I’m an IT consultant who moved from a Windows machine to a MacBookPro, for a few reasons, including windows problems and a desire to use a much stronger operating system which was easier to use, and to do my work quicker.
While this is generally the case, I’d like to manage the expectations of other people who are looking at doing the same thing. While I am happy with the Mac, as a heavy business user, there are some things I wish I’d known first.
I went from windows XP with OfficeXP to a MacBookPro OSX with Office for Mac2004 and these are the glitches I’ve found after 6 months with the Mac:
Mac–specific:
1. To set up a shared folder on a network, you create another user on the Mac and assign read/write rights for the shared folder to your main user. Then for your main user, need to create an alias to the new user’s public shared folder. Then on the windows machine, they need to know the username and password for your new user. It’s confusing. Call the help desk.
2. The Mac will only read windows-standard-formatted harddrives. This means if you have an external drive as your backup drive, the Mac will only read it and not allow you to write to it. Apple’s answer is to re-format the drive. This is unacceptable and for me, not possible.
3. There are no restore points or system restore facilities. So if it mucks up, you can’t undo.
4. PDAs (in my case, an O2 XDA II) aren’t recognised as USB or bluetooth devices. Ie, if you plug in your PDA or connect using bluetooth, your Mac won’t recognise the device. The Parallels facility to do this works sometimes. Both of these issues affect syncing, below. In these situations, the bluetooth help isn’t any benefit and the bluetooth options aren’t explained.
5. Syncing between a windows mobile device and the Mac is difficult. Most people I know use a blackberry or windows PDA and, with windows, have a one-step sync using free software. On the Mac, this requires either of two third-party programs, the missing sync or pocketmac. Both of these have common facilities and then they do a couple of things that the other one doesn’t. I use most functions and create documents in pocket word, and neither does everything I want. Syncing is now a long process with me having to do lots of steps myself. Bluetooth profiles for other devices cause conflict and the USB device recognition often involves restarting both devices.
6. Associated with syncing above, there is no translator for pocket word and pocket excel files that are created on PDAs. This requires a third-party program or parallels/windows/activesync. I now sync twice to get everything I need.
7. The DVD reader region code restricts the number of times you can switch the region DVD you’re watching. Ie if you’re an international road warrior and buy DVDs in different locations, you will be stopped after about 5 times. This is built into the DVD player firmware. There is much discussion about it, but nothing about how it will be rectified.
Microsoft-specific
1. When migrating from Windows/Outlook to Mac/Entourage, there are no migration facilities and the Windows *.pst files cannot be read on the Mac.
2. In Entourage, attachments to Rich-Text-format emails are put into an attachment WINMAIL.DAT which can’t be read. The workaround is to download the WINMAIL.DAT file onto the desktop and use a program TNEF’s Enough to extract the files. You cannot make TNEF’s Enough the default program for WINMAIL.DAT files, either due to Mac OSX or the program itself. I don’t know why not. I also tried writing an applescript to open them automatically and failed.
3. Powerpoint slide shows, file type *.pps, will not open directly from an email and may crash your Mac. These again, have to be downloaded to a folder or desktop, have Powerpoint opened and then the file opened within Powerpoint.
4. The menus in Entourage and Word (haven’t tried the others) cannot be customised.
5. The Address Book and Tasks list both are in a list format only. There is not an address card view, grouping by alphabetically or by category (except to view only a category).
In summary, I gave away a lot of problems with my windows machine, but I gained a few others when I got the Mac. I am not a microsoft fan and would like to see Macs used in corporate settings but a few things need to be ironed out, the PDAs probably being the first. I hope this list provides a basis for new development and in the meantime, lets people make an informed choice.
Robyn
While this is generally the case, I’d like to manage the expectations of other people who are looking at doing the same thing. While I am happy with the Mac, as a heavy business user, there are some things I wish I’d known first.
I went from windows XP with OfficeXP to a MacBookPro OSX with Office for Mac2004 and these are the glitches I’ve found after 6 months with the Mac:
Mac–specific:
1. To set up a shared folder on a network, you create another user on the Mac and assign read/write rights for the shared folder to your main user. Then for your main user, need to create an alias to the new user’s public shared folder. Then on the windows machine, they need to know the username and password for your new user. It’s confusing. Call the help desk.
2. The Mac will only read windows-standard-formatted harddrives. This means if you have an external drive as your backup drive, the Mac will only read it and not allow you to write to it. Apple’s answer is to re-format the drive. This is unacceptable and for me, not possible.
3. There are no restore points or system restore facilities. So if it mucks up, you can’t undo.
4. PDAs (in my case, an O2 XDA II) aren’t recognised as USB or bluetooth devices. Ie, if you plug in your PDA or connect using bluetooth, your Mac won’t recognise the device. The Parallels facility to do this works sometimes. Both of these issues affect syncing, below. In these situations, the bluetooth help isn’t any benefit and the bluetooth options aren’t explained.
5. Syncing between a windows mobile device and the Mac is difficult. Most people I know use a blackberry or windows PDA and, with windows, have a one-step sync using free software. On the Mac, this requires either of two third-party programs, the missing sync or pocketmac. Both of these have common facilities and then they do a couple of things that the other one doesn’t. I use most functions and create documents in pocket word, and neither does everything I want. Syncing is now a long process with me having to do lots of steps myself. Bluetooth profiles for other devices cause conflict and the USB device recognition often involves restarting both devices.
6. Associated with syncing above, there is no translator for pocket word and pocket excel files that are created on PDAs. This requires a third-party program or parallels/windows/activesync. I now sync twice to get everything I need.
7. The DVD reader region code restricts the number of times you can switch the region DVD you’re watching. Ie if you’re an international road warrior and buy DVDs in different locations, you will be stopped after about 5 times. This is built into the DVD player firmware. There is much discussion about it, but nothing about how it will be rectified.
Microsoft-specific
1. When migrating from Windows/Outlook to Mac/Entourage, there are no migration facilities and the Windows *.pst files cannot be read on the Mac.
2. In Entourage, attachments to Rich-Text-format emails are put into an attachment WINMAIL.DAT which can’t be read. The workaround is to download the WINMAIL.DAT file onto the desktop and use a program TNEF’s Enough to extract the files. You cannot make TNEF’s Enough the default program for WINMAIL.DAT files, either due to Mac OSX or the program itself. I don’t know why not. I also tried writing an applescript to open them automatically and failed.
3. Powerpoint slide shows, file type *.pps, will not open directly from an email and may crash your Mac. These again, have to be downloaded to a folder or desktop, have Powerpoint opened and then the file opened within Powerpoint.
4. The menus in Entourage and Word (haven’t tried the others) cannot be customised.
5. The Address Book and Tasks list both are in a list format only. There is not an address card view, grouping by alphabetically or by category (except to view only a category).
In summary, I gave away a lot of problems with my windows machine, but I gained a few others when I got the Mac. I am not a microsoft fan and would like to see Macs used in corporate settings but a few things need to be ironed out, the PDAs probably being the first. I hope this list provides a basis for new development and in the meantime, lets people make an informed choice.
Robyn
