Transitioning to Windows

Goal

If you're currently on Mac OS X, but want to spend some or all of your time in Windows to see what the majority of our user base is using, this document should help make that transition a better experience for you.

Want to be on the platform where most of our users are? You can do this without giving up what you're using right now, and with the possibility of making the transition partially or fully to Windows.

Note that if you're a developer, it's going to be a challenge because of the lack of tools and good terminals. It's a bigger topic, and includes stuff that we won't attempt to cover here. If you're in any other role, switching fully or partially shouldn't be (too) painful.

Here are some helpful hints to make your transition smooth and successful.

Getting started

• Keep your MacBook. There's really nothing out there right now that has the same build quality, and you're going to be annoyed enough with other Windows differences to add a switch of hardware (keyboards and trackpads are generally awful) on top of that.
• Accept the fact that you'll have to switch back to OS X for certain things, at least for a while.
• Get a license for Windows 7.
• Make sure you have set up Firefox Sync. Print out your sync key since you're going to be in another OS on the same computer when you need it. :)
• Use Mac OS X Lion, it has a much better Boot Camp wizard that doesn't require physical media like a CD/DVD, but instead creates a bootable USB drive from an ISO file for installation.
• Leave enough space on the Windows partition to actually get real work done. I believe Boot Camp defaults to 20GB, which will leave you with too little space to work when everything is set up. Set off at least 40-50GB, ideally more if you can (but I know smaller SSDs are common and a bit cramped these days).

Applications & tools

• Switch as many of your tools to online tools as possible. Some common alternatives:
  • Google Calendar (or Thunderbird + Lightning) for calendars
  • Web-based email, one option is to use Gmail for bugmail — this is also important since Gmail tends to be slower on Firefox and cause memory leaks, excessive GC, etc
  • If you want client-side email, you should really use Thunderbird. :) File bugs and help improve it if you find stuff that's weird or buggy.
  • Use Dropbox to sync your files between Mac and Windows (Mac side of your disk will be read-only, unfortunately) — this can also solve basic file backup in a decent way.
  • Evernote for cross-platform scrapbooking
  • Etherpad!
  • IRCloud for IRC
  • Mindmeister for mind mapping
  • Mockingbird or Balsamiq for mock-ups/wireframes
  • Pandora/Rdio or even iTunes Match / Google Music for your music
  • A license for Photoshop on Windows if you're so afflicted :P

Fix the annoying things

Once you're in Windows, there are a couple of things you can do to make the experience better immediately:

• Use SharpKeys to remap the Apple keys to Ctrl, so Apple-C/V/X and T do the expected thing.