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Windows to Mac Migration Guide/Advice?
Harpa wonders: "Having spent more years than I care to count living and working with various Windows machines, I'm about to get my first Apple (an iBook). While eagerly waiting for the machine to be shipped, I'm starting to realize that changes I'm going to have to deal with may involve more than getting used to one less mouse button!I'm wondering if any Slashdot folk can help. What does an old-time Windows user have to learn/unlearn? To what extent can my Apple live happily with my existing PC's, my printer, my network? Everything I've found so far seems to be either geared for people who've never used a computer before or for existing Mac users. Is there any info available that supports us 'converts'?"
The only thing you have to unlearn is your propensity for being an M$ Corporate whore.
Carpe Aptenodytes!
The icons are actually on the right side of the desktop, where they won't be covered up by every window you open!
Or, to put it a better way, OS/X uses much more of your desktop real estate. You will not be able to easily enjoy having your foreground application in the foreground as you might under Linux or Windows. Icons will clutter the screen irrespective of your foreground app.
"Shut Down" is not under "Start"
It's hidden somewhere else. Good luck finding it. Don't think you can right click for it either.
Windows don't automatically fill the entire screen unless you want them to!
Steve Jobs decided that your desktop wallpaper is much more important than any kind of work you might want to be using your computer for. You'll basically need to open an application then go through another procedure to maximise it, instead of the typical "launch an app, use the app" approach most people prefer.
There are very few crashes for normal users of Macs, and the ones that do occur generally affect only the program crashing rather than bringing down the whole machine.
Of course you would know that this is typical of Windows if you used Windows 2000 or Windows XP, and has been this way since 1999. One thing to be aware of with the Mac is that they try and sell you common advantages as if they are unique:
"My Macintosh never crashes!" (A common fallacy. My PC never crashes either, although I do tend to use handpicked components and I ensure everything works correctly - it cost me more, but not as much as a Mac would have cost me, and I enjoy the same or superior stability under both Linux and Windows on this rig.)
"I can play AAC files from iTunes!" (MP3's have been common on Windows PC's for years)
"I can use the CTRL key to access different options with my mouse button!" (Most Windows PC's have mouses with 3 or more buttons, and often a convenient scroll wheel. These functions are customisable, but you will not have this capability on Mac).
"My iBook has an LCD screen and is portable!" (Laptops have been available less expensively than iBooks and run Windows or Linux, depending on your preferences)
"I can do anything a Windows user can!"
(Macs have a version of MS Office available for them, however it does not contain the same range of productivity applications that are available to Windows/Office users)
"There are great games for Mac!"
(Windows PC gaming is broader reaching with more titles released than any other platform in history, including consoles. Some Windows games are ported to Mac, and a very small number of games are specifically created for Mac).
"My Mac never has technical problems!" (This is a fallacy. The Apple Mac is quite capable of generating application errors and crashing, just like any other *nix based system. Furthermore, when your hardware breaks, the guy at the corner computer store will not be able to help you. Expect to wait several months for spare parts. You will not be able to buy parts off the shelf and install them and have them work. Device capability is roughly the same as you might expect for a Linux PC for peripheral devices, if not much worse, as of course the Open Source community has done much work in making devices work under Linux that normally wouldn't).
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
Of course you don't get BSOD in XP. Microsoft removed it because of bad PR. You know those times in XP when your computer just spontaneously restarts out of nowhere right in the middle of that lovely document you were composing? Well, you just had a blue screen of death.
MS just figured, since there's nothing you can do with a BSOD except restart anyway, they'd just remove the screen part, and automatically reboot the computer for you.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.