10-26-2010, 05:49 AM

I've taken the plunge after using pc's since DOS 3.3, then through all the various flavours of windows, and bought a mac-book pro 13", which should be getting delivered tomorrow. I've a few quick questions...

I've also got an ipod touch with associated apps on my current computer. How do i transfer all my apps from my computer to to my new mac? Is it easier to dump all music and apps onto my iTouch, then sync my iTouch on my MBP? or is there a better way?

How similar is MS office to its Win based counterpart? I'm used to Office, and will be getting a copy once I finally get the MBP, I'm hoping there will be no learning curve required for this.

Whats support like for playing DivX films, do I need to add a codec pack or is there a different route on OSX?

Thats it so far, till i get it in 24 hours!

10-26-2010, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by EvilTwin

I've also got an ipod touch with associated apps on my current computer. How do i transfer all my apps from my computer to to my new mac?

File->Transfer Purchases from your new Mac's iTunes will take care of the apps.

How similar is MS office to its Win based counterpart? I'm used to Office, and will be getting a copy once I finally get the MBP, I'm hoping there will be no learning curve required for this.

Haven't you dealt with MS long enough to know better than to hope?

But seriously, Office 2011 is brand-new and, um, "borrows" rather heavily from Apple's iWork suite so yes, there WILL be a learning curve, but hopefully not much of one. If we had been talking about Office 2008 I'd have simply said they are fairly similar apart from the email portion.

Whats support like for playing DivX films, do I need to add a codec pack or is there a different route on OSX?

Download and install the free Flip4Mac WMV Player and Perian and you're good to go.

10-26-2010, 07:02 AM

Whats support like for playing DivX films, do I need to add a codec pack or is there a different route on OSX?

Thats it so far, till i get it in 24 hours!

download this media player.. it will play ALL formats and it has ALL codecs. I use it on PC for years and now I use it on my new mac ah and it's FREE

VideoLAN - VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player

10-26-2010, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by chas_m

File->Transfer Purchases from your new Mac's iTunes will take care of the apps.

Sorry to seem a bit simple about this, does this mean that i can stick all my music and apps on my iTouch, then use the iTouch to transfer all my stuff over to my MBP. No need to re-download apps etc, just sync to the new laptop?

Also i remember something about my iTouch being tied to my current computer for its account, what do I have to do to move it over to the new laptop?

10-26-2010, 01:37 PM

But seriously, Office 2011 is brand-new and, um, "borrows" rather heavily from Apple's iWork suite so yes, there WILL be a learning curve, but hopefully not much of one. If we had been talking about Office 2008 I'd have simply said they are fairly similar apart from the email portion.

Actually the "borrows" is not from iWork (thank goodness) but rather from the Windows version of MS Publisher. Yes, Word has added better layout options similar to Pages, but certainly not "borrowed" from iWork.

Take a look at this review from Alan Zisman who writes reviews in one of your local newspapers in BC, Canada.

http://www.zisman.ca/Articles/2010/biv1096.html

10-28-2010, 04:42 AM

I use iWork and I had a personal demo of Office 11 from a member of the MacBU.

I'm also familiar with Publisher, having banished it permanently from every print shop I've ever come in contact with.

Office 11 borrows heavily NOT from Publisher, but from iWork. Publisher wasn't fit to kiss Pages' boots. It's kind of a fusion of Office 2010 for PC and iWork, particularly when you look at what they did to Excel and PowerPoint.

It's certainly not a total rip-off of iWork -- it's got some of its own stuff in there, and some carryover baggage from the Publisher era you may be thinking of like Word"Art" (ha!), but basically MS is no dummy. They saw the reaction Mac users had to iWork and took it to heart -- and fired up the copy machines.

11-01-2010, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by chas_m

I use iWork and I had a personal demo of Office 11 from a member of the MacBU.

I'm also familiar with Publisher, having banished it permanently from every print shop I've ever come in contact with.

Office 11 borrows heavily NOT from Publisher, but from iWork. Publisher wasn't fit to kiss Pages' boots. It's kind of a fusion of Office 2010 for PC and iWork, particularly when you look at what they did to Excel and PowerPoint.

It's certainly not a total rip-off of iWork -- it's got some of its own stuff in there, and some carryover baggage from the Publisher era you may be thinking of like Word"Art" (ha!), but basically MS is no dummy. They saw the reaction Mac users had to iWork and took it to heart -- and fired up the copy machines.

You have done a very good thing by banishing publisher , but I would be hesitant to use a print shop that even had a copy of publisher on the floor by the dust pan....


and I agree with you and I think Microsoft's history speaks for itself. They have built their entire empire by "borrowing" or outright stealing other software... I can't think of a single program that Microsoft offers that I can't find a better (and usually cheaper) version of from another software company, with the exception of excel, which I don't have to use anymore (luckily) ...