Arr! Welcome aboard th' good ship Mac-Forums on this fine Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearty!
Im a recent PC loser... Im ashamed it took me this long to MAC.
I know your fingers are "trained" from years of typing PC, but Mac isn't an acronym and thus shouldn't be capitalised. It's a brand name, like Ford or Sony.
1.) Im looking for a program that allows me to "draw/paint" and add "text" to a picture.
Pages (part of iWork), Pixelmator, Photoshop Elements, Portraits & Prints (free), Graphic Converter ... there must be a boatload of programs that will do this. P&P is perfect for dressing up a photo with text, thought/word balloons, arrows and such. Others may have further suggestions.
2.) Im thinking of using Bootcamp on my Macbook Pro to allow me to use a program for work that only works with PC.
Im just not sure if its something I really want to do? Is it safe? Is it efficient? Will it allow me to run the program at full capacity?
First of all, you should be aware that there are plenty of CAD options native for the Mac that appear to be able to do the same thing as this program Fire Zone, and you might want to check some of them out.
Nevertheless, you want to know about Boot Camp and its ability to create a Windows partition so you can run Windows (there are also "virtualisers" like Parallels, VMWare and VirtualBox [the latter of which is free] that can probably do the job more conveniently. There's also Crossover for the Mac that, unlike any of the other solutions, does not require the purchase of a new Windows license (indeed, does not require Windows at all). You might download the trial and see if you can get Fire Zone to work on it first, as that's the cheapest way to go (other than using a Mac-native program, that is).
"Is it something I really want to do?" I generally tell switchers to avoid relying on the "Windows crutch" while they learn the Mac. But if you have a specific need that a Mac program can't match, maybe running Windows (or Crossover) is right for you.
Boot Camp and the virtualiser programs need a fresh, never-activated copy of Windows XP, Vista or 7 in addition to whatever the virtualiser programs cost. Crossover emulates the Windows API so it doesn't need Windows, but also doesn't run every program the others can.
Boot Camp and the virtualisers both use the Intel chip in your Mac to turn your computer into a 99% (virtualisers) to 100% (Boot Camp) true Intel PC, so they work as well as any other PC. A Boot Camp-based solution, by virtue of not having to share any resources with Mac OS X, runs faster/best ... but I don't see that as a real factor in running a simple CAD program, and having to reboot the machine and choose which OS to run will get old fast.
The virtualiser programs run Windows *alongside* (in a window) on Mac, increasing the convenience factor considerably. Crossover runs in a similar fashion.
"Is it safe?" Well, its as safe as running Windows, so no it's not safe. You can minimize the risk by running the same anti-virus (et al) type programs you would run on a PC, but as with PCs there's no guarantee. Crossover doesn't have this problem because it doesn't run the actual Windows OS and thus isn't subject to Windows-based attacks.
Everything I've mentioned comes with a free trial. I'd suggest Crossover first only because its the least hassle to set up (and take down if it can't do the job). After that I'd try Virtualbox because its free and seems to be as good or nearly so as its commercial competitors.
