Solutions

Next in my reverse switch software search was a replacement for Photoshop. I had not investigated Adobe’s policies fully, and simply thought that no matter what, I would have to pay full price for a Windows version or, at the very least, an upgrade fee, neither of which were in the budget.

I knew about The GIMP, which many users tout as a Photoshop replacement. One of the blogs I keep up with, Smashing Magazine, had a post back in April on how to tweak GIMP to replace Photoshop. In the process of going through all of that, I discovered that someone had released a version of GIMP that had all this and more already built into it named, somewhat appropriately, GIMPShop. Downloaded it, installed it, booted it up — and it crashed.

Went back to a regular install of The GIMP, and after a few moments of using it decided that it wasn’t for me. The interface was too dissimilar, and I really didn’t feel like having to learn a whole new app. Which really was the impetus for trying to get GIMPShop running, but alas, it was not to be.

I did some Googling to find out how difficult it would be to swap out my Mac version of Photoshop for a Windows version, and the information I found wasn’t very encouraging. After asking the question several different ways, I finally discovered that Adobe will allow you to swap, provided that:

• You destroy your old version (not really necessary as they disable it on their end)
• You sign a document stating that you understand that you can no longer use the old version

There was no word on pricing, though. So I called Adobe and spoke with one of their support ops, who very kindly explained that it was no problem to switch, and since I had recently upgraded to CS4 (less than 3 months prior), all I had to pay was shipping for the software DVD, which came to something like $6.00.

Once again I felt a pang of guilt — following through with this would revoke my Mac version’s license, making it unusable (presumably — I haven’t tried it) and there was no going back. If I ever needed a Mac version again, I would have to buy it outright.

I made up my mind then and there that there was probably no going back anyway, and agreed to the license transfer. I gave the operator my credit card information to pay for shipping, and that was that.

Next: I begin noticing little irritations in my day-to-day usage, and also find ways in which the Mac falls short…

Once I’d made the switch and purchased my new Dell laptop, I began cataloging the various and sundry Mac apps that I used on a regular, semi-regular, and occasional basis. Most fell into the category of design or web development, such as the app I use for coding (Coda, by Panic Software), and most were Mac-only, meaning I would have to find something for the PC that performed a similar function.

Then there were the biggies: Photoshop and Illustrator. I had always upgraded these as individual apps and had never purchased the full Creative Suite from Adobe. I was a little dismayed that I had just upgraded Photoshop to CS4 back at the end of September, and was really not looking forward to having to purchase either package again, even if it was only the cost of an upgrade to do so.

My main criteria for software, regardless of function, was that I wanted to go open-source as much as possible. In the end, that proved to be more difficult than expected. Some choices were easy:

• Browsers: Firefox. Hands down, my favorite browser.
• For FTP: FileZilla. I’d used this before and was comfortable with it. Besides, FTP is kind of a one-trick pony. No problems with this one.
• For my dev server: somewhat problematic, this one. I used MAMP Pro on the Mac, and loved it. For the PC, I downloaded and tried XAMPP and WAMP. Ended up going with WAMP. More on this later…
• Coding: tried a bunch of different apps. More on this later as well, as I think it deserves its own post.
• Imaging: I had Photoshop CS4 for the Mac. Looked at The GIMP for PC. This was a big bucket of fail. More later.
• Communications: This was easier, as Skype and Tweetdeck are both cross-platform.
• Audio: already using Audacity, and it too is cross-platform. iTunes for MP3s (although I’m trying Songbird as well…)
• Video: harder to find exactly what I wanted, but I made it work. VLC and Handbrake are cross-platform; now I just needed something to edit movies, burn DVDs, and so forth. Ended up with a number of free utilities and a nifty little app from Pinnacle, VideoSpin, for editing that works nicely.
• Office: I tried OpenOffice but was never really happy with it. I ended up springing for a Home and Student version of Microsoft Office.

I’m now almost a month into PC ownership and while I think I’m pretty well settled on all my major apps, I’m always looking for something new to come along that will work better. One thing I will debate is the long-running PC-vs-Mac criticism that there is more software for the PC than for the Mac. For sheer number of apps and titles, I’ll grant that. But in terms of quality and fitness for a specific purpose, at least as far as my needs are concerned, I’ve found this to be not necessarily the case.

Next: My search for a coding environment almost makes me reconsider my decision to switch…