A Switcher

Most of my fellow photographers and most designers I know, already use Macs, however I have been responsible for converting some Windows PC users to the Mac platform. This has undoubtedly become easier since the change of processors to the Intel chips.

Most recently a photographer fairly local to me, who hitherto had been considering a change, but seemed in no hurry to decide, phoned me in absolute frustration saying that that moment had arrived, and he was off to Milton Keynes to the Apple Store to finally take the plunge. Because I had been so instrumental in promoting the switch, I feared that without my joining him, there might be mistakes made at the last hurdle; I suggested I join him.

It did not take too long to complete the deed, and we were soon putting the box in the boot of his car for the return to base. The staff member who brought the box to the car then said that should my client be dissatisfied in any way there were seven days' grace in which he could obtain a refund, to which I promptly replied that should that arise, I would have failed (in my role as advocate and evangelist!)

The rest of the day was spent setting things up, downloading software updates (10.5.2 to 10.5.5) and loading Nikon Capture NX, then upgrading that to version 2.0. Some of the changes were hard to effect, since he had not had recourse to using his password for his ISP mail account for some four years, and had no clue as to what it might be!

When he saw his images coming up full screen via Leopard's Quick Look and later in NX, he was completely astonished by the quality compared to what his aging PC monitor had been producing, so I ventured asking him whether I should replace the 24-inch iMac in the box and return it to the store – the response was an ashamed smile, and 'No way, José!"

Although he said he was on a very steep learning curve, he seemed in no doubt that it was a road worth travelling, and he felt he had made the right call. He later made another call: to me, later in the evening once I had returned. I was able remotely to explain a few more Mac insights, and I learnt something I had forgotten, and that was that NTFS-formatted drives became Read Only when accessed by a Mac. I have since learnt that there may well be a piece of software that can overcome this. I am off to Google…