shuffle August 2007 content

[Magnus]

A word from the editor

It’s that time of the year when thousands
of kids go back to school, and thousands
more go to school for the first time. Apple
has traditionally had a strong position in
education and continues to do so. And
that arguably applies even to our region
(see “A visit to AUS” in this issue of
shuffle). But pricing is critical in education,
and Macs are often too expensive to
be considered. But is that keeping the best
interest of studens in mind? Not always.
Sometimes it probably doesn’t matter
much if a task is done with Windows or
Mac OS X, but over time, I’d say students
as well as teachers would benefit from
using Macs. Macs are more user friendly,
more secure and stable, and don’t suffer
from many of the problems plaguing
the Windows world. In our region it’s
important that we educate the educators
and the decision makers about Apple and
Macs as much as possible to the benefit
of our children. Too often I have seen
schools with Windows PCs and thought
to myself “Macs could give these kids so
much more”. Personally I think clear and
advertised special offers and discounts to
teachers and students would make good
sense. I also think Apple IMC should
be more visible in the education market,
even outside the the subject areas where
they are traditionally strong, like media
and design. And the EmiratesMac Apple
User Group is always willing to play its
part. In this issue we’ve tried to collect
material that may help in preparing
and planning for going back to school,
whether you’re a parent or a student. You
will find advice for preparing for going
back to school, and some suggestions for
Apple equipment you can buy that will
help enhancing the school experience.

[Magnus]

The day the community took over
by Magnus

Digg.com is a communitydriven
news web site. It was
started in 2004 as a place where
each story was submitted by a
registered user on the site, and
any other user could “digg” or
“bury” a story, depending on
whether they liked it or not.
Digg has become a phenomenon
in a short period of time,
and for web sites it’s a blessing
as well as a curse to get linked to
by Digg. It’s a blessing because it
gives you traffic. But that traffic
can be a curse if you get too
much of it and your site goes
down. On May 1st 2007, an
article was posted to Digg.com
which contained the encryption
key for the protection of
HD DVD content. With the
key anyone could decrypt and
watch otherwise protected
HD DVD content. Digg user
“CJ” had posted a story (www.
cjmillisock.com/2007/05/
how-i-got-banned-from-digg.
html) pointing to a posting
by “Rudd-O” (rudd-o.com/
archives/2007/04/30/spreadthis-
number/) which gave this
encryption key for HD DVD.
CJ’s post got over 15000 diggs
over night, then the comments
about it started disappearing,
the story itself was cut, then
CJ’s Digg account was removed.
According to Digg.com
management this was all done
because they were “acting on the
advice of lawyers”. Jay Adelson,
CEO of Digg wrote (blog.
digg.com/?p=73): “We’ve
been notified by the owners of
this intellectual property that
they believe the posting of the
encryption key infringes their
intellectual property rights. In
order to respect these rights
and to comply with the law, we
have removed postings of the
key that have been brought to
our attention.” Just eight hours
later, Digg founder Kevin Rose
wrote (blog.digg.com/?p=74):
“We’ve always given site moderation
(digging/burying) power
to the community. Occasionally
we step in to remove stories that
violate our terms of use (eg.
linking to pornography, illegal
downloads, racial hate sites,
etc.)... after seeing hundreds of
stories and reading thousands
of comments, you’ve made it
clear. You’d rather see Digg go
down fighting than bow down
to a bigger company. We hear
you, and effective immediately
we won’t delete stories or
comments containing the code
and will deal with whatever the
consequences might be.” So
what made Digg change their
position in just a number of
hours? What happened was a
virtual storming of the Bastille.
Thousands of Digg users posted
post and post containing the
encryption key. In every way
imaginable they included the
key in what seemed like benign
posts. As far as we know Digg
tried to fight this for a while
but they realized that it was
of no use. They could either
fight their users, which is a
fight they couldn’t win, or take
a possible fight in court later.
EmiratesMac.com is obviously
nowhere near Digg in terms of
traffic, users, or notoriety. We’re
a small, regional, web site, and
we’re primarily an Apple User
Group web site, not a community
news web site, but there are
similarities. In both cases we rely
heavily on our users to supply
content and make the site successful.
And if users don’t like
something, they’re going to tell
you. That’s something to keep in
mind for any person running a
web site. I know I followed this
story closely.

[b00310]

I just spoke to my uncle about getting a laptop..He got really happy and said GO FOR IT! It's good for school, your own personal use, and many other things..

I read that part in the article, I really liked it..Shuffle is really helpfull, looks nice, and organized..=)

[Magnus]

Your new MacBook Pro: Hints and Tips
by Hakeem Sanni

As you return to school, I am sure you
that you are excited that you’ve eventually
acquired a new MacBook Pro notebook of
your own. Gone are those days when you
have to depend on those security-locked
Mac desktops in your school’s IT-equipped
teaching spaces (labs, studios etc). You can
now carry out your design, rendering and
other creative tasks using your powerful
notebook as tool for academic, professional
and personal purposes. It is my hope that
the following tips, tricks and advice will
go a long way in helping you get the best
from your new notebook. Please note that
students (especially Architecture majors)
who may use Windows-based CAD software
like AutoCAD will find the hints presented
in this article very useful when running
Windows from their secondary hard drive
partition.
General Care
• Pick up your notebook (each time)
with care.
• Do not drink or eat near your notebook.
• If you do accidentally spill something
into the notebook, without delay press
and hold the on/off button for 10
seconds.
• Do not use or expose the notebook to
extreme temperatures.
• Do not use the notebook near a strong
magnetic field.
• Do not insert the CD\DVD backwards.
• Do not push the on\off switch before
proper shutting down.
• Do not leave your battery power fully
drained for extended periods.
• Don’t keep batteries fully charged for
extended periods.
Cables
You will most likely need the following
cables. Try to get on for yourself: Power,
ethernet (network), USB, FireWire, video,
security.
Screens
• Do not place anything heavy on the
notebook. The screen/display is made
of liquid crystal (LCD). Glossy screens
are much better.
• Be careful when closing the notebook.
Make sure that there is nothing between
the screen and the keyboard.
• Don’t touch the screen (especially when
your finger is oily or moist).
• Use lens cleaner for wiping off dust/
dirt.
Safe Practices
• As you move around with your notebooks,
try to adhere to the following
safe practices and avoid any unsafe
practice.
• Carry the notebook closed.
• Carry the notebook in a case.
• Keep your notebook on your person or
keep your notebook in a secure, climate
controlled location.
File Management
• Organize your files by project.
• All files associated with projects should
reside in the project folder.
• Create subfolders to organize additional
files.
• Do not move individual files.
Backup
• It is recommended that you backup
data from your notebook daily. You
may also continue automating your
backup process with free tools like
Carbon Copy Cloner (www.bombich.
com/software/ccc.html), etc.
• Remember that backing up your data
is cheap, could be fast and it ultimately
saves you the grief of losing data.
• You can consider burning (back up)
your data to: CDs, DVDs, CDRWs.
Wireless
• Your wireless configuration will depend
on your location and the kind of wireless
access points/types available to you
• Most campuses offer direct connections.
All you need is to ensure that
your wireless (Airport) is turned on.
Select the right network connection in
your range.
• Ask your IT support staff to help you
with the activation process for secured
wireless connections.
• Try to avoid rendering multimedia files
or printing huge files over the network
using wireless connections. It is faster
and more reliable to connect your network
cable and use a wired connection.
Keyboard Shortcuts
You may find yourself frustrated knowing
that there is a keyboard shortcut for something
in Mac OS X but for whatever reasons
you can’t remember what it was. This web
page (Daily Techno-Babble
tricks/keyboard-shortcuts-for-macbook-
pro) contains information that can
help you keep track of keyboard shortcuts so
you don’t have to remember them!
Boot Camp: MacBook Pro FAQs
Boot Camp lets you install Windows operating
system (e.g. Windows XP or Vista) on
an Intel-based Mac like your MacBook Pro.
For users opting to run Windows on their
MacBook Pro notebook, you will find the
latest Boot Camp (1.3) help very useful.
While running Windows, note that:
Volume control is now possible using the
notebook keyboard (F3, F4 and F5).
Using Apple Remote Control to control volume
etc. will not work well as it does when
you are running Mac OS X.
If you would like to learn answers to frequently
asked questions about using Boot
Camp Beta on your MacBook Pro, check
out these Apple’s FAQ (docs.info.apple.
com/article.html?artnum=303575).
• Q: Windows XP will not install correctly
on my MacBook or MacBook
Pro when an Apple Mighty Mouse is
plugged in. Is there a workaround? A:
Use the MacBook or MacBook Pro’s
built in trackpad until after Windows
XP is installed and Windows recognized
the mouse.
• Q: Why does the battery charge
seems to run down faster when using
Windows XP than when using Mac
OS X? A: Mac OS X includes power
management optimizations that are not
available in Windows XP.
• Q: The delete key on my MacBook or
MacBook Pro acts like a Backspace key.
Is there a workaround? A: In Windows
XP, the Delete key on the MacBook
or MacBook Pro is mapped to the
Backspace key. You can either press Fn-
Delete or use an external keyboard with
a Delete key (or Windows-compatible
software that can remap the Backspace
key to Delete).
• Q: Does the MacBook or MacBook Pro
trackpad work the same in Windows
XP as it does in Mac OS X? A: Basic
tracking works, but acceleration and
scrolling are not available in Windows.
• Tip: To perform a right-click action,
hold the right Command key while
tapping the trackpad button.
• Q: The Show Pointer Location animation
doesn’t work on MacBook or
MacBook Pro running Windows XP.
A: This is a known issue in Boot Camp
Beta. It is not supported in this release.
• Q: I have a MacBook or MacBook Pro
with a built-in JIS keyboard but the Input
method keys do not work in Windows
XP. A: The input method keys on
a built-in JIS keyboard on a MacBook
or MacBook Pro are not supported in
Windows XP. Use an external, localized
JIS keyboard.

[Magnus]

EmiratesMac.com Tips and Tricks
by Magnus

Gallery
We have a nice gallery on the site, with
users uploading their photos and artwork.
When you upload a picture to the gallery,
keep in mind that you shouldn’t upload a
huge file. Even if you took something with
your digital camera, make sure the picture
you upload is no more than around 1200
pixels high or wide. That’s plenty of pixels
for anyone to look at it on a computer
screen. There’s an option when you upload
called “Upload as set”. If you select this option
it means that the pictures you upload
will belong to a set, which makes it easier
for users to view these pictures on the site.
So if you upload a group of pictures that are
related, photos taken at the same event, for
example, put them in a set. When you are
looking at a picture in the Gallery, please
take some time to rate it and perhaps even
leave a comment. You can rate each picture
from one to five stars, and you can leave a
comment for each picture. I’d encourage
you to upload as many photos as you can,
and also leave comments and rate other
photos. It’s the community aspect of the site
that makes it a joy to visit, which is also true
for the Gallery.
Search the site with Google
Did you know you can use Google to search
through EmiratesMac.com? You can of
course go to the Search page on the site. You
can also type in whatever you want to search
for, followed by “site:emiratesmac.com” in
a Google search box. The results you get
will then be restricted to our site. On a
daily basis our site submits the content on
the site to Google so that the search engine
will cover the pages as comprehensively as
possible.
New hosting
This isn’t exactly a tip or a trick but I
thought it fits in here anyway. Since the
last issue of shuffle, we’ve moved our site,
EmiratesMac.com to a new host. We made
the move for different reasons, but the main
one is that we were starting to have different
problems, some at least related to the hosting
plan we were at. So we moved the site to
a new hosting provider, with more resources
available for the site and the systems we run.
The actual move took only a few hours, and
although we experienced some problems,
overall it was a smooth move. Since the
move it seems the site works better, without
any problems. It should be added that some
of the problems we experienced before the
move, regular users of the site didn’t see
them, only administrators. But they were,
taken together, enough of a reason to make
the move, even though we pay a lot more
for the new hosting. If you experience any
problems with the site, send us an email

[Magnus]

Profile of a Mac seller
by Magnus

Name: Ghassan Debs
Title: Store Manager
Store: iStyle Abu Dhabi
Mall, Abu Dhabi

Q: When did you start working for iStyle?
A: May 2006.
Q: What did you do before working at
iStyle?
A: Working in Lebanon with US Aid under
SUNY for five years. I worked mainly at an
IT Help Desk.
Q: When was the first time you used a
Mac and what was your first impression?
A: When I arrived in the UAE I used a PowerBook.
It was much better than Windows.
It was more simple to use, more fun, more
professional. Everything was better.
Q: What’s the best part of your job?
A: Dealing with customers and trying to
make them happy. I want to give them good
customer service by making sure my staff
know everything about the products we
sell. I always try to listen to customers to
understand what they want so we can match
products with needs.
Q: What is your favorite Apple product
and why?
A: That would be video iPod, because I
can carry with me all my photos, video,
music, and even use it for files. But I think
when the iPhone is out that will be my new
favorite.
Q: What is the most challenging part of
your job?
A: To try to figure out what customers want
sometimes. Matching what they want with
expectations is often very hard. But the
good security in Mac OS X, the high specs
of our notebooks, iLife, and the nice design,
makes it easier.
Q: Do you have a funny story about
something that has happened in your
job?
A: It’s not a particular story, we always have
Mac users coming in to the store, and it’s
fun to see them talk to new customers, trying
to get them to buy a Mac.
Q: Is there any particular product you
wish Apple would release?
A: Touch-screen notebooks like tablets. That
would be cool. And perhaps a MacBook Pro
12-inch.

[Magnus]

Off to school preparations
by Crystal

The start of school can be stressful for both
children and parents, no matter how old
they are. Making a check list can help in
making sure you have everything covered
for the first day of school. Here are a few
things you may want to think about when
making your checklist for the first day of
school. The checklist is for age 3-12.
One month before
One month before school it is very important
to set a routine for bedtime and for
getting ready for school in the morning. By
doing this ahead of time, you will save a lot
of heartache before the first day of school.
You can achieve this by setting a time that
your child goes to bed and wakes up each
morning.
Another thing to think about is that this is
the time to talk to your child about school,
and how they are going to make new friends
and have new activities. You may want to
read books with themes about school and
making new friends. If your child is older,
then it is a good idea to talk to them about
the school year, the extra activities they
will be responsible for, homework, practice
time, and also their down time. Next, try
to cover safety information like your child’s
full name, address, telephone number, and
their parent’s names after that. Now is also a
good time to clear the clutter by the two of
you going through your child’s clothes, toys,
books, etc. Make sure your child tries on his
or hers clothes from last year, to see if they
still fit. You can talk to your child about
giving the items to donation, and how that
my help others.
Two weeks before
Two weeks before school is the time to
plan how your child will get to school and
how they will get home. If some one else
other than your self will take them and/
or pick them up, set a meeting place. Also
make sure that your child is aware of how
they will go to school and how they will
come home. If for some reason there are
any changes to the plans for how your child
will get to school or home, let them know
ahead of time. Also make sure you know the
route to school, also talk to your child about
how they will get to school. You should also
take the time to buy school gear, before the
rush. Call the school and get an updated
list from your child’s teacher or school office
and mark the supplies with your child’s
name. This includes any school uniform.
Visit the school with your child, this way he
can see his classroom and meet his teacher.
This will give a chance to explore their
new space. If your child will have lunch at
school, it is a good idea to practice lunch.
Let your child know what is expected of
them and what they may have for lunch.

Plan for homework
Buy extra supplies just for the home, this
will help with homework. Also let your
child help pick a homework area, where
they will feel comfortable for their studies.
This area should be well lit, quiet, comfortable,
and isn’t near distractions, like the
TV. The last but one of the most important
things to do is make sure your child’s medical
records are updated and that the school
has a copy of them. Also let the school
know of any special medical needs.
Days before
One or two days before school decide on a
first-day outfit, with your child, for the big
day. This is a big day for them, and they
want everything to be perfect as well. Plan
your child’s breakfast as it is important for
them to have a healthy start for school. One
way to show how important school is and
how proud your are for your child’s first day
of school is to make sure they have a energy
packed breakfast on the first day. Also make
their favorite dinner the night before. Make
sure your child’s items are pack up and arranged
for school in one place. Also make
sure that your child’s backpack is supplied
and ready for school. Your child should
know where this area is and where the items
go. This will help with making your morning
run smoother, by not having to look for
things.
First day of school
It is very important to plan your goodbye;
if this is their first day of school as a
child, then you need to make sure you are
also ready for the first day. This can be an
emotional day for both of you. Even if you
cannot take your child to school every day,
try to make a plan where you can at least be
there for the first day, as this is an important
day.
Setting a bedtime routine can be a daunting
thought for most parents, here are some tips
for setting a bedtime routine. If your child
is too young to tell time, then it may be
easier than you think to get them to go to
bed at an earlier time. If you already have
a bedtime routine, then just move it to the
correct time for school, but if your child is
older, than you will need to have a talk with
them about bedtime. Also you will probably
have to go slowly with changing the
bedtime. If there is not a routine, then this
is a good time to make one.
You can set up your routine by having a
time for dinner, bath, brushing teeth, reading,
and the good night time. The evening
with the family should be a routine, and
it should be kept simple, so that you can
repeat it every night. After just a couple of
nights, you and your child should know the
clues to night-night time.
If after a few weeks, your child is having
problems with the new bedtime. It is time
to troubleshoot. If your child is falling
asleep at the new time, but is having trouble
waking up, then you may need to try a earlier
bed time. If this does not work, cut our
any caffeine (watch out for hidden caffeine)
and some evening TV watching. If your
child is still having problems, you may want
to check with your child’s doctor.
Final words
I hope these tips help you and your child to
have a easy, wonderful time going back to
school. This is an exciting time for the both
of you, and with a little hard work, you can
have a great start. Just remember that your
child is probably excited about school, and
that’s the way it should be.

[Magnus]

Experiences of an Apple Fan across the world - Part 4: Hong Kong
By Senthil

Another of my Mac travelogue
and this time it is my experiences
in Hong Kong. I have just three
more - Sydney, Brisbane – Australia,
Barcelona – Spain and Singapore
to recount, the rest is all
covered. Now that I have written
four of my experiences, I realized
that I am just penning what I
went through and did not cover
these experiences from your perspective.
Hopefully I am going
to rectify that mistake this time –
there should be a purpose in narrating
my experiences and some
benefits for you since you have
taken the trouble to read this.
Hong Kong – what a city! I have
been there three times in the last
one year and every trip has been
an experience in itself. Shopping,
eating, and just wandering aimlessly
amongst the shopping districts
of Hong Kong is something
I look forward to every time I visit
there. Since I am an Apple fan
and as I mentioned that visiting
Apple stores in any of the new
cities I visit is sacrosanct, I did not
miss an opportunity to explore
the Apple stores in Hong Kong.
My favorite haunting place is
Wanchai Computer mall. Take the
MTR to Wanchai station and exit
through A4 exit and take the left
turn and you come across this
huge mal. Wow!! Abode for Hong
Kong geeks and IT enthusiasts.
You can spend the whole day
exploring the latest stuff here.
You can get the originals as well
as the Chinese made, since the
“mass” production houses are
just a few hours away. You want a
Hewlett Packard (HP) or Jewlett
Hackard (JH – of course you
can’t differentiate between the
HP logo and the JH logo). Every
brand has it’s clone just that they
might have a different alphabet
replaced somewhere in the spelling
but the beauty is that the
name would sound very similar
if you pronounce it. The same
goes for most of the branded
stuff – I came across so many
Kalvin Cliens, Pommy Tillifiger,
In fact, a road side cart guy was
selling Tommy pull my Finger
T-Shirts. Unlike in other parts
of the world, where you hardly
find any presence of Apple in the
computer malls, here you come
across stores which sell Apple
products. I found quite a few of
them selling Apple software but
no hardware and some of them
selling old Mac books and Macs.
Though I spent quite some time
in the mall, I could not find an
Apple store here, maybe I missed
it. I am sure there has to be an
Apple store in this mall. Luckily
for me, the Apple store was close
to the place where I was staying
(Marco Polo) in Kowloon. I found
this accidentally. One of the days,
I just finished my work quickly
and came back to explore the
area where I was staying and to
my surprise, the Apple store was
just a few minutes away from
Marco Polo. Once I found this,
the next few hours, rather till the
store closed, ie., till 10PM I was
in the store exploring what they
had to offer. For once, this store
was crowded unlike most of the
Apple stores and the guys manning
the store were fast, courteous
and thoroughly professional.
Also the range of products from
the Apple stable and Apple
world were amazing. They had
three floors displaying all kinds
of Apple stuff: iPods, Macbooks,
Macbook pro, imacs, software,
books – name it and you could
get it here. What was nice was
the way the products were displayed,
it was easy to feel them,
work on them and browse endlessly
without anyone hovering
over you to sell some thing. The
best demo of a MacBook that
I have seen was here. The guy
was too good. He showed the
power of what a MacBook could
do. Most of the sales guys end
up showing the feature without
highlighting the use of the feature,
whereas this guy was at his
best. For every feature he could
reel out two benefits. The way he
showed off iPhoto, PhotoBooth,
and iMovie was amazing. I think
he knew what was my soft spot
and went for the kill. Unfortunately
for him, I was as undecided
about buying a MacBook
then as I am now though I regret
not picking up the MacBook in
Hong Kong as the price differential
between Dubai and Hong
Kong is almost 20-25%. Almost
all the Apple products in Hong
Kong were far cheaper than in
most of the places I visited and
definitely cheaper than in UAE.
I guess, one can come close to experiencing
the Apple halo here. I
guess the price differential must
be because of the size of the
market. From what I hear, Hong
Kong and Singapore are supposed
to be the biggest markets
for Apple in Asia outside Japan.
Inspite of the size of the market
they don’t have iTunes yet. Could
it be because Apple wants to
have one iTunes store for entire
Asia or would they have different
stores for different countries
in Asia, if that is the case then I
guess we poor souls have to wait
for another decade before UAE
can have it’s store. There are one
another computer mall which is
worth visiting – Windsor House,
three floors dedicated to IT and
yes, you come across Apple products
other than iPod. Hope you
enjoyed reading this experience
and you could get some sense of
what you can expect if you go to
the Apple store in Hong Kong.

[Magnus]

Peel the Apple
by Magnus

Q: I’ve just got a new MacBook and
with the Intel processor I thought it
would run a lot faster than my iBook,
but it doesn’t seem to be that much
faster. What can I do to check to see if
something’s wrong?
A: More than likely you’re running
some PowerPC program. On an
Intel Mac old PowerPC code runs in
Rosetta which translates the PowerPC
instructions to Intel ones, something
that takes time and requires a lot of
RAM. If you click on an application’s
icon in the Finder and select Get
Info from the File menu, you can see
whether that application is PowerPC
or Universal. You can also check Activity
Monitor (Applications > Utilities)
in the column named Kind. If you
don’t see the Kind column go to View
> Columns > Kind. For everything
running it will say whether the code
is PowerPC or Intel. You want to
eliminate as much PowerPC code as
possible so look at what the Process
Name is. If you run PowerPC code,
go to the manufacturer’s web site on
the Internet and see if the software is
available in a Universal Binary version.
Q: At work we share computers
between many users. Like my iMac is
used by at least three people every
day. I don’t really want the others
to be able to see what pages I go to
online. What can I do to protect my
privacy?
A: You have at least two options. You
could create an account for each
user and they have to log in to their
account to browse. Then other users
cannot see what they’ve done, at
least as long as they always log out
when they’re done. Another alternative
if you’re using Safari is to select
Private Browsing in the Safari menu.
Safari then does not add anything
to the browsing history, download
history is automatically cleared, and
no AutoFill information from forms is
saved. You could also manually clear
out the history and cookies when
you’re finished.
Q: How to make a second Airport
Extreme base station as a network
extender? Should I still have two base
stations recognized or having two
basestation as one network???
A: First set up your Airport network
with the first base station. Make sure
you check the box which says Allow
this network to be extended, on the
Wireless tab of the Airport Utility
software. Then on the second base
station you select Extend a wireless
network for Wireless mode in the
Wireless tab. Enter the details of the
network you want the base station to
join and you should be set.
Q: Can we install Windows via Boot-
Camp in multiple hard drives that are
in RAID?
A: I’ve not tried it myself, but my best
guess is that the answer is no, and
after researching the issue, it seems
that others agree. With RAID (Redundant
Array of Independent Devices),
multiple hard drives can be used to
create what appears as one large
hard drive to the computer, or to
mirror information betweens several
drives. It can increase the speed and
reliability of your storage, but it
requires several hard drives. The
problem with installing BootCamp on
a RAID set in Mac OS X is that it’s a
software RAID meaning the RAID is
managed by Mac OS X. Hardware
RAID solutions typically have a
dedicated card that controls the
RAID. If someone knows of a way to
install BootCamp and Windows on
Mac OS X RAID volumes, please write
to us.

[Magnus]

Switcher interview
by Magnus

Name: Sumudu Gunaratne
Job: Airline Manager
Mac: iMac 17-inch Intel
Switch date: March 8, 2006

Q: Why did you switch?
A: A friend at work had talked to me
briefly about Mac Mini and so I fancied
the idea of trying some thing new and
different. So one evening I went over
to Apple Store in Ibn Battuta Mall and
bought my self a iMac.
Q: How did you find the Mac to start
with?
A: Setting up was a piece of cake ! Just
taking my iMac out of the box and connected
the keyboard & Mouse. Once
powered it up and turned on the’ fashionable
& sexy thing’ for the first time, I
was taken through the Mac OS X set up
process to set up my user account painlessly.
Plugging up my ADSL router, automatically
detected router’s settings and
configured itself to hook on to internet.
Q: What were the best things about it?
A: Simply, it’s a sleek, lovely and beautiful
looking machine with an innovative
OS. It has always been a pleasure and fun
to work on my iMac. You got everything
(software) you’d need coming with it for
your family computing and home entertainment
& stuff.
Q: What did you find difficult?
A: Well, in the beginning, it was mainly to
get used to keyboard short cuts and that
was it!
Q: Do you still use WIndows at all?
A: I have been using Mac for all my
computing needs at home, including my
nine year old daughter Stephanie. I don’t
have PCs at home. However, at work; yes
I use windows.
Q: Would you ever switch back?
A: I’ve been a home PC user since mid
90’s and discovered the Mac only last
year and I wish it had been a much earlier;
so I don’t think I’d go back.
Q: What would your advice be for other
Windows users considering switching?
A: Just go for it ! I’ve had my lovely iMac
since March last year and in the beginning
I purchased and installed antivirus
software, because of my unpleasant experiences
with Windows previously. With
Mac, I can’t believe no viruses, no trojans,
no adware and no spyware. I think,
this alone should be reason enough to
switch from Windows to Mac!