The "play" depends on how well the IT dept. knows their own system and the Macs. Some things are confusing, while others are the same, some are better. If you have serious concerns, contact Apple. They have been extremely helpful at analyzing the situation and finding the paths of least resistance in cross-platform integration.
Of course there are some differences. Macs are in use all over the world high in end server platforms, but their direct and native support is in question right now based on the elimination of their Xservers.
We've had some trouble with IT people who did not know their way around a Mac and really messed things up. Once it was realized that the problems were self-inflicted, things have been working beautifully since.
About half our students and a large segment of our faculty are using Macs right now, and it really opened some eyes when it was discovered that approximately half of the computer users were not receiving appropriate (or any) support from IT. It caused a serious rethinking of the role of IT and whether or not users should venture beyond IT's limited skill set, or if IT should be adapting to the changing computing landscape as part of their job description.
We really want the opinions of all our IT people to matter, and the way that happens is if the opinions are at best informed, or in the least couched within admitted limits or missing knowledge. A healthy sprinkling of adventurous thinking will go a long way to temper futuristic talk.
But ultimately, I believe the difference between Macs and Windows is one of workflow and lifestyle. And both workflow and lifestyle must be respected, especially when the ultimate reason for the tech in the first place is education.
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