Using a Mac in a Windows office

[Charles Martin]

> From: good-dog at northshore.net
> She'll be playing a new Windows 3-D Game:  Dell into Dumpster
>
Oooh, I need a copy of that. Can you pirate me one? :)

> I'm assuming, then, that if she has a Mac OS X version of Office she
> can write Excel documents and send them to her Windows cohorts, and her
> Windows cohorts can send her Excel documents and she can read them no
> problem.

There might be some font adjustment here and there, but basically yes. 
And if your PC-using colleagues are as dull-witted as most, they will 
rigidly stick to Times, Helvectica, Arial, Verdana and (if they want to 
get FUN-KAY) Comic Sans without you even having to ask, making the 
whole thing completely seamless.

>   What about being able to access the network and work on
> documents, you know, opening them, changing them, saving them? From
> what you say, this should be easy.
>
This presumes that the documents are on a central server with group 
access. If so, then yes. As far as anybody could tell without looking 
at the machine, your gf will be running just another PC running just 
another copy of Office.

Again, MacWindows.com will have plenty of tips and workarounds if 
problems should crop up. It's usually just plug-n-play, but you never 
know with Windows folks ... and since I notice that you have a Novel 
network you REALLY need to read their comments on that particular 
network setup.

> Based on what you say, I'd be running VPC 6.  My only concern is if VPC
> would run fast enough on a high end iMac to be usable in everyday
> Windows activities since we are on Novell.
>
For non-game activities? Should be fine. Not the fastest thing on the 
block by any means, but more than adequate for biz apps.

>> Oh, and if she really wants to fit in to that Windows group, she'd
>> probably better download a copy of Solitaire. :)
>
> I'll tell her about this strategy.  If they see her playing Solitaire
> on the iMac, maybe they'll think she's really on a PC.  Many people at
> her work aren't the swiftest ever hatched.

LOL!

_Chas_

James Lileks, on Apple's iMovie versus XP's Moviemaker:
"Was [my bro-in-law's] machine cheaper? Yes. But time is money; I've 
never had to claw my way through the sodden mess of a corporate website 
looking for the one driver that will let me do what I want to do. I’ve 
never had to spend a Sunday afternoon trying to understand what iMovie 
wants me to do, because it does what *I* want it to do. He said that 
Moviemaker made him feel stupid, because he couldn't figure out the 
simplest tasks.
I’ll say this for his machine, though: if he ever wants to back up that 
3.3 GB movie file on floppy disks, he's all set."