That is all that you have to do to save your iWork Pages document as a Microsoft Office Word document.

The first method that you can use to control a Windows PC from your Mac is to install Windows on your Mac.  I installed Windows on my Macbook, but seldom use it.  After being used to the fast boot times of OS X Leopard, I feel like it takes forever for Windows XP to boot, and it is not half as bad as Vista.  As I addressed in another post, there are several ways to accomplish installing Windows XP or Windows Vista on your Mac.  After Windows is installed, you can boot Windows and use Remote Desktop Connection to control your Windows PC. 

If you need to control a Windows PC from your Macintosh, and you do not want to install Windows XP or Windows Vista, there is another method.  You can download Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.  Remote Desktop for Mac now has multiple session support to allow you to connect to more than one Windows based PC.  It works with Windows Vista and is a Universal application.  Remote Desktop for Mac 2 allows you to print with any printer that can be configured from your Mac.  You can create your own keyboard shortcuts.  Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2 is a solution for users with Intel Macs or Power PC Macs with OS 10.4 Tiger or later.

For those of you in the same boat as me, you have several options of using Windows XP or Vista (if you must) on your Mac. For all options, you must supply your own legal copy of Windows. If you are installing Windows XP, it must be SP2 or later.

The first option for running Windows on your Mac is using Boot Camp, which comes as a feature of OS X Leopard. Installation could not be easier. Simply start the Boot Camp Assistant (in Finder>Applications>Utilities>Boot Camp Assistant), print the directions in case the installation does not complete, set your Boot Camp Partition size and choose FAT32 or NTFS. If you choose FAT32, you can read/write from OS X Leopard without buying additional software. After taking these steps, place the Windows CD in the drive and install Windows. Starting Windows XP is as easy as restarting the computer and holding the option key until it asks which operating system you wish to start. This is how I installed Windows on my Macbook.

The second option is using software called VMware Fusion. I currently have the 30 day trial software on my Macbook Black and I like it. If you have installed Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp, Fusion will automatically import your Boot Camp installation. The advantages of using Fusion are that you do not need to restart to boot Windows. Open VMware Fusion and select “Start up guest.” Windows will now start at the same time you are running OS X. You have the ability to use printers that are already installed on OS X Leopard and not have to reinstall them. You can use the common Mac keyboard shortcuts because Windows is running inside of OS. I have not tried it yet, but Fusion has the ability to let you run native Windows applications such as Media Player and Internet Explorer in OS X. As I said before, I have been trying this software for about two weeks, and I am thinking seriously about buying it.

Another option is software called Parallels. Parallels is another Virtual Machine software for running Windows, like fusion. I have had no experience with Parallels, but many people use it and love it. From what I understand, Parallels was the leader in running Windows on Macs. Only recently have viable alternatives emerged. If you have any experience with Parallels, leave a comment on what you like and why to use it. I am just listing that it is an option.

You do not need to be afraid of switching for fear that you will not be able to run your old programs, or visit an Internet Explorer only website. I was a little hesitant to switch to Mac base on one website that I must use requiring only IE and my photo ordering software only running on Windows XP (the lab that I use has a huge request on their site urging people to not use Vista because of problems). I have been looking at alternatives to the photo software, but the website is run by the State of Ohio for submitting EMS Data (I am a Paramedic) and I have tried using Firefox with user agent switching, Opera, Safari, and Chrome browsers, none of them work, so IE is my only option. Fortunately, I am able to run Windows on my Macbook without any trouble to use these two items. As soon as I am done with these, I shut down Windows and do not need it for weeks again.

Do you use another program to run Windows on a Mac? Let me know what you use and why. What do you like and dislike? I love computers, and I only recently switched to Mac. I write on this blog with mostly questions that I had at one time, or questions that some friends who switched ask me.

Boot Camp Website

Fusion Website

Parallels Website

Luckily for those of us who have made the switch to Mac, there is a product called The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile. I am now able to sync my Sprint Mogul (ppc-6800) over bluetooth to my Macbook. All of my contacts, appointments, and even my photos I take on my phone are synchronized with no trouble.

Missing Sync for Windows Mobile can sync much more than I have it doing. One thing that it will do is sync your music library with iTunes. They have Missing Sync for Palm OS, Missing Sync for PSP, Missing Sync for iPhone, Missing Sync for Nokia, and Missing Sync for Blackberry available.

The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile is available for download at http://www.markspace.com/ .  Missing Sync for Windows Mobile costs $39.95, but it is money well spent if you need to sync your phone with your computer.

iWork is a great collection of productivity software. It includes Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. For the new Mac owner, that is the equivalent of Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. iWork is available for a single install at the price of $79.00 or for a “Family Pack” which allows it to be installed on four Macs for the price of $99.

iWork can open any Microsoft Office files and can save files as Office files. Recently, my boss upgraded to the Office ‘07 and I was the only employee who could open her files for about one week. Everybody who had Office needed to download a compatibility patch. iWork can even export files to PDF natively. On my PC with Windows XP, I had to use Adobe Professional to do the same.

“I use Outlook to keep track of my appointments” you may say. With the iLife software that comes on your Mac you can do the same. When somebody mails me an email that says, lets say “Saturday” or “Next Saturday” I can click on the word (or a date of they send a date) and the date will show in iCal. If the email includes a time listed with the day or date, iCal will even fill in the time in the appointment. Apple calls this ability “Data Detectors.” Names, addresses and phone numbers all have the same abilities, except they will open in Address Book.

I have used Microsoft Office for many years, even using Outlook to sync to my Windows Mobile PDA phone. I have had no issues with the switch to iWork. I actually prefer Pages and Keynote to Word and Powerpoint 2007. I do not even use Outlook to sync my PDA anymore, more on that in another post.

Have you recently switched to Mac and tried iWork? How do you like it, and is there anything you could not do with it that you need

• You can use a USB mouse that has a right mouse button and right click with it.
• You can change your System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Trackpad settings and check the box that says “For secondary clicks, place two fingers on the trackpad then click the button.” Now your Macbook will “right click” when you rest two fingers on the touchpad and click the button.
• The third option, and the one I generally use, is to hold the control key and click on the item.
• On the newer Macbooks without the button under the trackpad, you have the option of setting the bottom corners to “right click” when you click on the trackpad. This is accomplished in the system preferences.

I have been using my Macbook for about five months now and I do not miss the right click button anymore. I kept trying to use it for the first week I had it, but now I find when I use a PC at work, it seems odd to right click.  It is hard to believe how easy it was to get used to no right click button.

I remember when Dad bought Windows 3.1 and installed it on our 80286 machine.  We put it on, and I continued to use MS DOS for most tasks.  Windows was OK, but it was not needed, I was very proficient at DOS.  Years later, I was living on my own, and I bought a Gateway desktop with the brand new OS, Windows 98.  I still have that computer, not much inside of it is still original, but it still works, and I have had no reason to replace it.  

I had a HP laptop that served me well, it was one of the first HP laptops to ship with Windows XP.  I have also had a Gateway laptop (which I loved) and a Dell laptop running Vista.  My Mac switch story starts here.

On June 15, 2008, my Gateway was diagnosed as “terminal.”  I had been using the computer for a couple of years, and now the battery would not charge.  I bought a new charging jack, as that computer used a 5 pin jack and one of them was notorious for “burning” through.  I removed the jack and replaced it.   We had voltage past the jack, but not to the battery.  It appeared that one of the resistors near the jack was open and causing my problems.  I was not going to pay somebody to repair the computer, as it was already about four years old.  I needed to buy a new computer, as I use my laptop for our photography business and when I fix other computers, I download drivers to mine to install on other machines.  I have an uncle that used to call me all of the time for computer help.  I would help him with any trouble that he had.  He would always call when I was cooking, driving, or just not at home.  He could not believe that I walked him through the menus in Windows XP from memory.  Anyway, he bought a Mac for his daughter and he liked it.  he bought another for himself, then the next thing you know he bought a third Mac.  The support calls suddenly ended.  I kept this in mind as I was considering what to buy for myself.

My wife and I went to Best Buy to look at computers.  I was hoping there would be a few Windows XP machines leftover and on clearance.  I had used Windows Vista on a computer for about one week just after the initial release and it was so unstable, that the computer was almost unusable.  I was not going to buy a Vista machine for myself.  My wife told me that she used her Mother’s Vista machine and it was not bad.  She uses it for surfing the web and emails.  Amy got a Dell laptop with plenty of memory and Windows Vista.  I bought a Macbook Black.  I was not sure how I would like the Mac, and always had the PC to fall back on if I really needed to.

Within a few hours, I knew that I would be happy with the Macbook.  I loved the packaging, the feel of the computer, how fast the OS booted, the ease of setup, and the thing I loved the most was that there was NO BLOATWARE!  Every program that came on the computer was fully functional, not one “trial” software application was loaded.  I found that when I installed a program it asked for my password, this was something new for me, but not nearly as annoying as the User Account Control in Amy’s Vista Dell.  I became comfortable with OS X Leopard very quickly.  I found myself going to the upper right corner of applications to close them, when on a Mac, you close the application in the upper left.  I was right clicking all of the time when there is no right click, only “control click.”  After about two days, I was drifting away from the habits I had developed from years of PC use.

Last week, I bought another Macbook.  I bought it for Amy for Christmas, and gave it to her early.  She had finally had enough of her Dell and Windows Vista.  That computer never really functioned the way it should have.  Vista, even with the latest updates, still has some bugs that annoy its users.  I was going to make Amy wait until Christmas to get her new aluminum Macbook, but she was going to go buy one herself, so I figured I had to give away her gift.  

We have both been very happy with our Macs.  The purpose of this blog is to post information to help other users who are making the switch to the Apple Mac from the PC world.  I have found many things that helped me, and I think that information should be shared.

Please do not think that this is going to be a “Steve is God and Bill is Satan” blog.  I still use PCs and still maintain several corporate networks and setup new networks.  I still enjoy my Windows 98 and XP machines, but I have been thrilled with my Macbook running OS X Leopard.  It has been my favorite computer that I have owned to date, and I was not even sure I would like it when I bought it.  As for Microsoft, I hope they learn from their Vista mistakes and move on to the next OS quickly, as they did with the abortion know as Windows ME.