Mar
Moving To The Darkside: Leaving A PC And Becoming A Mac User
Yes, as you might have read, I’ve gone and done it…after years of arguing the PC-side versus those annoying Mac evangelists, I’ve made the switch.
I’ve never stuck up for PCs because I’ve thought they were better than Macs; it’s more because Mac evangelists are so adamant that their Macs *never* fail them.
Well, they must be deluded because I’ve had a few niggles so far…as I mentioned the other day, the demo Mac in the shop refused to play at all and I’ve had to reinstall my OS (operating system) on the new Mac already plus had to figure out why several programs haven’t worked properly, therefore requiring a reinstall of each. Trouble-free it isn’t but it is a dream to use.
So how smooth has the process been of transferring from a PC to a Mac?
Here’s the lowdown:
Replacing or Replicating Software & Programs
This was a biggie – I have a number of programs that I use extensively which I purchased for PC use only. In most instances there are Mac-equivalent versions but it would have meant purchasing new licenses in most instances (costing me around £500 in total). Secondly, one program I use frequently (Camtasia) currently has no Mac version (although it’s promised apparently) and no decent alternative.
The solution? I’ll list out the alternative software programs below that I’m using on the Mac but the BIG bonus that I’ve discovered is a nifty piece of software which allows me to run Windows XP from my Mac.
And not just using BootCamp (which you may have heard about) which requires you to reboot every time you want to switch between the Mac OS and Windows XP…oh no, now I can access all my PC programs (like Camtasia and Fireworks) whilst I’m on the Mac and set up 2 windows (or “Spaces”) to switch between them.
So on the left hand side I have my Mac screen and on the right is my Windows screen and with the click of my (mighty) mouse button, I can jump between the two. Genius!
Transferring Files
I did this by copying everything on my PC to my external 120GB hard drive and then just copying it across to the Mac. Easy. The hard (painful) bit is trawling through them all and sorting them out.
Getting Used To The Mac
If you’re a PC user who’s never used a Mac then you’ll have a few learning curves to get to grips with. Fortunately I’ve been showing J and my Dad (who is another Mac convert) how to use their Macs for a while now ;-)
It’s the little things that are frustrating to begin with – like using the Apple key instead of the CTRL key and then figuring out which combination of the apple, CTRL, FN and alt keys does the thing you want to do without screwing everything else up first.
Getting used to a trackpad that has no right-click was also a challenge although I quickly found a neat little trick to enable the same functionality without having to hold down the CTRL button (which is otherwise what you have to do); and the mighty mouse (yes it really is called that) is very nifty with left click, right click, 360 little scroll ball, a “pinch” and another button to help control everything.
Features I Like
I LOVE “Spaces” – which basically lets you have separate workspaces for when you’re working on different things.
So I envisage myself not only having the Mac and Windows desktop spaces but also having a “Client” space (where I have all my client’s files open while I’m working on them) and maybe even a “Blogging” space where I have all the tools open that I usually use when blogging. It is a great way to keep things streamlined and one of my favourite features.
I love the fact that it is so fast starting up and shutting down; these days I can be up and running as fast as J is, rather than sitting there twiddling my thumbs still waiting to log in to the whole system whilst he’s already surfing on the internet.
Features I Don’t Like
The fact that there’s no “safety feature’ asking you if you’re sure if you want to remove things from the Mac. e.g. It’s far too easy to remove or uninstall things from the dock/your system by simply dragging them off the dock or into trash and there’s no warning “Are you sure?” message which we’re so used to in Windows.
Granted, you get one when you’re about to empty the trash but I have always used the trash can in a way that means I’ll only ever put something in it if I’m sure I want to trash it; so I rarely check it before I empty it.
I also don’t like the fact that there’s no DELETE button; yes, there’s a backspace (left delete) but no forward delete which is frustrating. Again it can be achieved by holding down the Fn key but you need 2 hands for that given they’re at opposite ends of the keyboard.
The fact that the USB slots are on the left which isn’t such an issue given that my mighty mouse is wireless but if you don’t have a wireless mouse and you’re right-handed, the wire trails all over the keyboard or has to stretch around the back. Poor design, Mr. Apple Mac, poor design.
I also hate the fact that it’s a brick compared to my Sony Vaio; it’s one of the reasons I resisted for so long and whilst the Macbook Air is super gorgeous to look at and touch, it has some serious flaws which put it out of contention.
RIght, now I’ve waffled on enough about PCs and Macs (who really cares…as long as they work, right?…I can hear all you Mac envgelists jumping on that already LOL!)…it’s time to go out for a walk on the beach in the sun.
Recommended Software For Macs:
- NeoOffice instead of MS Office.
- Fusion software lets you run Windows on your Mac if you need to (which you will if you want to use Camtasia or any other PC software for which you have the licenses).
- 1Password instead of Flexwallet.
Hi Lea,
Congratulations on making the switch and welcome to Mac community!
I am the co-author of 1Password and wanted to thank you for mentioning it in your post. By the way, there is a “Delete” button on iMac keyboard; on MacBook/MacBook Pro you’d have to use Fn-Delete combination.
Best regards, Roustem
Well I can’t beleive it. I’ve used Mac’s for more than 12 years. I even did a stint of IT support during the Mac OS9 years. And yet I never figured out that I could assign Fusion to one space and have effectively one click access between MacOS and WinXP.
Thanks for the fantastic tip. Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees!
There is a newly released screencapture software called ScreenFlow (for Leopard only) that can make some pretty amazing stuff. All I did with Camtasia before I now do with ScreenFlow and iMovie.
Trackpad right-clicking: Tap with one finger – leftclick, tap with two fingers – right click. Same with scrolling – two fingers on the trackpad and slide. Very convenient, and became a habit since day 1. I curse my old laptop every time I use for not having this functionality.
And I agree, VMWare Fusion is really awesome!
/Glenn – recent switcher
ScreenFlow looks pretty amazing in action and apparently it’s piss easy to use as well.
http://www.varasoftware.com/products/screenflow/
Thanks guys for the comments…
I have seen Screenflow and had a look at it yesterday but didn’t download it because my internet connection crashed!
Glenn – do you have to do some editing or something in iMovie? Does Screenflow have *all* the same features and functionality as camtasia? I’ll download it when I can and check it out myself – but would be useful to know from someone who’s also used Camtasia…
Hi Lea! Jerry from Tokyo (but originally from a country called America on planet earth!)
I recently became a Mac convert myself, from around about fall of 2007. This is after more then 15 years of using Windows and supporting Windows-based networks in the financial industry here in Japan. The more I use it the more I realize I don’t want to go back to Windows, at least as a mainstream operating system. There are some tasks I still need/want to do (i.e., online FX (Forex) trading, etc.) for which unfortunately FX brokerages generally offer only a Windows solution for trading and not an OS-X solution.
Similar to you, I love spaces to. I set up four spaces as well, but unlike your matrix, I just place mine all in a single row / 4 columns. Then, I can quickly rotate through them by simply using the Ctrl+ -> or Ctrl+ < -. and don't have to think about going up or down, left or right. It's simply a matter of the latter, horizontal rotation through the spaces. Similar to you, I have situations in which I want all my communications (email, skype, etc) in one space, Windows-related stuff in other, Japanese-related work in other, etc.
Shortcuts in Apple... you might want to have a look at....
http://lixlpixel.org/mac-keyboard-shortcuts/
or
http://creativebits.org/keyboard_shortcuts_in_os_x
I use one of these shortcuts (shift+command+4) to take screen captures of these shortcuts. (about 4 images). These images are then in a folder on my desktop titled, ‘Desktop Depository’. Whenever I want to reference a shortcut, I just go to the depository, highlight one file, press the space bar to zoom in on the file and reference the shortcut I want to view. I am learning many nifty things like this the more I use the Mac.
I used to use Camtasia in Windows but not extensively. Picking up the cue from the above comments, Screenfold does look pretty nifty, and may adopt it.
1Password is also very good. I communicated sometime back with one of the co-founders of the program. It all evolved because they themselves formally came from a Windows environment. Realizing there was no equivalent of a Roboform in the Mac world, 1Password was born.
Anyway, excuse the long-windedness, but, I stumbled upon your blog indirectly while actually visiting 1Password’s website. There I clicked on a linkd of interest which brought me here to your blog.
Hope some of the above helps.
Jerry
a.k.a. TokyoJerry
Hi Lea,
This is coming to you from Oklahoma. I got here the same way Jerry did. Buy an Apple wireless keyboard to go with mighty mouse and you will have a second delete key and no fn key. I promise you will love it.
Dave
You guys need to fix your headline…
PCs ARE the Darkside.
Always have. Always will be.
Glad to hear that you’ve seen the light. Welcome the the Mac Universe!
Don’t even need to buy an expensive Apple KB. Just buy any standard wireless KB (Logitech etc.). You will get the Delete and BackSpace key, not to mention being cheaper. The Windows-specific key will also function in lieu of the Apple-specific command key. I can get a wireless USB Logitech KB here WITH laser mouse for about 8,000 yen versus the 10,800 JPY they want just for that thin Apple Bluetooth KB alone, which probably costs no more then 500 yen to manufacture. (sorry, communicating from Japan . 1USD= 103JPY (approx). Just knock off the 2 trailing zeroes to get the approx USD equivalent. :-)
Dave, Sorry but there is no option to control headline when posting a comment. I think that’s Lea’s control.
Such practical suggestions – thanks guys.
However, as a LIP (location independent professional) who travels permanently with less than 20kg of luggage I don’t want to buy an external keyboard to cart around…if only Apple would just bloomin’ well add a delete key!?!!!
Fortunately – yes, I do control the headlines on this blog…but I’m beginning to think you’re right about PCs being the darkside. Having said that, I still think that Macs are way overpriced…which is still my one big beef with them. Comes from being a monopoly product I guess.
Lea, the monopoly and Proprietary aspects regarding Apple yes, I very much agree with you about. And, the fact they treat end users as being somewhat stupid not even allowing you to change the hard disk yourself. This issue alone irritates me as from time to time I wish to upgrade hard disk capacity. For the most part they make this extremely difficult (not impossible) to do what would normally be a relatively simple task on a Windows-based notebook (depending on vendor of course). Not an easy task on a MacBook Pro (my machine) and worse, on an iMac.
As for the overpriced comment… I know where you are coming from, but when you consider what it is going to cost you to buy a very lame Windows notebook giving you a Celeron processor (a crippled real processor) which is not even dual core, much less 64 bit, then they give you the weakest one’s available on the market (like 1.66GHz instead of 2.2 or 2.4GHz processors) and then a teeny 80GB hard disk when we are in the age of 250 and 320GB hard disks (500GB coming very soon),and then they give you only 512MB RAM (a joke nowadays) before you shell out more for that at least 2GB of RAM… I think that as you upgrade this and that, the price will start approaching the point to where you will find Apple notebooks at. Depending on what you buy (here in Japan) a basic MacBook could be had for about 139,800 JPY (approx 1300 USD) and a MacBook Pro (latest) can be had for about 249,000 (about 2400 USD). These are not bad prices considering the guts (er, specifications) you get up front. I am pretty satisfied right out of the cracker jack box.
So, in the Windows world of notebooks, for many notebooks, what appears to look like a real ‘bargain’, is it really? I think the matter is very subjective, challengable, and debatable.
BTW, completely unrelated to ‘The Dark Side’ but since you are into coaching and consultanting, I just thought I’d let you know Dr. John DeMartini of ‘The Secret’ will be coming to Japan and making a presentation at the Japan operation of XL Results Foundation.
http://xljapan.jp/ (click English at the top and then, Japan events (left side)). You make mention of ‘The Secret’ elsewhere in parts of your blog.
Cheers,
TokyoJerry