Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

I received a call from my friend Todd last week. He has a customer that wants to set up a secure web kiosk cheaply. He asked if I thought the Mac mini would be a good choice for such a project.

Great idea!

Before we cover the broad details of such a project and why the Mac mini is a good fit, let me once again state my thesis.

Thesis:
The Mac mini will sell primarily to persons interested in an additional Mac, to persons or institutions with special needs or circumstances, and organizations that already own Macs. The Mac mini will do little to draw switchers from other platforms. The best way for Apple to attract switchers is through a sustained marketing campaign highlighting the advantages of products such as, but not limited to, OS X and the iLife suite, not via an inexpensively priced headless computer.

Institutions with special needs or circumstances… yep, that’s what Todd is talking about. He needs a secure, trouble-free, physically inaccessible computer to serve as nothing more than a web browsing kiosk for a client. The Mac mini fits the bill perfectly.

A $499 Mac mini with the stock configuration will run the current versions of OS X and Safari just fine. Wireless internet may be a consideration, but Todd did not indicate such during our discussion, so I am left to assume that the computer will have a wired connection to the Internet. No additional hardware is required, so the Mac mini retains it’s initial $499 price tag.

Mac OS X and Safari are currently unmolested by the virus and spyware infections to which Windows is subject. Even though the Mac mini may cost slightly more out of the gate compared to a cheap PC with the same capabilities, the purchaser will come out ahead in a very short time when they consider the multiple service calls that will be required to repair or rebuild a Windows machine that has been trashed by the unscrupulous elements of our world.

The Mac mini’s small form factor allows it to be secured in a locked drawer of some kind, for instance, with holes drilled for cable access. (I really don’t know if this is how Todd plans to secure the machine. I’m simply providing an example.) The Mac mini runs cooler than a comparably priced PC would, so air flow is no problem.

Todd would create a local admin account on the machine and a user-level account. The user account could be restricted to running only Safari and a very limited Finder by using Workgroup Manager, part of Apple’s freely available Server Admin Tools to modify the local Netinfo database. If Todd desires further control or a more restricted browsing environment, he could install Saft ($12) or other appropriate software.

Combine all this with an Open Firmware password, an unused monitor, keyboard, and mouse owned by the client, and the Mac mini would make an excellent secure web browsing kiosk for not much money (and within the budget Todd’s client had in mind). You could literally set it up, walk away, and never have to worry about it.

Since our conversation, Todd has told me that his client approves of the idea. If Todd agrees, I’d like to participate in the setup of the kiosk and provide a tutorial on this page, or perhaps MacTech magazine.

As I’ve had to point out before, I’m not opposed to the Mac mini. There are good uses for it, and I’m excited to point them out as I find them. Chalk this idea up in the win column.