Thinking of making the switch from Windows to the Mac

Hi Greg. Long sotry short, old laptop died, nothing caught my eye for a new one, the Mac had everything i wanted bluetooth, a card reader, cd drive, now they don't come iwth one, but you almost never need a cd anymore. I umped face first into it, I didn't go back to look up something on windows. with the new OS there is now a way to use caps lock as a modifier so you can use that if the control options are a bit hard to hold down with two fingers and try to reach a third. There's not that much to learn if you use an iPhone you can use the trackpad, I like that, whereas windows you touch the trackpad and you might screw up soemthing. I just bought an old windows box form someone and lord help me i forgot everything!! :) If you'd ever like to talk a little, feel free to send me something off of here.

Hi Greg. I was a Windows and JFW user for about 13 years then switched right over to the mac. I got a trojan or something on my desktop windows machine. I wanted to try something different and had been using an iPhone for a couple years.

I figured what the hey. The first time you turn on a mac it asks if you have ever used VoiceOver before, after hitting command f5 to turn on VO, and asks if you would like to go through the tutorial which is very helpful. It gives you more then enough knowledge on how to get started. Once setup is accomplished it has a very good help system. Also if you use other Apple devices such as an iPhone or iPad it is a nice little ecosystem and everything works together nicely.

Hope this helps a bit,

Matt

Hi Greg. The previous person was right, there is a good general knowledge way of doing things, i'm still not the pwoer user i was in windows. However I suggest if you consider it, the phone and Mac being of the same company will be a great fit. even the quick podcast I heard today where someone used jfw, seemed clunky the Mac just works withthe phone. Good luck whatever you decide.

I'm blind and working with Windows since the first version came out, and 2 years ago I tried to switch to Mac/OS. I was using Jaws and Window-Eyes on Windows to accomplish my work and private things. SInce I I was very glad with voiceover on my iPhone I was very disappointed of voiceover on the Mac. It was, at least for me, much slower to accomplish a given task and not as powerful as the Windows screen reader. Then I found that the office suite is not voiceover compatibal and I sold my Mac after 3 months. So my resumee is: I will never go to voiceover on the Mac, I stay with Windows, but again, I love my iPhone, iPad and Apple TV :-)

In the immortal words of Shiah LaBeouf... "JUST DO IT!!!!"

I was a lifelong Windows user, and haven't regretted the change to Mac for a second. There will always be that fear that it'll be "too different" - so I can't tell you a trick to get over that fear. All I can tell you is I got my Mac earlier this year, and when I use a PC, I constantly find myself unintentionally using Mac hotkeys and then being irritated/surprised when they don't work. Cmd + O is the natural way to open files now, and I have to remind myself to hit enter when I'm using PC. I could go on, but the point is - if you're a seasoned computer user, it won't take long before the Mac OS becomes as much second-nature as Windows is now.

As referenced by the poster before Joseph, they admit they gave it three months became frustrated, chose to go back to what they know. I went all in because if you don't you'l never know if you can do it. If you keep going back to what you're used to, how are you really learning something new? I'm like joseph I'm drowning in windows because I forgot all the stuff I knew before. ;) for the record, the office is becoming more accessible as well as pages word counterpart, keynote, and number powerpoint and excell respectively. Remember if you pit one against the other you will have good things for one bad for another on both platforms. That's why I have the windows box.

Hi Greg. I have been blind since the day I was born. Thus, I used a braille note apex, which operated on windows. About one year ago. I switched to Mac. Fortunately, I already had an iPhone by then, so I could use the trackpad at least. Although at first it was Daunting and bit hard, one of my friends who is blind also and has a Mac, helped me, and now I can use it perfectly fine. At first it may be quite difficult, however give it time, and you will get used to it. Heck. I don't even use my Apex anymore.

Hey!

I was a hardcore Windows gamer before but I have slowely turned into a Apple fanatic, haha. When I had to learn how to use a screen reader I chose to learn VO and bought myself a Macbook Air, which is without a doubt the best computer I have ever owned.

The switch is scary but my advice is to go for it and really give it a try. The only thing I miss with Windows are a few applications that don't work on a Mac, but my way around that was to install a Windows partition so when I feel nostalgic I can just pop over to Windows again :p

All in all I find the Mac to be less complicated than a Windows commputer, and best of all: Not as much trojans and viruses out there for Macs :p

Good luck with whatever you choose to do :)

Hi Greg.

I am in the same position as you. I am trying to switch over to the MAC after using Windows for the past 20 years. The fact that I cannot use a few apps in my MAC that I can use in Windows is somewhat annoying. However, I do have a partition set up for those apps that require Windows. As an Information systems graduate at the end of the fall, I understand your problem. Fortunately, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that you can switch over now that you do not have to mess around with APA formatting. The bad news is that any Information systems professional will never completely get away from Windows, MAC, Linux, Novell Netware, and any other OS we absolutely do not like. Unfortunately, Visual Studio does not work on a MAC :( and it is something we must make room for.

My recommendation is to pick up Fusion from VMWare and set up a Windows partition for those apps that you must use in Windows. Otherwise, use the MAC as much as you can. The longer you use it, the easier it gets. Try to keep from thinking that the MAC is different than what you are used to using. Therefore, it is a complete waste of time. This type of thinking trapped me, and will trap you.