Mac Learning Curve

It took me two days. They only thing I miss is PrtSc screen shots.

It took me two days. They only thing I miss is PrtSc screen shots.

I’m loving my new MacBook Pro as well… I picked it up just after the LED screens were released…

As you may or may not recall me telling you, I had an old G3 iBook running OS X.2 and it was good, but still had its rough aspects. Now the new version of OS X running on the Intel chipset is leaps and bounds better… Features like Expose, Spotlight, etc. make things much easer to use now over just a few years ago… Just wait until Leopard releases soon and you’ll be even more blown away.

The big thing for me was running XP Professional via Parallels Desktop on OS X. Now I can run Windows when I have to while still getting the great features that is in the Mac… Even my XP-only digital voice recorder that wouldn’t run in Vista can be used on my MacBook Pro!

My desktop is still a two year old XP machine, but I too am considering switching over to the Mac when it comes time to replace it. Once you use OS X and play with it for an extended period of time, you get used to it and there really isn’t much of a learning curve. Kudos for Apple for having things that are supposed to be easy remain easy…

I’m loving my new MacBook Pro as well… I picked it up just after the LED screens were released…

As you may or may not recall me telling you, I had an old G3 iBook running OS X.2 and it was good, but still had its rough aspects. Now the new version of OS X running on the Intel chipset is leaps and bounds better… Features like Expose, Spotlight, etc. make things much easer to use now over just a few years ago… Just wait until Leopard releases soon and you’ll be even more blown away.

The big thing for me was running XP Professional via Parallels Desktop on OS X. Now I can run Windows when I have to while still getting the great features that is in the Mac… Even my XP-only digital voice recorder that wouldn’t run in Vista can be used on my MacBook Pro!

My desktop is still a two year old XP machine, but I too am considering switching over to the Mac when it comes time to replace it. Once you use OS X and play with it for an extended period of time, you get used to it and there really isn’t much of a learning curve. Kudos for Apple for having things that are supposed to be easy remain easy…

I’ve used Macs and PCs in a cross-platform business since 1986. I’ve helped many to make the switch during this time, especially with the introduction of the iMac. I often found these switcher doing things way harder then they should be because that’s how they did it in Windows. Once they grasp the ease of use they are so much more impresses with the Mac. The Mac interface has always been easier to use and it is the attention to detail that makes me more efficient using it over the Windows machines running even the same programs. More and more people I know are using Macs then ever before and with the new Intel Macs I can even recommend them to gamers now, which were the only group I used to recommend staying with a PC.

It takes a bit of muscle to overcome the finger-memory of old Windows habits, but it is worth it! :)

CHECK OUT MY POST IN LOCKERGNOME OSX PROBLEMS BEFORE YOU BUY A MAC.

If you know a Mac user that switched to Windows in the last 5 years I’d love to hear about that.

Because I strongly doubt you know anyone who has switched from Mac to Windows in the 21st century.

The learning curve for a Widows user going to a Mac is a reverse exponential curve. Going from a Mac to a PC however is a regular exponential curve, especially with the introduction of Vista.
I have been a PC used from way back in the 8088 days, but have had friends using Macs and Amiga’s. I have seen the good and bad points of each and still think PC’s/Windows machines are best for games and number crunching. It has taken years for “PC’s” to do things the Mac’s and Amiga’s were doing from the start…

The learning curve for a Widows user going to a Mac is a reverse exponential curve. Going from a Mac to a PC however is a regular exponential curve, especially with the introduction of Vista.
I have been a PC used from way back in the 8088 days, but have had friends using Macs and Amiga’s. I have seen the good and bad points of each and still think PC’s/Windows machines are best for games and number crunching. It has taken years for “PC’s” to do things the Mac’s and Amiga’s were doing from the start…

I’ve used computers since before PCs. I learned on dumb terminals, and on the Commodores and the Ataris. I’ve been through all versions of DOS. I’ve learned the various incarnations of Windows. I use Unix, Linux, Sun and Windows boxes at work as a network admin. I’ve been playing with Linux at home, trying to learn it, while running a Windows box as the primary.

Having grown tired of the .dll problems, and the BSOD, the fact that one has to run about five pieces of software just to protect one’s self from all the krap out there, and the incredibly predatory pricing structure for Vista, I investigated, and made a switch — to Mac. There’s always something to get used to. But the degree to which I had to adapt was no more severe or different than when I moved from DOS to a GUI environment. It was no more severe than learning Sun’s GUI. It was less difficult than trying to learn some aspects of Linux, namely the CLI ‘make’ procedures, or editing of config files ad nauseum..

I love my Mac. I’ll continue to use Mac as my primary platform at home. I’ll use Linux for special purposes like file servers, etc., but I’m through having to tinker with an OS just to get a running desktop, as I have to do with Linux. I don’t want to work on computers, I want to use them; and Mac ‘just works.’

Within a couple of days, I was as comfortable with my Mac as I was with any of the other environments. Certainly, things are done differently on the Mac. But, as Lantz said, in most cases, they’re done sooo much better.. Come on over, Chris. It’s fun over here on the light side. ;-)

The discussion on this page seems to assume that the choice is between Mac and PC. It is worth trying out a modern Linux distribution that does not require the traditional Linux skills to set up. I have been using Xandros for 2 years and find it easy to use and stable. I am writing this note on an Asus EEE PC, which is a tiny marvel running Xandros. While ASUS ships it with a dumbed down interface, the standard Xandros interface can be run after a couple of minutes of reconfiguring the machine to make the simplified ASUS menu an option. The version of Xandros that I run on my desktop has Crossover Office as a standard pre-installed application. This version of WINE allows me to run older versions of Microsoft Office from inside Linux, for the odd time that I can’t use Open Office (some specific behaviors of Excel are not exactly duplicated by Open Office Calc.)

Xandros installs nicely on Windows PCs, resizing the Windows partition and setting up a dual boot machine where you are given a choice of booting into Windows or Xandros via a boot menu.

Using Xandros or perhaps Ubuntu allows someone to use inexpensive PC hardware but run an operating system which not Windows. Give it a try!

? Oh yes, the important issue I think Paul overlooked in this particular post is that of learning the new operating system. Yes, there is a learning curve for linux as this link and my personal experience can attest to, and there is also alearning curve for the Macthough I lack much expereince in that arena. For users like me that is a personal choice - do I want to take the time to read, google around and maybe buy some books on learning to use one of these new operating systems? However for a business that