Mac Migration Mania

The virtualization solution phenomenon is not only driving the biggest profits for all stripes of solution providers, it also is helping to fuel a Mac renaissance in businesses. More companies and even more consumers are making the big jump from the PC to the Mac platform. In fact, the virtualization solution wave is Microsoft's biggest nightmare come true. Whether it's a stick-with-XP or a move-to-Macintosh stance, it's all bad news for Microsoft's bid to move the operating system and Office productivity franchise to the next level.

	STEVEN BURKE
Can be reached via e-mail at sburke@everythingchannel.com.

One of the products driving the migration madness from the PC to the Macintosh is VMware Fusion, which was drawing a crowd at the recent RetailVision Europe event in Rome. The $80 VMware Fusion is the biggest-selling software product for the Macintosh online and in stores -- behind only Microsoft Office, according to SmithMicro Software Managing Director of International Sales Brad Peppard.

The VMware product makes migrating from PC to Mac painless and "risk free," Peppard said. "The big fear when you switched [from PC to Mac] is, 'Oh my God, I am not going to have this program that doesn't exist on the Mac. How can I be sure my data is going to be available?' That worry goes away with VMware."

Michael Oh, president of Tech Superpowers, a Boston-based Apple managed services provider, said VMware is paving the way for businesses that previously would not even have considered a migration to make the switch. "Without that [VMware] product, Apple wouldn't be making the inroads that it is now," he said. "We can easily switch over a company of five to 10 people now regardless of what they are running on the PC side. Most of our managed service customers are companies that two or three years ago were running PCs."

Oh said more financial services companies, long considered PC bigots, are moving to Mac solutions. In 2008, 9 percent of the top 10 percent of Tech Superpowers' professional services business were financial services companies, up from only 4 percent in 2004, he said. And this year, he said, overall professional services/product sales are up 20 percent in the first four months.

What the numbers show is that VMware is making the Mac more viable in the marketplace. While Microsoft is worrying about Google, it is slowly but surely being eaten away by the dynamic duo of VMware and Mac.

ARE YOU SEEING PC-TO-MAC MIGRATION MANIA?
E-MAIL ME AT SBURKE@EVERYTHINGCHANNEL.COM.