Up to this point things have been going very well. However, this afternoon my Thinkpad, uncharacteristically, started to just power off! No exception, no blue screen of death, just simply powering off. Now mind you my Thinkpad and Windows XP has been running exceptionally well for quite some time so this really worried me as I am still in my conversion process.

I quickly decide to do another HD snapshot using EZGig II from Apricorn. I have been using this utility for a quite some time now and it has saved me more than once. Note, the software only comes in kit form such as their $49 universal hard drive upgrade kit - which I purchased.

So far booting into safe mode appears to be working fine, the registry looks ok and the HD seems intact.

I reviewed my software install log and noticed that I had recently installed Livescribe software on the 28th. Prior to that I had not installed anything since the 5th so I will have to keep an eye on that one.

I plan to run some more system cleanup and diagnostic utilities to see what is really going on...

Well it is finally time to start getting serious about this conversion - migrating from Microsoft Outlook. As I mentioned in a previous entry I plan to try and use the built in Apple application and stay away from the Microsoft Office product line.

The first step was trying to find a utility to help migrate my Outlook data files. Because I am using IMAP for email that conversion was not a problem and went well via a secondary Google mail account.

After searching for something to convert my email and calendar, I came across many different options and I was swaying towards the cheap (as in $10) method and going with O2M from which was recommended by many people including a colleague of mine. I started to surf on over to O2M when I had a Duh moment! 

Sitting right next to me was my Thinkpad syncing up to my Blackberry device. So with the light bulb now glowing over my head I quickly diverted my browser to the Blackberry web site and download their PocketMac desktop client. After a excruciating install (so far the worst MAC installer I have used so far) and a required system restart as indicated by the installer. I managed to pull off my contacts and calendar (there is a known issue with todos not syncing with the current version) entries.

Outlook to Mac conversion complete!

In migrating to the Mac OS I plan on jumping in head first and hopefully the water is deep enough.

My goal is to run all native Mac OS applications where ever possible.

I have quite a large list of application currently running on my XP system that I must now find replacements for and I will be documenting each one. Below are a couple of major applications I am targeting first.

Microsoft Office Replacement

I have decided to not purchase the recently release Microsoft office for Mac and either go with iWork or openoffice.org. The reason is simple, I am tried of the Microsoft code bloat and slow applications. Microsoft Outlook has to be the all time worst offenders of Microsoft's own best practices when it comes to UI - don't do any time consuming processing in the UI thread. When I sync my email Outlook is all but totally locked up.

Java Development

This is the one area where I am really not worried and somewhat excited. I plan to use Eclipse, which I already use on Windows, and I expect all of the other Java tooling to fall right in line.

Microsoft Windows Mobile Development

Unfortunately here is where I really don't have much of an option. I will still be using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 but running inside a VM.

VM Decision

Because I am familiar and already use their products I have selected VMware Fusion for my VM. Although I am going to be running a VM I will to try and enforce a strict policy on myself where I will only run Visual Studio in the VM and no other major software package - everything else will be a native OS X application.

I have decided against the dual-boot option simply because all of my other applications will be running in native OS X such as email and I will need access to them while developing.

MacBook

So far I have to admit that I like my new device. It is a little on the heavy side but with how it is equipped I really can't complain too much. I was also a little worried about the chicklet keyboard (memories of an old Tandy computer) but so far I really don't mind it. Although not having the dedicated backspace, home, end, page-up, and page-down is going to take some getting used to.

One small complaint- the MacBook itself almost a little too smooth and streamlined to the point it is often difficult to pull it out of the neoprene sleeve located in my backpack. It needs just a little traction grip on the underside to prevent it from slipping out of my hands.

Install

Well that could not have been any easier!  With all of Microsoft's money and talent it makes you wonder why can't they do that.

The default login which automatically secures the users from screwing things up is very smart and just makes sense.

The wireless network setup was just too easy - make you wonder some more.

Did I say I am having fun?

Here we go...I purchased my first Apple computer today. My decision was based on my own simple set of requirements:

• Travel/Airplane friendly
• Medium weight for easy lugging around airports.
  
• Does not impose on my neighbor's tray table
• Good battery life - coast to coast would be great.
• Powerful
• Plenty of RAM and HD space so I can run Windows XP in a VM (I just can't shake Bill that easily or quickly)
• Decent Screen size so I can work on code while traveling and away from my large home base monitor

and the winner is...

A MacBook with 4 GB RAM and 250 HD which just so happens to comes in a nice shade of black!