I've switched

Something has come up and I need to get this off my chest…after twenty years in the Windows wilderness and several years of DOS before that, I’ve moved to Mac OSX. A few things led me to this turning point, so for those who are interested, the story goes something like this.

My last exposure to Mac was the original Mac 128Kb (black and white) model while I was at university. Our first year Computer Science lab was full of them so that we could learn how to program in Pascal. My initial impressions were quite favourable, and the whole windows, icons, mouse thing was a nice change from my previous text based screen experience with a number of older computers from my youth. I’m talking Tandy TRS80, Apple 2, Commodore VIC 20 and 64 and a smattering of other systems including CP/M and a little early MSDOS. I owned the VIC 20 and 64 myself at the time I first met the Mac, and was in the process of moving to Commodore’s latest, the Amiga, which also had the windows, icons, mouse thing happening. My Amiga was not quite as polished as the Mac, but it pushed the Mac to one side in my mind with its 4096 colour display(!) and amazing sound capabilities.

From there, I progressed back into MSDOS and then Windows 3.11 after purchasing my first decent desktop PC after I graduated. I went that way because Commodore had pretty much folded, and PCs were coming into vogue at work. I thought it best that I have the same option at home to refine my capabilities and be able to move files back and forth.

I’m an avid video gamer, so I worked my way through the landmark PC game titles, especially the first person shooters and followed Microsoft through the various Windows iterations. Along the way I got a taste for building my own machines, and embraced the new 3D graphics accelerator technologies as they came along, including the original 3dfx Voodoo 1 and then Voodoo 2 cards in SLI, running Quake at ridiculous frame rates without raising a sweat. I loved lugging this box to LAN parties most weekends, and hosting a few of my own. Later I also built a home theatre PC to play my media library on the big screen.

Ah, the memories.

During this period, Apple was not even a consideration. It didn’t support a lot of the software or hardware I was into at the time, and trying to migrate stuff from a Mac at home to PCs running MS Office at work and vice versa was something I just wasn't prepared to deal with.

There were times of course when Windows really annoyed me. Microsoft sometimes made things even worse by releasing versions that introduced more problems than they solved. (I’m looking at you Windows ME and to a lesser extent, Vista...) Thankfully however Microsoft would then redeem themselves with an excellent update, such as XP and then Windows 7. Most versions however, would suffer from that Windows malaise of gradually slowing down through the accumulation of "digital fluff" unless I was particularly careful with how I maintained the installation. Even then, it was not uncommon to give my PC a haircut every once in a while, which entailed formatting the hard disk and reinstalling from scratch. I got particularly good at it by using snapshot images, and could get a PC set up again with everything I needed back in place in no time. Later versions got better at dealing with the accumulating "digital fluff" issue, and I still am particularly impressed with the consistent solid performance of Windows 7. We are still running it at work, which is a good thing. Alas, Microsoft then decided to try and go touchy feely with Windows 8 and its update, Windows 8.1, but in my mind they have totally stuffed it. I hate the whole dual interface thing and how some applications run by default in the Modern/Metro UI and others from the desktop with little consideration for what the user might actually want or prefer at the time.

Over the years I got so frustrated with Windows' annoyances, that I dipped my toe in the Linux pool a few times. I tried Red Hat while I was working on a personal server project, and then later Mandrake. I tried old school with Debian, and more recently Ubuntu and Mint. I had no problem finding my way around Linux, but it just didn’t grab me. The immediate access to the power of the OS via the console was great, but it became a little too painful and fiddly at times, or there would be things that I still needed to do in Windows that was not so easily achieved in Linux, so I kept gravitating back.

Despite Windows 8/8.1 really testing my patience, I was planning to stick with it, but then fate served me an opportunity, one that I am now actually very grateful for.

My main home PC (a Sony Vaio i7 laptop) started becoming quite flaky. Every now and then, the SSD boot disk would indicate that the OS could not be found. I would reboot and it would then start up. This became a more regular thing, and as the computer is now just over two years old, it is out of warranty. I looked into possible repairs, but the cost was approaching that of a new PC. The Sony has been more than enough for my current needs but to be honest, I was never completely happy with it, and I particularly wasn’t enjoying working within Windows 8. Some of my main requirements now are around sorting and editing my photos, some basic home video production, maintaining my media library which lives on a separate NAS, web surfing, email and the occasional bit of word processing and spreadsheet work in Word and Excel. What happened with my gaming? I moved to consoles to get away from the constant PC upgrade cycle and dealing with driver updates etc, and haven’t looked back. ;-)

After backing up the contents of the Vaio via several boot attempts, I decided it was time for another PC, and that’s when it became interesting. I suddenly realised I don’t need to have PC gaming support, and everything I do now is supported by Mac OSX. It also dawned on me that Boot Camp would be my get out of jail card should I need to access something that is Windows only, or I could install a virtual machine which seemed to also work well based on my research. (I had dabbled with VMware while I was playing with Linux, and hardware and virtual machine performance have come a long way since then.)

The main remaining barrier for me was the entry price. The Apple devices are well built and generally have a quality feel quite unlike anything else, but there is the "Apple premium" you must pay for the privilege. I briefly contemplated building a Hackintosh, but was reluctant to work through that for my reintroduction to Apple. Eventually, after considering the price difference, but weighing up the included software functionality out of the box with the included iWork suite, I decided to have a go, and am typing this on my new MacBook Pro 13” 8/256 with Retina.

So far, I love it! The lightness of the Macbook Air and its incredible battery life nearly won me over, because I travel a lot, but one look at the Retina display, and I was hooked. The text on this thing is amazing. I was also after a little more RAM just to feel more confident that I had sufficient head room to do a little editing, which left me with the Pro.

Even with the additional performance and high resolution display, battery life is still more than enough, with all day operation without a charge being readily achievable for my working style. Performance is brisk, but I haven’t really pushed it yet. I might comment on performance again later when I do some more extensive video and photo work, particularly if any issues arise.

I have set up a small Windows 8.1 virtual machine using VMware Fusion as you can see in my screenshot above, and it works brilliantly so far. I normally run it as a separate full screen app and can move across to it with a simple swipe across my trackpad. I have setup just a basic installation with Office 2010 for emergency use only such as dealing with native Office documents from work if the need arises. My intention though is to stay in the world of OSX as much as I possibly can, and perhaps one day be able to remove the Windows installation due to a lack of use.

From here, I intend to blog occasionally about my experiences as a "switcher" after twenty odd years of Windows. I am sure there will be some minor frustrations and hopefully I can help other switchers avoid these who might also be considering Mac OSX as an alternative. 

If like me, you are contemplating moving to OSX after getting frustrated with Windows, I strongly suggest it based on my experience so far. It is easier than ever to make the switch thanks to Boot Camp and virtual machine software if you must still have Windows access. Apple have also come to the party with lower cost entry into OSX via the Mac Mini and lower end MacBooks. In the worst case, if you do invest in a Mac but find OSX simply isn't for you, you can always install and run Windows exclusively on the most recent Intel based Mac hardware, and avoid OSX altogether.

I'm not sure why you would though once you have a play around in OSX. My impressions are that it leaves Windows 8/8.1 for dead!

Later.

Back again, finally...

It's been quite a while. Too long actually.

After trying to get going again with regular posting a number of times, I became distracted with other "stuff" and to be completely honest, lost the urge to write. Sad, but true.

I came across reminders a number of times to at least checking in on the blog, including when I heard from Posterous advising that they were shutting down after I started using them for updates, but I kept getting dragged into other things that were going on in my life, including my wife and I going our separate ways, which understandably took over from everything else for a while.

I'm back now though, and I've now got lots of new things happening around me that are exciting. I want to share, so here I am, again.

As I look back on this blog and see place holders where linked images are no longer available, and even a couple of reader comments that I missed, I'm more than a little embarrassed. No point in getting too worried about that though. This is the present, the past is the past, and it is time to move on.

The main point is: I'm back and I'm ready to write!

Watch this space.

Later.

Changes

One thing you can always be sure of, things always change. In my last post, but the first after a long break, I mentioned that a lot has been happening in my life and a number of things for me both personally and professionally will undergo very significant change in coming months. As these events unfold, I expect I will post about it.

When we do have a lot of things go through evolution, or even revolution in our life in a short space of time, it is too easy for it all to overwhelm and place us under enormous stress, or even drown us. In these situations it is easy for someone outside of your situation to try and be helpful with a well meant "don't worry about it", "it will be fine I'm sure" or the always optimistic "change is good, embrace it, run with it!"

These sentiments are all very well and but we all know it is never that simple. If it was, we wouldn't get stressed in the first place and just get on with it.

One approach has really helped me cope up to now at least. No matter what changes you are being bombarded with, you can always classify them into two categories, those you have control over, and those you have no control over.

Let's discuss the second category first, the changes you have no control over. One example for most of us is a global financial crisis, which may ultimately result in a winding back of activity at your workplace and eventually, job losses. You have little or no control over this, so all you can do is manage the risk as best you can (eg. don't take unnecessary financial undertakings, keep an eye out for other job opportunities, maintain good timekeeping and attitude at work so you are not standing out as a good candidate to be laid off) and just get on with it.

For every change that is outside of your control, the only real approach you can use is the same, be aware of what is happening around you, minimise any impact through making careful decisions and if a sensible opportunity arises to escape or resolve the change, take it. Once you have worked through this, there is nothing else you can do, but let the situation look after itself and move on.

That then leaves you with those things you can control. There is more work to be done here, but the reward is that you can fix it, and make things better for you. First you need to take the time to analyse the change or problem. Then, make a list of what actions you need to do to influence this back in your favour, or even fix it completely. Finally, it's time to put the rubber on the road and actually get it done. Sometimes these actions may be difficult, or uncomfortable, but ultimately if they need to be done, you have no choice.

It's always easier to write or talk about these things, but if you square away the items that you have no real control over, you can then concentrate on the stuff you can work on, and before you know it, you've survived what could have been a very tough period in your life.

Well that's my plan for the moment, let's see how it goes.

Later.

Long time, no post

Well, sorry for the big lag between posts. Been distracted with a number of other issues including some personal ones, but I was just sitting here busting to write something so here I am. ...and where am I? In the Hard Rock Amsterdam, and I must admit I'm loving it. Excellent music, great crowd, good food and a view over Amsterdam's canals to boot. I love the Hard Rock in most places but this one is pretty damn awesome. Great staff too. Ok, so me raving about an eating spot is a bit of a sidestep from my normal stuff, but hey, I'm posting again. More to follow...

My last post - postscript

Hi, I've had someone wonder about the post I just submitted. I actually wrote this a few days ago in Korea, but only just posted it online tonight. For those who know me and were surprised thinking I am still overseas, sorry. Got back last night, and it's great to be home with my friends and family.

Later.

iPad on my first business trip, a progress report

I'm just wrapping up a business trip through Asia with my new work supplied iPad 2. I've had the device now for approx 3 weeks in total, and for about 2 weeks "on the road."

How's it gone so far? Very well! There have been a few minor hiccups, and I need to still further tweak the way I work with it, but I have little doubt that this device will become a regular part of my travelling kit, and my work in the office for that matter.

One of the first things I did was track down a decent task manager and attempt to set myself up with a basic GTD workflow. I have raved about Mark Forster's Autofocus variants in the past, but I wanted to see if I could go digital again with my tasks. I ended up purchasing both Todo and Toodledo apps, but settled on Todo. I found the way it handles quick task entry, contexts and lists better suited the way I work and the fact that it can be as detailed and complicated or as simple as you need. My early impressions of Toodledo were fine, but it didn't seem to have the same flexibility, and just didn't feel right to me, which would probably stop me from using it as often as I should. Todo offers sync to Toodledo's web service, so it can still be used to back up your tasks, which I have chosen to do. I couldn't find my killer app, which would be one that syncs back to Outlook seemlessly. That would be the ultimate. Outlook, iPad and Blackberry all in sync for tasks. There are some ways to achieve this using various 3rd party utilities, subscription services etc, but nothing that is simple and secure in one app. Perhaps one day...

I also grabbed a mind mapping app as this is my preferred way to make meeting notes, and plan meetings, reports and presentations. After some research I grabbed iThoughtsHD. If you are a keen mind mapper, stop reading this blog now, and purchase yourself an iPad and an app. This device is easily the much immediate, fun and effective way to quickly get a mind map together. I won't do a full review here, but iThoughtsHD imports and exports seamlessly to Freemind and a bunch of other mind mapping PC applications. It also makes nice pdfs for distribution to others, and the outlines are perfect to send out as basic meeting minutes. I am now literally mindmapping on the iPad in meetings live as points arise and can have the notes out in just a few minutes after I rearrange and tidy up the various branches immediately after the meeting. I also now add a picture of any business cards I receive in the meeting, taken with the iPad camera inside iThoughtsHD. This truly rocks.

Others apps I grabbed? Documents to Go for Microsoft Office document editing and being able to open email attachments. For editing Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, it is workable, but pretty clunky and can scramble your formatting. It allows you to get the basics done, but it is not sufficient to serve as a true Windows laptop replacement, at least not yet. Simplenote is a nice, basic plain text note editor, ideal for drafting blog posts like this one right now, and it syncs through the cloud to a web client and also PC desktops via Simplenote's free service. One bunch of notes everywhere. Excellent.

There was one other standout however that has proved to be well and truly worth every cent, even though I didn't at first see how it was necessary. I only bought it on the recommendation of others. That app is GoodReader. It basically just lets you open and read/view files which doesn't seem like much at first. It can't even open many formats itself and has to rely on your other apps apart from pictures and pdfs. Where it really delivers however is as a central area for you to manage and view your various documents. It is almost like having a "My Documents" or Windows Explorer on the iPad. You can create folders, stick documents there, rename and rearrange them to your heart's content. Then, when you want to open something, simply tap on it and it will open either within GoodReader or the application that can edit them. This might seem like an obvious and simple concept, but for those of us coming from a Windows environment, it's perfect. In my case, I've created a bunch of folders like Current Projects, Forecasts, Market Information, Costs, Product Specifications etc, and I file in each a range of reference documents that are important for my work, so I can then find and open them at a moments notice. I also routinely maintain a folder of these important docs on my PC, predominantly as pdfs, and I refresh and sync these with the iPad during my weekly and monthly reviews. Without something like GoodReader, you need to remember which app a document came from and go to it etc, rather than have all your key material in organised folders, accessible from one app.

In the first week on the road alone this has proved to be invaluable. When one customer asked me questions about long term production forecasts, I just pulled it up and referred to it in the meeting. Another one had trouble understanding our process, but I just quickly pulled up a flowsheet I had in there, zoomed in on the critical process step, and showed it to them. Simple. This was exactly what I wanted to use the iPad for. No more bulky meeting file with dog eared spec sheets and the like. If a customer wants a copy, I simply email it to them on the spot, directly out of GoodReader. If you are thinking of using an iPad for business, or as a storage device with easy access to reference documents, get this app.

There are others I have purchased, but I'm not quite there with them yet. One is Notes Plus, an excellent notebook that allows you to write notes, just like a classic paper notebook and pen, using your finger or a stylus. It can record your handwriting directly, or you can enter text via keyboard, and it also has a zoomed in mode if you want really small writing that automatically advances along as you write. It is impressive, but I must admit it doesn't quite feel right when I handwrite. It is probably a perception thing, or perhaps my stylus doesn't quite have the right weight, I'm not sure, but will play with it further. It has a very enthusiastic developer who is constantly adding features as requested by users and I do think this will be one to watch. It already has very advanced gesture recognition to erase words, draw shapes etc, and I believe the aim is to eventually have it convert handwriting to text, but I'll wait and see how it goes. I thought I would use it for meeting notes, but it has quickly been killed off for that use by iThoughtsHD!

Phew. I'm going to stop for now. Needless to say, the iPad has lived up to expectations so far as a travelling companion and for recording notes and providing reference material during meetings. I haven't even touched on how brilliantly it works as a media player for when I am not working...

Next post, I'll report again on the iPad after my current trip is finished, summarising what has worked so far and what hasn't, plus mention a couple of other apps I've tried. As someone who was doubtful about these tablet appliances being much more than executive toys, I've been impressed with just how well this one has worked out so far.

Later.

iPad 2 - initial thoughts

Hi there.

Yes, I've further subscribed to the cult of Steve and obtained an iPad
2. I haven't personally owned the original iPad, but I did get one for
my wife last Christmas, and while I couldn't quite justify one for
myself, I was rather impressed with the silky user experience, and it
seemed to be a fantastic way to consume media, like watching movies,
surfing the web and the like.

I was however a bit of an iPad skeptic. I didn't think it made sense
for me as a regular laptop user. If I already have my work laptop, why
would I bother with a tablet as well, iPad or otherwise? As it is I
also already have a Lenovo net book, but must admit my usage of it has
been rather sporadic. I have mainly used it as a light weight desk top
PC at home that can be unplugged and used elsewhere running Mint
Linux, but haven't really used it for light weight computing on the
fly.

More recently however, I started thinking about how I could make use
of a tablet or iPad in my job as a marketing manager. I typically
carry around a bulky file with me that contains our product
specifications, some basic company presentations in hard copy, sales
forecasts and background market information. When I meet with
customers, I will sometimes refer to the file to ensure I have my
facts straight or I will show the information to the customer. I have
one basic introduction to the company as a printed PowerPoint
presentation which I sometimes pull out and step through.

This bulky file works well for me, but it is also a pain to lug
around, and it requires a fair bit of effort on my side to keep its
contents current. During my weekly and monthly review, I'll turn over
the documents that need updating, but it is still relatively easy for
some items to be missed, and then be caught out when I go to refer to
it during a meeting.

It occurred to me that I could replace this file with a tablet. The
documents could be kept in it as pdfs and they could be quickly pulled
up and shown to clients. It would also be easy to keep photos of our
operation, our products etc and quickly show them as required. Yes,
the same could be achieved on a laptop, but they tend to be larger to
carry around, don't last long between charges and they take time to
start up. Most tablets, including the iPad are instant on, last for
ages on a charge, typically days at a time and are slim enough to be
slipped into the thinnest of brief cases, or portfolios.

Another area where a tablet could suit me was for recording notes in
meetings through mind mapping. I mind map regularly, both for getting
my thoughts together for a project or report, and as a way of
capturing points raised in a meeting. Mind mapping on a PC or laptop
is fine if you are not rushed, such as when outlining the main points
for a report, but it is not all that quick to try and do it to capture
points live in a meeting. A colleague told me they had seen someone
mind map on an iPad in a meeting, and it seemed to be very quick and
intuitive, simply tapping on the screen to create each node and
quickly enter some basic text before an idea is lost. Later, it can be
transferred to a PC and the key points enlarged upon to finally end up
with the key nodes as bullet points for meeting minutes.

The more I thought about it, the more I could see how to make an iPad
or tablet work for me in my job so I posed the question to my employer
with a justification, and they gave me the go ahead. I could have just
bought one myself, but it was better to do it through work so that it
could be properly included into the company network so I could have
access to my corporate email etc.

The geek/hacker in me was curious about an Android device. The idea of
an open system appeals in that like Linux, it would possibly encourage
a broad range of applications, and potentially result in some really
useful tools being available. I was also mindful that an iPad means
being tied up with iTunes and Apple. I'll always prefer an open system
if I can have it. The fact is though, every Android tablet I have
played with just hasn't had the same consistency of user experience
with the various applications, typically having more of a "home brew"
feel about it.

So I went out and sourced an iPad 2, Wifi only, 64 Gb. I went for the
64 Gb so I can load it right up with docs and photos, although I
probably could have survived with 32 Gb. I avoided the 3G because I
already have a 3G modem card for my laptop, and I didn't really want
yet another 3G data account to maintain. I instead have taken the SIM
card from the 3G modem card and placed it in a small mobile wifi  box,
which I can turn on anywhere and establish a small radius internet
access hot spot for use by my laptop or iPad, or both. It's basic, but
it works well and allows me to use the one data account for either
device, rather than having one for each.

I have only had the iPad for a few days and am still getting it set up
to meet my requirements. Early impressions are very favorable. It is
very easy to get around the various applications, and it is a sheer
delight to use. I'll come back in my next post, explaining some of the
applications I have installed, and how I am using it in my work, and
at home!

Stay tuned...