Please tell me this will get easier.

[Lana]

Our desktop is just plain infected and our laptop crapped out.
My husband (an editor) said "fuck this" we're making the switch and we went out and got a Mac
Pro desktop and an iMac laptop.
I'm having trouble even trying to copy and paste on this thing, never mind dropping wmv and going to Quicktime???
How many of us are Mac users out there?

[Hammer]

When I got my first computer, it was a Mac Plus and for years I was a Mac user and Mac evangelist.

A few years ago the best word processing program was called Quark Express. At that time it made PageMaker look like Notepad and Quark only ran on a Mac. Then there was Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Both of which were only available for the Mac and even when offered for the PC were much better programs on the Mac. So, for those of us in the advertising and graphic design business, the Mac was the only logical choice.

Over the years the PC versions of those programs got better and there were so many PC only programs that I needed to run that I tried using a program on the Mac that emulated the PC operating system, but it was so slow I bought a PC.

For a few years I had Macs and PCs in my offices and slid around the room from computer to computer, depending on what we were doing.

Now, most of my Mac's have been given away or are stored in the attic, although I still have a nice G4 sitting under one of my desks just in case. It hasn't been turned on in over a year though because now I've gotten so used to the PC that I have no desire to switch back.

Now, in your case, I would say that it won't take you long to become acclimated and once you do, I think you'll love your new Mac. I would love to have one of the beautiful new Mac laptops, but I'm not sure it would be worth my time to relearn using a Mac and then switch back and forth in my brain between the two systems.

[Cozy Monica]

You'll absolutely get used to it and in no time you'll be flying along without a hitch.

It's really confusing and difficult when first switching from one system to another, but I think you'll really enjoy your new computers.

[whiskey]

I took the almost exact opposite path that Hammer took. I started on Windows, went to Linux and ended up on Macs. Of course, this spans 1985 to present.

My first month on Macs was hellish. I feel your pain. But after that first month, it became a lot easier. Hang in there, and if you think I can help, let me know.

TextExpander and Quicksilver helped a lot. I also use iGTD with MailTags for keeping track of my projects, etc. There are some really amazing tools out there for the Mac these days. I've tried a lot of them so, again, if you have any questions, let me know. I'll be glad to help where I can.

(I have nothing to do with any of the software packages mentioned. I'm just a satisfied customer.)

[balls_deep]

sorry lanna, i don't dig the mac. But i love linux on any system.

anyone have a prediction on how long untill we have a universal OS?

[phuckbunny]

IMO Apple is light years better than Windows. If you're really used to PC, it may get a little confusing but not for much longer than a day or two MAX and then you will be in love, guaranteed, and never look back. Wise move.

BD - universal OS? I think never. Google tried to be the universal SE and I suppose they almost are - but I think they suck and I'm not just saying that because of the porn stuff, I have been finding myself using other SEs quite often to find stuff b/c google just brings up so many bollocks results. MS tried to become the universal everything but I think they are making an inferior version of Apple products. Linux is good but is offputting and has a negative 'egghead' connotation that will never catch on. It will eventually come down to money and manipulation not the quality of the product.

[Mr. Lovepants]

apple key + c - to copy

apple key + v - to paste



Gimme a shout when you get stuck and I'll do my best to help out

[mynameisjim]

I used a mac for about 30 minutes and I couldn't find any files I saved and I could not stand the bland black/grey/white layout and menus so I just gave up. I have to admit though the thing was TOTALLY silent which was very cool.

But people love macs so I assume once you get accustomed to them they rock but I've only got so much learning ability left in the tank so I have to use it wisely.

Good luck though. I'm sure you will soon love your new computer and be daydreaming about Steve Jobs like all the other Apple fanboys


edit: fangirl

[porn punk]

I've used both for years, mostly because I worked prepress and film production on the mac professionally, and the pc at home.

I can't see the difference in the programs on either machine except the "alt" and "command" (or is it "ctrl" - i know them when I strike them) keys are interchangeable. There's also the right click key on the mouse of the pc, (unless the newer apple systems have them - haven't used it in a few).

I don't use the mac unless I'm working on contract because that's usually the machine the company will have due to the little history lesson Hammer just gave you. The PC has always been less expensive and easier to find programs for.

The biggest difference I can see is in the quick keys for the operating system and I've never learned those in either system.

You should have the whole thing down in no time.

[Lana]

I've been fooling around with it now for a couple of days and it isn't really all that different from the PC. We also picked up Final Cut for bigger editing jobs and I can really see how Mac is the way to go for that.
All in all, once I get used to the Mac I think the switch will be good.
I haven't crashed yet or received any virus warnings.
Oh yeah, one thing we didn't think of is our external hard-drives have to be reformatted from NTFS to FAT32. A bit of a drag.

[Titmowse]

You're doingbetter than me, Lana. I bought a used iMac cause it was cheeep Needless to say, I killed in in LESS THAN 24 hours!

Right now I'm running Kubuntu on it and I am now totally a devotee of Open Source OS.

[whiskey]

Originally posted by Lana
Oh yeah, one thing we didn't think of is our external hard-drives have to be reformatted from NTFS to FAT32. A bit of a drag.

Google has released MacFUSE which allows Macs to read/write NTFS volumes. It's a bit geeky and, like most things Google, is still beta. But I'm hearing a lot of good things about it.

If you're going to reformat the drives anyway, you might consider letting the Mac format the drive as HFS+ then copy the files onto it. There's no real benefit in using FAT32 unless you still plan to have Windows systems accessing the drives. However, if you only care about reading the drives from a Windows system (not writing or creating files), you can use the free HFSExplorer.

Just some food for thought. It sounds to me like you're on top of it. Congrats!

[balls_deep]

Originally posted by Titmowse
Right now I'm running Kubuntu on it and I am now totally a devotee of Open Source OS.

here, here

[Lana]

There's no real benefit in using FAT32 unless you still plan to have Windows systems accessing the drives.

We have six computers in the house right now. 1 severely overused infected PC desktop. 2 useless PC laptops (a crapped out display on one and a burned video card on the other - big bucks). 2 new Macs and one lonely fully functioning PC laptop.
That one lonely laptop is why I'm going FAT32.
I can't fathom pulling entirely out of the PC world.
Not yet anyway.

[Fritz]

I was about 80% Ubuntu ... felt better for me than kubuntu ... and 20% WinXP.

Using Vista right now playing with it and I must say its .... not as bad as I thought. But I really like open source and im just getting really tired of hacking windows all the time.

One day soon i'll move 100% to linux. Just need to find a couple more replacement apps to keep my life easy on linux. I might hit you up BD for some linux advise.

[Lana]

I was about 80% Ubuntu ... felt better for me than kubuntu ... and 20% WinXP.

WHAAAT?? Jeez do I have a lot to learn. But I'm not sure I need to or want to.

[Titmowse]

Originally posted by Lana
WHAAAT?? Jeez do I have a lot to learn. But I'm not sure I need to or want to.

Ubuntu is a Linux-based Open Source OS. Other versions of Ubuntu are Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu.

There are quite a number of awesome Open Source Operating Systems available, free free free. A good place to get the scoop on all the Open Source distributions is http://distrowatch.com

So far, I've tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu and Yellowdog. I couldn't get Gentoo or OpenDarwin to boot after install but I have an architecture problem - powerpc. I really really liked Yellowdog but I found after all my testing, that Kubuntu is the easiest to use. The only real problem is that with my architecture, I can't get Flash to work worth a crap and Real media? Fuggeddaboudit.

[Lana]

Ubuntu is a Linux-based Open Source OS. Other versions of Ubuntu are Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu.

Smarty Pants

[balls_deep]

the major differences between kubuntu and ubuntu is the development enviroment.

ubuntu runs gnome

and

kubuntu runs KDE

you can also just install one of them and download the desktop enviroments yourself giving you a linux that runs kubuntu, ubuntu, and xubuntu which is very helpful if you love open source programs.

[Lana]