Chromebook Shipments Up 67%
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@Dashrender said:
Hopefully (though I'm not holding my breath) MS will do away with the multiple SKUs for the Desktop OS.
It's not been mentioned at all.
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@Dashrender said:
What does Google's management console for enterprise cost?
It's not a published price. You contact sales and negotiate.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
InTune is for patch management and anti-virus. It does not address any management.
From Microsoft.com: "Windows Intune helps organizations let their people use the devices and applications they love while configuring device settings to meet compliance needs. Either completely from the cloud or connected to an existing System Center Configuration Manager infrastructure, Windows Intune lets you manage devices in a flexible way that’s best for you."
We run it and consult on it. It really doesn't do what you are thinking at all. Part of it is MDM for mobile devices. Mostly it is just managing AV, patching, pushing software and a few other basic things. It is nothing like AD and GPO.
Agreed - I rolled this out for a small client this summer - frankly I was disappointed with InTune
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
What does Google's management console for enterprise cost?
It's not a published price. You contact sales and negotiate.
OK It's probably not the same cost as buying the $100 upgrade to Windows Pro, but if it's a subscription, there's a good chance it will be the same or higher over the life of the machine.
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@Dashrender said:
Agreed - I rolled this out for a small client this summer - frankly I was disappointed with InTune
As long as you are aware up front that it is mobile WSUS and AV, it's great. If you get the marketing line that it is "management", you are in for some disappointment. Manage is one of those words that you can easily use to trick people. Doing anything on a device is "managing" it. But people have expected meanings of what managing a device is and InTune doesn't even come close to trying to do that. It isn't even user-aware, so how much management could it possibly do.
We use it and we like it, but that's because we need a central WSUS-like system for patching machines that sit on their own networks. It is great for that.
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@Dashrender said:
OK It's probably not the same cost as buying the $100 upgrade to Windows Pro, but if it's a subscription, there's a good chance it will be the same or higher over the life of the machine.
It's a service, not exactly the same as a subscription. But it is monthly pricing, of course, because it is a completely hosted service. But it is not comparable to Windows Pro, it is comparable to the entire AD infrastructure. It replaced AD, GPO, Windows Pro, VPN, etc. all in one go. And does so with all hardware and software hosted and managed so it replaces a lot more than just licensing.
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@scottalanmiller said:
We use it and we like it, but that's because we need a central WSUS-like system for patching machines that sit on their own networks. It is great for that.
Why not GFI instead of InTune?
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@scottalanmiller said:
We use it and we like it, but that's because we need a central WSUS-like system for patching machines that sit on their own networks. It is great for that.
Why not something like GFI instead then?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
OK It's probably not the same cost as buying the $100 upgrade to Windows Pro, but if it's a subscription, there's a good chance it will be the same or higher over the life of the machine.
It's a service, not exactly the same as a subscription. But it is monthly pricing, of course, because it is a completely hosted service. But it is not comparable to Windows Pro, it is comparable to the entire AD infrastructure. It replaced AD, GPO, Windows Pro, VPN, etc. all in one go. And does so with all hardware and software hosted and managed so it replaces a lot more than just licensing.
I was completely wrong. It is SO cheap and it is a one time license.
https://shop.promevo.com/index.php/featured-products/chrome-os-management-software.html
$30 per device. Cheaper by far than anything Windows has.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
We use it and we like it, but that's because we need a central WSUS-like system for patching machines that sit on their own networks. It is great for that.
Why not something like GFI instead then?
We have full AD as well. No need for that. We do have need of running lots of different products. So we judiciously find places where they make sense whenever possible.
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So for as little as $195 you can have an HP Chromebox desktop (sans screen, reuse one to keep the price down) that has all of the management stuff already licensed. That is seriously cheap.
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Yep, if you can/want to live in a web only world - that is pretty good.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
OK It's probably not the same cost as buying the $100 upgrade to Windows Pro, but if it's a subscription, there's a good chance it will be the same or higher over the life of the machine.
It's a service, not exactly the same as a subscription. But it is monthly pricing, of course, because it is a completely hosted service. But it is not comparable to Windows Pro, it is comparable to the entire AD infrastructure. It replaced AD, GPO, Windows Pro, VPN, etc. all in one go. And does so with all hardware and software hosted and managed so it replaces a lot more than just licensing.
So do you think it's fair to compare a $165 Chromebook device to a Windows Pro PC? Shouldn't the comparison be "Chromebook + Management Console Vs. Windows Pro + AD" or "Chromebook vs Windows Home". That seems to be a more like for like comparison.
My point about Office 365 is that your enterprise data is cloud based and controlled by user accounts which are managed within Office 365, not via AD. So a Windows Home PC may make sense, in a way that it wouldn't with on-premise servers.
I'm interested to know pricing.
EDIT: Ah, I've seen the $30 post. Well, that's pretty cheap.
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@Dashrender said:
Yep, if you can/want to live in a web only world - that is pretty good.
Of course, if you live in a Windows world you need Windows. But if you are building from scratch (greenfield) a modern system has a ton of advantages.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
So do you think it's fair to compare a $165 Chromebook device to a Windows Pro PC?
Yes I do. Because Chromebooks only come in "manageable" versions. Windows needs to be Pro to be manageable. The cost of the base unit is directly comparable only when Windows is Pro. The cost of management is separate in both cases.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
My point about Office 365 is that your enterprise data is cloud based and controlled by user accounts which are managed within Office 365, not via AD. So a Windows Home PC may make sense, in a way that it wouldn't with on-premise servers.
Ah, okay. But that's unrelated to the discussion, isn't it? That's application level and not system level, which is what we are discussing. You can use Google Apps, Zoho, Office 365 or other application products. That is a separate discussion from system management, isn't it? They are completely independent. Unless you are saying that application level controls are enough and you don't consider system management needed anymore, then I guess it matters.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So do you think it's fair to compare a $165 Chromebook device to a Windows Pro PC?
Yes I do. Because Chromebooks only come in "manageable" versions. Windows needs to be Pro to be manageable. The cost of the base unit is directly comparable only when Windows is Pro. The cost of management is separate in both cases.
Because of things like this, I think MS will be forced into a single SKU at some point. If they are really losing that much income, they can raise the price on the CAL instead - which frankly is where it should be in the first place.
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@Dashrender said:
Because of things like this, I think MS will be forced into a single SKU at some point. If they are really losing that much income, they can raise the price on the CAL instead - which frankly is where it should be in the first place.
That might make sense. The Home / Pro thing has always been really weird and convoluted and has always been a joking point from every other OS since 1992. However, it is one of the ways that Microsoft punishes stupid businesses for running to Best Buy and buying a machine there. I think that the overall ecosystem might actually like having that feature.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Because of things like this, I think MS will be forced into a single SKU at some point. If they are really losing that much income, they can raise the price on the CAL instead - which frankly is where it should be in the first place.
That might make sense. The Home / Pro thing has always been really weird and convoluted and has always been a joking point from every other OS since 1992. However, it is one of the ways that Microsoft punishes stupid businesses for running to Best Buy and buying a machine there. I think that the overall ecosystem might actually like having that feature.
I agree that BB machines suck - but how does sorta forcing businesses/users to buy better equipment help th ecosystem?
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My big thing on the Chrome versus MS is that clients never ask what will work in their environments. They do go to BestBuy or Staples and just buy stuff. 99% of the time neither will work cause they never get Pro versions when they go out and buy. We are constantly dealing with the aftermath of bad decisions.
Chromebooks are cheap no doubt there. But 99.9% of the time they are not going to work for the client cause they have a Windows Server and a printer that just wont connect and work well. Though I have gotten pretty good at finding work arounds.
