Comments on: Mac Friday – 3 August 2007

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:09:11 +0000

Sharon,

You’ve probably already discovered this, but iWork comes with a great program called Pages. Pages will open Word documents and will also let you convert a Pages doc into a Word doc. When I first got Pages, I didn’t trust it, so I went ahead and also got the MS Office Suite. Since then, I’ve come to like Pages so much better than Word that I now use Pages exclusively and just save my docs as PDF files if I have to e-mail them to someone.
Hope this helps…

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:28:38 +0000

Chris,

Full circle… You’ve come along way since your Apple II (or was it a IIe?). Surprised it took you so long to go back.

Matt

By: The Remote Control CEO

The Remote Control CEO — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:51:53 +0000

iWork now includes ‘Numbers’ a spreadsheet application and the newest version which came available yesterday includes the ability to export Microsoft compatible documents.

You will love the new iMac and when Leopard comes out this fall, it will amaze you.

By: Sharon Sarmiento

Sharon Sarmiento — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:43:42 +0000

Hi Chris,

Thanks so much for writing about all this stuff. This is really making me feel a little better about the purchase I’m about to make–my first Mac! It’ll be an iMac, and like you I want/need the biggie screen!

I wonder if iWork is compatible with MS Office users? Like if I make a document in iWork, and then email to someone who has Windows, can they open it?

Hmmm, I don’t know, but I think I can work around it. I too use Google Docs and Spreadsheet, so I could potentially just create the docs and spreadsheets there.

Anyhoo, it is very exciting to know that a Mac is on the way. I’ve heard such wonderful things about them, and your experience has helped reassure me that it’s a smart decision.

Cheers,

Sharon

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:27:10 +0000

My PC mouse has a Hello Kitty Sticker on it. It greatly enhances my computing experiences.

Meh, who am I kidding?

By: JohnC

JohnC — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 04:02:14 +0000

Chris,

On Open Office, if you’re a Excel power user with cell formulas and making mathematical masteries with it, just like Google Apps as well.

By: The Remote Control CEO

The Remote Control CEO — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:30:55 +0000

Congratulations on making the switch.

I have found that the cost of maintaining a 10 usr PC network at approx $18,000/year to have a engineer maintain and keep he network and desktops functioning.

The same 10 user Apple network costs about $500/year for consulting/service.

I have been using a Mac since 1995 and the current Apple configuration and feature set is unbeatable.

By: Sherry Heyl

Sherry Heyl — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:42:31 +0000

I have also found that when I send Windows users a Word doc that I saved on my Mac, they have to actually download the file, open Word, and then open the doc…otherwise it opens as a text file which is hard to read…But I figure that it’s their problem.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:17:06 +0000

Char, I’d heard that about the mouse (mouses? mice?) and went for the wireless one at the start. I wanted to keep my “scroll wheel” feel.

The one challenge I’m having with it though is the screen is so dang big I often run out of mouse pad before I get things dragged where I want them. But then, perhaps I was just spoiled with my trackball.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:13:36 +0000

Patrick, you make great points. I think many business owners do themselves a disservice by looking only at the cost of purchasing computers without including the total cost of lost production time and upgrading down the road.

I bet if lost opportunity costs and time wasted were figured in Mac might come up on top more often for business owners.