This is the first is a series of articles that I am publishing on this blog to detail in considerable detail what is involved in switching from the Windows platform to using Mac OS X. I will discuss what is different, what is hard to get used to, what I miss, what is better and what I could now never do without. If you have been a regular mac user for some time then this is probably not of interest. I am really targeting people who may be considering a switch and would like to know first hand what the need to be aware of to use Mac OS X. I must admit that I am a new user of the operating system and I do in no way intend to present myself as an expert on the matter. I know very little, but it just happens that I think I know the little bit that is important to Windows switchers, since that is what I am.

Nothing Too Drastic

The first key point that I think needs to be made is that there is nothing drastically different between the two operating systems. What you exclaim? Why is any of this necessary then? Well yes there are differences, millions of them but all in all the basic structure of the way things work is pretty much as you would expect. You have a desktop for instance, and you have a window to browse through your files too like Windows Explorer. Applications appear in windows which are draggable around the screen, just like in Windows. You have a mouse that appears as an arrow on the screen. Right clicking gives more options to the user to preform regular tasks or change settings. There is a control panel like area where user options can be enforced. There is a clock in the corner. Lots of things work just like you’d expect them too. These few things may be consistent in all operating systems, but as a Windows user for life how am I meant to know that. What I mean to say is that in the same way as a Ford and a BMW are both cars and both have tonnes of familiar bits to them, Windows and OS X have lots of similarities. You will not have to rethink the way you use computers.

Lots Different Though

Although there is so much that is near identical in both systems, you are much more likely to notice the many striking differences between the interfaces and the ways of doing things when you run OS X. The interface works differently. There is no start menu to get your programs from. There is this bar across the bottom of the screen instead. There is no place that lists all the open applications like the task bar in Windows, although this bar on the bottom (the Dock) will take up windows when you minimise them. Another huge difference is that when you first start up you will have a blank desktop except for one icon, your hard disk, in the corner. On Windows you are much more used to loading up the computer for the first time to see a smattering of free AOL trials, and other bundled programs or offers. That isn’t to say that you don’t have bundled programs on a Mac. There are plenty. But they don’t appear on the desktop, they are in this dock thing which is always visible so there is no need for them to be on the desktop itself too. There is no recycle bin or equivalent on the desktop either. Instead the trash can is again tied to the dock. And another big difference is that all the menus for your programs don’t appear at the top of their associated windows. Instead they all appear right at the top of the screen. This is a pretty big change and it takes time to get used to. There is also no maximise, a slightly different (and confusing) way to close programs and to top it all off these buttons all appear at the top left hand side of the windows. The opposite to what you’d expect. In dialog boxes the Ok and Cancel appear the other way round with Ok on the right. And there is a prominent search box enlodged in this bar along the top.

They are just a few flavours of the little differences between the systems which hit you first. There is much more to be said about each of them, and I will discuss them in turn as I proceed through this series. Continued soon!