Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch idea is such a small part of a business that it’s almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute.
- REWORK page 38
While people love Apple because of the simplicity and refinement they place into their products, it doesn't mean you have necessarily live and breath the Apple culture like those "Apple Kool-Aid drinkers" do 24/7. To give you an example, here are few of our opinions that might shock you, especially coming from a member of the Apple Consultants Network:
- Microsoft Excel is the best software solution for building complex spreadsheets.
- Sometimes Microsoft Office is the right choice for a business, instead of Apple's iWork.
- Google Apps offers an amazing, low cost method of hosting your organizations email and calendars. Yes, even lower cost than a Mac mini Server.
We love Macs, iPads, and iPhones because they help us run our business more efficiently. We get to do our work, and not fuss with IT. However, Apple isn't the only good software maker out there, and we're happy to use tools that others have made. After all, there are (a couple) things Redmond has done well.
So you've heard all the great things about the Mac and you're ready to see what it's all about. What's actually involved in making the Switch though?
When helping our clients move to the Mac platform, we come across all sorts of unique scenarios, and while no two "Switch" solutions are identical, there are some similar questions you should ask yourself before taking the plunge to ensure it will be a fun one. Some questions might include:
- What will happen to the documents and music files I've collected over the years on my current PC? (As for emails, check out our Outlook 2 Mac post from last month.)
- How long will it take me to learn the Mac?
- What programs do I need to buy?
To answer these types of questions, Orange to Apple is going to provide a series entitled Switching to the Mac to provide you with a resource throughout your journey.
If you'd like to be notified of when new articles are posted, read our post What if there were no mailmen? for a tip on how to do so. You can use www.orangetoapple.com to subscribe to our feed in your favorite RSS Aggregator.
See you soon,
Foojee
The three workshops we're hosting this month will focus on business environments. These workshops will cover some of the most popular questions we get from small businesses interested in integrating Apple's platform, and we're excited to be able to share some answers in a group setting with fellow business owners.
All workshops this month will be held at Lenox Square:
- iPhone Business Apps Showcase - This Wednesday 1/12 @ 8:00am-9:30am - Apple Store Lenox Square
- Using Social Media for your Business - Wednesday 1/19 @ 8am-9:30am - Apple Store Lenox Square
- Business Productivity on the Mac with Daylite - Wednesday 1/26 @ 8am - 9:30am - Apple Store Lenox Square
Be sure to click the respective workshop link to sign up! We hope to see you there!
One of the biggest hurdles keeping people from moving to the Mac is the idea of having to move all of their emails, all of their calendars, and all of their contacts over to the equivalent Apple applications of Mail, iCal, and Address Book, respectively. We have yet to run into a situation where we couldn't do this, but some circumstances are more difficult than others. If you're using Outlook for Windows, chances are you'll benefit from this $10 piece of software called O2M (Outlook 2 Mac). There are many alternatives, including the Belkin Switch-to-Mac cable, and using an IMAP mail service as a conduit (for your emails anyway), but if I could recommend only one method to convert your Outlook to your Mac, it would be O2M.
The basic concept is you purchase O2M which is Windows software and install it on your PC. After a few prompts, O2M will then convert every email, contact, and calendar in your Outlook. (Note Outlook Express is not compatible with O2M). This might take several hours depending on the amount of information you have.
After converting, it places your files in a folder of your choice on the PC. You'll then need to move the folder O2M created over to your Mac. Depending on the size of your converted files you can use a USB flash drive, USB External hard drive, or even a network between the two computers.
Once the files are on your Mac, you then go into the equivalent Outlook applications on the Mac to import the data. For example, in Apple Mail you can choose File -> Import and choose to import the mbox files O2M created. Both iCal and Address Book have the same File -> Import menu. You'll point iCal to the .ics file, and you'll point Address Book to the .vcf file.
In some instances, data may not come over completely perfect, however when converting from one data type to another it's tough to avoid some inconsistencies. One great thing about O2M is it leaves your Outlook files completely intact on the PC, so if something goes wrong, you can just start back from the beginning.
We'd love to hear any other methods you've used to convert Outlook files to Mac-readable formats. There are other things to consider before making the move to the Mac. They can vary widely from your business workflow all the way down to the printers you use, but if Outlook is any type of hurdle, we hope this helps.
Happy switching.
We love our customers. They're the reason we get out of bed in the morning. It's a true pleasure to be invited into so many people's businesses to help them get the most out of their Apple technology. We thought it'd be a great idea if we share the spotlight with the people who let us do what we love to do within their organizations.
Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee has been a great customer of ours since the beginning, and it's been a real treat to see their vision come alive. I recently had a chance to ask Jonathan Golden, the founder, some questions about his company and how they use their technology to get work done. Be sure to see their video below, and then share in their vision at drinkcoffeedogood.com.
What does your company do?
Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee™ buys coffee beans directly from farming cooperatives in Rwanda; ensuring growers receive a fair, Living Wage. As the growers come together for the common purpose of coffee, they redeem the relationships that once divided their country.
What does your company do differently than everyone else?
Our presence in rural Rwanda has allowed us to create community in our coffee village in Bukonya and with our coffee drinkers. We invest a portion of our profits into village projects like building a washing station in Bukonya, offering microfinance loans to entrepreneurs, and providing coffee bikes to growers. In a post-genocide nation, Rwandan farming communities are becoming a vibrant picture of opportunity and sustainability.
What geographical area do you serve?
The Land of a Thousand Hills office and flagship coffee shop is based in Roswell, GA, with another shop down off Aker’s Mill Road near the Atlanta perimeter. The cool thing about our company is that we’re based here in Georgia—where we roast all of our coffee to order—but we sell coffee all over the country. All of the people who drink our coffee in the United States and Canada have a part in what we’re doing for the people of Rwanda.
How does your team use Macs?
Macs are the perfect computers for Land of a Thousand Hills because everything is integrated into one well-running system. We can use our Macs to video chat with our team members in Rwanda, edit videos of a recent trip we’ve taken, and create marketing materials.
How many Macs do you have?
As a team, we have about 10 Macs, both iMacs and MacBooks.
Does your team use iPhones?
We sure do. They are a perfect extension of the Macs we already use in the office and they definitely increase our productivity as a team—as we are able to work, even on the go.
Which 3rd party applications do you use the most for business?
We are big fans of Daylite, Omnifocus and Action Method here at Land of a Thousand Hills and we also make good use of Twitter and Facebook—sharing what we’re doing here and inRwanda with our customers around the country.
What about the Mac has helped you or your team increase productivity?
Everything is easier on a Mac. The few PCs that we have in the office are much harder to navigate than the Macs—and they’re not as much fun to use! The Mac interface is so simple and it’s easy to get to everything you need. It can make complex projects simple.
Is there a favorite application on your Mac that you can't live without?
Omnifocus and Action Method help keep us organized. With so many projects and things going on at once, it’s good to have projects and action steps mapped out. Plus, the apps on the Mac sync with the apps on our iPhones.
What "fun" thing do you enjoy doing on your Mac?
Going through photos in iPhoto, video chatting with staff across the world, and creating fun marketing pieces with Pages.
What advice do you want to give to others who are making the switch or thinking about making the switch to Mac?
It makes perfect sense for any small business to switch to using Macs. Everything is integrated into one easy-to-use system and you can do so much more on a Mac than you can do on a PC.
I stumbled upon yet another alternative to Finder today. It's called Total Finder. An alternative to Finder you say? Why yes! There are actually a few out there already like PathFinder and ForkLift, but Total Finder has a simple elegance to offer.
Have you ever wanted some extra navigating options while browsing through your files? Say, the ability to have multiple tabs like Safari? Or for you Windows power users new to Mac, you can now get rid of those .DS_Store files you've been going crazy over. One neat feature of Total Finder not found in other Finder apps out there is the fact that you can show the original Finder at anytime. And for the most part, Total Finder keeps a similar feel of the standard OS X Finder, so it doesn't take long to get used to.
I downloaded it myself today, and so far it's staying in my toolbox. How do you like it? Head on over to their website to see a quick video to learn more.
The iPad has become a vital part of our business so we have decided to begin a weekly spotlight on business apps for the iPad and iPhone.
This week we're talking about Files HD (link to App Store). Files HD adds a very useful and important feature to the iPad. It gives us a file browser where we can store any type of file right on the iPad. It does more than just storage though, it also allows for viewing of the files right within the app. It's kind of like using the Finder and Quicklook on your Mac. If you've used Dropbox or iDisk before, Files HD is very similar. One difference with Files HD is that you can pre-load files directly to the iPad using the iPad's USB cable, instead of having to access the files through the Internet like iDisk and Dropbox. This is a great feature if you have a Wi-fi only iPad, or if you're concerned about running up your AT&T 3G bill from accessing larger media files.
Anytime we meet with a client we bring our iPads along. Instead of printing out a bunch of documents to show clients we can just pull them up in Files HD and put the iPad in their hands. If we want to let a client keep the file, we can email directly from Files HD. iPad lacks the ability to download a file from a website but with Files HD you can download any file just like you can on your Mac.
There are a few ways to get your files into Files HD:
1. Load files from iTunes under the "Apps" tab when your iPad is plugged in.
2. Upload files through your computer's browser (like Firefox or Safari) by visiting a web address assigned to your iPad when Files HD is running.
3. Connect to the shared Files HD server through Finder on your Mac.
4. Download files from the app's built in web browser.
Files HD is available in the App Store for $2.99 for the iPad. The non-HD version is also available for iPhone and iPod Touch. We highly recommend Files HD if you need to store large files on the iPad and have access to them when no Internet connection is available. Do you use Files HD, Dropbox, iDisk, or something else for file management? How does it compare?
We have several workshops scheduled in the next month that may interest business owners and IT managers in the Atlanta area. These workshops will cover some of the most popular questions we get from small businesses interested in integrating Apple's platform, and we're excited to be able to share some answers in a group setting with fellow business owners.
All workshops will be held at Apple stores in the Atlanta area as follows:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) on the Mac with Daylite - Wednesday 9/29 @ 3pm - 4:30pm - Apple Store Mall of Georgia
- Running Your (Residential) Real Estate Business on a Mac - Thursday 9/30 - 8am-10am - Apple Store Lenox Square
- Running Your Business on Snow Leopard Server Workshop - Wednesday 10/6 @ 3pm - 4:30pm - Apple Store Mall of Georgia
- Using Social Media for your Business - Tuesday 10/19 @ 9am-10am - Apple Store Perimeter
- Running Your (Residential) Real Estate Business on a Mac - Tuesday 10/26 - 3pm - 4:30pm - Apple Store Perimeter
Be sure to click the respective workshop link to sign up! We hope to see you there!
I remember using Dragon NaturallySpeaking many many years ago on my old Windows (that's right, I said it) machine. I recall it being a pain to use and it didn't work very well. Well, it looks like they've really improved the software and have made a nifty little iOS app called DragonDictation. It's a free app available in the App Store that allows you to speak anything and it transcribes this speech to text for you. It does a surprisingly good job. When you've said everything you want to say just hit the e-mail, text, copy, Facebook or Twitter button to send the transcription to the corresponding app. The only cons about the app that I find are that it doesn't do punctuation so well and that it's not already integrated into the iOS.
I would for sure recommend this to anyone who types emails on the iPhone, or likes to make voice memos. At the very least, it's a fun app to try and it's definitely going to stay on my iPhone. In fact, this entire blog article was written by using DragonDictation for iPhone!