I did it. I bought a Mac

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Posted by ndodge
Mar 29, 2008 at 02:34 PM

I spent time looking at various Mac only software sites, looked at every Omni Outliner screencast I could find, even read their manual online. I was going to go spend a couple hours on a rented Mac at a Kinkos but ended up deciding I didn’t even need to do that. I turned instead to investigating used Macs on Craigslist. I found an old Powerbook for a couple hundred bucks and bought it. I’ll upgrade later, but this will do for now.

Instead of solving a problem it has created many others, but the new problems are oh so interesting. I’m incredibly clumsy on a Mac. I’m used to using hotkeys for everything based off of where commands are found on windows menus. I’m sure there are ways on Macs and I’ve already found resources to read and things to learn.

I am excited about what seems to be a wealth of very well done software. I’m experiencing, I guess that minimalist experience—software that does what it does well, even if it doesn’t have tons of features. In particular, Omni Outliner and Things appear to have that.

What is so amazing is that I can tell these things just from watching screencasts. I’m writing this post now from my Windows laptop. I have to get a wireless card for the Mac, and I’m doing this in bed at the moment. I just watched a Things screencast and can tell that it might work very well for me. It has stripped things down to a simplicity yet offers power filtering in a flexible way if you need it.

I haven’t used a Mac in a long, long time. I can tell that there is a culture here that I’ll need to learn a little bit, but a culture that I think my heart is really in. Kind of like a culture that appreciates things like the UNIX command line tools, as I’ve seen discussed here.

I gave up on Ecco, for now. The interface just depressed me, I guess. I need a little bit of a fresh interface, an ability to throw in a little splash of color. I have to “feel” good about the UI I guess. Sounds like overall I made the right choice. Of course certain Windows apps, although powerful in some ways, can’t seem to shake off a clinical, industrial feel to them that makes me feel like I have to sit in a strange cubicle that has a slight air of somebody else’s mess, problems, and disorganization. It was sad, because Ecco was not very far off.

Sorry for the standard cliches and observations. Not new in general, but new for me. This is all part of a great transformation from being stuck in science classes as a kid, doing well, not particularly liking them, getting a job as a programmer, doing that for years, not particularly liking it, getting a job at teaching, liking it, getting laid off from it, rejecting going back to corporate IT, finding a job as a technical writer which at least puts me in right direction, and all awhile realizing that despite being very analytical there is a part of me that is very, very visual and a huge part of me that wants to be creative and artistic. So, in conclusion, I guess this is all making sense (getting a Mac).

I need to use some new Mac outliner to capture the wealth of brainstorming of figuring out what combination of concept-mind mapping, gtd software, outlining software I will actually use to try to manage my life, and to try to solve the tasks of the platform coexisting that I’ll need to do. Sounds like eventualy a better Mac with a virtual PC env might be the way to go.

Posted by David Dunham
Mar 29, 2008 at 03:51 PM

Congratulations! My offer of a discounted Opal still stands for any reader of this forum.

If you’re a hot key fan, be sure to check out the system-wide Keyboard Shortcuts in the Keyboard & Mouse system preference. You might find Automater useful as well.

Posted by Chris Thompson
Mar 29, 2008 at 05:16 PM

Have fun exploring. Things and OO are two of my favorite applications.

Regarding the keyboard commands, you might find it useful to swap the command and control keys. This way common shortcuts (Copy, Paste, etc.) are the same as on Windows. You can swap these in the “Keyboard and Mouse” preferences pane by clicking “Modifier Keys” on Leopard (might have a different name in Tiger). I do this on all my machines just to be consistent with Windows, plus I’m also more used to doing keyboard shortcuts with my pinky finger (Windows) than my thumb (Mac). As David pointed out, you can change individual shortcuts in any or all applications by using the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab of the same preference pane.

—Chris

Posted by john oconnor
Mar 31, 2008 at 11:15 PM

I switched last week. I bought a 24” iMAC. All I can say is wow.

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