My first computer was Commodore 64. From there I went thru a Commodore Amiga, and several PC’s starting with MS-DOS, then Windows 95, Windows 98 and I have now been a Windows XP user for 10+ years and have never bothered to upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 because there was really no significant performance gains, and I just could not be bothered to learn something new!
So why have I all of sudden decided to get a Mac and make the switch? It’s not because I think one platform is better than the other. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, and they are just different. My reason for switching is simple… because I have started iPhone game development, which can only be done on a Mac!
My first choice was to install OS X in a virtual machine running on my PC, but it turns out that Apple’s End User License Agreement says that you have to install their software only on their hardware. In other words, you have to run Apple’s operating system on Apple’s computers! Since I do not want to be carrying two laptops around everywhere I go, I decided on the 13″ MacBook Pro 2.4GHz i5, installed VMware Fusion on it, and have Windows XP running as a virtual machine on it instead.
This transition is not for the faint of heart, especially for us power users! After 10 years of using Windows XP, I know just about every little secret there is on how to tweak and tune it, I know how to figure out just about every little problem that comes along, and (the big one) I know what all the free and open source tools are that need to make my job easier.
If you are a light PC user, who maybe surfs the net and checks your email, then the switch will probably not be a big deal. But if you are a power user like me, then I warn you … it’s been about 2 weeks of sleepless nights “making my Mac work like my PC”, and I am not done yet. Why, you might ask, would I want my Mac to work like a PC? Well having done things a certain way for years, means there are certain keystroke combinations that I always use that no longer work on a Mac! And I did not realize how much I would miss my Taskbar along the bottom of the screen.
The other issue to consider is cost. Since Windows can run on any manufacturers hardware, there is lots of competition to drive the price down. So equivalent hardware on an Apple is usually 25% to 75% more expensive.
Here are some other related posts that will be helpful:
Hi Daniel, thanks for the comment.
I am using VMWare Fusion, which allows me to run Windows XP on my MacBook, without having to quit/restart to go from one to the other.
You can check out my new iPhone Game called Super Maze 3D here:
http://www.iwebss.com/supermaze3d
Hello there!
Im having the same problem as you.. but I do like the windows 7!
So, why dont you use bootcamp to have Win Xp and osX on your macbook?
Nice blog you have! Its helping me a lot! Im at work now but as soon as get home im going to modify my OsX to look more like windows 7 for me – easier to work with.
Is there any game of you that I can download at the app store?
Regards,