I can't say it has been easy and it has certainly been time-consuming. Even as I write this I am plagued by the annoying things which are different in the Mac.
Most infuriating is the apparent need to use a mouse when in Windows I would use keyboard shortcuts – highlighting a line, moving to the start or end of a line, just general navigation issues all seem to be mouse based rather than keyboard based, and since I am trying very hard to stick to the pad rather than an external mouse, I find myself cackhanded and slow a lot of the time.
But – clever tip from Steve, one of the technicians at DMU – Macs are compatible with a PC mouse and, furthermore, the rightclick on them works! Oh joy!
And then there is the hash key – I had to email someone to find out where the hash key is. And I couldn’t search for it in help because I couldn’t type it, and it didn’t know the word! Yesterday I had a meeting in a MOO, where hash is essential for getting around, and I really lost my temper when I couldn’t find it. Today I learn that hash is ‘alt/3 together’ - # - there, I found it – but how ludicrous is that?
On the plus side, I love the physicality of this little machine, and of course the way it looks and the general interface is soft and beautiful. I have chosen ‘abstract’ for my background and it is truly a pleasure to gaze at. Eventually I will add one of my own homemade images but for the moment I am happy to enjoy ‘abstract’.
So, at the end of week one, my fingers are aching from the small keyboard which is much more closely spaced than I am used to, and I am constantly having to resize the fonts which seem to keep defaulting to tiny no matter how many times I change the preferences for each application, but despite the physical discomfort I am glad I made the change and still enjoying it.
- Visual pleasure 10/10 (no denying it is gorgeous)
- Physical pleasure 4/10 (box is nice to hold but keys and pad cause me actual pain)
- Usability 4/10 (give me back my keyboard shortcuts and a proper hash key)
