At work, we had decided to migrate from Windows machines to Macbooks. The excitement and supposed 'coolness' of using a Mac notwithstanding, there was anxiety considering that the Apple ecosystem is a platform I've never been exposed to.
The first day I started setting up the machine, the pain in the transition was evident at multiple levels. I spent a good 30 minutes 'searching' for the Hard Disk and eventually found it by googling for help. My day On Windows machines used to start on the desktop and all activity was driven through 'My-Computer' icon or the Win-E shortcut. Don't believe me on how this query stumps first-time users? Check this Google snapshot on what's searched for most:
Having 'found' the hard disk, the next obstacle was in moving files. For a new user it was frustrating that there is no straightforward way to 'cut-paste'. Googling led me to Apple's discussion forum with several threads on the matter and many experts providing 'easy' ways to copy-paste and cut-paste files! Here is another screen grab showing that this is the top search query for Mac users.
The biggest handicap for Windows users on Mac is the absence of keys like Win, Ctrl, Alt, or the universal SOS combination Ctrl+Alt+Del ! Earlier, when I used to switch between Windows machines of Dell or Lenovo, a minor irritant used to be the changes in location of the Pg-up/Pg-down and other secondary keys. However, a radical change in keystrokes was something that went right against my muscle memory of many years. I'm still getting used to Mac's all powerful 'Cmd' key and the secondary 'ctrl' & 'option' keys, but I guess it will take a while for my fingers to learn that.
These irritants notwithstanding, there were some pleasant surprises that are to-good-to-be-true on Windows machines, for instance the lightning fast 'Spotlight search'. But more about these in a follow-on post. For now, I'm looking at immersing myself in the experience and getting used to the Mac shortcuts and ways of working, for the intent is not to survive but to leverage a lot of the platform's productivity hacks.
I strongly believe that the first 2 to 3 weeks is a golden period of any transition since it keeps your mind open to explore and learn at an exponential pace. Post this, the learning curve drops steeply and one just gets used to the ways of working learnt by then, even if its inefficient or inconvenient. Surprisingly, I've found this to be true, not just for a new platform, but for new devices or even a new physical location.
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