New Mac Mini Misses the Mark for Small Business

From PC World: When it redesigned the new Mac Mini, released this week, Apple had an excellent opportunity to show it is serious about small business. Alas, Apple did what it generally does for small (and large) business: Missed the opportunity.

This is sad, because Mac OS X Leopard Server is easy to setup, powerful, and does pretty much everything you would want a server for a small business to do. It includes an iCal server, wiki server, podcast producer, supports client backups, and provides file and print services. It is a sweet piece of software and many more companies should be using it.

Apple sells an unlimited user license for $999 and a 10-user license for $499. I actually paid for a 10-user license for my home-based business. The pricing seemed fair and the operating system was certainly easy to install on my Mac Mini. Client installation was easy, too.

What I didn't realize, and Apple doesn't make as clear as it might, is that to actually use the Leopard Server you need hardware that includes two network cards, one facing your internal network and the other visible from the Internet. Installed that way, which is to say properly, Leopard Server is a joy to behold, so long as you do not require tight integration with Microsoft's wide range of enterprise technologies.

View: Article @ Source Site