PC to MAC 2

The reason I’m sending this message to the group is in two parts. First, I want to thank the Bootstrappers who sent the PC-to-Mac posts. I followed the instructions, I took the advice and I applied every single bit of the wisdom. Second, I have more of my day (and life) back because of so many little things that weren’t obvious before.

So here is a quick run down of my top 10 PC-to-Mac Bootstrapper Discoveries for those thinking about switching to a Mac.

1. Goodbye Microsoft Outlook. Hello: Microsoft Entourage. Yes, Mac Mail is better. No debate necessary. However, I had to have an integrated calendar that allows me to function like I have with Outlook for over 12 years. (no Thunderbird didn’t work and iCal was good but still didn’t handle Outlook appointments correctly). Entourage synchs with the Mac Address Book AND iCal – best of all worlds. As a Microsoft product, it isn’t that bad and it performs better than Outlook. I now only use IMAP with a server hosted in Jersey and it’s super fast with Entourage. (time savings)
2. Backups – It just happens. All my contacts, critical documents, Quickbooks files, bookmarks, logins, passwords – they all get synched with .Mac. No matter if I’m on the MacBook Pro laptop, the iMac or the web with XP – my stuff is always there. (time + money)
3. Installing applications – one drag. No dialogs (normally). No freaking “Next” button. One click uninstall. It’s gone. (time)
4. Rebooting: I “felt” like I got a speed boost every time I rebooted XP and with OSX, that’s gone. I may have rebooted twice for updates since June. I don’t even think about, just close the lid. I’ve also literally saved 10 minutes a day by not having to wait on XP/Vista to resume from any sleep or hibernation operation. I also haven’t noticed that “Slowdown” after a few months of XP/Vista use. The MacBook Pro is as fast at the day I got it. (time)
5. Microsoft Office. Gone. Hello to NeoOffice – a port of Open Office. It’s good and even supports Microsoft Office templates. Exchanged numerous documents with clients including the new Office 2007. It works. (time + money)
6. PDF Generation – it’s built in and I didn’t realize that I did this so much. I don’t wait for Acrobat to “start” anymore. (time + money)
7. Contact synching – I used my Blackberry and Blackberry Synch wiped out my entire Outlook contact database. Blackberry syching on the Mac is terrible – proceed with caution. Solution? I broke down, got an iPhone – everything synchs to .Mac, everything is backed up, worry has been removed. No clicks. Just plug it in and it’s all in synch and backed up. Goodbye Blackberry. (time)
8. Software – whatever I’ve needed, it’s there. Most of the software I’ve needed is also free. If it does cost, it was cheap. One drag install, I test it, I hate it, it’s a one click removal. (time + money)
9. Overall cost and support. Hardware wise, a similarly configured high end machine was the same price. When I have an issue, the support network is great. Forums awesome and unfiltered. The Apple store is always there and the Genius Bar has been fantastic. Costs nothing. (time)
10. Community. I’m discovering a whole new network of people because of my use with the Mac. They recommend applications, they share contacts and knowledge and most are open and giving. While it may be perceived as the Cult of the Mac, the community of Mac users I’ve engaged with have been very bootstrapper-like and overly generous. (time + money + more)

Now here are some challenges I’ve solved:

1. Quickbooks. Forget the Mac version. Get Parallels or VMWare Fusion and run Quickbooks in a Virtual Machine. It’s a necessary evil.
2. Websites that only support IE. Again, the IE icon sits on your Apple desktop with Vmware/Parallels and it takes less time to open than booting XP native. Once the virtual machine is running, performance is great and brisk even.

There are probably a dozen more little items I could highlight but in the end, it all came down to time.

You might be asking....why post another advertisement for Apple? Believe me, this isn’t an advertisement or an endorsement. I don’t own Apple stock. Even the Mac has issues. I’m just a bootstrapper who must invest his time and money VERY wisely. I never imagined the effort, time and the worry that changing platforms would save me. Don’t ask me for the precise math calculations, but the title of this article was conservative.

The bootstrappers in this network who share information about their operations and business decisions do so freely and without regard to personal gain. This was just my recent example of applied bootstrapper guidance and wisdom. There are many more.

Kudos to the bootstrappers, I appreciate every post.

Damn you Apple.....but thank you too.

Cheers, Chris