I Made The Switch From Windows to Mac, Part 3 The Things I Dislike About The Mac and or The Things I Miss In Windows

This post is the final chapter of my Windows to Mac switching adventure. The first two posts covered the conversion process and what I like about the Mac. This post, the shortest of all three, covers what I dislike about the Mac and or what I miss in Windows.

So what don’t I like about the Mac? The answer is simple – there’s not much to complain about. If fact, the list is very short:

  • The cost – sorry folks, the Mac machines are much cheaper than they were 5 years ago, but so are the Windows boxes. You’re still going to pay about 2X for the Mac – ouch.
  • The most difficult thing about making the switch was learning and entirely new set of keyboard short cuts, for example, the Mac equivalent of performing a screen grab. This was very frustrating at first and slowed me down.
  • Office for the Mac 2004 – it’s not as good as Office 2003 or Office 2007 for Windows, especially PowerPoint (I live in PowerPoint). I have not experienced file compatibility problems. But I have from time to time resorted to running native Windows versions of Office using Parallels to complete some tasks. I am most hopeful that Office for the Mac 2008 will be much better. Look for a post on this in the future. I should be upgrading in the next few weeks.
  • Docking Station – I miss my dell docking station, my desk is not at tidy as it used to be, and hooking into my home base is harder (power, mouse, network, monitor, backup drive).

After pondering my switch experiences, I’ve concluded the Mac is overall better than windows because Apple does a better job of suffering the details. If you want a fine home, you have to start with a good design and a solid foundation. But what makes a home special or extraordinary are all the details – the cabinetry, the appliances, the finish trim, the flooring, etc. And that’s where Apple just flat out wins. They’ve built on a great foundation (UNIX), and they’ve gone to great pains to suffer all the details that collectively make the overall experience flat out better.

In fact, upon closer examination of my pros and cons, there aren’t any platform or implementation issues, just my gripes about money, having to learn new tricks, and Microsoft software. And the docking station issue is a wash, because now, when out of my office, I’ve achieved cool-kid / Mac guy status with my shiny Mac Book Pro.

Well done Apple.

I welcome your comments.
Mike Brannan