Hello World, I’m Mac
12 09 2006
It took me a little while to bite the bullet but Apple coming out with a MacBook Pro on an Intel Core Duo processor finally convinced me to switch.
Lovin’ it so far, the only painful bit will be buying a Windows XP Pro license this afternoon to run it inside Parallels. Until universal binaries come out for software I use on a daily basis I’ll be switching between Mac OS X and Win XP at the click of a button.
Some minor annoyances coming from the PC world:
- maximize window is actually fit to content, there don’t seem to be any good workarounds to have it behave like you expect it to on a PC. There’s all sorts of debate on the web on how its un-Mac to maximize to full screen but I really hate the clutter of windows overlapping and would just like to Alt-Tab between apps.
- closing a window doesn’t close the application, that takes a good bit of time getting used to
- networking with a PC you need to select the folder you want to access from a dialog box rather than just being able to browse the shared folders in the Finder.
Probably all things I’ll get used to after a while though, the good definitely outweighs the bad. Still deciding on what email client I’ll use (Thunderbird or Mail), have already installed Firefox as Safari doesn’t really do it for me. Virtuedesktops is an absolute must have as well, be sure to install that app if you’re switching over to Mac.
More to come!
Congratulations Peter
One thing I do miss from the PC is the full-screen thing too, but PC apps use that application shell window, and OS X doesn’t.
Ahaaa… Welcome to the Mac world Peter!
A welcome from me too Peter..
Don’t you love expose?
Embrace the window clutter as a bonus - and note that Microsoft’s own user interface guidelines suggest the Mac way. When moving between documents for cut and paste or drag and drop, overlapping windows are clearly superior to Windows program layer model.
I recommend you check out Camino if you like Firefox on the mac, it’s a Mozilla-based “more-mac” version of Firefox. I have been using it for a while, and its terrific.
There are two SIMBL plug-ins which should give you the features you miss: ’stoplight’ and ‘megazoomer’.
“Stoplight allows you to change the windowing behavior for any and all Cocoa based apps”
“Megazoomer—Key command utility grows front window to full screen.”
And you can find them on VersionTracker!
I’ll address your modest concerns in order:
1> Maximizing windows to full screen blocks the desktop. In a true desktop publishing environment, you’ll want to view a web site and drag an image on to your desktop or a folder there. Think of your Mac desktop in a more physical sense. You wouldn’t want to open one huge book or calendar on your real desk (covering everything else), would you? No - you would want to have the calendar to the left with a notebook maybe just under it or to the right so you could see two things at the same time. You’d want easy access to an important folder on your desktop without having to take everything off it too. In light of that, do try hitting the F9 and F11 keys to see how easy Apple makes the desktop work for you!
2> Closing windows only closes windows - unless that particular application understands that closing the window actually “EXITS” the application. Since the Mac OS can actually operate pretty efficiently even with a dozen different apps opened at the same time (yes, a dozen!), it’s quicker to just click back to the app rather than exit and restart it again. My iMac G5 (almost 2 years old now) runs about a dozen apps constantly (mail, browser, calendar, etc.) and does so while simultaneously maintaining two additional accounts (”profiles” in Windows) logged in; each one with its own set of running applications! While it may take a moment to fully switch into one account, once I’m there, it flies like it’s all by itself.
3> Browsing seems to me a whole lot easier than having to type in network locations. But, if you prefer the typing method, open Finder (or just click anywhere on the desktop to activate the Finder menu) and you’ll see the “Go” menu. You can then “go” to any computer, folder, etc. providing you know the exact name and path. Oh, and if you’re a keyboard shortcut junkie, check out the list of commands here:
http://www.westwind.com/reference/OS-X/keyboard-shortcuts.html
Just stick with it. It took me a full 6 weeks to unlearn some of my Windows habits. The best tip I can give you from experience is, don’t just plop stuff into the hard drive’s folders (circumventing the applications on your Mac). That’s a mistake. Use the application to manipulate your files. Case in point; if you drop image files into your Photos folder, iPhoto won’t know they’re there. But use iPhoto as the vehicle (you can simply drag your files onto the iPhoto icon in the dock or into the iPhoto app window) and the program will take care of stashing them where they belong. Same goes for music files. Use iTunes instead of shoving music “behind its back” into the iTunes directory on the hard drive.
Spend some time unlearning your windows habits.
For instance, get used to Expose and multiple windows open, or the fact that you can have an application linger in the background without too much overhead. Learn new keyboard shortcuts…. explore pervasive drag and drop…
Also you should be able to browse the entire network in your finder by clicking on the network icon….
-S
Thunderbird…
Camino…
iPhoot has some wierdnesses, try imedia pro…
Best, c
http://www.danrodney.com/mac/index.html
Here’s a list of a whole bunch of keyboard shortcuts.
On the mac, instead of alt-tab to switch programs, it’s command (apple key) + tab.
congrats peter
about the browser, remember there’s always the opera option
[...] Great job team! Psst, guess what I’m on Mac now so how about hooking me up with that beta? [...]
ENVEEEEEE!!!!!
What are you doing with the old laptop? *raises finger and talks about brotherly love ‘n’ all*
To Jeff: I’m considering switching to a macbook, I think it’s a really great computer, but I’ll have to agree with Peter on this one:
Desktop clutter may be “true” desktop publishing, but one thing I always learned at the art academy is that your view of the image or artwork that you’re working on becomes much clearer when it’s surroundings are quiet and empty. If my desktop is full of unused windows and my RAM is full of half-running applications then I feel like I’m working in a big old mess. It’s distracting.
A cluttered interface is not considered usable when we’re talking about RIA’s, so why should it suddenly be a good concept for an OS ?
I’d recommend getting Quicksilver