micromdm VS munki

Not personally used it but have a look at MicroMDM and see if that fits your needs.

Micromdm is a fantastic project, but it's really meant as a framework to build more off of. I think the 'Not a product' section of micromdm's readme sums it up best https://github.com/micromdm/micromdm/blob/main/docs/user-guide/introduction.md

for the printer MDM, maybe https://github.com/micromdm/micromdm

https://micromdm.io/ is a self hosted option.

If you want a free, open source, self-hosted and are willing to do everything from the command line: https://micromdm.io/

Not very - there are several reference ones in various languages and frameworks. The difference I'm upset about is that Profile Manager got the closest to acting like a proper enterprise MDM, but still wouldn't let me supervise devices because I'm not a company. I'm not some weirdo who wants full control to devices I don't deserve it on, but I do want to make sure my grandparents' iPhones are up to date, or have the ability to make it beep when they call (from a land line) that they've lost it, or push family calendars or email accounts to their devices so they don't have to enter passwords. Apple has decided those features are only for the enterprise or schools, and I'm sadly neither.

If you're interested this[0] is the MDM reference I'm most interested in these days.

0 - https://micromdm.io

JAMF and Mosyle offers API, you may also may want to take a look at microMDM https://github.com/micromdm/micromdm

In the non-MDM tool space, look into Munki https://www.munki.org/munki/

this experience is an indication that the opco didn't hire the right expertise. If the numbers you quoted ie 30k desktops, 50k total were not macs, it's clear that the org didn't have the kind of mac experience needed to manage a a new org with all macs.

It's entirely possible for administration of macs.

Start networking/asking around with places like Disney or Pixar, etc which have a large amount of graphic artists using macs. For example, from Disney https://github.com/munki/munki gets you to a certain point.

Other tools like Kandji (lightweight) and the 900 lb gorilla in the industry Jamf gets you the other management / administration bits needed

If this opco that you referred to never got a Jamf rep to work with them and to try out their (yes, very expensive) products, then this is mostly inexperience with the mac ecosystem.

There's a decent open source option: https://github.com/munki/munki

I got to use it at work at Meta (as end user), and it seemed to work quite well. They delivered Android SDKs/IDEs and a bunch of other things that I'd personally install through Brew with Munki.

Munki is not an MDM and I recently learned there's this project called Installomator that might help.

Or Munki

This is a feature of munki called default manifest resolution. Though I prefer to avoid this and explicitly set the client identifier for all devices.

another option is munki https://github.com/munki/munki, for the software update part,