are PC-skilled IT departments, or MAC-skilled IT departments, and some (like mine) which have had, under duress I might add, become both. And yes, it required expenditure on Mac servers, Mac desktops/laptops and a good chunk of time in training, learning, and documenting the differences. I’m actually here up at 0430AM in Sydney making changes to the configuration of our core NetCache proxy so that it doesn’t do NTLM anymore so that it will support MACS cleanly..<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">No, of course there has not been a drop in support calls; a user will have issues regardless of what client platform they fly. However, WE HAVE seen an increase in user happiness, especially from our Senior and Exec level staff. And this is where the low-hanging fruit is. If you can show that “IT wants to make it as easy for you” to the Executive and Snr Pastors, then you win. If you’re not at a place where you can effectively hire / recruit / train someone to be Mac capable then be open and honest and explain that THAT is why you won’t support Macs. Don’t handwave it away and blame it on the network, or the servers or the client platforms; it’s a training / skill issue at its very root.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Yes, I get requests on a daily basis from my users, and I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE IT. And yes, we have more vision than resource. I’m not kidding about 6 support people looking after 1500 users. Our helpdesk runs hot, and we’re constantly getting demands from the Eloi that us Morlocks can’t deliver on. It doesn’t give me the right to look my Senior Pastor in the eye and say “NO”, it just gives me the right to say “We can and would love to, but this is what we need to make it happen.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Again, please hear my heart here; I live in the trenches as much as the next guy. What I’m saying is that we, as Church IT staff, need to correctly represent the issues to our leadership (training/personnel/HR) and not sweep this stuff under the carpet under the guise of Technocracy. More and more, our Senior people will believe the marketing hype from Apple, or hear of another church IT team that does support Mac and PC and whatever.. and then you’re going to be on the back foot. I know it for a fact that many Pastors have gone home from visiting with us here at Hillsong, telling their IT/Video/Production guys that “Hillsong is doing so-and-so, why can’t we?” because then I get to counsel/comfort/console them over the phone or email, and showing the hows and whys. I don’t apologize for being on the bleeding edge, but I am very clear about the level of sacrifice, and cost, that is has taken to get my team to this point, and the level of support, both financial and physical, that is needed from a senior level to accomplish it. And that is where IT gets to shine: when the IT team delivers the gear that supports and propels forward the vision of your Senior Pastor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>