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Conderations for the APPLE leap of Faith
vdotmatrix
Registered Users Posts: 343 Major grins
I have been with Microsoft since the 8088 chip, prodigy, compuserve, AOL and GEnie.
I have suffered through countless ordeals with viruses , threats, anti virus, compatability issues you name it.
I think I am done.
How much trouble will making the transition to the promised land be and how much software have people had to replace.
Of course I have my adobe products, word, command and conquer kane's wrath (lol) MS flight sim that i cant live without....
Everyone I have talked to EVER says what are you waiting for?
I will still be able to shoot teathered with LR? and go between APPLE laptop and my monster PC in my office ( waiting for it to die).....
what says you guys???
thanks
I have suffered through countless ordeals with viruses , threats, anti virus, compatability issues you name it.
I think I am done.
How much trouble will making the transition to the promised land be and how much software have people had to replace.
Of course I have my adobe products, word, command and conquer kane's wrath (lol) MS flight sim that i cant live without....
Everyone I have talked to EVER says what are you waiting for?
I will still be able to shoot teathered with LR? and go between APPLE laptop and my monster PC in my office ( waiting for it to die).....
what says you guys???
thanks
0
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And then get a good av solution for your Mac. Malware is not a huge problem for the Mac yet, but it's a fool's paradise.
LR is feature neutral AFAIK mac/windows. You won't lose or gain anything by moving from one to the other.
I left the Windows based machines in 2004, and have never looked back. Not one moment.
Adobe will honor your current license for PS on either platform, and LR ships with both versions on DVD, or your online account.
I use Pages, not Word ( although I did once upon a time ). Pages will open most Word docs just fine, but if you are compelled to send Word doc files to folks at the office, then you may want Word for Mac. My wife uses Parallels since all her university colleagues are on Windows machines, and Parallels and Win 7 on her MacBookPro seems to work fine.
I do not play games on my Mac, but some folks do. I find games want too much access and control of my system, so I run my Mac with only the apps I find mandatory, and games are only optional, and hence, get left on an old windows box.
I do run MacScan which searches for key loggers and cookies an a daily basis.
Yes, you can shoot tethered with Lightroom, or with the disk that came with your Canon camera. Not sure about Nikons.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Go for it. In general, the experience is superior. Apple got a little silly with the latest version of OS X (trying to bring some of the feel of the iPad to the desktop), but they didn't actually break anything.
There are a few things that are not great on a Mac:
Intuit Quicken - this is frustrating on Windows because it is bug-ridden software. However, there is no Mac equivalent (least of all Quicken for Mac). If you are a Quicken user, you will be disappointed with the Mac software intended for this purpose.
Microsoft Office - The Mac versions of Word and Excel are irritating to work with (though the recent Windows versions are increasingly tiresome). Apple's "Pages" and "Numbers" are beautiful toys. If you do some basic word processing, you'll be fine with Pages - but any serious number crunching makes me reach for a Windows machine with Excel. I run Windows on my Mac in VMware Fusion, and have been happy doing so (though that is a little less pure than being Mac-only, and adds cost).
I don't agree that you need anti-virus software for a Mac. There aren't any Mac viruses in the wild, so buying AV software is just placing a bet that the AV maker will identify a new virus and get an update to you before you get infected with it. You will, of course, need anti-virus software running in any Windows emulation.
With or without, you should take precautions (enable firewall, don't download software that isn't from a reputable provider, don't click on links in email from your financial institutions, or junk mail from friends or strangers, create a non-admin user account for everyday use, etc.).
Good luck!
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Few points.
An older friend of mine points out that the first worm he found "in the wild" was for *nix. It's technically true that there aren't any "viruses" in the wild, given the rather strict definitions usually attached to "virus", but there are certainly plenty of trojans and malware in the wild. Here's the latest.
Macs have relied on security through obscurity for two long. As the popularity of the Apple has skyrocketed, so have the risks. In fact, whenever there's a black hat security forum/hacking contest, Safari is usually the first to fall.
From the Ars Technica article above:
[Apple Store Genius] Lenny went on. "This always sparks a debate at the bar on whether antivirus software is necessary on the Mac. This is difficult, as the store sells several antivirus products implying that Apple supports the idea, but as many customers point out, the sales guys aren't shy in making the claims for Mac OS X's security. Internally, Apple's [IT] department mandates the use of Norton Antivirus on company machines." (emphasis mine.)
Look, I'm not trying to make a big deal about this, but waiting for your computer to get infested is before getting antivirus is locking the barn after the horse is free-- or buying a burglar alarm while the thief is still ransacking your valuables.
And when malware does strike, Apple's secretive corporate culture can make getting the issue fixed ... frustrating. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/05/malware-on-the-mac.ars
"Andy [another Apple Retail employee] also confirmed that Apple has instructed Geniuses not to remove or repair malware like MAC Defender if they see it—in fact, they can't even acknowledge its existence. An internal memo issued earlier this week, seen by Ars Technica, shows that the MAC Defender "issue" is considered to be "in progress" and lists out what to do if the Genius or AppleCare finds it themselves (determine whether there's an issue with the Apple product itself and leave it at that). And if the users don't bring it up themselves, then by all means, do not tell them."
Again, I'm not trying to overstate this case-- I've owned Apple product since 2003 and have never had a malware infestation, but I also said the same thing during my first 5-6 years of Windows ownership. Better safe than sorry, and there are many free AV solutions for the Mac.
All true. However, I still don't see value in buying anti-virus software for Macs (and in general, I'm quite willing to mitigate risks by spending money). It really is a bet that the AV maker will identify, create an update for, and get said update to you - before your machine gets infected. Doesn't seem like a good bet to me (and I even buy the occasional PowerBall ticket . . . ).
Now, maybe Norton will identify Windows viruses that show up in your email - thereby preventing you from passing them along, unkowingly, to others. Do you have a social responsibility to do so? Maybe.
I think the greater risk (by far) is following a link in an email message to, ostensibly, your bank or broker and entering login credentials at a site that looks and acts like a financial institution. To-date, all of these attempts have appeared to me to be too goofy to fool anyone - but when the bad guys presentation skills improve it will be bad for those of us who click on such things.
Chooka chooka hoo la ley
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On the Mac I switched to OpenOffice instead of MS Office. OpenOffice is a free download. There are limitations that I could work with. The Mac is based on BSD Unix which is where I come from... so no more emulators etc. because my Mac has it all aboard natively. It is the rich-man's Linux.
One of the first things I did was install Firefox and Google Chrome browsers, they are free and the same as under Windows. However, it took me some time to realize that Apple's Safari browser is actually better (discovered that on my iPad) and I use Safari for everything now. It's strong points are a very good ad-blocker and a "reader" mode which should be in all the news headlines.
Email is very good on the Mac too, especially the new "iPad-like" version that comes with OSX Lion. The only Windows software that I still use is my Winlink2000 HAM radio program and some games (Total War series for me although I also have the Command & Conquer series of course
I have a MacMini where I do run Parallels with Win7 as virtual machine. Here a handful of Windows programs are run that way.
Anti-virus: it is not so much that Mac is not vulnerable because it is. The thing is that the Mac is friends with the hackers because it is one of the reincarnations of BSD Unix (like freeBSD). Most hackers will protect it instead of attack it. MS on the other hand is a primary target; this is why using a non-MS browser saves so much trouble, because Mozilla (Firefox) is also considered "friend" and even Google is allowed some slack. I know this because I used to have an ISP company that hired network and software engineers who are those hackers in their free time. I do not believe that Mac AV software will protect you. Good backups will and this is another area where Mac shines with it's Time Machine. I recommend to buy a TimeCapsule with a 2TByte disk to use as 600Mbps access point and wireless automated backup medium. It will work as your fileserver too.
My Windows partitions are unprotected too. I have done clean installs and made disk images of those. It doesn't matter if a virus breaks Windows or if Windows itself crashes again, I just restore my image and am up running again. I have no data to backup in Windows, which makes this easy.
Like others say: ask anything here and don't hesitate to make the step. The only bad thing is that you'll realize you should have done it much earlier
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
Windows 7 is leagues apart and runs much, much better. The stability it offers is like upgrading from ME to XP all over again. If you ever used both you'd know how drastic this is, lol. I've been around since Prodigy and 386 processors (Yeah I was 5 years old but I remember them well) but I haven't had the tragedy with Windows that it sounds like you've had (except for WinME the OS from Satan). I still empathize completely though. I did manage a personal network of 4 Windows ME computers, and that was hell on earth till I wiped them with pleasure and installed XP. Been running W7 for 2 1/2 years on a laptop and a PC, and have had zero tragedies or virus/malware takeovers. The only crashing was my fault messing around with settings that could potentially crash the machine, lol
It's not even 2004 anymore. It's 2012, and botnets are big business, complete with online support, chat, and multi-language documentation for malware writers.
And there are free AV software for Mac: Sophos AV and ClamXav are two that I know of. Also Avast (one of the better free Windows AV solutions) has a beta of their product available for Mac here: http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-mac.
If you install VMware Fusion you can have multiple virtual machines. You could install XP-Pro in one, Windows 7 in another. Use whatever your mood calls for. Since you apparently already own a copy of each version of Windows, the only extra cost is $50 for Fusion (and maybe a little extra disk space, but that shouldn't be an issue if you are shopping for a Mac Pro).
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That's not that difficult of a program for W7 to run
Check this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7
However, there is an extremely effective possible $30 solution that I'd first try before spending thousands on a new box. It only takes 1 try and you can run it overnight to be done in the morning. You will need a second HDD with that Win7 installed fresh, which you'd want to transfer to. With the XP and the W7 HDDs in the same machine, you then run the program on the W7 drive, and it will transfer over automatically after you've set it to go. The XP hdd won't be modified at all, only accessed for the data. You can use it still if the W7 drive isn't something you like.
Laplink PCmover Image Assistant (Coupon code 10offpcmover takes $10 off and expires at the end of March)
I tried a ton of stuff to recover my dad's fried XP drive which had lost its registry and backup registries completely, he really messed it up and didn't take care of it that well. I tried this program as a last resort and wished I had done it first because it was so ridiculously well done and worked the first try. I was extremely surprised at how well they developed the software and they left no stone unturned in terms of transferring over files and settings. Pretty much %95 of the programs he had on his XP machine transferred over without losing configurations and the other %5 weren't even important at all. There is a log which gives exact details of what was transferred. Reinstalls may be necessary, but you don't lose the important configurations and documents to the programs.
I wouldn't deactivate your Adobe software until you're getting it running on the W7 install in trial mode so you have something to work on
So, before you jump ship, I'd urge you to try this. Primarily because this may work for you for just $30 instead and save you a couple grand in equipment, and who knows how much time getting all your individual programs over to Mac or finding equivalents that work for you.
Both of my kids switched to macs and love them. My wife brought home a macbook air, and I was amazed by it. I was on the verge of buying one, but I used hers for awhile, and I realized that as a long-term heavy windows user, I had all sorts of little things I depended on that I could not easily transfer to a mac. E.g., the software I use for syncing specific folders across multiple machines, encrypting and decrypting secure files, wiping rather than deleting files, graphics viewing/converstion/copying (Irfanview), not having fonts embedded in powerpoint on the mac, etc. Much of that I could replicate on the Mac with enough time (although no mac users could point me to software that would fully replicate either my synching software or irfanview). However, it just slowed me down a lot not to have these little things working the way I was used to them, and the mac advantages just weren't enough to compensate. If I were starting from scratch, I might opt for the mac, but the change would have been too much of a PITA. So, I bought a Lenovo u300s instead of the air (slightly thicker, but 1/2 oz lighter according to our kitchen scale) and stuck with windows.
For photo editing, the PC is slightly better for me. Internally, CS5 and LR are pretty much the same on both platforms. However, I rely heavily on Zerene for focus stacking, and I think that may be windows-only. There is at least one competitor that runs on both platforms, but again, I don't want to take the time to switch to another program, when I am very comfortable with Zerene.
Yes, your situation is a common one; you consider a Mac but when you realize that it is not exactly like Windows you don't feel at home anymore. It takes a little while longer to realize that the functionality you used to have in Windows is also available on the Mac but not in the exact same form. IrFanView for example is not available for Mac-OS, but the standard MacOS "preview" program can do much of that plus more on some fronts. There is a Powerpoint version for Mac and I am sure it must be able to work with any font you like, but there are probably better program alternatives for the Mac too (I know zilch about presentation software:D)
Syncing directories: here I always go back to my Unix roots and would immediately grab rsync. Remember that Mac runs all BSD Unix software and thus everything that runs on Linux too.
If Zerene doesn't have a MacOS version then why not run the Windows version? If you hesitate between MacOS and Windows, why not have both? A simple program like Parallels or similar makes that possible.
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
That's exactly my point. It took me a long time to realize just how valuable--and time-saving--feeling at home is. I realized that in many ways, the best software is the software you are used to. Simply comparing the two side-to-side is incomplete. It's also worth considering how much time you lose when switching, especially if the switch is not a one-time deal, that is, if you need to use both. I've reached the point where I change software only if the benefits clearly outweigh the costs of changing, and for a user like me, those costs are quite large. I use Linux Gnome as well as Windows, and the differences are annoying even after years of using both.
I do realize that. I mentioned that I could replicate most on the mac eventually. By the same token, most but not all of what you can do on a mac can be replicated on a PC. My point is just that at least for me, it is worth weighing the transaction cost. I suspect that if I had started on a Mac, I would want to stay there, even for someone in my line of work, it is a nuisance. For some people, whose use of the OS is more basic, the cost of switching is much lower. To each her or his own.
I was power user with Windows too and the only thing that convinced me to go to MacOS was Parallels with virtual machines for Windows XP Pro and Windows 7 Pro. With that, I didn't lose a second of my time but slowly I found the ways to do things in MacOS and step by step I moved things over. I now only have a couple of Windows programs left which run under parallels in coherence mode "MacOS look alike" where few would even realize there's a Windows program on my desktop
Nick.
my equipment: Canon 5D2, 7D, full list here
my Smugmug site: here
Anyway, they tried to sell me on the attached file is virus protection jazz and addition coverage.
Coverage form the apple store isn't this robust but in decades of having hardware on the close telephone support I thought was ever worthwhile. So a little feedback.
That would be a "MacBook Pro". A MacPro is a different animal altogether (workstation).
My personal choice is to decline additional coverage, but if it gives you comfort . . .
I wouldn't want Best Buy to do anything to my computer. I would only consider AppleCare (which I probably wouldn't get). You don't need BB to transfer your data (if you have an external drive of some sort). I really would not let them touch it. Fresh, unopened box please.
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I believe Applecare is a good deal. I've had to use it exactly twice in 9 years.
Microsoft Office for Mac-- well, if you have to have it you have to have it, but OpenOffice/LibreOffice has been sufficient for my modest needs.
Data transfer-- if you have an external hdd, this is a complete ripoff. It is so easy to transfer data from an old mac to a new mac that I wouldn't pay 2 cents for that coverage
AppleTV-- If you really plan on integrating your iTunes library to your TV, this is ok. I prefer Roku myself.
ubuntu.com - run dual boot for those must-have Microsloth-based products.
Forum for Canadian shooters: www.canphoto.net
MS Office: I have a deep, abiding hatred for it. Moving a license from one machine to another is enough to make you want to get violent. Really, Text Edit does all I need, and I have Pages and Numbers as well. After that, Google Docs. Open Office is good, but very fugly, IMO. But I won't ever by MS Office again. Ever. The only valid reasons to install Office, IMO, are the power-user spreadsheet functions and if you're constantly exchanging files with others for work. Even then, I'd think twice. Or more.
Parallels, etc: Yah, they're there if you need them, but if you're just installing them for your comfort, just bite the bullet and make the switch. It will be a bit harder to start, perhaps, but better in the long-run to just move on and away from Windows.
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Data transfer for most things is a snap if you have an external HD. Geek Squad will do exactly what you would do at home: Drag n' drop copy.
AppleTV's are fun and I like mine, but are not in any way required.
MarkR is mostly right, Best Buy associates don't actually make commission, but they are expected to sell a certain amount of warranties and add-ons every day. You get in trouble if you're at the bottom of the sales list. I used to work as a Geek Squad "Agent" a few years ago and I would never let them near my machines...new or otherwise.
I agree. I always buy AppleCare for laptops and it has been a worthwhile investment. One time, I fried a motherboard due to some strange electrical gremlins on location. For Desktops I don’t buy AppleCare and never needed it. Been using Mac’s since 1988 (laptops going back to the PowerBook).
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