I began using Microsoft products in 1983 when I gave up using a Wang word processing system and moved to a PC running MS-DOS. My wife, who I have mentioned before is much smarter than me, has been a loyal Apple user since the first machines came out of Cupertino. She has been encouraging me to switch to Mac for years, maybe to improve the quality of my help desk support for her computer activities (which now involve almost every application on the Mac). I needed a new machine for work, given that my Dell laptop was increasingly having problems. The choices for a new machine really came down to picking the operating system.
I do not dislike Microsoft but I think they over price their products. I typically use a free product or less expensive alternative when the features and reliability match or exceed Microsoft. For example I have not used Explorer or Outlook for years (Firefox and Spicebird). Open Office was too slow or I would have replaced Office. I have been testing Kingsoft Office on the Dell and if I had bought a new Windows machine I would have tossed out Office and used Kingsoft.
I also considered switching to a Linux machine. I would have probably greatly expanded my knowledge of computing by this switch (a good thing) and saved a lot of money, but there was one problem. Despite countless efforts, including a call out on Twitter, I can find nobody with a hack that will allow a Verizon wireless card to work with a Linux machine.
In the end I picked a Mac because the screen was beautiful and all my usual applications have Mac versions. I spend 8-10 hours a day at the computer so I picked the top of the line MacBook Pro (shown above) as my new work machine. I purchased Office for Mac because the alternatives for Mac just did not look professional enough (and I thought it would reduce file compatability issues). One nice thing about Office 2008 is that it supports all the new Windows Office 2007 formats.Then I loaded up Mac versions of Firefox (with six add-ons) and NewsGator, added TweetDeck (Adobe Air) for Twitter and Sync'Em (to sync contacts with Google) and I was ready to test drive. To simplify syncing my Blackberry I opted to sync the Blackberry to Google and then sync the Mac with Google contacts and calendar.
For the record, I had to buy a new wireless card from Verizon (smaller size than Dell), load the Verizon app, call technical support twice and yell out the window for 15 minutes about how Verizon does not understand data service, but in the end the card worked fine (after I turned off the sleep, hibernate and screen saver features on the Mac).
So far the transition to Mac has been easy. The productivity features such as Stacks and Dashboard far out way learning some new key strokes. Someone told me that learning Excel on Mac was like learning a new language. Except for a few new keyboard shortcut combinations I have not found it so daunting. Have not built a big model yet in Excel, which will be the real test, but I am not anticipating problems.
If you have not figured it out yet, this is the first post on the Mac. If anybody has new formating problems with this post, let me know.
Mac tips are welcome in the comments.
