Best posts made by Katie

@Minion-Queen Welcome to come visit anytime, you know.

Roll call!
Who's using Macs? Macs in Enterprise environments?
I've been supporting Macs in my IT career since 1996 - it's been an interesting road to see the changes that have come from Apple during that time. In the early part of the 2000s, I started to see a trend whereupon Apple was moving away from the professional market and more closely into consumer sales. Many of my users at that time were also concerned about it as well - these were graphic designers, editorial staffers, and video production folks for the most part. Though the new Mac Pros are interesting, I think they are a bit spendy. Most environments can do common tasks on MacOS using a basic Mac mini with beefed up RAM.

For those of you who touch Macs in your day-to-day support, what are your thoughts in the changes in Apple computers over the past 10 years or so?
To me it looks like they're trying to incorporate more iOS features into the regular desktop OS. It's interesting, though I'm not so sure how much is bling and how much will prove to be useful.

@Joyfano A new way to bidet - I think that's a win-win for everyone.

I do not have any problems with Netflix or YouTube on my Mac.
I am running Mavericks and use Firefox v.27

Some performance issues can be linked to bad Third-party RAM. When this is the case, there are specific issues that appear, such as kernel panics or system freezing while applications still appear to run. Apple-branded RAM is made by Crucial and is guaranteed to work. It's also a little more spendy, though there's no telling if it can fail over time - which I've also seen. (talking 3-4 years here)
Of the less expensive third-party RAM I've worked with, I think Kensington is the best.

@Dominica I agree - soft cookies are better than hard ones.

@RoguePacket Not much to add on this, though good points about the OX version and hard drive. If the OS is over 2 years old, it is worthwhile to get the updated version if the hardware will support it.
The Fruit Company is notorious for end-of-life'ing things after 3 years. (perfectly reasonable, to them)

Snow here is very rare. Rain, on the other hand...
...in the summer you can set your watch by it. from June-August, it rains nearly every day some time between 3 and 6pm.
Then it's humid and buggy the rest of the evening.

What are the pros and cons of implementing an open-source PBX as opposed to a proprietary system?
I've worked in shops that ran Cisco Unity, and after that - Shoretel. I found Shoretel to be a great deal easier to learn over the Cisco system and had a fairly easy time administering it.
How do these compare to something like Elastix or Asterisk?

@Bud You are more than overdue.
We have a really active spicecorps down here, along with a beach bar that serves 24oz rum runners for $5. (very strong)

@LadyJane Funny how they use Macs for aesthetic appeal.

@Bud Welcome, Bud - I like coffee, too.

@scottalanmiller What is the purpose of that over a singular certification? I mean - is there a point to a "beginner" Excel cert? Or is it like the A+ certs?

@Joyfano Oh boy, those look so good!!

These days, I enjoy playing Hanging with Friends and Words with Friends socially. I think I have them semi-linked to my facebook profile...

@ajstringham said:

@scottalanmiller MangoLaddies and MangoLassies?

I like this much better. Think tartans with mangoes.

I want your opinions, please. I have an external drive that I'd like to reformat for use with both Mac and Windows. What's the best format?

My research is showing mixed results, though one thing I read pointed strongly to exFAT, which isn't a format I'm all that familiar with.

Ideas, please!

@scottalanmiller said:

I tried other things with high hopes but returned to the iPhone.

I, too, am anxiously awaiting the return to iPhone. June is coming soon...
I like Android, don't get me wrong. But I liked my iPhone better.

Curious to know if anyone is running OSX server?

I want to know how it's changed/improved since OSX Server (Leopard). Haven't worked on it since I left my last Mac shop job in 2012. We had an X Serve in the rack back then, which was nice for the Macs in that environment. Able to keep Mac and Windows storage separate that way.

@FiyaFly said:

Last night I slept, but that is a very uncommon thing for me as well. I just had to deal with those outlandish things called 'social interactions' yesterday and it took all of my energy to get through it!

Those darn analog social interactions can sometimes zap the life out of you.

Agree with @scottalanmiller - don't bring it up unless you can prove it.