Moving to Mac Made Easy 368
Jaguar777 writes "According to an article on CNET, Apple has a new weapon in its campaign to woo PC users: a $59 piece of software that makes the switch to Macintosh easier.
Detto Technologies has started selling Move2Mac, a combination of software and a custom USB cable that helps PC users move many of their files, settings and even background pictures to a new Mac running Mac OS X 10.2. Sounds nice. Is there anything like this in the works for the penguin masses?" Detto has had software to move settings from one PC to another; Apple requested them to make it to move from a PC to a Mac, and will carry it in their retail stores.
most important feature (Score:4, Funny)
thats clearly a "must have" feature, take your background pictures with you whereever you go, from pc to mac, from mac to cellular, from cellular to the fridge door
Re:most important feature (Score:4, Funny)
Re:most important feature (Score:5, Insightful)
Chris
Re:most important feature (Score:2, Insightful)
This is a great move, and really funny, too boot.
Re:most important feature (Score:2, Funny)
On the other hand, my desktop is plain black.
Re:most important feature (Score:2)
That is why images like this [powerwatch.com] (non-pr0n, you can safely click this at work) image exist. :-)
Re:most important feature (Score:3)
The point I'm trying to get at here is while we may sniker at the people that know nothing about computers, they are the one's that keep us employed.
Re:most important feature (Score:3, Insightful)
makes complete sense to me
Re:most important feature (Score:3, Funny)
Me: Okay - we'll just dump everything into this Zip drive I just stuck in the USB port - you want everything moved?
Them: Yeah
Me: Okay, My Docs, Email, etc... We'll get the 15Gb of MP3s later okay?
Them: Can you at least copy over Dido?
Me: Okay - right - not just plug it into the new machine click click tap tap click Waalaah - your email, address book, your docs all in place
Them: But wheres my cool Kylie backdrop and freaky wavey light screen saver
Me: You want those??
Them: What the fuck do YOU think! Jesus, I'd be better doing this myself, what a waste of fucking time, get the fuck out of my fucking house you twat! and take your Zippy disk with you!
Its the little things that matter!
Re:most important feature (Score:3, Funny)
And with good reason. The background picture they downloaded and installed may very well be the biggest single piece of work effort that they have invested in their Windows computer. They, rightly so, want to preserve the investment of time and effort that they have put into their PC.
i've seen the pc version (Score:2, Informative)
Re:i've seen the pc version (Score:2, Informative)
It also contains a drag and drop "ftp" program for moving things back and forth between the two computers, so you could use it to synch data on two machines that were not networked.
Finally, it moves program files as easily as you can move them from C to D on your own computer (which is why they recommend reinstalling).
Re:i've seen the pc version (Score:3)
Macs, in general, just let you move applications around willy nilly. The filesystem is pretty smart about linking up moved components and generally all executable components are in a single folder (often hidden as a special bundle folder which, when double clicked, will execute the contained application) or file. Beyond that, there's this neat thing called an alias which does a very good job of automagically pointing to a file's new location.
PC applications, OTOH, most often depend on this crufty construction called the registry which hard codes absolute paths to executables and their relevant components. If you move anything anywhere, even on the same PC, that application is toast until you edit your registry (not recommended for anybody but experts) to reflect your changes. The PC version of aliases are called shortcuts and are more brittle.
So, yes, PC applications won't transfer right because the software can't figure out what registry keys have to be pulled and transferred with the application files. The registry hives never were organized very well and they've gotten worse with age. This is also why MS is trying to reinvent the registry because it sucks. Then again, the registry was invented to stem the horror of massively proliferating ini files so I don't expect that their next reinvention is likely to work any better than their last one.
Re:i've seen the pc version (Score:3, Insightful)
Why do so few companies copy Epic Games' lead with UT [linuxworld.com] and give consumers all OSes for the price of one? After all, you've already paid for the code and it would be perfectly legal for you to use it in an emulator. Any pirating-prevention schemes that were developed for each OS should still work with combined media.
The only reason I can think of to sell different OS versions seperately is to finance the cost of porting. But Adobe can't use that excuse as they already have a huge market for both sides.
Question: Since you have a license for the software, would you be breaking any laws by pirating the version for the other OS?
Great (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Great (Score:4, Insightful)
Specialized software is just that: specialized. Thus not widely used so I don't think there is much to be learned there.
I think what this company is doing is very smart. Ordinary people do agonize over this issue. "New computer? What will I do with my old stuff?" Even when they got a new machine many of these people never moved their documents over because they didn't know how. They end up having a "legacy box" sitting there which only gets used for Quicken (version 2 possibly) or some such thing. Migrating data is a huge worry for average folks.
And that's going from a Windows box to another! This product just greases the wheels - it's one less thing for the reluctang buyer to worry about so they can go ahead and make the purchase they want. Smart.
My guess, however, would be that the product itself is an utter waste of time for anyone who knows the difference between applications and documents, where each can typically be found, and who knows how to use removable storage media of any kind.
That is to say, millions of people will love it.
Make it free (Score:5, Insightful)
Not economical (Score:2)
Blockquoth the poster:
The majority of Apple's customers right now are still first-time buyers and existing owners. There are more "switchers" every day, but as a percentage of the overall customer base, they're still pretty puny. As such, it would be a huge waste of money to include this package with every single new Mac.
If it was software alone, then maybe it would work, but not if it requires a special cable...
Free with a new Mac (Score:5, Interesting)
Very nice (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Very nice (Score:2)
If Twelve Tone made Sonar for MacOS X, it's maybe 80% likely I'd end up with a Mac within a year. Since they don't, it's more like 10%.
Think again. (Score:3, Informative)
You can save the project in Broadcast Wave (or TLAudio), and open it directly in Cubase - everything will be placed in the right place without having to realign everything yourself.
And Cubase works better on a Mac than on a PC.
Was that easy enough for you?
Re:Think again. (Score:2)
And of course I'd still have to learn to use Cubase and a whole new set of plug-ins. Though Cubase is a rather less daunting move than Logic, and I guess the plug-ins problem simply can't be helped.
Still, okay, you've allayed my fears a bit. Thanks.
Apple's next step (Score:2, Insightful)
I want a Mac about the size of a SPARCclassic, with a fast 3D card, a dvd+burner and all the rest of the Apple goodness, but with no monitor. I've got my own perfectly good 17" sony. Why can't I get one of those!
Re:Apple's next step (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:2)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:3, Funny)
Even technical users sometimes just want the damn thing to work.
Re:Apple's next step (Score:3, Interesting)
As for Apple's "target market": OS X is clearly intended to appeal to the tech-savvy as well as the idiot majority; and if you've ever opened up a G4 you'll know it was definitely designed to be easily upgraded with industry standard components. So it seems a bit harsh simply to say the Mac is "not for me." Their marketing may not be currently focusing on people like me, but the machine itself is by no means a bad fit.
A poster below says I can buy a "bare-bones" G4; maybe I'm just being dim, but the minimum spec I can choose on the Apple website seems to be a dual 867MHz with 256Mb, a 60Gb HD, DVD/CD-RW drive and no monitor. Total cost: £1,348.99. Have I missed something? All I'd want is maybe a single 700MHz G4 with none of that stuff (well, perhaps a very small hard disc and a tiny amount of RAM, just so it starts up out of the box). Based on the price of the eMac, I'd expect it to cost maybe £750.
(Which, incidentally, is how much Dell are charging for a complete new P4 2GHz system with 256Mb, 40Gb, DVD/CD-RW drive AND a 19" monitor.)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:2)
24k/year is not rich. In fact, I'd call it lower middle class and barely that. I think the Earned Income Tax Credit phases out at 17k/year. That phase out level is where I'd set the limit for working poor and he's just 7k above that.
Re:Apple's next step (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:5, Funny)
Presumably he wants Apple to pay him. :) (Score:2)
Re:Apple's next step (Score:3, Funny)
for about $1300-$1400, which you're not going to convince me is that much more than a well-built equivalently priced PC.
In other news, it was announced that object X is not that much heavier than any other object of equivalent weight.
Re:Apple's next step (Score:2)
I just want a little box I can plug my monitor into, preferably one that looks like the G4 cube's they used to make.
I have the same complaint about... (Score:5, Funny)
BMW is never going to have a large market share if they don't let customers buy the cars the way they want. They will just be a niche car company selling expensive cars to really arrogant, snotty people that think they are superior to everyone else. Plus I hear their owner likes to wear black all the time.
Re:Apple's next step (Score:2)
Wanting the Superdrive definitely cuts down on the opprtunity for a great deal, but I see an eMac refurb G4/800, 256/60/SuperDrive for $1,399 which is pretty impressive for writing DVD stuff.
More realistic comparison (Score:3, Informative)
Now, to be fair, Mac OS is the best all-around OS that I have ever seen. My next computer would be a mac if it weren't for the cost, which is even more dramatic on the low end (I can build a good, new PC for $750, double that for a good G4).
And for those of you who have said "save up," I don't want to! I would rather get more computing power for half the price with the Intel architecture. And, although it's a pain in the ass, I'll dual-boot windows and linux to get a decent OS between the two of them
Honestly, Motorola is KILLING apple. Their growth curve is way behind intel...meaning, if apple used to have the processor lead, they don't now.
How about.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How about.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, a lot of the price premium you pay goes into R&D (vs. the "Windows tax" you pay when you buy a new PC from just about any major maker, which goes straight into Microsoft's PR and legal departments.) The reason Apple's software is "insanely great" -- and their hardware, if not i.g., is pretty damn good -- is because they spend the time and money (especially the money) to do things right.
Yes, yes, Linux has accomplished great things with a largely open, low-cost development model. But there are a few viable ways to develop great software -- open source is one (although it's worth noting that an awful lot of Linux goodness comes from paid developers) and real corporate R&D is another; perhaps the best model is what Apple's doing, which is combining the two. The MS way, which involves a complete lack of real R&D and a team of developers which seems dedicated mostly to ripping off other people's work, is not one of these ways.
Before you write this off as mindless anti-MS, pro-Apple propaganda, consider this: I was one of the very few who did switch from PC to Mac during the Amelio years. I did so because I realized just how bad MS software (which I'd been using for years) was getting, and I decided that I didn't mind paying a few more bucks if it got me a computer that did what I wanted it to, when I wanted it to, with a minimum of fuss. And I've never regretted that decision.
Please... (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong and assume this was meant as flamebait. Macs are great machines, but they just aren't great enough to justify their price. If they were proportionally more powerful, or priced even remotely close to a bland, beige PC, we would have a third Mac in our house.
Re:Please... (Score:5, Insightful)
The idea was that the existence of cheaper clones would bring over Wintel converts and expand the Macintosh marketplace. Instead of capturing market share from the Wintel world, the clones were cannibalizing Apple's own markets.
So Apple was in the position of subsidizing (via software R&D and product direction) the cloners, only to lose revenue to them. Apple and the cloners cannot both survive in such a scenario.
While it would have been nice for Apple to have been able to support a clone market segment (I bought a very nice Power Computing box that still works today), it just didn't work out.
And I don't mean to portray this as an entirely civil business decision -- the manner in which Apple backed out of their stated position of supporting a clone market for Macs was pretty slimy. But in hindsight it was necessary to save the company.
Macs have a lot of problems (the most significant of which will hopefully be solved by getting away from Motorola cpus) to go with their strengths, but the existence of a clone market never helps strengthen a company. Look at what happened to IBM in the PC business. If IBM did not have other product lines to carry their perennially money-losing PC business, there would be no Thinkpads today.
Re:How about.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Hands up if you want this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hands up if you want this? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, you could duplicate it with a crossover cable, a shell script or two, and an ftp server, but that's not the point. The point is that something like this appeals to the broad segment of the computer-using population that is incapable of generating such a setup themselves, and is equally unlikely to find the freeware equivalent on the web which we'll imagine is named 'desKtopKopier' or 'Klone' or the totally descriptive 'Imperiator'.
I'm pretty damn good at creating search queries, and I still have a hell of a time finding simple little applications online of this sort - the kind of thing that I could create myself, but would rather save myself the time.
Marketting money is great fun. Not so sure about the name 'Move2Mac', either, but whatever.
Re:Hands up if you want this? (Score:2, Insightful)
Your time probably costs significantly more than $49. However, if this tool is ANYTHING like Microsoft's 'upgrade to Windows version x' tools, the only chance you have of not having a completely messed up system is to do it yourself, rather than letting a piece of software automate it.
Moving to a Mac (Score:3, Informative)
In addition to this software apple has the following guide on how to move common settings over to a mac should it not be intuitive already. Guide to Switching to a Mac [apple.com].
Mouse settings? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mouse settings? (Score:2)
Macs got all the mousespeeds you need:
slowest, slow, normal, fast, fastest
Ain't that enough?
What we can offer (Score:2)
(Moderators: That was a joke.)
An obvious answer (Score:4, Funny)
Sure dude, It's called a brain...
Linux has something similar (Score:2, Informative)
This could be made a lot slicker however, for instance copying across chat program settings, proxy configuration and so on. I was going to suggest Wine integration, so your Windows apps appear in the Linux menus, but thinking about it Windows normally has so much garbage on it I wouldn't want that, and anyway Wine works better when apps are installed into it.
Nice idea from Apple, although methinks the real problem isn't transferring background pictures, the real problem for them is applications. Most windows users have 1 or 2 oddball apps that they simply MUST have, on top of all the usual suspects. I've met people who won't consider anything that doesn't run one particular brand of scrabble game for instance, and most Windows users often have hobbies or even jobs based around such things as well. When Apple figure out how to get Windows apps working on MacOS (don't think it'll happen myself) then this will be more than just a gimmick.
Running Microsoft Windows on Mac OS (Score:5, Funny)
When Apple figure out how to get Windows apps working on MacOS (don't think it'll happen myself)
Connectix has already figured this out. Buy the Virtual PC 5 emulator for Mac OS [connectix.com].
Re:Running Microsoft Windows on Mac OS (Score:2)
Re:Running Microsoft Windows on Mac OS (Score:3, Informative)
The other purpose is to run those niggling little programs that the Accounting and IT trolls insist on installing. Let them plop into the VPC pseudocomputer, and leave them inactivated.
Virtual PC is a boon to Mac heads stuck with clueless, yet gullible IT departments like mine.
Re:Integration == rootless? (Score:2)
Hmm, sorry, don't really understand the first sentance there. I'm not talking about apps integrating with Windows, I'm talking about the host environment ie in your case MacOS, in my case Linux. Integration means a lot of things. Yep, rootless windows and clipboard integration are a good start, but also stuff like seamless transitions of files between host drives and virtual drives (in Wine if you linux drive is encrypted for instance, windows apps will take advantage of that), menu/desktop integration (so you can have evolution associate MS Office docs) and so on and so forth.
As AC pointed out, the full retail version of Virtual PC includes a copy of OEM Windows XP Professional. And if that's too expensive, buy the version that includes DOS and install Mandrake and Crossover Office. It should run enough apps to ease the transition from Windows applications to Mac and Java applications.
What about all the apps that there are no equivalents for? It isn't simply a case of making the transition easy, in many cases there simply is no equivalent for a piece of software (that is good enough, that has feature X etc) on anything other than Windows. I have IE6 here on Linux because it runs the adobe svg plugin with host scripting integration - no other browser supports that, not even Mozilla :(
Business apps usually are custom written so of course there aren't any ports available either. And if you have to buy Windows just to use your favourite apps, then MS still has you - in the ideal world you would be able to use your favourite apps regardless of what APIs they were written to, regardless of what OS you're on.
VirtualPC (Score:2)
Just about the only thing you can't do on Virtual PC is play very heavy games- but you're doing that on your Mac natively, right?
Partial Solution - Still Gripes (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple really needs to address this: they've done a good job stating the case as to WHY a "switch" would be in user's interests: they damn sure need to make this process simple, bulletproof and COMPLETE, before they find a lot of people switching their sorry keisters back to Windows faster than you can say "Blue Screen of Death".
OK.
Re:Partial Solution - Still Gripes (Score:4, Informative)
Re:+1: Use of '$' in stead of 'S' in 'MS'. (Score:2, Funny)
I won't move to Mac. Make Mac move to me (Score:3, Insightful)
We all know that M$ is an evil monopoly but I think the reason why they're a monopoly is because Apple refused to compete with microsoft on the commodity PC platform. For years microsoft had no decent rival on platform that brought computing to the masses. OS2? I was a joke at best. Apple had (and has) decent software, but until they grow some balls and decide to play with the big boys.
We see the effect and penetration that Linux is developing on the desktop in the Red Hat and SuSe form, and that is fighting against the established monopoly. This proves that there is, and probably always has been, a market for a real alternative to Windows for existing windows users, but which has been left sadly vacant for years. Had Apple decided to stop making hardware and just sold software, perhaps we would not be in the trouble we are now in regarding MS vs DOJ etc.
All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Microsoft may be evil, but Apple could be accused of having done nothing to stop it, when perhaps they were the only ones who could have.
Re:I won't move to Mac. Make Mac move to me (Score:4, Insightful)
I am certain Apple is happy to have an idiot like me pontificating about what THEY want.
Re:I won't move to Mac. Make Mac move to me (Score:3, Insightful)
"Hmm, I gotta blow a buttload of money on an item that'll last me about as long as an ice cream sandwich - how about I get one that does stuff better, looks better, and doesn't crash?"
Everyone that I know (Mac and PC users alike) are reacting to the short lifetime of computers by buying the cheapest box possible. For Windows users this is buying the bottom of the line Dell, for Linux users this assembling a box out of used pieces or even buying that Walmart PC, and for Mac users it's used iMacs or refusing to upgrade. (I know a ton of non-techie Mac users who refuse to upgrade to OS X which boggles me)
People want a cheaper computer and the first company to make a decent $200 box (Sony? Panasonic? other?) will sell a million.
Re:I won't move to Mac. Make Mac move to me (Score:3, Funny)
Please to meet you, Mr OS2. I'm sure you find better as a human rather than an OS trying to compete with Microsoft. I like your self-flagellating philosophy, something that /.tters might as well learn.
Tell me, was the competition *that* hard?
Re:I won't move to Mac. Make Mac move to me (Score:2, Insightful)
Not to sound haughty and pedantic, but isn't it possible that it's not a confusion issue, but the fact that it's simply more elegant? Just a thought.
USB?? (Score:2)
Re:USB?? (Score:2)
Re:USB?? (Score:2)
Have you ever transfered the contents of an entire drive using USB? That 12 Mb/s spec for USB that I see bantied about is a load of horse crap. Before the drive contents get shuttled across "Mom & Pop" will be a few years older, and at their age I think it would be worth it to them to splurge on the $10 Ethernet card.
Re:USB?? (Score:3, Informative)
All new macs have USB, though most have Ethernet also, an honest to goodness 10Base-T port (anyone else remember AAUI? lets make it harder to connect to Ethernet, but easier to connect my Mac to that 10Base-5 line that I run...). PCs of the last couple years are more likely to have USB than Ethernet. UHCI controllers are damn cheap, and have come standard on the motherboard of every PC I've seen in the last 3 years.
To use the (self ironic) Pearl Jam song title, "This is not for you". This is for folks who do not know that the image that is their desktop is a a bitmap and how to convert it to a mac image file and put it in a place to be used as the Mac desktop. This is for folks who don't know where their Windows desktop directory is and how to copy stuff to their mac home directory, where they also don't know its location. This is for folks who don't know what linefeeds are and how to convert them. (Hmm, just came over me, does OS X use classic Mac linefeeds, or UNIX style?) This is for folks who don't know where their bookmarks file is on IE and how to convert that over to their shiny new mac. Most importantly, this is for folks who don't care and don't really care to learn. They just want stuff done. By and large, the folks on Slashdot like doing stuff like this, and like learning. Anytime there comes a device that obviates the need for learning, they scratch their heads and wonder "why bother? I can do . .
Unfortunately the doc is light on the technical side. USB only allows one controller and one host, everything else is a passive device. I wonder how they get this stuff to work, my guess is the PC is the real controller, and the hardware fakes some stuff out to make the mac export its hard drive as a target device, and essentially copy stuff to the new drive. Anyone with more details?
If apple had a brain.. (Score:5, Funny)
Anything for Penguin Masses? (Score:4, Funny)
Yes! It's called dual boot. Mount the windows partition, and everything is there!!
You're not thinking like a 'user' (Score:5, Insightful)
These people are Apple's target audience with the whole Switch campaign (of which this gizmo is a devlopment). Chances are that if you're the kind of user who can do this for yourself (and lets face it copying files ain't rocket science) you'll already have made the switch (assuming you're not a: happy with what you've got and/or b: convinced that the hardware is too expensive... but I'm not going *there*)
I'd like to see it handle Outlook .pst files (Score:2, Informative)
Pause...
I just checked and NOPE it won't migrate Outlook crap. I didn't think so. Those files are a nightmare.
From their faq.
Does Move2Mac migrate email?
Move2Mac will move and convert the address book and POP3 settings for Outlook Express on the PC to Mac OS X 10.2 Mail.
Outlook Express DOES NOT MEAN Outlook 2000!
Re:I'd like to see it handle Outlook .pst files (Score:4, Informative)
Just copy over the PST files to your Mac and run this:
Outlook 2001 for Mac [microsoft.com]
--NBVB
Why is this a problem? (Score:3, Funny)
(Ducks and runs)
Re:Why is this a problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
Definitely for newbies (Score:2)
Select the music, photos, files and folders to move, so your new Mac isn't cluttered with unwanted files. Eliminates the hassles. Transferring data to a new computer can be tricky. Move2Mac does it safely and securely, freeing you from any hassles.
I don't know, but based on the marketing speech, there is not much "intelligence" in this software. The reason why it sounds easy, safe and secure for the Joe Average, is probably the fact that it is marketed as a software created just for this "single task" and it is therefore much more easy to buy and understand it.
Re:Definitely for newbies (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, the software is definitely for Joe Average. However, that is what sells. Things that are simple and easy and don't require any intelligence on the part of the user. That is why Linux has such a hard time being adopted by the AOL population-- they're not L33T or anywhere close to it.
For instance, I had to explain to my mother-in-law the other day what a web browser was as opposed to "AOL". She just couldn't understand the concept that AOL provides the internet connection and that she could use any "browser" that she wanted (something wasn't showing up right on a site she was using so I told her to try it with IE). The thing was, she didn't WANT to know anything outside her AOL sandbox. All she wanted was for her "pictures to work". On that same note, I think this mac switch software is ingenius! If it weren't for the high price of Mac's, it may be the "silver bullet".
It is actually pretty cool. (Score:5, Informative)
PC-users ??? (Score:2)
Another thing... It WOULD be cool to have an import thing for MS-Windows users who are installing Linux on their PC. Don't need new hardware so that's alot cheaper
There is actually some work done by the Mandrake people... You can import the fonts (one of those, 'dmn, Linux is buttugly' features) from your Windows partition.
The market is small businesses? (Score:2)
This is probably mostly for migrating your small office over? It sure can't be aimed at individuals in the slashdot audience; who here's intimidated by moving desktop images, you know? (Who even cares?) But I could see it if you were the IT guy, trying to make the move for your office.
This'd go in your grab-bag of tools with other utilities. The licensing packs hint at who they're really intending to sell to, too; it starts at a 5-user pack.
Penguin masses (Score:5, Insightful)
Move to Linux on the same box (Score:2)
install it on a new partition and mount your
old PC stuff inside Linux. No need to copy it to
the Linux side ever.
Switching (Score:4, Interesting)
However, more than one person, pointed out the obvious. If Apple slashed its prices by say even $500 dollars on the big boy G4s and Powerbooks they would get a lot more converts. I can see paying a bit more for a mac but the laptop prices are just outrageous in my opinion. Not even comparing them to bargain basement priced PCs but to Dells for example and you have to sit back and scratch your head. They are good, sure. But are they that damn good?
Honestly, I am not trying to troll on this one.
What about a Macintosh Powerbook or a G4 makes them worth that much of an apple premium?
I want to see a Switcher price campaign.
_______________________________________________
Re:Switching (Score:2, Insightful)
That's a reasonable question, but not in the context of this thread...the whole "Switch" campaign, and this software, is aimed at users whole will generally switch to a iMac or iBook. And those machines are actually pretty decent deals, especially compared to the pricey "pro" line.
And to a poster above...no, obviously this program won't transfer your custom auto-connect scripts. Duh. If you can do that, I bet you can get those puppies over yourself.
Re:Switching (Score:4, Insightful)
Regardless of how much cheaper/faster/beiger/etc that PCs are, I've yet to meet one person who genuinely enjoyed using one as much as people who use Macs, which I think is the point most people are missing. Sure my iBook is more expensive, slower, has a smaller screen, etc, than my desktop or my schoolmates with Windows or Linux laptops, but, they're the ones always huddled around my screen and coming to use my laptop to do things because they prefer it. That's the point.
Good, But Can Help With Older PCs (Score:3, Informative)
Older PCs don't have CD burners, either. So, to get your data from an older PC, you'd need at least one of the following, in order of ease:
- An Ethernet card (connect by Windows file sharing between Mac, which all have Ethernet, and PC)
- Windows 98 or greater (if USB is available)
- A CD burner
- The Internet (e-mail some files in small amounts to yourself or a friend)
Re:Good, But Can't Help With Older PCs (Score:2)
...even easier (and cheaper!) (Score:2, Informative)
ftp>ftp my_pc
ftp>cd C:\
ftp>tar -cvf my_shit.tar my_shit
ftp>bin
ftp>hash (i love hash marks, OK?)
ftp>lcd
ftp>get my_shit.tar
....
ftp>bye
my_mac>cd
my_mac>tar -xvf my_shit.tar
Does it go the other way? (Score:2)
Moving Files to Free OSen? (Score:2, Informative)
There's no need to. Linux and the *BSDs happily read your files from your DOS/Windows/OtherOS partitions.
<Offtopic>
</Offtopic>
---
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat,
and wrong.
-- H. L. Mencken
Carry? (Score:3, Interesting)
What a plan!!!
Re:All my files? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:All my files? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:All my files? (Score:2, Informative)
it is supposed to work fine with wma too
Re:Passing To Penguin... (Score:4, Informative)
Everything supports Joliet now. Even Mac OS X, which was a great sigh of relief to me when I upgraded my wife's machine.
Darn straight: same as 4x CD burner (Score:2)
it's called a CD burner
Darn straight. According to the product FAQ sheet [detto.com], the transfer rate is about 650 MB in 20 minutes. That's the same as an ancient 4x CD burner; even a 2-year-old Plextor burner is 12x.
Just turn off the Joliet
If you don't turn on Joliet or Rock Ridge, you're back to 8.3 file names (hope you've zipped, stuffed, or tarballed the files beforehand). Do both Windows and Mac OS understand Rock Ridge?
Here's a $15 shareware extension [tempel.org] to make Classic Mac OS recognize Joliet and Rock Ridge discs.
Joliet/Rock Ridge and MacOS (Score:2)
Re:Get a Crossover Cable (Score:3, Interesting)
(OK, maybe it's just a great idea more than an innovation, but it's certainly worth mentioning.)
Re:The real reason people don't switch (Score:4, Insightful)
I think those might be the two most important, but clearly they can't be the single most important ;-)
I agree that fear is an important factor because too many people are terrified to click on some button on a computer because it might mess up or they don't really know what it will do. Because of this, they will never do anything unless they are babysat.
The main reason that I never learned to be afraid of computers is because back when I was 7 years old my dad actually encouraged me to enter the autoexec.bat and remove the remark line before the command to load the mouse driver. Then I started noticing these lines about emm386.exe and reading those readme.txt that came with shareware and finding out about memory management.
I think that once a person in afraid of computers, it is very hard to make them un-afraid of them. I have been working on my mother for some years now and she is finally coming into her own with realising that you need a generalised knowledge of how things work, not a specific knowledge of every button, keystroke, etc., to be able to understand the machine.