I Made The Switch
So I’ve made the switch from Windows to Mac.
But hold on I hear you cry, you have been a Mac user for years. Well that is true but only in the ‘home user’ market. Recently I’ve made the move in the work office environment.
Oscar Products is a small business and like many small business’ in the UK we use Sage for all our accounts, purchasing and sales orders. If there was an open source or even less expensive alternative I would happily look into it as Sage is a Windows only program and not one of the best examples of sound programing.
Yet when I joined the company I found an old G3 Bondi iMac that I managed to get going again and it soon became our ‘design’ machine, carrier bag artwork was created on this and made moving files between our plate makers a whole lot easier.
But life was limited with the old girl and soon the hard drive failed, the network collapsed and 256mb ram was no longer cutting it. We needed a new option.
Move to recent events and we have a new director starting with the company that required a new computer. Suddenly I saw an opportunity to make a switch; new director get’s my PC, I get new Mac. The idea was put forward but I thought nothing of it.
A week later I have a shiny new 20inch iMac sitting on my desk. Now came the interesting job of making that switch, Apple would lead you to believe that this is just a simple process and anyone can move over to a Mac.
I just don’t think they planned the switch for me. All I needed to do was move my PIM data from Outlook to the Apple standard; Mail, iCal and Address Book.
Moving files over was quite simple, just move over to a network server and then drag/drop back home again. That done, now for my emails. Fire up Apple Mail and select Import, hold on the Import option was for Outlook Express, and this was only a Mac version. So I’ll have to try another way.
After some searching Googling I found an article that detailed a way to get my Outlook mail folders into the .mbox format that Mail understands. Install Thunderbird on the pc and import all messages during the startup.
Excellent I now have a folder full of 6 files, all the messages spanning about 700mb. So I drop these onto the Mac desktop and try importing these, the trusty dialog box appears and it looks to be taking a while so off I go for a cup of tea.
But after 4 hours the bar had not moved and lost hope, this was not working and needed a new plan of attack. This pains me to say it but I needed Mircosoft! Microsoft Entourage to be exact.
So back to the interweb to download the trial for Microsoft Office, only to remember it was on the install DVD that came with the iMac.
Anyway, install Entourage, import the .mbox folders and check everything works. Now fire up Mail and try importing again, but this time selecting Entourage data. Dialog window again but this time it was moving, in just 3 minutes it had installed a full 1200 mails and preserved folder’s.
Lucky I had a iPaq and a copy of Mark Space Missing Sync to handle both calendars and contacts. Finally something that just works. The whole process took hours and was no where near as simple as the documents on the Apple site.
No CommentsMacWorld - 10.1.06
I guess I better post the manitory post about MacWorld and the new products to hit the Apple store, it does seem only right.
So yesterday Steve took the stage and every one waited to see what shiny gadgets he would reveal; most people expected a Intel powered machine, more likely an iBook or a Mini. Rumours of Shuffle being updated or even dropped, new software in the form of iLife06 (that was just about certain if you follow trends) iWork and a new addition iWeb (also 99% certain after a iWeb web page was leaked last week). On the more extreme end of the rumour express was thoughts of a Apple branded plasma screen, or extreme iPlasma; bit like a iMac I guess.
Instead of following the herd I sat at home and watched read the event unfold via MacRumoursLive and when all the smoke had cleared I was left a little bit dazed and confused.
First off we have a new gadget for iPod’s; a FM tuner, could be fun I guess.
Second the software; iLife06 including iWeb, iLife to me is always a sound package but I can’t see me spending out the upgrade just for these newer versions and iWeb does not really float my boat. I don’t use enough of my .Mac account as it is.
Now the juicy stuff the hardware! First off a brief intro from Intel bunny, now the first Intel powered Mac; the new iMac. hmmmmm… Ok yes the iMac is a great machine, still use my old G4 but surely the iMac went through an upgrade not so long ago, recieving an iSight camera and a cool remote to control FrontRow (also new). Enough of this the next machine is up; MacBook Pro. You what? MacBook Pro. Interesting name and I’m sure it will eventually catch on but what about the machine. Once again dual Intel cores and all the usual extras found on Apple portables; iSight, remote, wireless, bluetooth.
Of course this is just my quick run down of the event and your best off watching the keynote to find the full details, also specifications for all the machines can be found at the Apple website.
Now my final thoughts. I’m a little bit disappointed by the lack of upgrade to the iBook and Mini. These are two very good machines, both of which being a great start for a ‘new’ Apple user or Windows switcher, they should get the Intel treatment and maybe help a couple more users switch. The new laptop, whilst being a thing of beauty and yes I do wish I had some spare cash just sitting around, but is this a replacement to the PowerBook? At present there is only one size MacBook Pro (just does not roll off the tongue) in two processor speeds, do they plan to release a 17inch MacBook Pro (feck this from now it will be MBP) if not why not? is this machine a testing ground for the Intel cores?
Apple I love your products and you do inspire but where are you taking us on this wild ride of gadgets? More importantly is a 1.67ghz Intel core a good thing, if we are now using Intel cores do we not measure clock speeds the same as PC users? Or are we still doomed to lose the ghz arguement with those Windows users that don’t understand risk processing?