I Switched!

It looks like I'll have to add a new tagging keyword for blog posts:  Mac.

Last
Thursday, after years of frustration with the state of Windows
operating systems and the poor build quality and support of laptop hardware, I decided
to give Apple a shot.

Increasingly, Windows XP has felt like the wrong tool in my digital
photo arsenal. From the lack of real DNG thumbnail and metadata editing
in Windows Explorer, to kludgy network fileshare support in Lightroom and
iViewMediaPro (now Expression Media), I wanted something new. Something easier.  Vista, the
current upgrade path offered by Redmond, is what I have been trying out on my Home Theater PC (HTPC) media center. The 10 foot interface in Vista Media Center is
arguably the best user interface (UI) Microsoft has ever released, but the
desktop feels like a new wrapper on the same old backend that will
invariably become more laggy as it ages.

Steve Jobs' strategy of getting iPods and iPhones into the hands of
Windows users as an evil gateway drug was a success for me.  I'm
drinking the Kool-aid, smelling the coffee, or whatever mixed metaphor
you want to use.  After four days and probably 20 hours of use, I completely get
it.  OS X's layout is logical, and it makes sense, once you know where to look for stuff, and once
you learn the basic operating system and application shortcut keys.

I pitty my wife, pets, friends and family who will now be subjected
to those "a-ha" moments and the overall evangelism that will
undoubtedly occur over the next few months.  I apologize in advance.

Thanks to my MacGeek friends for helping me on this journey, including MrLint and PJP.  I'm archiving links to the software tools and general infos which I found most useful, in the hope it will help others along the way:

• Screen Capture - I try to document whenever possible, and a screen capture is worth at least 1,024 words
• SMARTReporter - View and monitor the status of your hard disk, before it fails
• iStat Menus - I like seeing flashing lights and graphs that tells me what is going on under the hood of my computer hardware (just ask my wife what she thinks of the cable modem, firewall/router and Vonage telephone interface box sitting in our A/V cabinet)
• HandBrake - Redundancy is my friend; I like making backups of DVD's I own
• EchoMac - EchoLink client for the Mac, it's an Amateur Radio thing.  More about EchoLink
• Adium - The instant messaging client for OS X; This swiss army knife does it all

Do you have any other software or tips for a Windows geek just starting out with OS X?  Leave a comment below!