Seriously Apple! Enough!

[SYNACK]

I am so done with Apple stuff... I tried but it is unmanageable junk.

 

After months of juggling just to get a hold of A working VPP account and some credit to go on it plus struggling to keep their flimsy pile of simpering junk they call a 'Server app' going they have pulled yet more stupidity. After generating the third token for the VPP to get Profile manager fired up again and running another pile of updates on the now snail pace - brand new - Mac mini, seriously I don't know how something with the spec it has can go that slow. They now have a nice little game where you can no longer create an iTunes id without adding money of some sort, not even with the hack. So to use it you have to waste half your budget on iTunes cards that ideally will never be used as it should all go through their barely working VPP.

 

Share an AppleID... sure that used to work but now even VPP push requires a signing on each app even when pre signed in via a backup so back to square one after about $2000 worth of folly.

 

 

If I ever get handed another stack of iPads I will straight up walk out rather than deal with them. Working with them is literally not worth employment.

[Joanne]

I'm struggling with VPP. Haven't got the ipads yet though. Might just do it all on the dodge out of spite!!

[APMerry]

Check out my new iPad storage container!

 

[SYNACK]

I'd prefer to feed them through this at this stage

 

 

Before anyone asks this is not behind the red door because Apple and their followers need to see it, it needs to be indexed.

Edited June 3, 2014 by SYNACK

[zag]

I don't see the issue here really.

 

iPads are designed for individual users.

 

It looks to me like you are trying to apply Microsoft shared software installation work practices to a software ecosystem that is designed for individual users to manage their devices not the Network team.

 

We've used iPads for teachers here and don't touch them after getting them on the wireless. Seems to work really well so far.

 

If I ever rolled them out to students it would be on a 1:1 basis starting with certain year or class groups. They would then be responsible for their own device software app installs.

Edited June 3, 2014 by zag

[Tesla]

@zag My argument with that way of "managing" them is, if the teachers are left on their own to work an iPad, there is a huge loss of control over them, and no way to know who's putting what apps on what ipad etc, and could potentially blow huge holes in the budget. ie a teacher gets moved to a different year etc, or gets given a previous ipads with apps not to their personal taste, and then have to downlaod / buy more apps....

[SYNACK]

I don't see the issue here really.

 

iPads are designed for individual users.

 

It looks to me like you are trying to apply Microsoft shared software installation work practices to a software ecosystem that is designed for individual users to manage their devices not the Network team.

 

We've used iPads for teachers here and don't touch them after getting them on the wireless. Seems to work really well so far.

 

If I ever rolled them out to students it would be on a 1:1 basis starting with certain year or class groups. They would then be responsible for their own device software app installs.

 

Yes but try conveying that to the thick headed bags of human garbage who pedal this rubbish to schools promising the world then disappearing. Apple's sales team to education needs to be put to death.

[Stevecee]

I would have to stand up and say that We don't seem to have those problems here. We have approx. 140 iPads and have just rolled out 65 to staff so that they can prepare for our 1-1 deployment next Easter.

 

We sen them all home with the staff to create their own Apple ID, having prepared it in Configurator to enrol with Meraki and a crib sheet of very step by step instructions on how to set up their school email (exchange) and link their apple ID to the schools fro app deployment. They set up their iCloud account first as that way they are not asked for their credit card details, then when they go into the app store they can click "none" when they are asked for them.

 

I'm not saying that there were no prblems and teething issues but they were mainly user related and easily fixed. I cant say I even looked at profile manager as an option but meraki is free and had the adaptability that I was looking for.

 

Steve

[AMLinington]

I feel your pain. Our whole support team feel your pain. Have a Chocolate Finger.

[Brimstone]

Standing up as well here...

 

Just completed 1500 iPads, enrolled and deployed using Lightspeed. It took 3 days with lots of planning.....works like a dream

[Brimstone]

@zag My argument with that way of "managing" them is, if the teachers are left on their own to work an iPad, there is a huge loss of control over them, and no way to know who's putting what apps on what ipad etc, and could potentially blow huge holes in the budget. ie a teacher gets moved to a different year etc, or gets given a previous ipads with apps not to their personal taste, and then have to downlaod / buy more apps....

 

 

My argument here is.....managed distribution. Revoke and assign, revoke and assign

[abillybob]

I'm not even going to comment, I'm sure you all know my opinions so I'm just going to sit back and watch, I shall also proceed to add @seawolf to the discussion. Have fun!

[DGardiner]

My argument here is.....managed distribution. Revoke and assign, revoke and assign

 

 

This, since the VPP came to the UK and IOS7 turned up it has been easy to get them going, i use configurator to give them a base profile of wifi settings and little else, then enrol them onto meraki system centre and leave them to it, you assign apps via VPP and never touch them again... the users don't need accounts with credit cards to rack up bills...

 

they can still however install crap using their own accounts as i don't think you can disable app install/removal and still be able to deploy/install via mdm

[ozydave]

Yes but try conveying that to the thick headed bags of human garbage who pedal this rubbish to schools promising the world then disappearing. Apple's sales team to education needs to be put to death.

Love it

[SYNACK]

This, since the VPP came to the UK and IOS7 turned up it has been easy to get them going, i use configurator to give them a base profile of wifi settings and little else, then enrol them onto meraki system centre and leave them to it, you assign apps via VPP and never touch them again... the users don't need accounts with credit cards to rack up bills...

 

they can still however install crap using their own accounts as i don't think you can disable app install/removal and still be able to deploy/install via mdm

 

Good to hear it works for someone, Configurator can't even manage to enter our WiFi properly, have to add that manually after supervision, have checked everything even in the actual XML of the profile that gets pushed, the key is right it just refuses to use it. Utter junk - apples config tools - the whole way through. It makes me yearn for Windows NT4 which at least made a passable attempt at being manageable.

[rich_tech]

Thats a bug bear of mine, we only have a small amount on our site and I have been using apple configurator lately getting to grips with it all(waiting to have LEA finish off our wireless installation), their not massively hard to configure from what I have seen, though can be very fiddly, I dislike the fact that you cannot get them "completely" finished using it and it requires 5 minutes of setting a passcode and other tweaks to finish them off after the apps, (unless anyone knows how to completely do that process, we have an imac for their configuration here, not a server)

 

I have only used free apps here so far, VPP was a bit of a nightmare when I was looking at setting it up, but I will probably revisit that shortly when I get a bit of R+D time towards the summer.

[Shadow_Walker]

Standing up as well here...

 

Just completed 1500 iPads, enrolled and deployed using Lightspeed. It took 3 days with lots of planning.....works like a dream

 

WOW did you have to make 1500 apple ID's for each one?

[Simcfc73]

Wonder if they will start doing a GCSE in ipads for all these schools not afraid of embracing the dark side

[mac_shinobi]

I'd prefer to feed them through this at this stage [ATTACH=CONFIG]24865[/ATTACH]

 

 

Before anyone asks this is not behind the red door because Apple and their followers need to see it, it needs to be indexed.

 

Lol you could make your own silicon valley from the shredded apple kit !!

 

On a more serious note they need to work on getting it to work correctly or failing that have a simple how to manage ipads , installing apps on mass etc

Edited June 3, 2014 by mac_shinobi

[free780]

I take it people are not using a proxy server with the ipads. Now that is fun.

[seawolf]

They now have a nice little game where you can no longer create an iTunes id without adding money of some sort, not even with the hack. So to use it you have to waste half your budget on iTunes cards that ideally will never be used as it should all go through their barely working VPP.

 

Is this something that changed in the last week, because last time I checked you can create an Apple ID without a credit card or gift card by trying to purchase a free app when not logged in with an Apple ID and then choosing the option to create an Apple ID when prompted. Works on both iTunes and on an iPad from the App Store.

 

If I ever get handed another stack of iPads I will straight up walk out rather than deal with them. Working with them is literally not worth employment.

 

Some of you boys on here have 100x more problems than I've ever seen with iPads. I don't know if it has something to do with the proxies and shared internet connections/filtering UK schools have or what - but the UK seems to have the biggest brunt of management issues with them. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation, but I have to wonder.

[seawolf]

Yes but try conveying that to the thick headed bags of human garbage who pedal this rubbish to schools promising the world then disappearing. Apple's sales team to education needs to be put to death.

 

I don't know what the sales team are actually saying in the UK, but in Australia, Apple employees (not resellers) were stating from day one pretty loud and clear that the iPad was a 1:1 device and that using them as "shared" devices was not what they were designed to do, and that forcing them into that square hole would be difficult. This was stated at two different Q&A sessions where Apple employees were in attendance to answer questions from the IT Managers and Principals at schools in Victoria, Australia. So, was this actual Apple employees singing their praises for "shared" use, or resellers?

[SYNACK]

Is this something that changed in the last week, because last time I checked you can create an Apple ID without a credit card or gift card by trying to purchase a free app when not logged in with an Apple ID and then choosing the option to create an Apple ID when prompted. Works on both iTunes and on an iPad from the App Store.

Tried that multiple times and could not get past it in the NZ or US region. Someone else said that if you add the step of setting up iCloud first it may then allow that hack but that is getting up into the half hour or more per account. A huge time sink.

 

Some of you boys on here have 100x more problems than I've ever seen with iPads. I don't know if it has something to do with the proxies and shared internet connections/filtering UK schools have or what - but the UK seems to have the biggest brunt of management issues with them. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation, but I have to wonder.

 

No proxy, but their is some weird filtering in play, this is New Zealand so the junk that flies here would not be tolerated in many countries. Still, nothing else has a problem and iPad apps still take hours to install on our 100Mbit fibre.

 

I don't know what the sales team are actually saying in the UK, but in Australia, Apple employees (not resellers) were stating from day one pretty loud and clear that the iPad was a 1:1 device and that using them as "shared" devices was not what they were designed to do, and that forcing them into that square hole would be difficult. This was stated at two different Q&A sessions where Apple employees were in attendance to answer questions from the IT Managers and Principals at schools in Victoria, Australia. So, was this actual Apple employees singing their praises for "shared" use, or resellers?

 

Perhaps not the apple team themselves but rather the team of technology illiterate ex teachers who make their living showing off the 'revolution' of apps instead of teaching. These are probably the same people who let TV raise their children as it is the same kind of mentality. These people will lobby and convince with no regard for setup, possibility or legality and should be made to pay greatly.

 

 

As to the amount of problems, you are right, there seem to be hundreds and half of them are to do with Apples greedy politics, the other half are technical as their aversion to the error message that makes problems solvable and their shoddy work on OSX Server just make it hell. The little brand new top spec mac mini is crawling and takes a couple of seconds to open a new tab on safari, it has just run its required upgrades and had configurator and Server installed on it. Its like a Windows 98 box that has been running for seven years and it has only been, at best 7 months. Shockingly bad, I don't know how people find Apple products even tolerable if this is even remotely usual. I should not have to do a full reinstall for an Os hotfix or even a point revision. Windows 8 - 8.1 went fine and that is a stack more complex driver wise.

Edited June 4, 2014 by SYNACK

[Arthur]

They now have a nice little game where you can no longer create an iTunes id without adding money of some sort, not even with the hack.

The "free app" method of creating an account should still work?

 

Creating an iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store account without a credit card

 

Have you tried the Apple ID Automation Builder to create accounts in bulk?

 

There's also the Apple ID for Students program, but I imagine it's only available in the US at the moment?

Edited June 4, 2014 by Arthur

[seawolf]

Tried that multiple times and could not get past it in the NZ or US region. Someone else said that if you add the step of setting up iCloud first it may then allow that hack but that is getting up into the half hour or more per account. A huge time sink.

 

Nope, still works here. I don't know what you have going on there, but using the method I've always used still works just fine as I just tested it.

 

 

No proxy, but their is some weird filtering in play, this is New Zealand so the junk that flies here would not be tolerated in many countries. Still, nothing else has a problem and iPad apps still take hours to install on our 100Mbit fibre.

 

Also, don't know what you've got going on here unless you are trying to update an app on hundreds of iPads at once. We only have 30Mbit fibre and it only takes minutes to update most apps. Of course, if I pushed an update to 300 iPads at once it could take a while, but not two hours.

 

As to the amount of problems, you are right, there seem to be hundreds and half of them are to do with Apples greedy politics, the other half are technical as their aversion to the error message that makes problems solvable and their shoddy work on OSX Server just make it hell.

 

Don't know what Apple's "greedy politics" you are referring to, but most of the majors seem to be about as bad as one another. Microsoft certainly doesn't give anything to anyone for free, and Google only appears to give things away for free while rummaging through your data in ways the NSA wouldn't have the balls to even think about doing, and using that information to make metric butt tons of money.

 

he little brand new top spec mac mini is crawling and takes a couple of seconds to open a new tab on safari, it has just run its required upgrades and had configurator and Server installed on it. Its like a Windows 98 box that has been running for seven years and it has only been, at best 7 months. Shockingly bad, I don't know how people find Apple products even tolerable if this is even remotely usual. I should not have to do a full reinstall for an Os hotfix or even a point revision. Windows 8 - 8.1 went fine and that is a stack more complex driver wise.

 

Do you generate a powerful EMI field that only affects gear made by Apple. Perhaps operating on a particular frequency? A top spec Mac Mini that you are only using for the Server app running that slow is very, very out of the ordinary (and not even remotely usual). Unless perhaps you are trying to manage hundreds or thousand of iPads using Profile Manager there is no reason for it to be going that slow. I repeat - it is not normal. Perhaps a hardware scan is called for here.

Edited June 4, 2014 by seawolf