+9So I saw this come across my timeline today, and I'm pretty disgusted.
Jamf, your product has some serious shortcomings, including your inability to do something simple like allow paying customers to use the database of their choice, and you pull this card? In many ways, you are inferior to free offerings. Many of those free offerings fill the VERY large gaps in your product.
It's disappointing and bush league. And apparently you aren't better than that.
+16I'm genuinely surprised that there exists anyone within this industry who is unfamiliar with sales and marketing.
+23This is not hostility from Jamf. I totally agree with the whole article. I used to do some really creative things with the free solutions, but having Jamf Pro has simplified everything. Sure, Jamf Pro is expensive, and I have voiced my concerns about it both here at Jamf Nation, and to several Jamf employees, but I still believe that Jamf Pro is the best mangement solution. Is Jamf Pro perfect? Absolutely not! I have pointed out a lot of bugs. The support we get from Jamf is awesome. I have spent hours on the phone with their support staff on many occasions. They are always great. A great product, and great support come at a higher price. I choose to use Apple products because they are the best. I could have bought four or five Dell laptops for the price I paid for my MacBook Pro last year, but I don't regret paying $3000 for a Mac. Not one bit.
+9@Josemocha https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/feature-requests/456/supported-jss-option-to-save-into-mssql-instead-of-mysql 5 year anniversary is Easter.
This is not hostility from Jamf. I totally agree with the whole article. I used to do some really creative things with the free solutions, but having Jamf Pro has simplified everything.
A paid software, built entirely on free software, that bashes free software because they half-ass their entire suite is hostile. The amount of that same free software they tell you to use (through support) to fill the considerable gaps that they can't do is staggering. All jamf provides is a UI, and even that sucks.
+5So why waste your time here if you're offended by JAMF? Use the free stuff and be happy. Sure JAMF has serious shortcomings, reporting amongst one of many, but it's still the best in the field. The competition from other vendor's paid offerings is getting better so JAMF cannot rest on its laurels. We're routinely test other offerings, including the free stuff. At the end of the day, it's just another tool.
+9I "waste" my time here because I am a customer that is offended by the lies in the (now pulled) document, and by their refusal to actually act on customer requests. This is the only voice a customer has with jamf.
+26While I agree on the need for MSSQL support whole-heartedly, I disagree with the poster and his motives.
No, JAMF Pro doesn't give me everything I feel I need in my proverbial toolbox. But when constructing a toolbox that meets the standards of a busy school-district MacAdmin, I look for high-quality tools that do most of my jobs. Let's take this into a typical toolbox metaphor.
Now I could go into a department store hardware section and buy a cheap hammer, wrench, nails, sockets, etc and throw it all into a cardboard box and one could technically call that a toolbox.
In reality the tool quality will likely suck and my cardboard box is only going to last a month or so.
Instead I would go to Sears back in the day (showing my age and honestly haven't been there for years because I have a great Craftsman toolbox that's 30 years old from my deceased father) and buy a toolbox and a Craftsman starter set for it and well I'd be on the way. I wouldn't have everything I need, but I'd be able to fix most things around the house that I want to. If I found a really good drill or a great set of electronics equipment, I would augment my toolbox with stuff until I had everything I wanted to be able to do. I still augment my father's old toolbox.
I see JAMF Pro as comparable. We purchased in 2012. At the time, I was scared to stop using DeployStudio, Workgroup Manager and was not comfortable giving up my imaging scripts or to stop populating my ARD fields. JAMF said okay...let's build the toolbox your way, but show you what this new stuff can do. They designed a workflow around what I wanted at the time and over the years, I have begun to master their tools to do the things I want to do...no more ARD fields, no more full deployment imaging scripts (we use package-based deployment instead). I'm always learning new things about the product and will never consider myself a true master of the product despite holding CJA and CCE certs and using it for almost 5 years.
But JAMF Pro doesn't do everything...I still combine with AutoDMG building vanilla base images with system updates integrated (sorry guys I still have public labs), AutoCasperNBI (@bentoms, life would have so much more faff without you), I use API scripting to handle some of our data entry tasks, extension attributes when something's missing that I want to collect and most importantly, I rely on this community when I'm in a pinch trying to do something. JAMF Pro is the foundation of the toolbox my boss bought for me back then and I can keep building it and growing it, but without a strong box and good quality tools to fill it with, I worry that other solutions are just that...lesser quality tools kept in a crummy cardboard box.
I would also check your facts, I read the document as well and by the way the link still works. The document was comparing two or three scenarios...one of them is what I outlined above...cobbled together freeware tools taken from Google searches that the new admin encountered. Now, I'm not necessarily bashing all freeware...autopkgr, reposado, some still use deploy studio, nomad, and plenty of others..on the contrary, my personal MacAdmin toolkit contains great freeware tools, but they aren't there unless I have either mastered them or are successfully using or testing part of them.
The JAMF white paper also compared monolithic imaging to zero touch DEP deployment...not a lot of freeware does handle DEP stuff. Sure I could purchase OS X Server's Profile Manager for $20 but I'd love to hear of how many admins would choose that over Jamf Pro. I would love to actually see this whitepaper augmented to include what Jamf Pro can do vs other supposedly good paid products. I was actually asked to consider using inTune recently. Being that I wanted to keep an open mind, I did some research and found that inTune could not even handle basic things that all paid MDM providers can do like support device-based app assignment. I pull my evidence from Microsoft's own documentation on the product: [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/deploy-use/manage-ios-apps-you-purchased-through-a-volume-purchase-program-with-microsoft-intune](link URL)
+35@blackholemac just replying to say I chuckled at the "faff" comment.. thank you.
If only my family felt the same. Haha
+26It's just impossible to discuss @bentoms without using "faff" to be written in some Mac admin bylaws somewhere.
+26Lol...you'd have to meet @bentoms in a session to totally get it but he explains here well:
[https://macmule.com/projects/autocaspernbi/](link URL)
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