[Sudogenic]

For anyone who has made the switch from PC to Mac and used the Mac versions of the same programs that they used on the PC - Did you have any problems?

I'm finally coming very close to ordering a Mac and I'm having last minute fears - Will it be difficult to start using OSX and will the programs react in different ways?

Also, one rather obscure question that maybe no one here will be able to answer: Can you use the WAV audio format within Mac OSX?

Thanks.

[typoon]

Originally posted by Sudogenic:
For anyone who has made the switch from PC to Mac and used the Mac versions of the same programs that they used on the PC - Did you have any problems?

I'm finally coming very close to ordering a Mac and I'm having last minute fears - Will it be difficult to start using OSX and will the programs react in different ways?

Also, one rather obscure question that maybe no one here will be able to answer: Can you use the WAV audio format within Mac OSX?

Thanks.

What type of Apps are you looking for? We might be able to suggest some Mac Versions or comparable versions. Also have you done a search on this I'm sure it's been covered before. And Yes OS X will play .WAV format.

[Millennium]

It depends on the program. Some companies are known for putting a great deal of effort into Mac ports, and it shows; the programs come out looking and working just as you'd expect. However, some companies are more slapdash about things. Poor ports are generally not well-received by the Mac community, however, which is part of why there are so few ports at all. This type of thing is what killed Half-Life on the Mac, for example; it was almost finished when word spread that its network play wasn't going to be compatible with PCs. The Mac community reacted with outrage, and the port was pulled as a result before it ever hit shelves.

As for the WAV sound format: yes, OSX can play the WAV format. I believe iTunes can play it, and support is built into QuickTime, so any app using that (including the basic QuickTime player) should be able to play that format too.

[cpac]

Originally posted by Sudogenic:
Will it be difficult to start using OSX and will the programs react in different ways?

Just to chime in:

No!. It'll be easy.

Macintosh was where consistency of interface was *invented* (hard to imagine now, but before the mac, no 2 programs had interfaces that looked remotely the same. With Macintosh came the standard "File" "Edit" &c. menus)

Without trying to convince you there are better alternatives available on the Mac, here are some basic things you should take comfort in.

�MS Office runs in os X - slight differences in the interface, but overall, it's the same Word, Excel, and PowerPoint you already know. Entourage (mail/contact application) is very similar to Outlook
�IE works on the Mac
�It's harder to screw up your Mac - why? Things are more intuitive. Take "uninstalling" an application for example - in Windows, there's that whole control panel and whatnot. On the Mac? Just drag it to the trash. Permissions make it so that most things that could cause significant damage require you to enter a password before doing them (so it's hard to do by mistake). There are *no known* viruses for Mac OS X, so you don't have to be as crazy-paranoid as you did on your Windows system.

In short - make the switch. We're here to help you through any snags you encounter - and as other posters have already said - if you have any specific concerns, just tell us and we can address them.

[CaptainHaddock]

I just switched, so let me ease your fears. Everything is easier to do on a Mac, and for most purposes, you can find better programs. And every Mac program seems to have free functioning demos.

If you're into sound editing, I think there are plenty of good apps. For example, there's one called Hijack that will let you record any sound being played through any program in a way that is not possible on the Intel platform.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Sudogenic:
For anyone who has made the switch from PC to Mac and used the Mac versions of the same programs that they used on the PC - Did you have any problems?

Also, one rather obscure question that maybe no one here will be able to answer: Can you use the WAV audio format within Mac OSX?

As many have stated .. .WAV is natively supported.

The biggest problems that seem to come up when people switch from PC to Mac:

Windowing: Most document based apps in OS X (and 9 for that matter) have a logical distinction between the act of closing a window and quitting a program. That is to say, closing the last open window of a program on a Mac WILL NOT QUIT THE PROGRAM like it does on windows. (eg. closing the last IE window on windows also "quits" IE). I'll save my usual tirade about why the Windows way bites @ss and all the complicated crud that has been thrown into Windows (taskbar "grouping" and "Close all windows" etc) that stem from this horrible muxing of logic in Windows. Suffice it to say, it will take a few days to "re-learn" that on a Mac "Quit Program" = "Quit Program" and "Close Window" = "Close Window". On a PC, "Close Window" = "Close Window" ... um, unless you're on the last window ... and then it means "Quit Program".

Start Menu: There is no Start Menu per se on a Mac. To make a Start Menu on a Mac, just drag the Applications folder down to the dock. Whammo .. instant access to all programs, directories and subdirectories. Like a Start Menu but without all the other crap and completely under your control as far as organization etc.

Programs: This is the hard one. There is almost always a Mac version of what you used on Windows (exceptions being MS specific development tools and games) A good Kazaa client was notably absent from the Mac for a long time (thank you Poisoned, for remedying that). It may take you a while (and a lot of searching on VersionTracker or asking on these forums) to find the tools you are used to on the PC.

PC-Only: Most major hardware vendors for cameras, printers, etc make products that are compatible with both platforms. But you'll have to keep an eye peeled when you make purchases .. just to be sure. Also, after you've used a Mac for 6 months, you will probably know far more about them than most tech support people you will ever talk to (unless you're talking to Apple or an Apple Centric company). That's why forums such as these are so active. 95% of the "tech support" I've gotten or given have been on these forums over the last 5 years. When I got DSL service for the first time, the tech took about 45 minutes of fooling around to get it working (per his company's requirements .. they had to do Mac installs themselves). I ripped his work apart right after he left and had it set up MY way 5 minutes later.

Mouse: Get a multi-button mouse, Apple ships a single button mouse with their machines (though multi-button mice are supported automatically when you plug them in).

Maximize: No. Except for a few apps, their is no "Maximize" button on a Mac window to make it take up the whole screen. Instead there is a "resize" button that toggles between your chosen window size (which can be full screen if you want) or .. the exact size needed to display the content of the Window. This trips up Windows users a lot.

"Wizards": Wizards are blissfully rare in OS X (except at the beginning when you run some things for the first time). Most things in OS X are fairly straight forward and can be figured out with a little help from a help file.

Choices: Apple is one small company with 3-5% market share. The choices of hardware configs that you can get are more limited than the PC world where there are a ton of vendors hitting all sorts of different market niches. The upside is a seamless integration of hardware and software that is rare to find on Wintel.

Control: Hard to describe this one until you've used a Mac for a while ... but OS X gives the distinct feeling that you are running the show ... setting up this or that how you see fit in the way that makes the most sense to YOU. Even fairly experienced Window users (myself included) often get the feeling that we have to stand back and let that program/installer/whatever just do what it wants, put that program where it wants, etc. ... and then don't touch anything !! ... or it might break something (and honestly, it might ... a lot of Windows programs still use hard coded pathways in the registry or within apps that can "break" an install of a program if you move the wrong file to the wrong spot).

Finally, once you are a Mac owner you are required by custom to berate anyone who refers to them as MACs.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by cpac:
�IE works on the Mac

And it sucks big-time! The first thing to learn is: Don't use IE. We have many far superior alternatives on the platform, including Safari, Camino, FireFox, OmniWeb, and Shiira. Try these, and decide what you like, but don't use IE if you want a decent experience.

This goes for Windows as well, actually, although on that platform the only real alternative is FireFox. However, this is mostly due to the security issues. On the Mac version of IE, that's not so much of a problem, but the thing is dog slow, renders very poorly, and has really crappy resizing. Safari, Camino, FireFox, and the rest will give you a much better experience than either the Mac or Windows versions of IE.

[Gee4orce]

Opera is a good program to mention here, because it hightlights two salient points. Opera is a very good replacement for IE on Windows (I use it all the time), but it's also a great example of a shockingly bad Mac port !

Are there any specific apps that you need to replace on the Mac ?

Mac shareware tends to me much nicer and innovative than Windows. One of the reasons is that it's a smaller market, so there's less chaff and more wheat, so to speak. Another reason is the excellent development environment that comes for free with every Mac (are you listening Microsoft ?).

[fiesta cat]

Originally posted by Sudogenic:
Will it be difficult to start using OSX and will the programs react in different ways?

I think you'll find many Mac programs, once you "unlearn" your Windows ways, will come to function much better for you over time. Many Mac programs have a lot more thought put into them, in regards to the interface (which is driven by OS X's interface).

Once you try programs like Smultron (text editor), Unison (usenet), MacFamilyTree or Reunion (genealogy), you'll see what I mean.

They may seem a lot different at first than many Windows programs your used to, but over time, you'll find your much more efficient.

[mitchell_pgh]

My 2�

Mac users are generally MUCH more anal about their applications. If they don't act and sometimes even "feel" correct, they generally move on unless it's a critical application (and then they simply bash it at every corner). Even Quark (the quintessential "take it or shove it" company is starting to get the point... albeit slowly)

[Millennium]

Originally posted by cpac:
�IE works on the Mac

Not really. The rendering engine used in IE/Mac is completely different from the one used in IE/Windows; they don't share any code at all. They have the same name, and IE/Mac is better than IE/Win in a lot of ways, but don't expect them to behave exactly the same way.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Mac users are generally MUCH more anal about their applications. If they don't act and sometimes even "feel" correct, they generally move on unless it's a critical application (and then they simply bash it at every corner).

Whoo-yeah.

Anybody remember Word 6 (direct port of Word 97 for Windows)?

Definitely a contender for most-hated Mac software of ALL time. I know a lot of people (myself included) who stuck with Word 5.1 for TEN YEARS because of it. Happily, since it still ran fine (still does, actually, albeit in Classic mode).

-s*

[cpac]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Not really. The rendering engine used in IE/Mac is completely different from the one used in IE/Windows; they don't share any code at all. They have the same name, and IE/Mac is better than IE/Win in a lot of ways, but don't expect them to behave exactly the same way.

Totally conceded. (And there are even things that work in the classic version of IE that don't in the OS X version - logging into a Citrix server for example). And more importantly there are far better browser options on the Mac

But for someone who is nervous about moving over, the presence of IE, even with slight differences, is still comforting I would think. Once he's bought the Mac, he'll realize that (even if he doesn't want to download anything else) Safari is far better that IE on the Mac.

[olePigeon]

You'll wet your pants once you start using F9, F10, and F11. The best thing to happen to an OS since the GUI.

[workerbee]

Originally posted by Gee4orce:
Opera is a very good replacement for IE on Windows (I use it all the time), but it's also a great example of a shockingly bad Mac port !

Are you referring to Opera 6 or Opera 7.5? All Opera version before 7.5 were quite bad, that's true, but 7.5 is very good, IMHO -- if you can live with the interface, which is rather proprietary.

Of the big apps, everything Macromedia runs much better on Windoze nowadays. For serious 3D work (Maya), I'd think twice about going the Mac route, too.

[CaptainHaddock]

"Of the big apps, everything Macromedia runs much better on Windoze nowadays."

No biggie, Flash runs well enough, and Dreamweaver is obsolete (stone-age XHTML / CSS support). Actually, I used to run Flash under Linux (with Wine) because certain operations always crashed under Windows.

"For serious 3D work (Maya), I'd think twice about going the Mac route, too."

Well, Macs seem to be good enough for Pixar. Besides, all the good apps are available, and I'll take the stability of a Mac any day of the week.

[yukon]

The best applications for Windows are those that protect the system - not necessary on OS X, as mentioned above. As above, get a multibutton (five button hopefully) mouse, I'd reccommend switching from the browser "back/forward" side buttons to using Expose on the two buttons. Try all the browsers, hell use them all - someone mentioned Shiira, there's also Velo (for speed), iCab (for old timey speed and features), and the Linux ones like Dillo. Get a copy of MPlayer for your media, Windows Media Player is horrible crap on OS X (it's slow, buggy), and a copy of Toast (it's like Nero). The only thinsgs you'll miss on the Mac are games and P2P programs - most P2P programs are available with some degree of functionality, and most of the top games are ported to OS X.