A new look at Macs
The world isn’t perfect, we all know that. We can’t always use our beloved Macs at our jobs or schools, we also know that. This coming year, I will be taking time to address these issues which seem ignored by everyone else. I will be writing a whole series of articles about working in a dual platform environment and making due while in the office with Windows, and how you can really complement your Mac with a Windows computer, and vice versa. Believe me, they are more similar than anyone gives them credit for.
At first I would like to give you the rundown of what I have to work with:
In the Mac corner wearing Blue & White: B&W G3
Blue & White G3 400 MHz
256 MB RAM
1 40 GB Hard Drive
1 12 GB Hard Drive
CD/DVD Drive
Zip 250 Drive
10 BT Ethernet connection to home network
Mac OS 9.2.2 and Mac OS X 10.1
In the PC Corner wearing a funny looking flag: IBM ThinkPad
IBM ThinkPad
Pentium 4M 1.8 GHz
512 MB RAM
CD-RW/DVD Drive
Floppy Drive
40 GB Hard Drive
Windows XP
Wi-Fi Network access at home, 10 BT Ethernet at school
One should note a few things:
1. The Mac is an older computer, yet still provides more than enough power for most common tasks including Web Development.
2. The Windows computer will be used mainly during the week, the Mac is the “weekend hot rod” from this point forward.
Initial ideas
I decided to go with Netscape 7 for Email because of its robust features and security. It’s not Outlook, and it doesn’t have Outlooks vulnerabilities. Netscape 7 is also a branded Mozilla, a great open source child.
Since I will always be with the Laptop and not with the Mac, Email will be based on the IBM Thinkpad. Netscape is great here because I can at any point copy my profile to the Mac and get my email on the Mac. So I am not stuck forever with the PC. But more on this later.
I also decided to install VNC on the Mac so that I can connect to it remotely while away.
In the near future I will be going into each of these topics in detail. Since I know many are in similar situation as I take a new look at Macs on the Dark Side. Stay tuned.
