windows on mac

I'm looking for a program for a macbook pro that allows my windows files to open. Parallels was suggested, but I'd like to know if that's the best software and if there are others people have used successfully.

Thanks, Kris

Please give this a read:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/ru...4239-running-windows-mac-switchers-guide.html

- Nick

What Windows files? Assuming you mean Windows programs, which ones?

There is virtual software: Parallels, Fusion, VirtualBox (free). All require a legal copy of Windows.

There is software which runs Windows programs in a "bottle" = WINE (free) and CrossOver. A copy of Windows is not required.

And there is also Boot Camp which sets up your Mac to do a dual boot. A legal Windows copy is required.

Finally, which MacBook Pro do you have? Year and model? What version of OS X are you running on your MacBook Pro?

responses

Thanks for your responses to my question about windows on a mac. Much of your information is over my head so I need to do more research. I didn't know I couldn't use my windows from my pc.

Kris

Well, hang on, before we drown you in info -- a little more information from you might simplify matters.

When you say "windows files," what do you mean *exactly*? If you're talking about things like Word documents, there's nothing you need to do, they will open just fine on a Mac as-is. If you need to open other Office documents, there are free and paid options including Microsoft Office itself (which actually started life on the Mac back in the 80s).

If you're talking Quicken documents, there is a version of Quicken for the Mac that might meet your needs, but per Intuit tradition its not as full-featured as the Windows version. There are alternatives that should fit the bill for most people, like iBank.

Most everything else -- contacts, calendars, email, media files, photos etc -- will just come on over and be used in the Mac programs for those things. You can use Windows Migration Assistant (a free Windows program from Apple) to help you with that.

Bottom line -- what is it you actually want to accomplish? The Mac is different, but not wildly so -- more a design difference than functionality difference. But using it effectively requires understanding that OS X is not Windows.

reply to chase_m

I sent a response to your message where it said I could send a private e-mail, but I don't think you received it. I am new to this forum so I'm not sure what I did wrong. I answered all your questions. I guess I'm trying this to see what I need to do. Suggestions?

Kris

kvanguse said:

I sent a response to your message where it said I could send a private e-mail, but I don't think you received it. I am new to this forum so I'm not sure what I did wrong. I answered all your questions. I guess I'm trying this to see what I need to do. Suggestions?

Kris

Click to expand...

If you have answers to questions posted by other members, please post those to the thread itself. Do not PM (private message) specific members since they might not be watching for them. The idea is to facilitate conversation and exploration by asking leading questions. If you provide your answers here, other members can jump in with other input to provide help.

These forums (or any for that matter) are not for one-to-one support but rather one-to-many systems..

Thanks for the information about not doing private e-mails.

I am looking for guidance about what to do after using Migration Assistant and transferring my pc files to a mac. I did this, but some files that I made in publisher will not open. There is a gray box with "exec" instead of the file. What does this mean and what should I do?

Kris

The Windows Migration Assistant will move data and files from your PC to the appropriate places on your Mac. However, there are certain programs and files that are not compatible to Mac OS X. Microsoft Publisher files have no equivalent nor is there any OS X application which can open them. That's why you received the gray box with "exec".

There are desktop publishing programs for OS X which are very similar to MS Publisher and cost a lot less. Take a look at "iStudio Publisher" which sells for $17.99 in the Mac App Store. (Just one example.)

There isn't anything you can do with your MS Publisher files except perhaps try to re-create them using a Mac program such as I suggested above.

I will look into the mac version of windows publisher. Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the information.

Kris

kvanguse said:

I will look into the mac version of windows publisher. Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the information. Kris

Click to expand...

Read my reply again. There is no MS Publisher version for the Mac. I recommended an application called "iStudio Publisher" which is similar.

You might also try the Pages app for light DTP. You can put a document in page layout mode and, once you made your way up the learning curve, create some pretty nice stuff.

I think you would be able to open your MS Publisher files in Libre Office and then perhaps export them to some more convenient format (that you could also open in Pages).

LibreOffice can not open MS Publisher files and Pages is not a very good replacement for doing desktop publishing. I have both Pages and iStudio Publisher and much prefer iStudio Publisher.

chscag said:

LibreOffice can not open MS Publisher files ....

Click to expand...

Version 4 and later of Libre Office does, indeed, have an import filter for MS Publisher files.

Nice to know, thanks for the information about a filter for *.pub files.

Kudos to LibreOffice for finally helping to fix a serious problem -- users that invested time and effort into creating MS Publisher files only to discover that NOTHING else opens them (on the Mac or elsewhere).

Another option for preservation of the documents (assuming you don't need to do any other editing to them) is to use MS Publisher on a PC to save the files as PDFs, which are "uneditable" (basically). Macs can of course read PDFs just fine.

Charlie's opinion that Pages is not a suitable DTP package is just that -- an opinion. As a former graphic designer that started with Quark and Pagemaker in their earliest incarnations, I can assure you that Pages is FANTASTIC for desktop publishing type stuff. His view that iStudio Publisher is better may well be true (I haven't had an opportunity to play with it, but it has a fine reputation), but I still routinely get asked to do what I would call "light" publishing duties (newsletter design, posters, business cards, flyers, brochures, magazine ads -- the core of small-press stuff) and use Pages all the time with easy, quick and beautiful results. Even on the iPad!

I cannot get the .pub wizard to work in LO. I get an error message in the log saying the converted file cannot be saved, then this:



At that point LO locks up. It won't let me close that window with an error message saying the it can't close the window while Basic is running. I click on the X to stop basic, but it doesn't change the error message or let it close. I cannot close LO because it won't close while Basic is running. I have to Force Quit LO to get control of it. Infinitely repeatable. I was really hoping I could convert some .pub files but that wizard doesn't do the magic.

EDIT: Try this

Jake: Your instructions (edit) did not post for some reason. We need to know for sure if LO can indeed convert *.pub files as many of us have lots of these laying around. I used Publisher for years and even have a recent copy with my business version of MS Office for Windows.

Most of my bulletins have all been converted (re-done) using iStudio Publisher but it would be nice to have access to others.

I didn't have any .pub documents so I DL'd one from the MS site. I opened it in LO 4.1.x with no difficulty. It opened as a draw document. I then looked at the options for exporting it and didn't see anything useful other than imagey sort of formats. Noticed that there was an update for LO so, thinking there may now be some better export options, DL'd and installed v4.3 of LO. Now, as described by Jake, it doesn't import the .pub file any longer.

Well, thanks for taking the trouble to find that out. It's too bad it no longer works but you saved me from downloading LO. I don't mind re-doing my *.pub documents when I have the spare time. So far the *.pub documents that I re-created with iStudio Publisher were those that I needed right away. And I'm not going to install Windows on this Mac just to use Publisher.