After using Windows 8 for a while and being very happy with its stability and speed, I decided to continue using Windows daily for a change. However, I was using Mac OsX for about 5 years in a row, so the question becomes: how to migrate from Apple realm to the Windows realm?
I guess the answer I came up with changes the question (so it is somewhat cheating), but works quite good for me for the last 2 weeks, so here it is. You should migrate from Apple realm to OS-independent realm! I will explain this sentence with examples:
1. E-mail, contacts, etc: iCloud > Google
I was using iCloud very frequently with all my iDevices and Mac. Guess what, Microsoft (and even Apple) has almost no support for iCloud (meaning mail, contacts, and much more). I don't actually blame Microsoft for this (it is not their job), but the pain is real. The solution (I have used) turned out to be Google. I already had gmail account that was forwarded to my iCloud account. Changed the forwarding the other way around and added my gmail account to Windows 8 Metro Mail app. My iDevices support gmail, my Windows computer support gmail, and guess what: even my Mac supports Gmail. For the rest of the iCloud:
On Mac, I had (and still have) a huge library in iPhoto. All images were carefully adjusted and face-tagged. Unfortunately, there is no iPhoto for Windows. I was looking for a solution that would allow me to transfer all the metadata for my photos to my Windows computer, however I started to believe that it simply does not exist. It also makes sense since iPhoto uses god-know-what format to store all these metadata and I doubt that Apple will make it publicly available.
The first option was Windows Photo Gallery. I have used it before and it worked similar to iPhoto, however it would have the same problem: what is someday I go back to Mac? Do I need to do everything from scratch again?
So, I started for looking something less OS dependent. The first result was Picasa (again Google). For now (just tested barely) it works fine. Yes, it has less options (e.g., cannot upload to Facebook natively), but this is something I am willing to take for portability.
3. Webpage Management: iWeb > Weebly
My previous webpage was created and managed by iWeb. You probably guessed it right, there is no iWeb for Windows.
After some search, I came up with Weebly. For some aspects, not as configurable as iWeb, but for some aspects, it is even better than iWeb. iWeb was discontinued for some time, and as far as I can see Weebly is well-maintained. I have re-created my whole website in a couple of hours with very little hassle. It is WYSIWYG, but it also provides partial access to HTML if you are up to complex things and know what you are doing. Best part: it is OS independent.
4. PDF Editor for LaTeX: Skim > Sumatra
When you are using LaTeX, you need a PDF editor that supports automatically reloading the PDF when the underlying file changes. Most editors don't (since the final PDF is supposed to get modifications rarely). On Mac, I was using Skim, which is very good for this job, however it does not have a Windows version.
I used Sumatra on Windows before and decided to give it a shot. It still work quite well for displaying, however it is a shame that I did not manage to make forward and inverse search work on my 64-bit Sumatra installation. I really miss these features and I hope at some point I can fix it.
What still works?
Not everything is broken, when you migrate. Here are the things I can still use with minor modifications and/or issues.
1. iTunes
This was actually quite important for me as I have a good number of purchases from iTunes. For anyone who has no purchases from iTunes or Xbox store, I would definitely suggest to use Amazon for purchases as it provides the highest level of mobility. However, it you are like me and already settle with iTunes, there is a Windows version. It is buggy and worse than the Mac version, yes, but although slow, it works.
2. Java and most of the programming languages (and environments)
As long as you are not using Objective-C (apple specific) or .Net C# (Microsoft specific), luckily most programming languages and IDEs (integrated development environments) are supported for almost all platforms.
3. LaTeX and Professional Writing
LaTeX distributions are also available for almost all platforms. I was using TeXlipse (LaTeX plug-in for Eclipse), which does not seem to be maintained anymore, but is working pretty well. There was an issue with the viewer editor though: I had to switch from Skim (Mac) to Sumatra (Windows) (see above for details).
I guess that is all I remember at this point. As you can see moving from Mac to Windows needs some work but it IS possible. I guess I moved between platforms enough times that this time I decided to use more platform independent solutions.
Do you have a program that you cannot replace on Mac/Windows? Let me know and if I find an alternative (or even better a platform dependent solution), I will let you know.
I guess the answer I came up with changes the question (so it is somewhat cheating), but works quite good for me for the last 2 weeks, so here it is. You should migrate from Apple realm to OS-independent realm! I will explain this sentence with examples:
1. E-mail, contacts, etc: iCloud > Google
I was using iCloud very frequently with all my iDevices and Mac. Guess what, Microsoft (and even Apple) has almost no support for iCloud (meaning mail, contacts, and much more). I don't actually blame Microsoft for this (it is not their job), but the pain is real. The solution (I have used) turned out to be Google. I already had gmail account that was forwarded to my iCloud account. Changed the forwarding the other way around and added my gmail account to Windows 8 Metro Mail app. My iDevices support gmail, my Windows computer support gmail, and guess what: even my Mac supports Gmail. For the rest of the iCloud:
- Safari > Chrome
- Contacts > Google contacts (there is an easy way to do this if you still have access to your Mac)
On Mac, I had (and still have) a huge library in iPhoto. All images were carefully adjusted and face-tagged. Unfortunately, there is no iPhoto for Windows. I was looking for a solution that would allow me to transfer all the metadata for my photos to my Windows computer, however I started to believe that it simply does not exist. It also makes sense since iPhoto uses god-know-what format to store all these metadata and I doubt that Apple will make it publicly available.
The first option was Windows Photo Gallery. I have used it before and it worked similar to iPhoto, however it would have the same problem: what is someday I go back to Mac? Do I need to do everything from scratch again?
So, I started for looking something less OS dependent. The first result was Picasa (again Google). For now (just tested barely) it works fine. Yes, it has less options (e.g., cannot upload to Facebook natively), but this is something I am willing to take for portability.
3. Webpage Management: iWeb > Weebly
My previous webpage was created and managed by iWeb. You probably guessed it right, there is no iWeb for Windows.
After some search, I came up with Weebly. For some aspects, not as configurable as iWeb, but for some aspects, it is even better than iWeb. iWeb was discontinued for some time, and as far as I can see Weebly is well-maintained. I have re-created my whole website in a couple of hours with very little hassle. It is WYSIWYG, but it also provides partial access to HTML if you are up to complex things and know what you are doing. Best part: it is OS independent.
4. PDF Editor for LaTeX: Skim > Sumatra
When you are using LaTeX, you need a PDF editor that supports automatically reloading the PDF when the underlying file changes. Most editors don't (since the final PDF is supposed to get modifications rarely). On Mac, I was using Skim, which is very good for this job, however it does not have a Windows version.
I used Sumatra on Windows before and decided to give it a shot. It still work quite well for displaying, however it is a shame that I did not manage to make forward and inverse search work on my 64-bit Sumatra installation. I really miss these features and I hope at some point I can fix it.
What still works?
Not everything is broken, when you migrate. Here are the things I can still use with minor modifications and/or issues.
1. iTunes
This was actually quite important for me as I have a good number of purchases from iTunes. For anyone who has no purchases from iTunes or Xbox store, I would definitely suggest to use Amazon for purchases as it provides the highest level of mobility. However, it you are like me and already settle with iTunes, there is a Windows version. It is buggy and worse than the Mac version, yes, but although slow, it works.
2. Java and most of the programming languages (and environments)
As long as you are not using Objective-C (apple specific) or .Net C# (Microsoft specific), luckily most programming languages and IDEs (integrated development environments) are supported for almost all platforms.
3. LaTeX and Professional Writing
LaTeX distributions are also available for almost all platforms. I was using TeXlipse (LaTeX plug-in for Eclipse), which does not seem to be maintained anymore, but is working pretty well. There was an issue with the viewer editor though: I had to switch from Skim (Mac) to Sumatra (Windows) (see above for details).
I guess that is all I remember at this point. As you can see moving from Mac to Windows needs some work but it IS possible. I guess I moved between platforms enough times that this time I decided to use more platform independent solutions.
Do you have a program that you cannot replace on Mac/Windows? Let me know and if I find an alternative (or even better a platform dependent solution), I will let you know.
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