Difference between revisions of "Mac Users:Remembering Windows"

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People who consider switching from the PC to the Mac are often concerned about losing access to their favorites, or most important, applications. Apple has a [http://www.apple.com/macosx/switch/ How to Move To Mac] page that is useful. In this page, we briefly describe a range of application options that are available to you. This is more geared towards Intel Macs.
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People who consider switching from the PC to the Mac are often concerned about losing access to their favorites, or most important, applications. In this page, we briefly describe a range of options that are available to you. This is more geared towards Intel Macs.
  
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<br><b>Moving your data over</b><br>
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Apple has a [http://www.apple.com/macosx/switch/ How to Move To Mac] page that is useful. Generally, if you buy a Mac from the Apple Store, they will move your data for you. You can also try [http://www.detto.com/mac-file-transfer.html Move2Mac] software.
  
'''Use the same software on the Mac'''
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<br><b>Use the same software on the Mac</b><br>
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A lot of software, especially Microsoft software, is available in a Mac version. For example, Office is all available in a Mac version. Files created in Mac Office are compatible with PC versions of Office, and vice versa.
  
A lot of software, especially Microsoft software, is available in a Mac version. For example, Office is all available in a Mac version. Files created in Mac Office are compatible with PC versions of Office, and vice versa. You can find out more about Microsoft's Mac offerings at [http://www.mactopia.com MacTopia]. Note that if you want to play Windows Media Player files, you can try [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx Flip4Mac].  
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<br><b>Use functionally equivalent, but different software on the Mac</b><br>
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Instead of using the same application on the Mac, you could look at getting the same job done using native Mac software. As a bonus, many of these applications are free and open source. Check [[Suggested Applications]].
  
In general, you want to stay from Virtual PC and Internet Explorer as Microsoft no longer supports them. MSN Messenger and MS Remote Desktop are mostly supported but they run very slowly on Intel machines.  
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<br><b>Run the software you need remotely via RDC</b><br>
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You can remotely connect into any of the [http://www.cs.washington.edu/lab/sw/uwcsehydra.html terminal servers] on campus. Check [[Suggested Applications]].
  
Many of the other big companies (Adobe, Mathworks, Wolfram, etc) have Mac versions of their software, and will offer you a reasonable upgrade path.
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<br><b>Run the software you need on a "PC"</b><br>
 
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Newer Intel macs can run most X86 software through a variety of techniques. Check [[Suggested Applications]].
 
 
 
 
'''Use functionally equivalent, but different software on the Mac'''
 
 
 
Instead of using the same application on the Mac, you could look at getting the same job done using native Mac software. As a bonus, many of these applications are free and open sourced.
 
For example
 
* Office: [http://www.neooffice.org/ NeoOffice], [http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice]
 
* Browsing: [http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/safari/ Safari], [http://www.firefox.com/ Firefox], [http://www.caminobrowser.org Camino]
 
* Chat: [http://www.adiumx.com Adium]
 
* Mail: [http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail/ Mail], [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ Thunderbird]
 
* Music: [http://www.apple.com/itunes/ iTunes]
 
* Video: [http://perian.org/ Perian], [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC], or [http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/ MPlayer]
 
 
 
Other offerings are covered in [[Mac software]]. You may also check with [http://www.macupdate.com MacUpdate] and [http://www.versiontracker.com VersionTracker].
 
 
 
 
 
'''Run the software you need remotely via RDC'''
 
 
 
If there is a PC somewhere in your midst that runs the application you need, RDC is a good solution.
 
PowerPC users should try [http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/misc/rdc_update_103.xml&secid=80&ssid=10&flgnosysreq=True Microsoft RDC]. Intel Users should try [http://cord.sourceforge.net CoRD].
 
 
 
If you want to brave, you can also install (in this order) [http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/ Xcode], [http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11/ X11], [http://darwinports.opendarwin.org/ Darwinports] . You can then compile and install [http://rdesktop.darwinports.com/ rdesktop].
 
 
 
 
 
'''Run the software you need on a "PC"'''
 
 
 
Intel users can choose from virtualization ([http://www.parallels.com/ Parallels], [http://www.vmware.com/mac VMWare]), natively ([http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ BootCamp]) or with a hybrid ([http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/ CrossOver]). If you do a lot of hardware or graphics intensive work, you want to use Windows natively. If you need a full fledged Windows install try virtualization. If you only have one app and it's supported by Crossover, then use that.
 
 
 
If you want know the real differences, try this [http://www.notebookreview.com/printArticle.asp?newsid=2990 Guide for Choosing Boot Camp or Parallels to Run Windows on an Apple MacBook]. The article states, "''With Boot Camp, Windows will be running "natively", this means it will be running on the machine as if it was running on any regular PC from any manufacturer. This means full access to the CPU, Graphics and all other aspects. With Parallels Windows XP will be running on a "Virtual Machine", this means that OS X will be running like normal with Windows XP running inside a separate application, in effect two operating systems running at once.''"
 
 
 
PowerPC users only have one option: emulation. [http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc Virtual PC] for Mac creates a full fledged PC environment in which you can run any PC operating system, including Linux, Windows XP, and Windows 98. It allows access to those few PC applications (Office, Outlook, etc) that only work "properly 100% of the time" on the PC. In general, on my 1GHz Titanium G4, software on the emulator runs at about the speed it would run native on a 500Mhz PC. It's a little cranky at times, but certainly usable. When possible, use Windows 98 rather than XP since it provides a much lighter version of the Windows API and hence tends to run applications and the UI a bit faster. You could also just buy a PC.
 

Latest revision as of 06:25, 17 December 2006

People who consider switching from the PC to the Mac are often concerned about losing access to their favorites, or most important, applications. In this page, we briefly describe a range of options that are available to you. This is more geared towards Intel Macs.


Moving your data over
Apple has a How to Move To Mac page that is useful. Generally, if you buy a Mac from the Apple Store, they will move your data for you. You can also try Move2Mac software.


Use the same software on the Mac
A lot of software, especially Microsoft software, is available in a Mac version. For example, Office is all available in a Mac version. Files created in Mac Office are compatible with PC versions of Office, and vice versa.


Use functionally equivalent, but different software on the Mac
Instead of using the same application on the Mac, you could look at getting the same job done using native Mac software. As a bonus, many of these applications are free and open source. Check Suggested Applications.


Run the software you need remotely via RDC
You can remotely connect into any of the terminal servers on campus. Check Suggested Applications.


Run the software you need on a "PC"
Newer Intel macs can run most X86 software through a variety of techniques. Check Suggested Applications.