I don't think it's absurd. I've watched as they get skipped over for the graphics guy that uses Windows, can share files in meetings, and quickly interacts with their coworkers. And, honestly, why would you promote the guy that can't do that? I can't disagree with it. We should be promoting pragmatic thinkers that get stuff done, not people that intentionally choose machines with problems or make other such bad choices in life and in business.

Again, tell me about Samba. How do you call a machine with major problems interacting with a business network, a business computer?

(Should I answer that question? You blame the IT team, and say it's a business computer based on the sales data. It's all very illogical.)

>millions of people share files at work between virtually any OS and Macs

Right. Using cloud solutions. That's not practical in many applications, especially where medium and large businesses are concerned. You're going to make them download large files from the cloud every time they want to open them while their Windows counterparts are streaming those same files over a 10G fiber drop to the server?

Which one makes more sense here? One of these users is getting promoted. It's not the guy working the slowest, usually.

Anyway, the request to make Samba work comes from the users. I didn't go looking for a problem to solve, right? I prefer it when my phone doesn't ring, my pay being fixed and all.