A Windows user’s first time with a Mac

I’m a longtime user of Windows, but I recently got a chance to test out a new iMac, courtesy of Apple. While I plan to remain a loyal user of Vista, I did find there was a lot to like about this machine. (As I wrote in another post, I’d even say it has enterprise potential.)

The entire system feels like something out of “The Jetsons.” Everything I plugged in — printer, camera, USB keychain, network connection — just worked, and it all worked immediately. Applications slide open so beautifully and smoothly that you smile just opening an app for the first time. The dock at the bottom of the screen (aka the taskbar in Windows) has impressive icons and is easy to use.

On a more technical note, applications I use often, such as VMWare (Fusion for the Mac), actually worked faster and smoother on the Mac. Other applications, however, I sorely missed. I use Camtasia Studio pretty often, but a Mac version doesn’t exist. There are work-arounds, but they don’t always cut it. And in the enterprise, it’s hard to convince users that they should try a work-around instead of what they’ve been happy doing for years.

One interesting lesson I’ve learned about the Apple of late may be a real eye-opener for Windows admins: The company doesn’t license its software. You don’t, for example, buy OS X and install it on whatever system you choose. Now, this is a smart move on Apple’s part in that it ensures quality and a good experience for end-users from the start. How many times have people complained about Windows when the problem wasn’t the OS but rather the machine they installed it on, one with parts from who knows where with minimal system requirements?