BASSMAN -- did you get your Mac?!

[SammyJames]

Hey man! You posted in an earlier message that you would get it by July 12-13.

- Sammy

[bassman]

Hello Sammy,

Yep, I received the unit about 3 weeks ago. I thought I would give myself a bit of time to get familiar with it before updating here, then I got really busy with a Jazz history project.

Here's my quick take so far. . . .

I partitioned the hard drive and installed Windows XP and Mac OS. I use Boot Camp to run each OS natively, or Parallels Desktop to run Windows as a virtual machine under the Mac OS.

I have yet to receive my Cubase Studio, which was the main app I was going to run on the Mac. Right now I have just installed Microsoft Office and a couple of other sundry apps.

As a result, I find myself using Windows on the machine most of the time. Maybe the interface is just familiar, but I haven't found the Mac a whole lot more friendly. The one thing that bugs the heck out of me is that I can't find a way on the Mac to get into a directory tree type of structure so that I can run through my folders and subfolders staring with my hardrive. Windows Explorer is a utility that I have used quite a bit, and have found it quite useful. An equivalent on the Mac would be nice. Maybe I'm overlooking how to do it. . . .

Now that both Mac and PC run on the Intel plarform, I'm second guessing the real advantage of one over the other. It may just come down to a matter of personal taste as opposed to a truly noticeable performance enhancement. Granted, I haven't stressed the machine yet. Maybe my initial opinion will change when I get more stuff loaded on the Mac and start using it in my musical environment.

As you can see, the jury is still out. My gut feel is that unless I start using more Mac-centric apps, staying with a PC base would have been OK. We'll see. . . . . . . . . . .

[Artemiy]

Well it's interesting, even after really "getting used" to Windows and Linux I found myself really happy about switching to a Mac. Everything about the UI has instantly shown be lots of benefits.

Anyway, bassman, there are two more view modes in Finder which should work like you want. Switch between them from the toolbar.

The first one is tree mode:

[Artemiy]

The second one is this one:

[bassman]

Hey Art,

Thanks for the pics. . . . that's exactly what I was looking for. Guess I need to poke around a bit more.

Right now I'm quite busy with a project that requires a lot of computer time and I have a short timeframe to do it in. So I'm staying with the familiarity of Windows. I hope to live more in the Mac world when this is done so that I can see what it is all about and how the interface feels.

I spent 20+ years in the PC universe, so I'm aware that a lot of things are just habitual. I have no qualms about using another tool if it fits the bill and over time will be a more intuitive approach. I'll post more feedback (and questions) as I go. . . . . .

Thanks!

[Artemiy]

Well, the fact that you did not see those buttons tells me you are yet to explore the most sweet things in OS X. Like system-wide search (files, font dialogue, e-mails...), drag and drop almost everywhere, as well as tons of things that seem small and simple but save you quite a few time every day.

[SammyJames]

I don't exactly understand why it is so difficult to get back into Mac. I had the same thing happen to me pretty much. I used Macs throughout college and at my first "real" job out of college, at Kurzweil. Then when I went to work at Cakewalk, I was forced to use a PC to do my tech writing on. At any rate, I have pretty much used mostly PCs since, with the notable exception of the year and a half that I spent using a Mac laptop as my Internet machine.

When that thing finally died, I bought a Dell notebook for about $500 bucks (which I'm using to type this message right now). I have no idea anymore which platform I prefer. I wish that I could just use one or the other, because right now, I constantly find myself pressing "Open Apple W" on the PC, and pressing "Alt + F4" on the Mac. This is not a joke -- rather, I'm aware that the two options that I just detailed do not exist. I'm pointing out how I like to close programs and windows using the aforementioned keyboard shortcuts, and I get mixed up sometimes about which is which on which computer.

As usual, I'm being overly-verbose in a situation that requires about one-fourth of the number of words that I am expending. But you get the idea. I'm all out-of-sorts using all of this technology.

I know what Artemio will say -- "toss the PC and buy an iPhone!!!" and I may.

- Sammy

[Artemiy]

Sammy, iPhone is expensive, unless you really need it.

[SammyJames]

Nah. I don't need it, and I don't even like it that much. As a consolation prize, I got this little LG phone that has the computer keyboard and all of that jazz. I hate it. I prefer regular cell phones, so eventually I'll probably take this one back and get a good-old standby phone.

- Sammy

[Igglethorpe]

I just got an iPhone. I am loving it to death. I also love my Mac laptop to death. I really really love iLife 08. I love you, Artemio. awwww....

[Artemiy]

Igglethorpe:

*sniff* I love you too, brother!