Full migration to OSX

I've been running OSX for a couple of years now, but am still quite reliant on my Windows VMs to carry out certain tasks, simply because I own Windows licenses for software packages I use.

An example is Visio - yesterday I needed to use Visio to document a process, but I didn't have that VM running. So opening Visio became quite a lot more "involved" as I had to boot an entire OS. This complication is getting to me of late for a few reasons:

• I like working in OSX as, in my personal opinion, it's 10^9 times better than working in Windows, for many, many reasons. Don't suspect I'll get much argument here
• If I'm running on battery on my MBP, a Windows VM munches into the battery life, as can be expected since an additional OS is running (likely far less efficient OS).
• Booting, even loading from suspend, just creates wear and tear on my HDD. When I can, I put my Mac to sleep, but in some cases it's not possible.
• I like OSX. Oh, did I mention that?

Can anyone share similar experiences and what your approach has been to the whole switching thing? Did you put up with the issue or have you just migrated and importantly, has the equivalent OSX software been up to the task, or better?

Thanks!

I have found I no longer need anything in Windows for my particular needs but my friends and family that do use Parallels and run in the vm with no complaints using Windows 7.

Visio, depending on how advanced your use of it is, can be effectively replaced by using Omnigraffle:

OmniGraffle - The Omni Group

I think most "switchers" eventually find replacement (native Mac) programs for their Windows needs, or "cross-grade" licenses (as with MS Office or Adobe software). The people who stick with VM environments over the long haul are most likely to be either Quicken users (shakes fist at Intuit) or those who love their Macs but have to use vertical-market specialized software not available on the Mac platform.

PS. If you just need basic diagramming, have a look at Keynote (or Pages), which has a set of basic drawing tools. I've used Keynote to make basic diagrams many times.

osxx said:

I have found I no longer need anything in Windows for my particular needs but my friends and family that do use Parallels and run in the vm with no complaints using Windows 7.

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That's a good place to be! My Fusion VMs are fine, just a hassle. I recently migrated one of my IDEs to an OSX version and it's substantially faster - hope to migrate as much as possible as soon as I can.

chas_m said:

Visio, depending on how advanced your use of it is, can be effectively replaced by using Omnigraffle:

OmniGraffle - The Omni Group

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm going to test it out and then budget for it - hard to pay for a license that you already 'have', but improved productivity and reduced hassle will quickly make up for it.

chas_m said:

I think most "switchers" eventually find replacement (native Mac) programs for their Windows needs, or "cross-grade" licenses (as with MS Office or Adobe software).

Click to expand...

The only things I can't do away with are development tools for Windows (Delphi) and certain tools provided for hardware devices that only have a Windows version. When not using those though, I also want to get native!

I have gone full-Mac for my personal use, but have to stick with a Windows machine for work.

I have the full suite of iWork apps, which are pretty good. OpenOffice is also good, and the 'Draw' element is actually better than Visio in my opinion (depending on the type of diagrams you want to produce).

Another good option is actually iPad apps - TouchDraw is a very effective drawing app, for example, and you can just import the documents you want to your Mac as needed. TouchDraw can even export in Visio format if you need that...

dbm said:

I have gone full-Mac for my personal use, but have to stick with a Windows machine for work.

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That's great! Isn't it just painful going back to windows though? ;D

dbm said:

I have the full suite of iWork apps, which are pretty good. OpenOffice is also good, and the 'Draw' element is actually better than Visio in my opinion (depending on the type of diagrams you want to produce).

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll look at the Draw option, although I prefer a commercial product for professional use.

dbm said:

Another good option is actually iPad apps - TouchDraw is a very effective drawing app, for example, and you can just import the documents you want to your Mac as needed. TouchDraw can even export in Visio format if you need that...

Click to expand...

TouchDraw looks awesome, thanks for the tip!