Now I can finally “Think Different”
The switch has been made at work and at home, and it’s finally official…
I am now a Mac user.
It started with the 20″ iMac G5 at work. I used one a few weeks ago during a project at another agency and absolutely loved it. So, when the need to purchase more computers came at work, I made the switch.
But, oh no, that wasn’t enough. I had been planning on making the switch at home for quite some time, and now seemed as good a time as any. I picked up the mac mini with the SuperDrive in it and got it set up over the weekend. So far, I’ve been very pleased with it in its default configuration, but I also realize I haven’t done any hardcore projects on it yet, so maxing the RAM out is on my short list of things to do.
I also picked up the Wacom Bluetooth drawing tablet since my 6×9 serial port Wacom that I’ve had since 1997 would no longer work for very obvious reasons. It’s great too, and gave me the ability to not have any mouse hooked up to the computer at all… just the Wacom and the Bluetooth keyboard.
There was only one snag in the whole setup, and that was getting it onto my wireless network at home. I had my router set up to accept wireless connections only from certain hardware addresses, and for some reason, it did not want to let me add the mac’s MAC address to the trusted list, so I switched the network over to WEP 64-bit encryption and went that route.
Now the only PC in the house is my wife’s laptop… and I’ll bet it won’t be around for long, even though she still continues to sing her “I hate Macs” tune. There’s an allure to the mini, sitting proudly on the upper shelf of my corner desk with a small halogen light shining on it like rays of light from God himself. Its absence of fan noise brings an almost reverent, hallowed feel to the office, especially after having an airplane hangar-like ambience to it for so many years. It beckons to her, “come, try out my wares… you’ll like what you see.” That, and the size and weight of the iBook (I might quickly add that a laptop solution is a must for her) in proportion to its price is VERY appealing to her, never mind the fact that it matches her iPod shuffle perfectly. 
Now if only I can find a way for it to open WordPerfect documents for her.
You see, WordPerfect is still very much in use in the legal world, and as she is underway in her final year of law school, she has to be cognizant of that. And, she still gets a few assignments in WordPerfect now. I tried to open one of the .wpd files in Word 2004 last night to no avail. If anyone has a WordPerfect opening solution for Mac, please let me know.