Window Pains

Are you a Mac user forced to use a Windows machine while at work? Here are a few tips…

Install lots of open-source software: jEdit, Firefox, etc. avoid those Microsoft applications whenever possible. (I tried using Word and it started to drive me mad!) At least familiar applications will help ease the pain.

Pretend it’s Linux: Ok, I know, it’s nothing like Linux, but you are not going to get the user experience of using Mac OS X. It’s going to be ugly. Just image you are using an old Linux distro with a really crappy window manager. Sure, you won’t really have a nice shell, or everything else that makes Linux (or Mac OS X) what it is. This will take some real imagination.

Create a PDF: Any Mac application that can print, can create a PDF. Not so on Windows… Luckily, with Ghostscript and a little tweaking you can make Windows print to a Postscript file and then convert that to a PDF. A pain, but doable…

That’s all I can think of right now. If you have to use Windows at work, I’m sorry for you. If you’re lucky, you get to go home and use a Mac. Everyone should be that lucky. :)