As a Mac switcher, my Mac's built-in spelling and grammar checking has been a huge productivity boon for me. I'm someone who often gets stuck on a word, and since nothing's ever good enough for me, I've often wished that Leopard also included a built-in thesaurus. While that's not currently in the cards, there is an alternative.How many ways are there to say "Whoops?" Of course, Leopard does include a built-in thesaurus via Dictionary.app. See the continuation of this post for a screenshot. Thanks to everyone in the comments for keeping me honest.
If the Apple offering isn't to your liking, Nisus Thesaurus, a free app from Nisus Software, works as a standalone application and a system service. This means that it installs in the Services sub-menu of your Mac and is accessible from any program you use that is able to interact with the Services sub-menu. These applications include Mail, TextEdit, Safari, MacJournal, and countless others.
Once installed, using your new thesaurus is as simple as highlighting a word that you would like to look up, and pressing the Nisus Thesaurus Services sub-menu hotkey (Command -<). This will pop up the Nisus Thesaurus window with your word options only a click away. Select the word you would like to use as a replacement, press Command->, and voila; your new choice has replaced the original word.
Here at TUAW, we welcome all those yearning to breathe free of Windows, especially high-profile technology columnists like ComputerWorld's Scot Finnie. Longtime PC writer Finnie made a public switch to the Mac in February after a 3-month trial, and he's not looking back. This week, in an article posted on his site and adapted in ComputerWorld, he takes on the accepted wisdom that Macs are more expensive than PCs. Guess what he discovered?
Feature for feature, if you match up Apple's constrained model selections with mainstream/premium vendors like Dell or Sony, the MacBook Pro and iMac come out ahead on pricing. In fact, getting a Dell laptop to match the 17" MBP config resulted in a laptop $650 more expensive and almost two pounds heavier. Finnie's original analysis came out before this week's revisions to the MBPs, so it's worth checking for yourself to see that it's hard to get laptops with the latest Intel chips anywhere near Apple's price/spec lineup.
In light of Apple's record results over the past couple of quarters, it's worth reading Finnie's March 28 Computerworld essay, "Why Microsoft Should Fear Apple." Marketing mojo and technical sophistication aside, Finnie zeroes in on the real competitive advantage Apple is gaining: public buzz. (We're doing what we can to help. :-)
People like getting free stuff. People love getting lots of free stuff. Feel the love yourself by checking out MacApper's "Switcher's Giveaway." They're looking for the best story about switching from a PC to a Mac. You're free to type up the details as text if you like, but iMovies, DVD's and slideshows will be considered as well. So what are the prizes? Check out this lineup:
That's $650US worth of goodies. You have until 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, April 30 to submit your true switcher story (Or made up one. Really, how are they going to know?) Good luck!
Regarding Mat's post on a cool QuickSilver-based approach to creating new files at high speed, a fair number of commenters -- and, it turns out, the original poster at lipidity.com -- made mention of NuFile, a combination contextual menu plugin and preference pane. One quick (free) download later, I'm a believer. A right-click gets you a customizable list of blank file templates; throw in a .webloc document to open new pages or blog posts, or just about anything you want.
For switchers looking to find a close match to the Windows "New File" contextual menu, NuFile is a pretty good solution.
I've never been one to fixate on the whole market-share question, but several reports are pointing to increasingly good results for Apple's core Mac business. From over at MacDailyNews comes word that the February numbers from Net Applications have the Mac up to a 6.38% share for February, a rise of 2.05 percentage points (i.e. an increase of around 47%) since just last August (the numbers are based on visits to a network of websites). Glen Fleishman at TidBITS repeats an analyst's speculation that the total number of Mac users will shortly hit 22 million. Finally, Tom Yager at InfoWorld suggests that by his calculations there are around 9,000 new switchers per day. So he's decided to set up a little experiment to see "what happens when you leave a professional Windows user alone with a Mac." He has set up a long-time Windows user with a MacBook and a copy of Parallels, and he's going to report how she reacts. "Will she resist? Or will she make the switch? Stay tuned."
Personally, I'm just happy that the market is expanding because that can't help but benefit the long-term Mac user base as well. It's hard not to be optimistic and think that even more happy days are here for the Mac. And with Leopard just around the corner, it's only going to get better. So welcome to a new day you latest 9000, it's good to have you on board.
There's a tiny thrill when you hear about the "Macpiphany" moment from a long-time Windows user; that cognitive gear shift where suddenly, out of the blue, they get it.
Erica Jonietz, writing for MIT's Technology Review magazine, had her moment while doing something that, for a self-confessed 20-year "Microsoft apologist... not just a fan, but a champion," should have been a big Windows shiver of delight: reviewing Windows Vista. Instead, the anticipation turned sour, and a light began to dawn... as she puts it:
Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.
Ouch. Hey, if it's good enough for Jim Allchin... Although Jonietz was reviewing Vista RC1, most of her criticisms stick with the release, and her feelings for Mac OS X are undiluted. Check out the complete article for a sincere and thoughtful take on Redmond bloatware versus Cupertino cool.
San Francisco photo-geek and Zooomr evangelist Thomas Hawk has a secret. Two weeks ago, he walked into the Apple Store in Palo Alto and plopped down the cash for a brand-new MacBook Pro, which he says is "f**ing amazing!"
For some reason I can't seem to fathom, Hawk felt so ashamed of this that he kept his new illicit love hidden from the world until he came to grips with his new OS orientation. Why the sudden change of heart? The standard PC user gripes apply; Windows is buggy, Dells are badly designed, and things tend not to work.
More interesting to me than the simple fact of Thomas switching is this anti-Apple counter-culture which has become more prominent with the rise of the iPod. I know more than a few otherwise intelligent people whose only reason for not buying an iPod is that they don't want to be like everyone else. But my point to them is always that maybe everyone has an iPod because it's really the best out there! Why subject yourself to a sub-par audio player or computer simply because you want to be the "rebel."
Now, I've only seen this philosophy present in people who are deeply involved in the circles in which I run; bloggers, designers, and as one called us, "The San Francisco Hippy Crowd." So I guess what I'm really observing is people trying to be the counter-culture to a counter-culture. Interesting, eh?
Leo Laporte, podcaster extraordinare and the web's general tech-guru-on-steroids, has blogged that the Soundbooth beta Adobe announced today just might let him jump ship to the Mac entirely. Since the first days of his podcasting adventures, Leo's been using Adobe's Audition for all his podcast recording and editing, but it's Windows only. While Soundbooth isn't entirely a Mac counterpart (Leo's initial impressions are that it's an "Audition Elements"), his "So Long Suckah" post title sounds like he's optimistic.
Still, I agree with Leo and I'm a little disappointed in the offering. Soundbooth's biggest ding right now is that it only does single track recording and editing. For Adobe's girth as a company, I'm a bit surprised this feature is missing. Here's hoping the term 'beta' is applied for every ounce it's worth right now.
Either way, it's nice to hear Leo might be able to make the jump entirely. One less workflow intrusion is a good thing.
Remember Ellen Feiss? I know, of course you do. If you've been missing the sweatshirt-clad switcher, here's some good news for you. She'll be starring in a short film called "Bed and Breakfast." It's a French film, but the corresponding website contains both French and English.
It seems like only yesterday Ellen was making that weird beeping noise on TV. Now she's starring in a move. They grow up so fast (sniff).
I found another one of those 'switcher
blogs' and I thought it might make an interesting read for both Mac newbies and power users. I honestly can't find any
information on the author, but My Journey to Macintosh provides up some
interesting switcher experiences, such as loading up Firefox just because that's what the author used on Windows, then
discovering that other browsers like Camino offer a far more Mac OS X-like experience, in part because Camino isn't
butt-ugly and it uses the Keychain.
One thing I like about this blog is that the author seems to be a power
user, of sorts; while some posts are about discovering the wonders of working with PDFs on a Mac without the
need for Adobe's (fat, bloated, clunky, slow and horrible) Reader, another post laments some hangups in getting
PHP and MySQL working. In other words: there's something for everyone!
There isn't a virtual library of
posts yet, but I thought it might be an interesting switcher blog to watch because of both the variety of topics the
author has touched on so far, and an About section that reads: "Microsoft Windows user since Windows 3.0 moves to
a Mac and Mac OS/X Tiger. Watch the process, good and bad :)." See? Fair and balanced, too. Enjoy.
Dvorak may claim
that no one switched, but Todd Huss might disagree. You see, Todd is a former Windows
user who has recently made the big
jump to OS X, and he did it in style.
Todd's first Mac ever is his brand spankin' new MacBook Pro, and
he shares some of his thoughts about the machine on his blog. It is an interesting perspective that most Mac sites
can't give you, so I suggest you check it out.
Update: It looks like Todd's blog is down at the moment.
It warms the cockles of my heart, it does. Reading stories like the one penned by Douglas Schweitzer about his 2 year switch anniversary. Originally lured to the Mac camp by the wonderful promise of no spyware, fewer viruses, and security out of the box, Douglas came for the secure computing but stayed for the applications.
Applications? But, Scott, surely you know as an acclaimed Apple pundit, that there are fewer Mac applications as compared to Windows. Yes, I do know that, but as Douglas discovered most Mac applications are about quality, not quantity.
In case you wondered if we bloggers ever click on the homepage links our readers submit with their tips and comments... we often do. And every now and then we are rewarded with something entertaining for our efforts.
Whenever a new operating system comes out of the factory gates at Apple I am very excited. I can't sleep until I have installed it and fiddled with it for a few hours. However, all of that is meaningless until I know how one of Apple's famous Switchers feels about the OS.
Luckily Jeremiah Cohick has heard my pleas and has just written about his second impressions about Tiger. Overall he recommends the update to all, however, he also thinks, 'surface features are mediocre and bugs abound.'
It isn't enough to make him switch back though, and really isn't that all that matters?
Don't call Todd Ogasawara a switcher, he's a 'Curious Try-er,' which doesn't have the same ring to it, but hey it was his idea. He is a current Windows/Linux guy who has taken a chance and dipped his toe into the world of the Mac via the petite Mac mini.
Overall Todd has a good experience (good enough to make him go out and purchase an iBook after he wrote the column) but the transition wasn't painless. He had trouble with his printer, and he had to download nearly 200 megs of updates from Apple (which in and of itself isn't a bad thing, it is just a reality of using software now a days).
As a Mac switcher, my Mac's built-in spelling and grammar checking has been a huge productivity boon for me. I'm someone who often gets stuck on a word, and since nothing's ever good enough for me, 
Here at TUAW, we welcome all those yearning to breathe free of Windows, especially high-profile technology columnists like ComputerWorld's Scot Finnie. Longtime PC writer Finnie made a 
People like getting free stuff. People love getting lots of free stuff. Feel the love yourself by checking out MacApper's "
Regarding Mat's post on a cool 
I've never been one to fixate on the whole market-share question, but several reports are pointing to increasingly good results for Apple's core Mac business. From over at 
There's a tiny thrill when you hear about the "Macpiphany" moment from a long-time Windows user; that cognitive gear shift where suddenly, out of the blue, they get it. 
Leo Laporte, podcaster extraordinare and the web's general tech-guru-on-steroids, has 
Remember Ellen Feiss? I know, of course you do. If you've been missing the sweatshirt-clad switcher, here's some good news for you. She'll be starring in a short film called "
Dvorak 
It warms the cockles of my heart, it does. Reading stories like the one penned by Douglas Schweitzer about his 
In case you wondered if we bloggers ever click on the homepage links our readers submit with their tips and comments... we often do. And every now and then we are rewarded with something entertaining for our efforts. 
Whenever a new operating system comes out of the factory gates at Apple I am very excited. I can't sleep until I have installed it and fiddled with it for a few hours. However, all of that is meaningless until I know how one of Apple's famous Switchers feels about the OS.
Don't call 
