by Mark W. Pemburn
This is my story. Although the impulse
to make it dramatic is strong, I'll resist because, despite the
potential for disasters large and small, the transition from being a
full-time Windows user to a full-time Mac user was actually not all
that bad.
To start with, I've been a computer guy
for a very long time. I've seen a lot different things on many
different screens since my first Texas Instruments home computer in
1981 — probably twenty operating systems all told. Even still,
transitioning to a new OS can be bewildering and frustrating until
you get the hang of it and if you depend on your computer for your
livelihood, it can be a real nail-biter. This was certainly true for
me so why in the world would I
choose to make such a
drastic switch?
Windows Fatigue
The simple answer is that Windows was
wearing me out. Keeping a Windows-based system from going down in
flames — or simply grinding to a halt — due to a virus or spyware
attack requires a lot of effort. It involves identifying the best
protection software, paying for it, installing it, keeping it
up-to-date and scanning the system on a regular basis. It also
requires that you periodically review the situation because some
threat you never heard of six months before is now knocking the tar
out of PC's all over the world — and the software you've paid to
protect you is just not equipped to deal with it.
The other wearing aspect of Windows is
the constant interruption. When you're in the midst of work that
requires concentration, it aggravates mightily to be distracted by a
balloon alerting you that "There are unused icons on your Desktop"
or a pop-up window that steals your focus only to tell you that your
anti-virus is now updated. The worst is the Windows updater that
forces the system to reboot unless you click a button to delay it.
More than once I returned after a short break to find that my system
had rebooted itself and I now had to recreate my rather complex
working environment — again. Oh, it's true you can turn off these
interruptions but this requires either doing without some service
(such as security updates) or digging into the dreaded Windows
Registry to turn of the alert switch — something Microsoft clearly
states that you do at your own risk. But enough wingeing about
Windows. I could certainly go on.
Introduction to the Mac Way
A
couple of years ago, a friend gifted us with an old Apple eMac. This
was the first successor to the original iMac and in production for
only a couple of years (2002 — 2004). Another friend who is a long
time Mac devotee gave me a RAM module that bumped the eMac's memory
up to 512 MB and later helped me get OS X 10.4 "Tiger" installed.
This machine was my first real introduction to Mac OS X and it
enabled me to become comfortable with the Mac way of doing things.
I used it to test out my web applications on various Mac browsers and
as a platform for some musical experiments with the fabulous
GarageBand software.
I enjoyed the simplicity of OS X and it cast my
Windows machine into an even less favorable light.
In
January of 2006, Apple drove the first nail into Window's coffin —
at least from my perspective. That was when they introduced the
first of the Macs with Intel processors. Suddenly, it became
possible — at least in theory — to run Windows on Apple machines.
At first, it was just that: theory. Then in April of 2006 they
announced that software called "Boot Camp" was available for
download from the Apple web site. Boot Camp allowed Intel Mac owners
to create a separate "partition" on their hard drive and install
a copy of Windows there. Now, when the system was booted up, the
user could choose between OS X and Windows.
Okay,
so why do this? Suppose you have been a Windows user for many years
and have some software that you must use but which only
runs on Windows. Up to this point, if you wanted to switch to Mac,
you'd have to keep a Windows machine around for just that software.
Or perhaps you use Mac at home and your employer is an all-Windows
shop. With a copy of Windows on your Mac, the possibility of working
at home might open up to you.
Boot
Camp was a good start but it required a complete reboot of the Mac to
switch operating systems. The next step in the evolution was a
crucial one: Software that would let you run Windows while
you were running OS X.
The
idea is not really a new one — not even on a Mac. Various
"emulators" (such as Blue Label or WINE)
have been available for years. The emulator creates a simulated PC
processor by translating the basic instructions (or "machine
language") from Windows programs into something that the Mac
processor can understand. The major problem with this approach is
that it takes a lot of processing power to make the translation and
this robs power from the actual running of the program. Net result:
poor performance. Of course, the faster the Mac and the greater the
amount of RAM, the faster the emulated software runs. But there are
limits to this as well. The other problem is that not all Windows
programs will run correctly — and some not at all — under an
emulator.
With a
true Intel processor installed, emulation is no longer necessary.
There are now a couple of competing products that create Virtual
Machines — VM's — that are perfect imitations of a complete PC,
and they run a window right on the OS X desktop. One of these is
Parallels Desktop for Mac and
another is VMWare Fusion. Both
are reasonably priced (less than $100) and at this writing they are
running about neck and neck for stability, features and
compatibility.
The Plunge
So it
was that by the middle of 2007, I was dying
to own a Mac. I put my nickels and dimes together and bought a shiny
new MacBook with plenty of RAM and hard drive space plus a copy of
Parallels Desktop. My hope (my desperate
hope, actually) was to be able to spend a bit of time and effort
configuring my new machine and end up with something that would allow
me to continue working in something like my customary fashion.
The
first task was to transfer my old Windows XP Professional machine —
intact — to the MacBook. I downloaded a copy of the Parallels
Transporter and installed it on the Windows machine. I then
installed Parallels Desktop on the MacBook and hooked it up to my
network (Note: If you're planning to do this, use Ethernet cables to
hook the two machines to your router — wireless transfer of as much
data as most machines hold would take forever).
I fired up Transporter and Parallels and told them to go. A couple
of hours later, the transfer was complete and the approximately 50 GB
of my Windows PC was now on the Mac.
I held
my breath and launched the Windows VM. In a minute or so, I was
looking at an exact
replica of what had been until recently been running on my Dell
Optiplex. Not only that, it ran faster.
I launched each of my critical applications in turn and found that
they all worked. Big sigh!
Okay,
so I now had a machine with all of my necessary data and applications
and could continue working on my projects, get my email, etc. But
the point of the exercise was not merely to run a six-year-old
version of Windows on a slick new laptop that looked just like
Macintosh on the outside. In order to become a true "Mac
Switcher", I had to start looking for things to replace as many of
my customary applications as possible. The following is a list of
major software that I was able to get either free or at very low cost
that replace most of
my accustomed Windows programs:
Browser:
This
isn't much of a big deal since most browser are written for both
Windows and the Mac. I use Firefox
primarily and was able to transfer over all of my settings from the
Windows version. Since most of my work is web based, I also use the
Mac's built-in Safari browser for software testing and have copies of
other browsers on hand for the same purpose. There's no lack of 'em
and they're all free for the downloading. Incidentally, if you love
Internet Explorer, you'll be disappointed — Microsoft decided to
stop development on IE for the Mac and you can't even get an old
version from them anymore.
Email:
I
had been using Eudora for my email for many, many years but shortly
before I switched to the Mac, I learned that they were ending their
paid version and releasing an "open source" version of the
program. There were whisperings that the new Eudora would be very
much like the current Mozilla
Thunderbird. I downloaded a copy of Thunderbird and found that
it was so close to Eudora in its operation that it was a no-brainer
to switch. Thunderbird easily converted nine years worth of saved
emails, my address book and all of my settings. With a little poking
around, I was able to find where all of the files were stored on the
Windows machine and copy them over to the Mac. I never missed a
single message.
Calendar
and Address Book:
Until
the switch, I had been using a Palm PDA and synchronizing it with
Palm Desktop on my PC. I downloaded and installed Palm Desktop for
the Mac and found it to be a great disappointment — so different
from my beloved PC version as to be unrecognizable. After thinking
about it some, I decided to transfer all of my contact information to
the built-in Mac Address Book and my calendar to Mac iCal. I gave my
Palm device to my wife and just carry my MacBook with me when I go
out on business. I may go back to a PDA some day and I have my eye
on an iPhone. The price will have to drop a lot and it'll have to
work with my preferred carrier.
Office
Software:
This
was a little tougher. I have used MS Office 2000 for several years
and, like most computer users, have come to depend on it utterly. My
first stab at a replacement was ThinkFree Office which cost me about
$50. It was fine for a while: I could read all of my old Word and
Excel files and create new ones that could be read by anyone else's
Word or Excel. The problems started when I began editing a Power
Point presentation in ThinkFree Show. Suddenly, things that should
be simple were difficult or impossible. Worse, when I tried to go
back to Power Point, the file was corrupted and couldn't be edited at
all. I ended up re-doing all of my changes in Power Point. To cap
it off, when I upgraded to the Leopard version of OS X, the word
processor and spreadsheet stopped working. I then learned that
ThinkFree had gone out of business.
All
was not lost, however. With a little more searching around, I
discovered NeoOffice. I had
used a Beta version on the old eMac and wasn't that impressed but the
new version for Intel Mac being hailed by the critics as a triumph.
It is indeed. Build specifically for OS X using the "Carbon"
application framework, NeoOffice integrates flawlessly with the Mac
and handles all standard document formats with ease. The best part
is that it's free — though the developers will happily accept your
donations! I am using NeoOffice at the moment to write this article.
Graphics:
The
ne plus ultra
of graphics software has long been Adobe Photoshop. I started with
it when it was in version 3.0 and have upgraded as far as version 7.0
for Windows. I had plans of buying a copy of version 7.0 for Mac —
and I'm rather glad I didn't. Mac users who upgraded to Leopard
recently found to their dismay that Photoshop 7.0 suddenly stopped
working. Adobe holds out no hope that the situation will ever be
remedied. If you want Photoshop, sez they, buy version CS3 — to
the tune of several hundred dollars. No thanks, sez I. There is an
alternative, however: they are planning to release Photoshop Elements
version 6.0 for Mac in a March of 2008 and it is designed to work
with OS X Leopard. It has most of the features of the version I'm
used to and should cost less than $100. For the time being, I'm glad
I still have the Windows version available under Parallels.
Audio:
This
is an area that abounds with software for the Mac. I had been using
CoolEdit Pro in Windows and, to be truthful, I still go back to it in
a pinch. My favorite audio file editor for Mac OS X is Audacity.
It is distributed under the GNU
General Public License (GPL)
which means that it's free of charge but, like NeoOffice, you are
also free to donate a few bucks to the creators of the program if you
like the software.
MP3:
If
you have a Mac then getting an iPod for your portable tunes is a
no-brainer, right? Mac's iTunes works seamlessly with an iPod and
has no problem with the protected format of the songs you buy from
the iTunes store.
As
one who does not necessarily follow the herd, I decided instead to
get a Creative
Labs Zen V Plus. It's a 2 MB all solid-state unit and cost me a
lot less than an iPod Nano, it's closest Apple competitor. In order
to use it with a Mac, however, I needed to download a little program
called XNJB.
This cool piece of freeware reads the iTunes database and lets me
load any song stored there on my Zen — as long as it's in MP3
format. This is no real problem as most of my stuff is from CD's and
I've set iTunes up to rip the songs as MP3.
For
the occasional song or album that I buy from iTunes, I have to use a
bit of a dodge: I burn the whole albums to CD and then rip the CD
back into iTunes. The CD goes into the car and the songs onto the
Zen. For single songs: I import them into Audacity (see above).
With the addition of something called Lame, I can export them as
MP3's (instructions for installing Lame may be found here).
Conclusion
With
the introduction of the Intel processor, Apple has made the idea of
switching away from Windows very attractive for many people. Thus
far the switchers are but a trickle but it could grow significantly. For people
looking to replace their aging Windows XP-based PC, Mac makes an
excellent alternative to Windows Vista — Microsoft's worst
mistake in years, some will say. At the moment, Mac OS X only runs
on Apple hardware and people grown accustomed to paying $500 - $700
for a complete Windows system tend to balk at the overall higher
price of Macs. This could change — maybe even dramatically — if
Apple ever decides to open their license to allow people to install
OS X on generic PC hardware. Those of us who remember the beginning
of the Personal Computer revolution will recall that the "cloning"
of IBM's hardware and original DOS operating system is what caused
the explosion of PC's in the first place. I, for one, would love to
see a second explosion, but one with a little apple showing in the
corner of everyone's screen.
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