Switching to Mac OS X - Software issues
Andy Clayton writes
This page lists some of my main software and any issues I had when migrating from Windows XP to OS X. You may also like to read my Migration Blog to get an idea of how it all went, generally...
Internet (last updated 27 July 2005)
Web sites are improving from the bad old days of "Internet Explorer only" content thanks mainly to the uptake of Firefox on Windows. With the release of Apple's Safari this situation can only continue in a positive direction. Even Microsoft are improving (from a developer's point of view) as IE7 is much more compliant than IE6 ever was although still comes a poor second to the standards compliant offerings. All in all, web browsing on the Mac is a problem free experience.
Appointments and e-mail (last updated 2 May 2007)
On Windows XP I used Outlook 2000. It came with a previous mobile phone of mine as this used Windows Mobile. It's a capable organiser although I've long suspected it to be as buggy as hell. That said, I could synchronise my appointments, contacts and notes between my phone and Windows PC which was handy (until it stopped working, but that's another story).
On the Mac there is a built in mail client called (inspiringly) "Mail". This is a very capable replacement to Outlook and the use of smart folders and Spotlight searching makes message management a breeze. For appointments there is iCal. For synchronising there is a dedicated Mac application called iSync (now there's a shock). This works fine with my current mobile a Sony Ericsson W810i. Just a word of warning if you have this or a similar phone. If you change the time on the handset when the clocks go back or forward then this will muck up the times for appointments when you run iSync. To keep everything aligned properly you need to activate or deactiviate Daylight Saving Time in the phone's preferences instead of manually altering the clock.
Games (last updated 22 December 2005)
Seems odd to put all these under one heading. I've bought a few games over the years including Colin McCrae Rally 3, FIFA 2004 (and several previous versions), Black & White, Medieval Total War, Flight Sim 2002 and others. I've always been rubbish at playing them but for some reason have bought them anyway.
Part of my migration "ethos" here is that games are best left to games consoles. PC's are often streets ahead (technically) of consoles, but computers are best used for video, documents (of all types), web surfing and the like. Games are best left to the Playstation 3, X-Box 360 et al. I will follow this lead. Just accept it, Andy, you're 36 and you're rubbish at them anyway... ;-) If I want to get "into" games at some point, I'll follow everyone else and get a console! Besides, you can get Championship Manager for the Mac so who needs anything else?
Adobe InDesign (last updated 27 July 2007)
I bought the Windows version of InDesign 1.0 when it came out and later upgraded to 1.5 and then 2.0. Then I stopped. I didn't have the money for CS1 when it came out and, besides, 2.0 did everything I wanted it to at the time. When I first switched platforms I e-mailed Adobe and asked them if I could transfer my licence or buy an upgrade from version 2.0 on Windows to CS2 on the Mac. The answer? "No". They only let customers upgrade from one previous version when going across platforms.
In the end I bought Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 Premium in April 2007 including a free upgrade to CS3 received not long after. Although it cost a fair wedge of cash this timing saved me several hundred pounds on the cost of buying CS3 outright. This was part of my mega-upgrade from a Mac Mini to a nice shiney Mac Pro Quad.
Adobe Photoshop (last updated 26 July 2007)
After coping with the limited functionality of Photoshop Elements for Mac since I switched I finally got the power I need in April 2007 when I bought Adobe Creative Suite 2.3 Premium including Photoshop CS2. My free upgrade to CS3 received shortly after included Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended. One extreme to the other!
Dreamweaver (last updated 26 July 2007)
After hand coding much of my HTML and using freeware editors during my time using my PC and Mac Mini, I finally bought Dreamweaver 8 as part of CS2.3 in April 2007 and shortly after that got a free upgrade to Dreamweaver CS3 as part of Adobe's Design Premium software suite.
Ulead Media Studio Pro (last updated 15 May 2008)
I bought this when it was at version 6.0, later upgrading to version 6.5. The natural replacement for this on the Mac side is the excellent Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express. Many professional broadcasters such as the BBC use the Pro version which gives you some idea just how good it is. iMovie HD which comes with OS X isn't bad but Final Cut is far closer to Media Studio functionality-wise. I bought Final Cut Express when version 4 came out (along with a handy price drop) and can safely say that this part of my application useage has surpassed that of Windows.
DVD creation under iDVD which comes with OS X is fine. That's one hell of a product and perfectly good for what I want to do.
Microsoft Money (last updated 15 May 2008)
I used this for my household and business accounts under Windows. Quicken 2005 comes with OS X, but it's the American version so that's no good to UK users. Microsoft don't produce Money for the Mac. There are plenty of home finance packages available on the Mac platform. I use iBank so can't comment on the others. iBank version 2 (the one I use) is a little tempremental and crashes occasionally. I haven't upgraded to iBank 3 (which is Leopard only, by the way).
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