Switching from PC to Mac Can I?

You can use iSync to synch between your Palm, Mail, iCal, Addressbook and Plam Desktop... don't know if that covers all your needs.

Have you looked at Mail to see if it would cover some of the features you need?

If you get MS Office Professional, it comes with Virtual PC.

Don't know much about Elements, but you can use iPhoto to orgranize your photos in a similar way; perhaps you can integrate that into your Photoshop work.

I'll see if I can steer some more people to your post who might have some more insight into your concerns.

Believe me, iPhoto is at least as good as the Windows organizer in PE. (I don't like either, but they are both equally competent/incompetent, depending on your point of view.)

For getting your Tags into iPhoto, take a look at this thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1183891&#1183891

I switched all of our computers to mac except my desktop... I decided to make that change this Christmas and like you I've been worried about a few things.

Frankly mail.app doesnt cut it for me either, I run my own Exchange server and rely on Outlook 2003. I'm also not enamored with word on OS X, but I'll get over that.

Here is my solution:
I'm keeping my desktop which runs XP Pro and using remote desktop for my must have apps (most outlook). You can setup remote desktop to remember you user and pass AND start any program you like. I set it up to log in as me and start outlook in full screen mode, then saved that to a profile and set that as a startup item. The net result is I basically get outlook on the mac. The downside, clicking embedded links in e-mail will not open them on the mac... working on a scritping solution...

As for syncing your Palm, look at The Missing Sync (google it).

As for the photo management, look at Apature (hearing mixed things) or just iphoto. iPhoto is really impressive as a storage and management app.

If the home automation stuff is x10, just google x10 and os x... there HAS to be something out there. Or again, just use the remote desktop solution.

If you don't have a spare box with XP pro, you can ebay one for under $100.

Good luck!
-N

My Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 [planning to go to 4.0] is more robust than the Mac. This windows version has a strong Photo Organizer where I can tag my photos and not worry about putting them in folders etc.

If you don't want to give up control of your photo organization to iPhoto there are a number of good alternatives, some pricey and some not. I use iView MediaPro (pricey bit very good and lets you sync metadata annotations back to the file.) but there is QPict, Shoebox, Image Browser (not Canon's version), and more. You can find them at VersionTracker.com by searching for "image browser". They all let you keep your own folder system. I do that and then use iPhoto for creating books (which are terrific in my opinion).

I can't speak to other apps you mentioned as I've not had any experience in the "dark side". I know that iCal and Address book can sync to a palm as can Now Up-to-Date & Contact which I used to use. It's an all in one address book and calendar.

For email have you considered Eudora. I've used it for a long time before Tiger and it is very, very powerful. Can connect with POP3 and IMAP as far as I know. The biggest beef I've heard is it's UI. A little drab and behind the current smoothness of Apple's applications. Performance wise it's as good as I've ever used.

Good luck on your decision making and migration to Mac.

This was originally a post about the TiVo bit of your post. I did read a few days ago that TiVo will be coming out with similiar software for Mac.

Hi, Ben.

re: iPod. I believe you're also going to have to "restore" your iPod, which I suspect was the Windows version, to work with a Mac. See "iPod: How to determine your iPod's disk format."

re: Outlook 2003: You might want to check with DataViz re: any similar product that works with Entourage on the Mac. Entourage in Office 2004 is as close to Outlook 2003 as you're likely to find on the Mac, but I expect there are still tradeoffs.

I'm more than happy to see people move from Windows to Mac, but what I hear in your initial paragraph is more "swoon" — to use your word — than business decision.

As someone who switched from Windows to Mac, I can tell you there are tradeoffs. In my case, they were worth it. In your case, they may or may not be. You're wise to consider the specific applications you've noted, but there are many other aspects one should consider. For example:

- Consider all the things you dislike about Windows and compare those — quantitatively as in business case, not emotionally — against Mac OS X.

- Consider the peripherals you are using today. Peripherals that have serial or parallel interfaces may not work well with Macs when using USB-to-Parallel or USB-to-Serial cables.

- Many of the apps that come with Mac OS X, e.g. Mail, Safari, etc. are "good enough" but — depending on your personal requirements — are generally not substitutes for third-party solutions that offer more robust functions. While Mail is no substitute for Outlook 2003, Safari lacks functions compared to IE on Windows or other browsers on Mac OS X. You may wind up spending more on software than you think.

- PC hardware is still cheaper than Mac hardware. However, Mac hardware is generally easier to maintain.

- Learning curve: there is a learning curve in switching. Generally, it pays off in the long run because most things are easier to do on the Mac than on Windows. However, it's a cost you should consider. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't: it all depends on how you react to such changes.

- If you plan to use your Mac in a corporate network provided by your employer, you might want to see what they think about this. I knew this would be an issue when I switched and knew I'd be "on my own" as far as making many things work with the corporate network. I'm very technical, so for me it wasn't an issue. I also had to buy my own Mac-specific copy of Lotus Notes, which the firm I worked for at that time used as their e-mail system. If this issue applies to you, you have to ask yourself how you'd handle that.

You have to decide, for yourself, what the "deal breakers" are: there are going to be some things, perhaps your Palm issue, that you are simply not going to be able to do on a Mac or that are going to offer less or different functions on a Mac vs. Windows. You should use a decision matrix and perform a true cost/benefit analysis of the Pros and Cons of switching.

Bottom line: only you can decide for yourself if the benefits of switching outweigh the costs. I recommend you perform a more extensive cost/benefit analysis that what your current note reveals and make a business vs. emotional decision.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

re: iPod. I believe you're also going to have to "restore" your iPod, which I suspect was the Windows version, to work with a Mac.

It's not required, although it can be useful. Mac can read FAT32 disks.

hudgie wrote:

"It's not required, although it can be useful. Mac can read FAT32 disks."

If you would take the time to read the document I cited, it states:

"While a Windows formatted iPod may work on a Mac, Apple supports this configuration only with iPod shuffle."

So, while it may be possible, that's neither a supported configuration nor a guarantee that it will work. Hence, one should "restore" it to Mac-specific specs unless one has a Shuffle.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Ah. The old RTFM. Not my forte 🙂

Thanks for correcting me, just a quick outline of the pros cons of running FAT32 on Mac, so anyone who has any plans in this area can know:

Pros:

Will be usable as an external drive on any computer without any third party software.
No Restore required.

Cons:

Will not be usable as a backup startup drive.
Will not be able to update iPod firmware without Restoring.
Will need third party software to be usable on Windows.
Not officially supported.

hudgie

hudgie wrote:

"Ah. The old RTFM. Not my forte 🙂"

It's a practice one should adopt if one wants to provide good advice to those seeking help here. Too many responders shoot from the hip here, often leading those seeking help down blind alleys. Good intentions are no substitute for accurate answers. 😉

"Thanks for correcting me..."

You're most welcome.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

You're most welcome. Glad to help.

You wrote:

"I'm not sure why Adobe isn't making their PS Elements application as robust on the mac side as windows."

My guess would be due to iPhoto. Adobe appears to have shifted a good bit of their effort to the Windows platform. For example, FrameMaker, an app I like, was not ported to Mac OS X.

You wrote:

"I had hoped that since Microsoft provided applications on both Windows and Mac the compatibility issues wouldn't be as much a problem as they seem to be turning out."

I regularly exchange documents with users of Office on Windows and very rarely run into issues here. In fact, the only times issues there have arisen are when the Windows user is employing a very old copy of Office, e.g. Office 98 or earlier.

Outlook is a different animal. While Outlook-Entourage compatibility has improved over time, MS has dragged its heels here undoubtedly for the reasons you state.

Virtual PC is always an option. Reports I've read on VPC 7.x indicate it is much better at closing the performance gap between apps run under VPC vs. on a native Windows PC, especially if your Mac has lots of RAM. You might want to look at the "Virtual PC 7 Notes and Reports" page over at MacWindows, an excellent site for info on Mac-Windows integration.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

I'm not sure why Adobe isn't making their PS Elements application as robust on the mac side as windows.

Not at all sure what you mean. The Organizer is not exactly popular with many long time windows users of PE, and many features, like the Contact Sheet and Picture Package, are much better in the Mac version than they are in the PC version. Believe me, I hear a lot from Windows folk who are tempted to get a Mac because it would let them get away from the Organizer.