The CEO wants us all to have Macs. I've said I can't because I need Windows (even though I hate Windows, Apple pee me off too when they don't work like they should).
Most of the company has Macs, so I think he wants people to be uniform across the board. The company is like a mini Google. Just got back to my desk from having beer / champagne and pizza in the board room to welcome a bunch of new people to the company. Sitting here in my shorts, T shirt and trainers / sneakers.
I don't really want to have to use VMs to manage our stuff. I think a business risk of using a Mac full time would be the risk of not being able to connect to critical equipment should the worst happen.
:barf:
Can't you explain it too him like that? It's not your fault the equipment is not manageable via Mac.
OTOH, what Window-only management gear do you have? Most is SSH, Java or webinterface here. Checkpoint has that Windows client though.
run Windows in a VM on the MAC, that should give you access to the applications, a hard console connection may be another story.
Personally I don't touch MAC.
There are a few android apps that will provide a terminal window and console connection into Cisco devices, I have one on my ASUS Transformer. works, but not my favorite thing to use.
Then there are those wifi things Dean mentioned a few months ago. maybe that'll work?
Disclaimer, I am an share investor in Apple. so I don't opt to use their products.
I was originally a Windows guy. About 7 years ago my company switched me over to an Apple Macbook Pro to play secondary support role that was all Apple hardware/software on the backend. I was apprehensive but I am so so glad I changed over. It seems I have way less issues than any of my colleagues using the Dell. I still run Windows but I do it in a VM. We were originally running on Parallels but at some point we must have gotten a price break and switch to VMWare Workstation. Both worked how I expected.
I think my only complaint is that when they switched me from an Apple Macbook Pro to an Apple Macbook Pro Retina I lost the built-in Ethernet port on the laptop. I now have to carry the Lightning to Gigabit Ethernet adapter or just use Wifi. I made them give me to two (one for my desk and one for my backpack) so I didn't have to constantly dig around my bag for it.
If I were you, I would give it a try with your existing hardware and see how it compares for you. You might find it is a much better environment to work in for networking.
Keep the Mac as your corporate machine - does email, word processing, other work stuff. Keep it clean and shiny. Keep the Windows as your troubleshooting tool. It's what you're comfortable with and running Windows natively avoids any possible VM issues that could pop up.
Put it this way: The Mac is like a belt sander and the Windows box is like a power drill. Both are handy to have, but you need each tool for its purpose. Doesn't he want you to have the right tools for the right job? Or does he want you to run your power drill as a VM on the belt sander? It's doable, but awkward...
Sadly our windows boxes are so locked down I do pretty much all my work on a VM cause my PC isn't really usable for anything but e-mails and web surfing.
Take teh shiny, as long as they agree to fund you a copy of workstation fusion + WinXYZ for the VM itself.
Worst case u can boot camp :)
I don't see desktop virtualisation of known OSes (i.e. not something obscure and old like DEC alpha etc.) on known hosting OSes (OSX) on known virt products (like vmware fusion) as a risk. Macs are infecting networking left and right from my POV. Whenever I go to external meetings or vendor demos etc its just, macbooks everywhere. And to be honest a lot of stuff is cross platform now.
I was a Windows guy until working at my current company - now I don't have a Microsoft(ish) device anywhere... except for my Xbox and my wife's phone.