s - Latest Comments in Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Name — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:25:03 -0000

actually a rather large part of the world drives on the left - all the old british colonies infact for example like a small country the size of the USA i.e Australia

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

shakeyjake — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:58:59 -0000

To summarize my experience, I've exchanged one set of problems for another. Neither is perfect, both are just stupid machines. My company just came out and said they will commit NO more resources to MAC compatibility and now one third of my companies business will never be reachable with my MAC.

Warts and all, I'm going back. Selling my mac to my nephew, see ya!

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Ryan Hargreaves — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:26:29 -0000

Hey my name is Ryan, I use Imac in my music studio. I am running 10.5.4 and was trying to clean it up and did not mean to drop my All Documents in to the trash. I am now losing all my Wav files when i open protools 7.4
I still have all the files in my trash I just did not know how to put them back in the All Documents. I was thinking about going to 10.5.7 and running Protools 8.

Thank you for the help,

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Toby Turner — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:00:38 -0000

Mouse is quicker than instant for home and end? No way! Especially not with the touchpad.... ew.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Jack — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:15:23 -0000

From all these posts, it is seeming to me that Mac users are very similar to Cult group members. I'm looking at a MacBook right now, been thinking of switching, but: Apple makes you a slave to how they think you should work. And "Mac Cult" turns you into an apologist for a less than perfect OS and software. To wit:

Safari: With regards to discussion about safari does not working well for some web sites, what do I care if they are SUPPOSED to work with safari? Point is, some web sites don't.

Mouse problem: Again, what do I care as to the reason for this? Fact is, if you love a quick response super fast mouse, MAC can't do this, from what I have experienced so far.

PC's are for creative, "think out of the box" type people, who want to change, tweak, customize, experience freedom.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

high professional — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:42:09 -0000

i d like to switch to a mac or to ubuntu, but the problems are software and usability...i fully agree about the cartel teory!

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

dipankarsarkar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:20:07 -0000

Funnily i experienced nearly all the same problems when i acquired a mac mini. Ubuntu was a far less painful experience than Mac OSX :D. Productivity is really low initially, plus the assumption is that all your main machines are mac which is not the case with me.
Still its a unique experience one must admit.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Man — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:39:34 -0000

I do agree that there is a difference between using Microsoft Office in Windows as compared on a mac, they just don't seem to be that solid. But personally one of the best perks I find for using the mac is the hassle-free from anti-virus and spyware software, they typically save alot of time and frustration.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Sidney Batta — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:17:48 -0000

I accidently restarted my macbook pro while I had the iceclean application running, and now instead of a desktop picture I only get a blank screen. Is there someone who knows how to get rid of this problem?

Thanks in advance..

Sidney.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Nick Stamoulis — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:09:55 -0000

I have been pondering making the switch to a Mac myself and I anticipate going through all that. It doesn't sound better with the switch over to Office 2008. That should make things a little better for sure.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

ritel — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:57:35 -0000

Yup, it wasn't Apple that copied MS, but MS that copied Apple in this situation. I wonder what they will copy in Windows 7?

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

r4ds land — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:25:58 -0000

I totally agree with you, this is a cartel in my opinion. Why doesn't the US do anything about this?

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Adrian — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:10:40 -0000

As someone who has just been forced to start using a mac at work (in the past I've split my time equally between Windows and Linux) I'm experiencing many of these issues. My main problem with macs, however, is their user base. Comment #1 from OS11 is a great example. It appears he didn't see the valid points in the post, but instead saw the post as a personal attack and sprung to defend his beloved Apple on every single point made.

Apple users remind me somewhat of Scientologists in their preaching and defence of their beloved corporation, but since I've now started using a mac only time will tell if I join the ranks...

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

cheap guy — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:46:41 -0000

Sounds like there are too many third-party applications that need to be purchased to make a Mac work decently. I'm too cheap for that. :)

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Jeremy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:05:34 -0000

Wow Shuman, you've managed to bring out every staunch Mac defender with the article. I can almost hear them saying "Don't you dare say anything is wrong with our Mac......"

I use both platforms, FYI. No big hoopla for a Mac. Just different. Not better or worse than PC. Most of the "better/worse" hoopla lies in the Mac's aggressive marketing. I think either platform works great if you know what your doing. People who don't know how to properly use a Mac will hate it and those who don't know how to properly use a PC will hate it.

I'm in graphic design and photography (Photoshop, Illustrator, Noise Ninja, Aperture, Lightroom, etc) and I actually prefer the usability on my PC better than a mac, probably because I actually KNOW how to set up and use my PC properly. MAC works great too, but I feel more "spoon fed" on a MAC and have less control of some of the things I want to do (especially with Mac's built in multimedia tools). But that's a personal preference. Some will like the "spoon fed" approach.

FWIW.....always good to give PC is due accolades and give Mac it's due accolades, rather than try to tear the "other" platform apart with fanboy tactics.

Cheers!
Jeremy

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

k-man — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:09:36 -0000

I'm considering switching to a MAC, however, now i'm just confused. All my apps are with windows and fear that it will take a huge investment to get an MAC going (ie. word processing, spreasheets, presentations, mail). Are equivelant softwares available in a basic MAC package? What happens to all your hardware, are they all compatible (given proper drivers)?

On top of this, my wife will most likelly quesiton my spending big $ when she'll be lost in the new operating system...

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

jamesh — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:09:15 -0000

He said he is using Apple mail. iWorks, apart from Keynote, just isn't very good, and you shouldn't have to buy a certain cell phone in order to use your computer!

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Ryyan — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:15:04 -0000

Great article, although a little pedantic. I do appreciate your switching woes, and I can see that people have misconstrued your point: you have simply discussed switching issues that have caused you some downtime.

You should really take a look at it from a new perspective though: forget everything you learned about Windows. You need to be able to start fresh and drop your old thinking. This not only applies here, but in every other area of life. Any good scientist will trumpet this approach to all things in life.

The Command key for instance is a much better option than CTRL: it can be thumbed as it is directly to the left and right of the space bar - it is quicker.

As for some other switching woes, here are some recommendations:

-Stop being stubborn and just switch to Apple Mail, you won't look back
-Give iWork a chance: Pages is an excellent word processor, and Keynote blows PP out of the water: this is coming from someone who is in the publishing business
-Discover Automator: it is like an easy to use, codeless visual basic of sorts
-Get into spaces, something I am just learning about
-Set up hot corners for expose, you won't look back on this one either
-Have at least 2 GB of RAM, 4 is optimal
-Discover iCal
-Buy an iPhone

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Alfred E Newman — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:46:34 -0000

I like your article. You are a true switcher and I appreciate you sharing your experience with the rest of us. Thank you. I also see that the bashers/defenders (depending which camp is clouding their judgment) can not see this article for what it is. I am a power user of both systems. It is a rare day that I am on a single computer running a single application. I use Windows at my place of employment and Mac @ the house and a business I own. I'm the computer guru at work and have helped many folk decide on a computer system for themselves. Most people's first and only exposure to computers is in the work place. They usually only feel comfortable with that system and usually want to buy the exact computer for their home. They are usually not technical in nature and really don't know what they want to do with a computer in the home, except that they want one. They usually don't want to spend a whole lot of money either. Though I prefer Mac's to PC's, I let them decide for themselves after we objectively discuss the pro's and con's of each system. I even bring my Mac in for them to play with it they want me to. Most end up buying the Windows machine because they are cheaper and they don't want to lay out a lot of cash on something they are not sure they really need in the first place, or they afraid to or don't want to learn another computer system since they really haven't mastered Windows. There are a lot more but that will be for another time.

As far as the right or wrong way something is done, as in the Command vs Control thing, it is really immaterial. It is just different. Take driving for instance. In Great Brittan, they drive on the left side of the road, and most of the rest of the world drives on the right side of the road. That does not make them wrong. Neither is better or worse, right or wrong, just different. The only thing that matters is that you must drive on the appropriate side of the road for the country that you are in or the Police (Defenders of that system) will write you a citation. Same as Command vs Control. Use the appropriate key for the system that you are using. I have no problem as my sub-conscience seems to know which system I'm using and my fingers just hit the correct keys. I do have to admit that when I visited Great Brittan, I did drive in the right (Wrong) lane out of habit and it just felt right (Correct). Driving in the left lane, just felt wrong. Same for switchers, some things will just feel wrong until they are re-learned. I found the biggest problem for switchers is the single button mouse. Apple's studies showed that multi-button mice confused new users, so using a single-button mouse would make the computer easier to learn. Switchers are not normally new users and are used to using mice with two or more buttons. My first piece of advice to the switchers is to purchase a two button mouse to go along with their new Mac. If they like the style of mouse they are currently using on their Windows machine, get one another one.

I'm currently playing with Linux and am finding some strange (I mean different) ways things are done. Again, thanks for telling us your experience with switching.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Frantisek — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:59:11 -0000

"CTRL-X and CTRL-V don't work for cutting and pasting. For some reason, Apple thinks these keystrokes ought to be COMMAND-X and COMMAND-V. In fact, a lot of what one does with CTRL on Windows is done instead with COMMAND on the Mac. This might make sense if it weren't for the fact that Mac keyboards also have a CTRL key....."

Enough people commented this. I just can not beleive you mean that seriously. Realy. That Apple would copy something MS copied from him. Wake up!
NOt talking about big difference in ergonomy of command A,S,X,C,V compared breaking fingers with ctrl equivalent.
Just relax and think again.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Harvey — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:01:43 -0000

When I was in college (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I had two typewriters, one for English and one for German. On the German keyboard, the Y and Z keys are reversed compared to the American layout, and the ; ' and [ keys are mapped to ö, ä, and ü. It didn't take me long to develop a billingual muscle memory. Pretty soon I could type on either machine with ease.

The same happened when I got the Mac. After an initial period, which was longer than I'd like, I developed a bilingual muscle memory. No conscious effort is involved. I can switch back and forth with ease.

Forget all the who-struck-John about who did what first and who imitated whom. It doesn't matter. What matters is your ability to type fluently.

I recommend against swapping Command and Control. It's best not to fiddle with such things in the long run. Just let it be, and after a while, everything will be okay.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

OS11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:37:56 -0000

great response, thanks... but keep in mind, Apple isn't going to change things that are "correct" to appease Windows users, it's just not worth it... they'll come around soon enough.

and just a fun factoid, you can switch a mac keyboard to DVORAK by going into the International System Pref, then choose the Input Tab... then below is how to pop off the current keys on your Mac keyboard and rearrange them.

http://www.chimoosoft.com/a...

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

DustyMac — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:26:09 -0000

As for the Control vs. Command Key, I find the proximity of the Command key to the rest of the keys to provide a more comfortable experience than the Control key, which requires more digital dexterity.

Your post is great and provides real help to switchers, but it persists in the belief that the Windows way is "right" and the Mac way is "wrong" and somehow must be corrected rather than adapted to.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

Guest — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:27:05 -0000

OS11 - thanks for your comments!

To respond to your post, as well as some of the other comments defending the Mac, I want to clarify that the "problems" I'm highlighting are not necessarily things that the Mac is doing "wrong" from an intrinsic design perspective. Instead, they are differences between the platforms which create specific challenges for users switching from Windows, because they feel wrong or create new problems for them.

The CTRL-X vs. COMMAND-X question is a good example of this. Apple created this shortcut first and then Microsoft copied (and changed) it. However, now that most PC users have been pressing CTRL-X for many years, this creates a switching challenge - especially in a Windows dominated world that they'll need to venture into every now and then.

A hypothetical scenario which I think illustrates this well is if Macs shipped with Dvorak keyboards. Anyone who had learned how to type on a Dvorak would certainly be able to argue credibly for its superiority over the standard QWERTY designs. However, to 99% of switching users, it would be a HUGE problem, and the first thing would do with their new Mac is replace the keyboard. :-)

As I noted in the post, overall, I love the Mac and OS X, and can't imagine going back to Windows.

Re: Switching to the Mac: Problems and Solutions

OS11 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:21:24 -0000

Nice overview about switching but many of your points come down to "Microsoft Problems", and nothing related to the Mac or OSX. You need to keep in mind Apple only uses OPEN standards, it doesn't take the proprietary approach... so if it's not OPEN, Apple won't use it.

1) Real work? MS Office began life on the Mac, but since Microsoft has always been terrified of Apple, they later started to weaken the Mac Office version so Macs wouldn't be able to compete in the enterprise. There are PLENTY of better alternatives, but you need to modernize your thinking of what "real work" actually is before they will appear to you.

2) Actually, the Web on the Mac works correctly, it's Internet Explorer that is broken. The entire Web STARTED on OSX (then called NeXTSTEP) in 1990. Safari, Camino and about 40 other browsers on the Mac render the web based on established standards, again it's IE that has caused your issues, not the other way around.

3) Mouse movement on a Mac is much more refined, so yes, it's different than Windows since in the early days controlling PC Mice on the screen was primative and didn't have near the control that Apple offered... that weakness simply carries on to today.

4) How is "Microsoft doesn't make ActiveSync for OSX" an Apple problem exactly? That's fully a Microsoft issue, not an Apple one. Getting an iPhone is the better long term solution, it's a better phone with far more functionality.

5) Uninstalling within OSX is just Drag and Drop, so it's a not issue. It seems you are harboring long held fears of Windows Registry when you describe the want for an "Uninstaller"... but that is simply no longer needed in the OSX environment.

6) Command-X, Command-V, etc is the proper way to "Command" the computer via a key, using "Control" is likely related to Windows being based on old selectric typewriters and / or a throwback to the DOS era.

7) I've never understood the need for Home or End keys, the mouse is much quicker, but it's probably a throwback to the Terminal era.

8) Ah, you mean Microsoft again is the problem, not Apple or OSX. The FACT you can't import PST files directly into Entourage is 100% MS's fear of Apple. Apple uses the STANDARD mbox so you are never trapped into a proprietary format. I think you should now switch over to Apple Mail and give up on the whole mess that is Outlook & Entourage.

9) Yes, Apps do crash on both systems, but I've found OSX is far less likely to fail when an App dies. You just force quit the irritant App, and keep on moving. It's the joy of UNIX mostly.

Again, good article, but always keep in mind Apple sets the UI rules and Microsoft merely has to play by these rules the best they can. MS had to switch a lot of their "copied" ideas from Apple because of a lawsuit, so that's why you see upside down / convoluted ways in how Windows works... so you end up unlearning bad habits when you move up to a Mac which works out for the best.

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