02.27
This time around, I’m going in with a plan. I’ve spent a good bit of time researching the possible OS X equivalents of my most commonly used XP programs.
| Function | XP | OS X |
| Notetaking | Ecco | AquaMinds, Devonthink, StickyBrain, Notebook |
| Oracle | Oracle client, Toad | Oracle 9i |
| Java development | IntelliJ | IntelliJ |
| General editing | SlickEdit | SlickEdit |
| IM | Trillian | Adium X, Fire, Proteus, JBuddy |
| App Server | WebLogic | WebLogic |
| Outlook | Apple Mail, Entourage | |
| Calendar | Outlook | iCal (.mac enabled) |
| Contacts | Outlook | Address book (.mac enabled) |
| Remote control | Remote control of Mac | VNC, Timbuktu |
| Word Processing | Word | Word, OpenOffice |
| Spreadsheet | Excel | Excel, OpenOffice |
| Video Editing | Studio Plus | iMovie |
| Photo management | ACDSee, Elements, Photoshop | iPhoto, Elements (free switch?), Gimp, iView Media (not Pro), Photoshop |
| Financial | Quicken | Keep on Windows |
| VPN | Cisco | Built-in |
| Treo | Outlook | Apple’s apps or Entourage |
| Browser | FireFox, IE | Safari, FireFox OmniWeb, IE |
| Bookmark management | Powermarks | .Mac, Butler , URL Manager, FireFox!, build own? |
| Backup | XP | rsync, StuffIT |
| Version Control CVS | WinCVS, Tortoise | CVS |
| Version Control VSS | VSS | |
| Screen capture | ACDSee | SnapZ Pro, OS X |
| Folder management | Windows Explorer | Finder, Path Finder |
| App switching | ALT+TAB | Lite Switch X |
| App launching | Quick Launch | Doc, Launch Bar, QuickSilver |
| Telnet | Putty | Built-in ssh?, iTerm |
| Web server | IIS | Apache |
| HTML/Web development | Dreamweaver | Dreamweaver |
| Audio recording | Cool Edit | GarageBand (iLife) |
| Password management | SpashID | SplashID |
| Tivo Desktop | Tivo | Tivo |
| WinZip | WinZip | StuffIT |
| Voice over IP | Skype | Skype |
| GuruNet | GuruNet | |
| TV | ATI | MyTV |
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Quicken on the Mac, and I’ve been using this software for over 10 years, so that will have to stay on Windows for now. My employer still uses Visual SourceSafe for one project I need access to, so I’m stuck in Windows for this as well. For the most part, though, I’m excited by the prospects on the OS X side, and I’m looking forward to trying everything out, especially QuickSilver!
Since it’s obvious that I can’t completely rid myself of Windows, I have considered 2 options:
1. Sharing a monitor, keyboard, and mouse between both my Dell and the new Mac.
2. Using remote desktop to access my Dell
3. Virtual PC
For now, I think #1 is the best choice because it doesn’t force me to re-install everything on the Mac, so I want ahead and ordered an IOGEAR MiniView Extreme Multimedia KVMP Switch (GCS1732) from Amazon.com. #2 is a viable option but I’d prefer a physical connection to my Dell at this time to minimize my risk. If all goes well over the coming months, perhaps #3 will be the ultimate solution, allowing me to re-purpose the Dell for something else and move it out of my office. (Although the Dell is not the noisiest computer I ever owned, it’s certainly not the quietest, and I’m hoping the incoming Power Mac will be much quieter).
I just realized I haven’t mentioned exactly what I ordered from Apple. I concluded since I’m attempting to use the new Mac as my primary computer upon which I earn my living, I better get something powerful, so a dual 2.5Ghz Power Mac with 1GB of RAM is headed my way. (It actually won’t ship until next week sometime). I thought about getting an iMac for my wife (she’s using my old Pentium III 800Mhz Thinkpad), which would be cheaper and at least get me into the Mac world again, but then I’d be jealous and want one of my own and wind up getting a Power Mac for myself anyway. If all goes well, maybe I’ll get her a Mini down the road.
Speaking of the Mini, I’m not the only one switching to the Mac! My father-in-law is currently running Windows 2000 on a Pentium II 266Mhz (one of my former primary development machines), so it’s definitely time for him to upgrade. Since he’s much more of a mainstream computer user than I am, switching him to the Mac should be much easier than my own switch, and the Mac Mini should seem like a supercomputer next to that Pentium II! He was initially reluctant to switch, but after giving it some thought and asking me a bunch of questions, he’s now just as excited as I am!
So there it is. Can’t wait to see how all this pans out.
I believe ALT+TAB works without any software. What does Lite Switch X do for you? Also, have you looked at virtual desktop manager for osx? http://wsmanager.sourceforge.net/index.php I can’t live without this since I’ve been developing on linux and was happy to see this OSX implementation. you will find a couple quirks like if you try to switch screens while an application is loading, you may see half of the windows in the wrong desktop or you may see the menu when the application doesn’t appear on the screen.