How difficult was the switch... REALLY?

For those of you that recently switched from Windows XT to Mac (not an older version of Windows, but XT)...

How difficult was the switch, really? (serious question -- not trying to be sarcastic)

Since lots of things are *different*, I'm betting that there were certain challenges, right? Some things that you found difficult, or frustrating? Any old PC habits that were hard to break?

I'm sure you recent switchers know what I'm getting at. Any comments or thoughts you can share would be appreciated.

Oh, and please don't say "Windows sucks" or anything like that. It really doesn't help me. Thanks.

tbh the hardest thing was learning to use the mouse more!
Ive used windows right from 3.1 so used keyboard shortcuts 90% of the time so i had to learn the new ones.

The other thing that was a bit difficult was that there was no "run" command which i overcame by using Quicksilver

Lastly the only thing that bothered me was downloading apps but once you know where to look (versiontracker) i was fine no other real problems TBH

I honestly did not have a problem switching at all.. I do however have problems when i use windows.. little keyboard short cuts i use often on mac don't work on windows, but there are no habbits that i had on windows that got in the way when i switched to mac.. the only thing i did was hit the apple button a couple times in the beginning hoping the apple menu on the top of the screen would come down.. other then that it was an easy transition.. a little over a year ago.. from windows xp pro to mac.

and keep your windows computer around like i did.. you never know when you might need it for an application you can't get for mac.

curious said:

For those of you that recently switched from Windows XT to Mac (not an older version of Windows, but XT)...

How difficult was the switch, really? (serious question -- not trying to be sarcastic)

Since lots of things are *different*, I'm betting that there were certain challenges, right? Some things that you found difficult, or frustrating? Any old PC habits that were hard to break?

I'm sure you recent switchers know what I'm getting at. Any comments or thoughts you can share would be appreciated.

Oh, and please don't say "Windows sucks" or anything like that. It really doesn't help me. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Honestly, when I made the switch it was relatively easy.

There are some things you'll have to relearn. For example navigating finder can be really clumsy at times, so that will be the one thing you'll have to learn.

I've noticed that since switching to OSX I use keyboard shortcuts to do stuff more often and it really cuts time. I guess you can say that this operating system while being easy to use for average users, can also be extremely efficient for advanced users.

My first impressions:

I unpacked the box, hooked everything up and turned it on. Nothing special. Now generally when I buy a PC i like to reformat it fresh. Just an old Windows/Dell habit i suppose. Anyway, I popped in the cd, and in about 3 or 4 mouse clicks, the computer was on its way to a fresh install of Tiger. During that time a friend called me to pick him up, and laughed all the way to his house. Easy as pie. Even funnier was my trying to relearn 'drag and drop.' I felt so stupid because i didn't know how to do a few things, and i would ask people and they would be like, "just click here, and drag it there" and i nearly died of laughter. It really is how computing 'should be.'

After thoughts: I've had it for nearly a year, no problems, no spam/adware and no antivirus. tis very good.

Like I said in your other thread, the only things that took even a little effort was the clickers for the window on the Left side of the Window instead of the Right and using the ALT(APPLE) key to do CTRL+S,C,X, ETC. It was not hard at all to get used to either of them, but those are the only things I can think of that took a little effort at first. I have used Windows since 3.1 and every version since.

Funny thing is now when I use my XP systems, I go for the Alt key and try to click on the Left hand side to close or minimize a window!!! hhahahah

Seriously though, I can go back and forth between XP and OSX most of the time without even thinking. I was confortable with OSX after say 1-2 hours usage. VERY EASY to learn. I have been running XP Pro since the first week it came out.

I find OS X really easy for complete n00b's and experts. "Intermediate" users find themselves underwhelmed by the simplicity sometimes: they don't see the answers because they're so easy sometimes (eg. just drag 'n drop).

But after a few weeks you'll feel right at home.

The location of the menu bar, sometimes i'm still looking for it at the top of the window and not at the top of the screen and discovering that .ZIP files are called Archives in OSX. I think of myself as in intermediate (Windows/PC) user but i didn't find any frustration or similar with OSX. It somehow reminds me of PocketPC or PalmOS.
I loved it from the very first time, it scrolls like butter!

easy...

EDIT-XTREEM said:

easy...

Click to expand...

Gee, that was helpful.

curious said:

For those of you that recently switched from Windows XT to Mac (not an older version of Windows, but XT)...

How difficult was the switch, really? (serious question -- not trying to be sarcastic)

Since lots of things are *different*, I'm betting that there were certain challenges, right? Some things that you found difficult, or frustrating? Any old PC habits that were hard to break?

I'm sure you recent switchers know what I'm getting at. Any comments or thoughts you can share would be appreciated.

Oh, and please don't say "Windows sucks" or anything like that. It really doesn't help me. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Even with all my attempts to learn OS X at an Apple retail store and at my cousin's, nothing could have prepared me for switching from being a very advanced Windows user to a Mac user. Here are the difficulties I encountered along the way:

-Getting used to the idea of zooming my windows rather than maximizing them (This gets much better as you learn to use Expose)
-Losing my paranoia when it came to installing most applications simply by dragging the app into the Applications folder (and vice-versa for uninstalling them)
-Getting used to applications usually being in dmgs when downloaded; I never had to use disk images much on Windows.

-At the beginning it feels like you're using your mouse way too much, but as you get better you'll learn the extensive keyboard shortcuts in OS X.

-The lack of the Start Menu absolutely killed me the first two weeks. Spotlight helps alleviate this though, since now I only keep my frequently used apps in the Dock and rely on the very efficient Spotlight for everything else. As a temporary solution until you get used to it, though, press Shift-Command-A while in Finder to open the Applications Folder in a new window. Better yet, put the Applications folder in your Dock so you can just click it there.

-The three buttons being at the top-left of the window rather than the top-right, along with the skewing of the desktop to the right rather than the left like on Windows.

-Getting used to closing windows without quitting the applications

-Playing back my video files in a very enjoyable manner is something I fine tuned up until a few weeks ago. I can share my secrets to success with you if you so desire.

I'd say that about covers it. It usually helps to bring a safety blanket of some kind with you. For me, that was using Firefox as my default browser until I learned to appreciate Mac multitasking, which Firefox seems to be opposed to with its zoom button that acts like a maximize button. The memory efficiency could also be better on Firefox. That said, here are some applications that are essential:

-Adium (http://www.adiumx.com) is the best instant messaging application I have ever used. It is very changeable and supports a ridiculous number of instant messaging clients. And it's freeware based on libGaim.

-VLC (http://www.videolan.org) is a free media player that plays every file type out there except the Real Player files (download Real Player if you just as well) and the WMV files specifically encoded with the WMV3 codec. It plays DVDs also, by the way. Anyway, for those pesky WMVs...

-Flip4mac (http://www.flip4mac.com) is a set of Quicktime components that enables WMV playback in Quicktime Player. It's nifty, and since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows media Player 9 for mac, they generously paid off the Flip4mac team to offer it for free.

-Stuffit Expander (http://www.stuffit.com) will be essential if you want to uncompress anything, and pretty much every app you download will be in a disk image in a compressed file. make sure you get just Stuffit Expander, the free one.

There are also a couple of other things about Media playback in particular I can teach you how to do, like get Quicktime to play in fullscreen (though you can accomplish this with iTunes f you so desire). If you ever find need for those, just ask me. Congrats on the jump.

Discerptor said:

Here are the difficulties I encountered along the way

Click to expand...

Excellent info. Awesome tips. Exactly the type of post I was looking/hoping for. Thank you!

Discerptor said:

Getting used to the idea of zooming my windows rather than maximizing them

Click to expand...

Huh?

Discerptor said:

Getting used to applications usually being in dmgs when downloaded

Click to expand...

Huh #2?

Discerptor said:

Getting used to closing windows without quitting the applications

Click to expand...

Huh #3?

Discerptor said:

For me, that was using Firefox as my default browser...

Click to expand...

I'm using it right now (on the PC, of course).

Discerptor said:

Congrats on the jump.

Click to expand...

Well... I haven't jumped yet.
I'm still scared to death. Scared of the unknown... scared of leaving my comfort zone... and (frankly) scared that after making the switch I'll find that it's not really *that* much of a benefit over Windows, and realize I've made a huge financial mistake.

But, I'm getting closer... much closer. We'll see what happens.

if you hit the plus button on the top of your window it will more or less zoom it to the correct size, it will not fill up the entire window like the maximize/miniimize button in windows (i think this is what he was talking about)

dmg's (aka disk images)...for example you download firefox, it will come within a disk image that will mount on your desktop, it will look like a white hard drive...inside it will be your firefox application...in order to install it you simply drag the firefox icon to your applications folder

next...
you hit the red x your program does not close. simple as thathitting the red x in the top left of a window closes the window and only the window. to close the program you go to the menubar and select the program name and then click 'quit (program name)'. or you hit command+q



just take the jump....pick up a b&w powermac g3 just to test the waters, you can find them for like 200+ship...

hope everthing i typed was helpful and correct, my eyes are closing from being so tired
-chris

CMD+N
CMD+DEL
CMD+A

Those few make my life so much easier when using the internet, copying and of course pasting around. I use shortcuts on my PB WAAAY more than clicking or dragging. On my mom's dell, I feel like anything other than copy and paste are way too clunky.

Speed. I'm not nearly as fast in OS X as I am in Windows yet. A lot of the keyboard shortcuts are different. I got used to the minimize/maximize button placement on the left a lot quicker than I thought I would, although it seems like more work to drag the cursor over to the left everytime

Also, finding Mac-equivalent software has been a bit of a challenge. I use a ton of apps on a regular basis. Google has been a great tool in aiding in my switch; I've found a variety of good replacements already, maybe I'll post them sometime.

coach_z said:

next...
you hit the red x your program does not close. simple as thathitting the red x in the top left of a window closes the window and only the window. to close the program you go to the menubar and select the program name and then click 'quit (program name)'. or you hit command+q

Click to expand...

I forgot about this too. So easy to quit apps! I also use CMD+tab to cycle through apps. I am so efficient on MacOS, I scare myself sometimes!

curious said:

Excellent info. Awesome tips. Exactly the type of post I was looking/hoping for. Thank you!

Click to expand...

I try.

Huh?

Click to expand...

In Windows, you can minimize, maximize, or close a window. In OS X, you can minimize, zoom, or close a window. Typically speaking zoom will toggle between the default placement/size of a window and whatever you as the user have set as your preference for that. Other times it will have alternate functions, like toggling the miniplayer for iTunes or resizing a Safari window to be only as large as it needs to be to fit the width of a page. There are some apps that treat zoom like a maximize button, but I tend to avoid those.

Huh #2?

Click to expand...

In Windows, when you download an application it's usually an installer you directly download or an installer inside a RAR or zip file. In OS X, with the exception of some huge apps, you'll typically only need to drag an application into your Applications folder and drop it there. Installation done. However, these applications are never directly downloaded alone; they usually come inside a disk image file. Disk images are images you can mount to your computer like a drive, and it will behave that way. You mount it like a drive, you take what you want off of it like a drive, and then you eject it. typically you don't see disk images used a lot in Windows unless you're saving them to burn a disk later (I'm sure you've seen .iso files; that's just a different kind of disk image) or if you want to create the effects of a disk being in your computer to do something (say you don't have 2 DVD drives and need 2 in at the same time for some reason, or say you want to trick certain games to save laptop battery power). yet pretty much every app I've downloaded for my Mac came in a disk image file, which I don't normally use on Windows.

Huh #3?

Click to expand...

OS X counts applications open in only one instance, that being the application itself. Within that application, you can have as many windows as you want open. Of course all windows from all apps are on your screen at the same time. If you close a window, even if it's your only one open, with a few notable exceptions, that will not close the application itself. rather, the application will remain open with inactive RAM on standby so that the next time you open a window in the application, it just comes on lightning fast. This actually brings us a little into how OS X manages RAM since I mentioned inactive RAM. Basically you have RAM that's being used in some way, free RAM, and inactive RAM. The inactive RAM is RAM that's basically being held on standby by your open applications though not actually being used. As soon as the RAM is needed, it will be used, and the apps reserving inactive RAM have first dibs on it. So even if you see in Activity Monitor that you have very little free RAM, if you have a whole big chunk of inactive RAM, you're still good.

I'm using it right now (on the PC, of course).

Click to expand...

Excellent. I love Firefox, and it's all I use for web browsing when I'm in a Windows environment. If it were as optimized and Mac-ized as I'd like it to be, I'd probably use it on my PowerBook.

Well... I haven't jumped yet.
I'm still scared to death. Scared of the unknown... scared of leaving my comfort zone... and (frankly) scared that after making the switch I'll find that it's not really *that* much of a benefit over Windows, and realize I've made a huge financial mistake.

But, I'm getting closer... much closer. We'll see what happens.

Click to expand...

I was the same way, though less so as I got closer to purchasing because I had hands-on time with Macs in the time leading up to my purchase. My advice is to really try and get to know as much as you can before purchasing, really digging in as much as you can, asking questions about how you would do X on a Mac. Then when you finally get it, just play, play, and play with OS X and eventually you'll get comfortable and really learn to take advantage of the Mac platform and know the difference between OS X and Windows. In the end, it's your decision, and I hope you make whichever one will suit you best. Cheers.

It wasn't really that difficult, from the very first time I laid my eyes on the Powerbooks at the apple store I knew I had to get one. I sold my ageing Dell within a few weeks then got myself one of the best laptops (if not the best) money can buy. Using OSX is painfully easy, the only problems I have at the minute is learning the shortcut commands, I like to use the keybaord alot cos I think it saves time compared to using the mouse. In windows for example to copy text the command is ctrl + V on a mac its apple + V. The way how the keys are on the mac doesn't feel all that natural to me. Probably, after using it more often I might get used to it lol.

I find myself trying to close apps in windows by going to the left side of the screen and trying to click on the little red x button (scary).

coach_z said:

to close the program you go to the menubar and select the program name and then click 'quit (program name)'. or you hit command+q

Click to expand...

Gee, that will take some getting used to.

Question - if you forget to properly close a program (and I *will* forget) does it damage anything? I know that Windows does not like to be shut down unless every program is closed. Is Mac the same? (if so, I'll be seriously messin' up my computer for a while! )

curious said:

Gee, that will take some getting used to.

Question - if you forget to properly close a program (and I *will* forget) does it damage anything? I know that Windows does not like to be shut down unless every program is closed. Is Mac the same? (if so, I'll be seriously messin' up my computer for a while! )

Click to expand...

Nothing will be messed up. You'll just have more inactive RAM and windows in that app will open more quickly. When you shut down (which I typically don't do), any open apps will be quit automatically.

kaidomac said:

Speed. I'm not nearly as fast in OS X as I am in Windows yet.

Click to expand...

I hear ya there. I fly around my PC *very* quickly. This is actually one of my biggest fears about switching. Using the PC is second nature to me, and I'm on it ALL THE TIME. I really don't want to be slowed down.

kaidomac said:

I've found a variety of good replacements already, maybe I'll post them sometime.

Click to expand...

That would be great!