Embarking on an Apple fix.

Today I have "banned" Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Products from my life for 30 days.

I have decided to see first hand what life is like for the other 2% of computer users.

I have equipped myself quite nicely in order to give Apple a fair test.

I have at my disposal the following Apple hardware:

    1) iMac G5 20" w/ 400GB HD, 2 GB RAM, Wi-Fi G, bluetooth, and iSight

    2) PowerBook G4 15" w/100GB HD, 2GB RAM, 128MB Video RAM, Wi-Fi G, bluetooth,and iSight

    3) Mac mini w/ 80GB HD, 1GB RAM, Wi-Fi G, bluetooth,and iSight

    4) iPod Color 60GB

all connected in a network with

    5) Wi-Fi G Broadband connection

    6) 6 Mbits internet connection

in addition, I also have an iMac G4 17" 80GB HD with an iPod Color 20GB that is an auxiliary family computer.

All Mac computers are running the following software to start:

  a) Mac OS X 10.4.2.
  b) iLife 05
  c) iWork 05
  d) .MAC account w/ 1GB of available storage
  e) Adobe Photoshop CS2

Note: it feels really weird not to be running an anti-virus program -- must look into this further.

I have officially turned off all of my Windows Machines with the exception of:

a) 2 Media Center PCs that are used exclusively for watching TV
b) Kitchen Windows XP PC which my dear wife is not willing to forgo
c) my wife's laptop which she will use exclusively

For work purposes, I may need to use a Windows XP Laptop.  But all personal PC time will be done on a Mac.

Along with Cycling, Photography continues to be my main hobby.  Photography will be the main use for my computers.  This should prove an interesting exercise as I already have a quite efficient and elaborate photography digital darkroom workflow on Windows.  Getting used to the Mac and its new tools shall prove an interesting exercise.

Just in case things go awol, I have made a full  backup of all 78GB of photos  (over 45,000 photos).

I have also armed myself with 3 books so that no one can say that I didn't give the MAC a fair shot by not reading the manuals.

1) Mac OS X Tiger Edition: The Missing Manual
2) The Mac OS X Tiger Book
3) The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers

I will document my experiences daily on a blog.  This way, I won't spam you guys again with my Apple ramblings...

Feel free to follow along if you would like.

Let the journey begin.