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Taking up with Apple won't be easy as
pie
Sunday, March 27, 2005 - Apple Computer's
campaign to convert Windows personal computer
users to the Macintosh makes the switch
sound as easy as deciding to drink Coke
rather than Pepsi.
"More people are interested in switching
from PCs to Macs than ever before,"
Apple tells would-be converts at a Web site
(www.apple.com/switch)
devoted to the topic. "See why they
made the change and how easy it was
Consider this a cautionary message from
a Mac devotee: The switch is unlikely to
be as simple as advertised.
Windows users have typically gotten accustomed
to a particular way of saving documents,
navigating files and otherwise accomplishing
a vast number of tasks, from listening to
music to preparing presentations. Often,
they have been performing those tasks for
years. Any change from one type of PC to
another, even if spurred by a frustration,
is likely to involve a certain amount of
upheaval.
I say this as someone who considers the
Mac vastly preferable to Windows, yet who
is unable to offer an unqualified yes when
people ask me whether they should switch.
And more people have been asking of late,
likely because of the introduction of the
Macintosh mini, Apple's $499 computer.
The Mac is clearly easier to learn for people
who have never used a PC, but those people
are few and far between. People are more
likely to come to the Mac after having used
Windows computers.
Would-be Mac users must deal with the baggage
of all of their years of using Windows.
Consider just one seemingly inconsequential
difference: Mac computers don't have a C
drive -- the name Windows typically gives
to the storage space, known as a hard drive,
for programs and files. The absence of a
C drive, a mainstay of Windows PCs, sometimes
confounds Windows users, as if the C moniker
for hard drives was pre-ordained by a higher
being. All Macs have a hard drive, of course,
but the company doesn't force you to call
it C or anything else.
To be sure, Apple provides resources to
help Windows users switch to the Mac, including
a recommendation for Move2Mac, a third-party
program (for $49.95) to help Mac newbies
transfer files from a Windows computer.
But transferring files is just the beginning.
People switching to the Mac will have to
consider other issues:
-
Software is sometimes sold in either
a Windows or Mac version, requiring Mac
users to update some of the programs they
own.
- Your printers and scanners may
not work with your Mac.
- Web sites and services are occasionally
unavailable for the Mac.
All told, such concerns may prove minor
compared with the reasons people typically
switch to the Mac -- style, ease of use,
stability, security and the "digital
lifestyle" programs for storing photos
and editing video.
Aside from Apple's resources, a number of
books, such as David Pogue's "Switching
to the Mac: The Missing Manual" (Pogue
Press, $24.95) and David Coursey's "Mac
OS X for Windows Users: A Switchers' Guide"
(Peachpit Press, $20) can help to ease the
transition to the Mac.
And, if you really want to run your Windows
programs, you can buy Virtual PC, a Microsoft
program to let your Mac function as a Windows
PC.
TECHscan
Some dot-com ideas never die. Online calendars
have been around for years, but the concept
keeps getting recycled and remade. Trumba
(www.trumba.com)
announced its "connected calendaring"
service. It offers individuals and organizations
help coordinating hectic schedules by sharing
events and calendars.
Allan Hoffman can be reached
at netscan@allanhoffman.com
or in care of:
The Star-Ledger,
1 Star-Ledger Plaza,
Newark, NJ 07102
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