EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Paramount's Welton Gite on the Mac Studio Mix

Although Macs are in the minority at Paramount, Gite is vocal about letting people know why he prefers to work with them. In an interview with MacNewsWorld, he sings the praises of the platform, the technology and other things Apple.

MacNewsWorld: What are your IT responsibilities within your department?

Welton Gite: They have their own help desk here for the lot, but the motion picture development group felt they needed to have their own person, someone who understands Macs. The help desk doesn't know anything about Macs, and our group uses them pretty heavily, so it makes sense that they wanted someone who could do purchasing and repair. Basically, I'm the all-around everything, in terms of technology.

MNW: What's the technology mix at Paramount? What's the ratio between Mac OS X, Windows and Linux? Also, who uses Mac, and who doesn't?

Gite: We are about 30 percent Mac and 70 percent Windows. There's no Linux. The people who use Macs the most are the graphics department and the audio department. Basically, the creative people and the development group do, and the rest use Windows . The really interesting thing is that all the presidents use Macs, the upper echelon.

MNW: With that many Macs, why don't the help desk reps know more about them?

Gite: It's all about how many there are. If this were a total Mac shop, then they'd have to hire more Mac-qualified technicians. But because the Macs are scattered throughout the lot, we fall into the "stepchild syndrome."

Some people who use Macs don't even have support . I'm only supposed to be for the motion picture development group, but I get calls from other departments all the time. They come to me and ask questions because I'm "the Mac guy."

MNW: Do you ever have any difficulty in mixing Macs with what other people are using?

Gite: I think Mac has always been pretty Windows-friendly, because of the office applications it had to have. People forget that Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) first job was creating a spreadsheet for the Mac, which was Excel. It's funny, when people go from PCs to Macs, they ask me if they'll be able to use Word or Excel, as if there are no office applications for Mac.

In terms of mixing, there isn't much incompatibility, but it's easy to see that Macs are always far ahead of PCs. It seems like Apple always takes a chance with capability and features, and if people like them, then they end up on PCs. But having Macs and PCs in the same company isn't much of a problem, because the Mac people don't really communicate with the PC people very much.

MNW: You mentioned that you help people go from PCs to Macs. Is this something that is happening more often at Paramount?

Gite: I think there is some movement, especially with the advent of OS X and the G5. Sometimes it's just a matter of cost. For example, they do work here on Avid systems to look at the production dailies, just to see how the work is flowing. But, when the time comes to upgrade, people think, "Why should I spend $50,000 on an Avid system, when I can use a G5?"

MNW: Do you see any Mac technology being implemented in creative ways? After all, you're in a pretty creative place.

Gite: There's one example that's cool. I went over to the set where they film the new Star Trek series, Enterprise, and walked behind the bridge, which is filled with computer screens. I found out that all those graphics on the bridge are being driven by Apple Cubes. There are about 25 of them there, and they push the video display. There's a guy that sits in the room above and he just creates graphics on the fly and bounces them through the Cubes. It's crazy. It show how there is a lot going on with Macs here that most people don't know about.

MNW: Why do you think that most people at the company are so Mac resistant?

Gite: It's interesting when I hear people hate Macs, because I ask them why, and it turns out that many times they've never used one. They say, "Because my brother hates them," or cite some other third party. They think I'm being biased, but it's not the same thing, because I know Windows very well. I'm Microsoft certified in NT, and I do have some PC clients that I have to support. So I can make the comparison, and to me, Mac just wins.

I've got a perfect example of why. I took a laptop home that had XP on it and did some surfing at Mac sites for about an hour. When I was done, I had just about every piece of spyware there is to get. I was getting popup windows without having a browser open. I had to literally pull the power plug because the machine became unusable. It's ridiculous. And it makes me love the Mac even more, because we're not plagued by that kind of garbage.

MNW: What did you think when the recent security hole was discovered in OS X?

Gite: I think it showed that Apple addresses these issues in a whole different way than Microsoft. When the hole was discovered, Apple stepped up and addressed it. Then you saw five or six companies with freeware jumping in.

That's what I love about the Mac community. It's like, "Is your kid sick? Here, I have some pills that will cure him, and no, I don't need any money." They band together. I don't think you can say the same about PC people.

MNW: What kinds of barriers are there at Paramount for getting more people on Macs, beyond the perceptions of some users?

Gite: Unfortunately, for some departments, they have to stay on PCs because of the software they use. They've got custom applications that handle movie tracking, budgets, royalties and things like that. Those applications aren't available for Macs.

But I do think the company needs to start looking at those, because if some really bad virus came down -- and I'm sure one is coming -- then you're talking millions of dollars of loss per day. If you've got software that only runs on a PC, then you're putting all your eggs in one basket. I just wish they'd diversify more, do some things on Linux , in case something happens.

MNW: If you had your way, what would the technology mix at Paramount look like?

Gite: It would be an entire Mac network, of course! It would run a lot better. We have so many connectivity problems, which is normal for a company of this size. But with an all-Mac setup, I could see it being managed very easily. With Windows, you have to go to third parties very often, like Novell, which means you have to get people that know three times as much to get the job done.

But in general, I'm pretty happy. My clients are great, like Nickelodeon, and MTV films. I do some work with Tom Cruise, who uses Macs. That's what's best about my job -- all the cool people use Macs.