First off I will say that I love the Mac OS and I love the Windows OS. (How about that for staying neutral?) Listeners to my Fogview Podcast know I switched to the Mac about six months ago when my main Windows XP computer died. I had an iMac that I was using for video editing and my photography work so I started using that for my daily work. I know there are a lot of Mac fan-boys out there but I’m not one of them. A computer is a computer and each type has it’s advantages and disadvantages. I enjoy using and learning about the Mac OS but I still do a lot of my work on my new Windows Vista machine.
I found that the Mac has it share of “spinning beach balls” just like Windows has it hourglass when the CPU is overloaded and can’t do one more thing. I have programs crash on the Mac just like they crash on Windows. I don’t have to worry about viruses and spyware on the Mac like I do on Windows, but I know that could change in the future.
What I would like to mention is the four things that still confuse me as a newbie “Mac switcher.”
- Closing a window on the Mac doesn’t close the program.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve clicked the close window icon and realize later that the program is still running. Most Window programs go away when they are closed. - The program menu bar is at the top of the screen instead of at the top of the window. This is related to the first item because if I close a program’s window (i.e. iTunes), I now see another program underneath it but I’m still in the program I thought I closed. If I try to access the menu for the program that I see on the screen, I will be accessing the menu for the program I thought I closed. (See the screen shot on the right for an example of what I’m talking about: iTunes menu and Aperture window)
- Control = Alt and Alt = Command keys
Yes, the keys are switched, at least for how I normally think of them in Windows. For example, I press Ctrl-C to copy in Windows, and Command-C in Mac. Alt-tab to switch programs in Windows and Command-tab in Mac. (The last two are not switched, which only adds to the confusion.) - Home and End act like Page Up and Page Down instead of begin/end
If I’m typing something in Windows, the Home/End keys will move the cursor to the begin/end of the line I’m typing. On the Mac it generally shifts the content of the window up and down on the screen and doesn’t change the cursor location. (I realize that each program can use the Home/End keys as they see fit, but in the Windows world these keys always seem to work the way I expect — or at least the way I’ve come to expect of them.)
Of all the differences I mentioned, #4 is the one thing I have not been able to get use too. I’m always trying to use the Home/End keys on the Mac to move my cursor around when editing text (I admit that I make lots of typing mistakes). I try to use it when entering URLs into the browser, Google search strings, emails I’m composing, and blogs entries (like this one), and I’m always surprised at the results. I would love for a Mac user to tell me what keys will do a similar thing on the Mac.
Learning to use a Mac has been a fun thing and helps to keep my brain engaged. I picked up a great book that helped answer the question of “How do I do that on the Mac.” It’s called “Switching to the Mac, The Missing Manual” by David Pogue. I highly recommend it if you’re thinking about switching too.
I’m not a Mac expert but I will write more in the future about my experience navigating in a Mac world from a Windows map. Stay tuned.
73’s, Tom
communication client that sends pop3 and imap into oblivian. Imagine sending a note to your coworker who is at their desk. They see the new “wave” arrive and read it. You have not yet turned away from the screen when they begin to type their reply. You begin to see their reply character by character while they type. Instantaneous. Now wave is no longer “email” but instant messenger reinvented. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. You can add in other participants to your conversation, wave, and they can replay it. That means they can play the message and see how it all took place start to finish. No more scrolling to the bottom to see the previous conversation. They can play it back, jump in and participate. Wow. I didn’t know I was thirsty but Google Wave is like a refreshing glass of cold water on a warm day.
I love my 
I was surfing around this afternoon (quiet Friday here) and found a few neat new freebie things I did not know about. Some might come in handy to more than just me, so I thought I’d share them.
Yet, they did, and managed to maintain the brand for the last ten years. The fact is, AOL is continuing its decline, and I believe Time-Warner’s planned spinoff of AOL into its own company by the end of this year is an effort to off-load a poorly performing division. What Time-Warner failed to do was capitalize on the global reach of AOL by melding together old media with what AOL could have offered in new media. If AOL had been left to its own devices, it is possible that it would have found its own way to renewed profitability. Instead, Time-Warner’s business model likely held back any innovation that AOL once had.
