Talk to me about software for Macs

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Anyone know of any decent "New to MacOS? Here's some things you can try which will be different to what you're used to!" type lists or guides?

Hand of Evil · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
Well, I went for it. I now own an iMac.

I have typed in my Apple password about a thousand times today. With all its required upper case, lower case, numbers, cartwheels, and limericks.

One of the few things I hate about macs is Keychains! Make sure you create a separate master/admin account!

next is finding stuff like keeping file locations on your desktops.

The best place to learn the ins and outs of a mac is Apple: https://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/pctomac/

Janx · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
Prettiness is not to be undervalued! Plus simplicity (it's not like I upgrade PCs), and an already fairly deep investment into the Apple ecosystem (I use Apple TV, iPhone, IPads, have loads of stuff on iTunes, etc.)

It's not decided, but I'm seriously considering it as an option.

I'm guessing macOS has recently added some iOS functionality, by way of all the references to it? Otherwise, iOS is not relevant to a Mac discussion, it's a Mac.

A key dispute I'd have is "simplicity" Back in the macOS v7 or earlier days, yeah, you bet, Macs were simpler than PCs.

Have you sat at a Mac for any length of time? It's not about Office. That's mostly the same once you load it on both platforms. The interface has gotten a lot more complicated than Finder.

The main menu area is different. The control panels are different. OSx is NOT simple. It's just riding on the legend of macs are simpler.

Nor is Mac hardware actually better. One of the old Macs had the hard-drive too close to the CRT (yeah, awhile ago) and it would wipe it. Physically, macs probably have the same failure rate as everything else.

Sure, they look nice. And they do have good materials used.

But it's not true that they never crash or never have issues and are absolutely easy to use.

It's a computer. It has innate complexity.

You may still enjoy a mac. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with them other than they cost a lot more money

Janx · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
Well, I went for it. I now own an iMac.

I have typed in my Apple password about a thousand times today. With all its required upper case, lower case, numbers, cartwheels, and limericks.

I guess I replied too late, not that I had anything convincing to sway you

Let us know how you find the transition. I saw your other reply asking for some articles on just that topic...

I'd be curious on your impression to update my own view on the subject.

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Well, so far I'm still in that "Ooh, that's different!" phase. It does take me longer to do stuff, mainly because I can't do repetitive stuff on autopilot any more. I assume that will change soon enough; at present it's just a case of learning how to replace my old working routines and shortcuts with new ones. Plus little things that closing windows and all that other stuff you do without thinking.

Love the display. Gorgeous.

Getting used to the mouse. It feels weird and unnatural right now. Again, I assume that will change.

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

I just discovered that I can Airplay over to my TV with single click. Either mirror the desktop or extend it. I like this!

Ryujin · Nov 5, 2015

Morrus said:
Well, so far I'm still in that "Ooh, that's different!" phase. It does take me longer to do stuff, mainly because I can't do repetitive stuff on autopilot any more. I assume that will change soon enough; at present it's just a case of learning how to replace my old working routines and shortcuts with new ones. Plus little things that closing windows and all that other stuff you do without thinking.

Love the display. Gorgeous.

Getting used to the mouse. It feels weird and unnatural right now. Again, I assume that will change.

If you go to the Apple icon (upper left), system preferences, and then mouse, you can set up the separate left and right clicks to make things feel a little more natural to a Windows user.

Morrus · Nov 5, 2015

Yeah, I got that. My main issue right now is email. It doesn't seem to like my Hotmail account. I cannot get it the mail app to show anything in my inbox, although it shows all my sent, deleted, junk, etc. mails just fine. Bizarrely, it's just the inbox out of all the folders it insists is empty. It's clearly connecting and syncing something, otherwise it wouldn't have kindly download the 9000 junk emails sitting in the Junk Mail folder. I'd much rather it downloaded the actual inbox, though!

Right now I have to have my old Windows PC sitting next to the iMac just for emails.