Apple How long does it take to feel natural?

I've gotten close to switching to Mac before. Most of the reasons being that I like their software and their philosophy. I don't really care whether their ultimate goal is to make money, make well designed products, or both, but I've always found some well thought out considerations in their products (even if their build quality is as bad as most PC makers).

Whatever the case, I've always wanted to switch, and now that they're Intel for a while, I can switch without worrying how to run my PC-only games and apps. The only problem is, I never felt natural using Mac OS. I suppose I've used Mac OS only for about a week long max, but I always found myself searching for my Expose key after looking for my task bar first. The Apple button, CTRL and ALT are reconfigured, so I'm always a little confused by how to right click on their laptops, or how to select multiple things etc.

Biggest thing I'm not used to is how every app is windowed, and apps rarely resize to fill the entire screen. I find the background apps distracting, and the fact that everything if floating, I would sometimes accidently click outside to another window, and have to search around for what I was doing again.

There are problems that I don't find Mac users experiencing, even my PC friends who have switched.

How long did it take you for Mac OS to feel natural? Not to know it - I know how to use Mac OS, but for it to feel natural enough that these interface differences no longer bother you.

 

Took me a couple of weeks of use to feel natural. Now I've come to love some of the things which Windows users find strange!
ie the little + button, instead of maximising the window fully, simply resizes it to the actual size of the page. Expose is far handier than alt-tab too.

There's a couple of things which I've done to make things a little easier. I installed Witch, which makes alt-tab a little more like windows (for separate windows instead of just different applications), although I find myself using it less and less.
I also installed Quicksilver, which most Mac users will recommend.

You mention how to right click on their laptops. You can ctrl-click, but with mine, tapping the touchpad with 2 fingers enables me to right-click. And if you move around the touchpad with 2 fingers, it scrolls. This is so much better than anything else I've used. It just feels right, and you don't even notice you're doing it.

 

It took me a few months before I got used to working around the obstacles you mention above. That is very well described and right on the mark what makes OSX an utter nuisance.

One thing I haven't gotten used to yet (about a year having a mac now) is the lack of CTRL+TAB to switch between windows in the same application and the fact that ALT+TAB only switches between applications and not all open windows. I use Expose in two corners to minimize everything and to show all open windows but would any day switch for Apple+D to show desktop and ALT+TAB to switch between all open windows.

Sry but it still annoys me. I can't believe that "intuitive" and "user-friendly" Apple don't incorporate this... The things you list and the missing tab-switch really hinder working effectively. Everything is built around having to move your mouse everywhere all the time. Newsflash for apple: I have two (2!) hands. Let me use them both and I'll be twice as fast.

Sry about rant I guess I might be saying it may take you a looooong while to feel natural in OSX. Thankfully you can load the whole thing up with any desired variant of Windows instead or Linux for that matter.

 

Yeah. I knew that about the yellow + button. I just always thought it was nicer how Windows would maximize to the screen, and most programs have set in function panels that reposition to your workspace.

 

Witch.

Also, read this

 

About 2 weeks. How programs were installed/situated/uninstalled on the computer confused me at the start. Also, double clicking the menubar of a window minimises instead of maximising, which was quite annoying. I would say that if you can use Windows without trouble, you'll find the switch to OS X reasonably easy. After 2 weeks, everything became second nature. After 6 months, Igoing back to Windows seemed oddly unfamiliar...

 

About two weeks of fairly intensive use. Once you feel comfortable using OS 10, you really notice how much easier/better the OS is than windows.

I'm never switching back.

 

Probably took me a matter of hours to use it ok, days to start to become familiar and weeks (bordering a month) before it was natural. I switch between the two and cope fine, there are things I wish both would do differently.

On an unrelated note I love the nay-sayers saying "oh but you can't do *abc*" and I just boot up vmware almost instantly and I can do everything they can in windows just as fast or native in OSX faster.

 

It takes me almost 2 minutes from launching Fusion to being able to use XP. And this is on a 6 month old Santa Rosa MBP with a fairly lean XP installation. Wouldn't call that almost instantaneous. You must have a faster Mac I guess.

 

Takes about 5 seconds from OSX to XP in fusion on my macbook. You can set it to load applications without the whole OS too. Not sure why yours takes so long, mine is a 2.2ghz 4gb RAM macbook, I bought it about 6 months ago.

 

I'll be happy to video the whole process, will just need to set up cameras unless someone has some screen cap software for mac.

 

I installed Butler, and wrote a short Applescript that allows me to make windows fullscreen with a simple key-command. If anyone wants it, I'll be glad to give you my Applescript (his is hard to find and a bit outdated).

Witch for the win. I rarely use Command-Tab anymore, I just use Witch with Option-Tab.

I definitely like how applications are either installed solely in the Applications folder, or in the PrefPanes sections. It's handy to not have to dig around to clear things out. See above for info on Butler.

 

It took me about 2 weeks to get comfortable with OS X.

I love using my MacBook for web browsing, video chat (Skype mainly), and some code testing. I use my PC laptop for spreadsheets, graphics design, and my vinyl decal business. (Apple just can't run X11 apps fast enough for me, and I love inkscape.) By using both regularly I'm getting comfortable with both. I intentionally keep my backgrounds and screen layout different on my mac and my PC. I don't want my XP or Vista boxes to look like my Apple box. They did a great job on Leopard and the knock-offs aren't that good anyway, plus it helps my brain know which combo key to press. Trying to use "Home" and "End" the way they work on a PC still frustrates me (mainly just trying to select text with the keyboard ata ll), but that's what the mouse is for I guess.

If given the choice, I'd have an Apple in the living room and the kitchen and a PC in the production studio and office. (Because I don't use final cut or Logic. Otherwise put a Mac in your studio.)

Anyway, the key to switching is to realize you don't have to switch. Don't feel obligated to be the person in the commercial, or the person all the other Mac users think you should be. I love my MacBook, and I love my XP PC, and there's no reason to stick with only one.

Definitely give yourself 2 solid weeks on nothing but the Mac though. It will force you to learn all the different keyboard shortcuts. (like Command + L instead of Alt + D to select the address bar in your browser... still gets me sometimes)

 

Most of my computer activities are fairly simple day to day, web browsing, email, MSN, Office/PDFs etc. The only odd demands I absolutely need Windows for is TF2/Steam and a couple other Win only apps. Everything else I use is available on Mac.

 

Mac cost 3+ times as much as PC.
Mac crashes never, PC crashes constantly.
Mac runs silent, PC runs LOUD.

Guess which one I use the most?

That's right, the PC. I haven't had time or impetus to actually wholesale switch from one OS to the other, or even install most of the applications I need to install. Fusion, Final Cut Studio 2, and Office sit dusty in my To Be Installed On Mac box. I use my PC because I have 2 monitors, I use my MacBook Pro because it's a laptop. I really should switch, but right now, there's no reason. I have another year before I head off to college, and therefore another year to sort through 300GB of random files that I haven't even gotten to yet. Don't feel like switching 100% is necessary, or even smart. I'm still very used to PC. The only thing that trips me up is that I occasionally try Mac key shortcuts on PC, or try using the multi-touch touchpad on PC laptops. You have no idea how stupid that looks, until you do it.

 

I want to have a mac but I will never quit windows. I was thinking in mac mini. It looks good for a noob like me who want to be mac geek.

I was worried with the same things that you said here in this thread but now I found some answers Thank you man. I'm going to search more and more till I find the time is right to go to the mac store and grab me one

Good luck

 

It took me one week to get used to the UI, another to get the file layout straight and one more to get lost on a PC. I am still finding little things that I find useful. World of Warcraft ships with the OSX files, and so will Starcraft2; so there really isn't a reason to bootcamp it yet.

 

lol, I believe you mate, you don't need to prove anything! I always figured my installation had problems, but never realised it was *that* bad. If I had mine loading that quickly, Fusion would be a lot more use, as currently I could just fully reboot into Windows in the time it takes for Fusion to load up!

 

ditto. it tkes a week or two to get used to the quirks, but it'd be the same if you were going the other way.