new iMac

Hello;
Opened a new IMac this AM and all is well.

I have a DVD shop manual that requires Window.
What needs to be done so that I can view the DVD.

I don't want to load Windows and it was suggested that I use
a mac application called Crossover. I was also told that
this application only works with MS office.

Will this work or can I have some with Windows copy the DVD's
in a PDF format and then use the new DVD's??

Thanks.
Bill

Not quite sure what is on a DVD shop manual disc but....If you put a windows disc into a Mac, you can generally see all the files on the disc and even open the individual files are are compatible with both platforms (Pdf's, images files etc) by navigating to them in the finder. You just can't run windows only files such as .exe files.

I have a few windows DVD's of training courses. The actual training videos are in .mov format so I just navigate to them and open them individually from the Finder.

Hope this helps. If not I'm sure one of the many helpful people here will be able to give better advicce

As for Office. I have never used Crossover, but for an office program I would go with iWork. I use it and find it a lot user friendly than MS Office.

Oh, congratulations on switching and welcome to the community. It takes a while to get used to OS X after using Windows a lot, but it is worth it and in a while you will wonder why you ever used Windows to begin with.

The easiest and most transparent way since all you need it for is a single app is to purchase and install VMware Fusion and then an XP virtual machine. Install Office int he virtual machine and then the Shop software. Run the virtual Machine in Unity mode and it will be like the Shop app is running nativly on the Mac.

Bootcamp is not a great solution when all you want XP for is a single small application.

^^^ Much better answer than mine

What kind of files are on the DVD's? Are they a lot of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc. documents or what? I'm not sure why else you would need MS Office for a DVD otherwise. Either way, Crossover doesn't seem like the best solution for you, since it's intended to run a select few Windows programs on OS X. Here's a few things you could do:

1) Do as suggested and get VMWare Fusion. Use it run run XP or Vista or whatever inside a window on your Mac. Install your old Office software if you still have it. Use your DVD.

All of that is really unnecessary though if it's just a lot of Word documents or something. When I got my new router, the CD for it was for Windows, but turned out all I really needed (not bothering with its Easy Setup! for Windows silliness) was the pdf manual on it, which I was able to browse the disk for and find pretty easily. If this is more your situation, then...

2) Put the disk in your mac and look at its contents. Anything .exe or other Windows program files will be garbage to your Mac, but anything like PDF files or Word, Powerpoint, etc. documents are just fine. If they're MS Office files, go download NeoOffice, which is an open-source, free office program for Mac. It's fully compatible with all kinds of MS Office documents (even the new ones). You can open any Office files with NeoOffice.

If it's neither of those, well, hopefully someone will find you a better answer.

windows disk

Thanks for the response'.
I probably didn't explain it very well.

The DVD' are for a BMW motorcycle and came from Germany.
When I open the DVD' there is a large box with many boxes within, Most of the boxes appear dark gray, two boxes appear
grayed out and one is blue in color. The blue box is labeled DATAS and when clicked on it shows more boxes with labels like "bmw stamm" and when opened they all have extensions of DAT, NTX.. The dark gray boxes have extensions .exe, dLL

Doesn't appear to be a standard extension that I'm familiar with. I have tried opening many of them and get a response " no default application to open so and so".
I have looked for file extensions like PDF, doc, etc. to no avail.

I guess I will have to take it down and get it printed to hard copy.

Thanks for the suggestions and Welcome. Look forward to learning the tips and tricks of the Mac. For the most part the Mac is head and heels above the PC.

Bill