Mac OS X Lion to aid Windows PC switchers in Migration Assistant

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 39
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sevenfeet View Post


    I'm actually surprised the new PC migration tool took this long. Back in the days of Apple's Switcher ad campaign (remember that?), a tool like this would have been a good sell in the days of OS X Tiger. Instead Apple Stores were having to recommend third party utilities to do the same thing. Even recently I had to help a friend (and new Mac Switcher) manually transfer files from an old PC laptop to their MacBook Pro. Having a tool like this built into the OS can make the difference between a sale and a lost potential customer.



    If you want to make it really fancy, the tool could make recommendations on which programs will open their legacy files in a simple report or recommend third party software in case it doesn't exist on the new Mac being loaded. If the third party app exists in the Mac App store, the new Mac customer is that much closer to a purchase.



    Plenty of good ideas there.
  • Reply 22 of 39
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djames4242 View Post










    Shudder ... that brings back memories.
  • Reply 23 of 39
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by duaneu2 View Post


    I could have used this. I just switched from a Windows laptop to a new MBP last night.



    Now go convert 10 more ...
  • Reply 24 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    You can use it to transfer your Prince McLean account to your Daniel Eran account.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Psych_guy View Post


    Give it a break will you? For once I'd like to read intelligent discussion and not childish nitpicking. Grow up or go back to the 3rd grade playground.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ronbo View Post


    Uh, yeah, well you've kinda got that reversed there, doncha? It's the "Prince McLean" handle that smacks of the 3rd grade. It warrants worse than than what Ireland directed at it, frankly. One would almost think you were Daniel incognito... except your comment was too short.







    ROFLOL!





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hamiltonrrwatch View Post


    Don't know how accurate this is, but Apple's Migration Assistant for late 2006 Core Duo users may be to purchase a new computer.



    http://www.tuaw.com/2011/02/25/lion-...st-intel-macs/



    I expect it's on target. Methinks Apple wants to go 64-bit, and leave 32-bit behind. Reports from developers seem to confirm the 64-bit requirement too.



    A local non-profit has an early 2006 iMac with a 32-bit CPU; thinking of dropping in a Core 2 Duo. Will speed it up, and should support Lion.
  • Reply 25 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macintel4me View Post


    so your Safari bookmarks and iTunes library comes over. I guess MS Office docs and all data could come over. I'm just not sure that even 50% of that data would be of use on the Mac side for a typical user.



    Why not. For the 'typical use' a lot of that data is photos, mp3s, etc. There is Office for Mac even Quicken (although it is less featured and kind of sucks).
  • Reply 26 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sevenfeet View Post


    I'm actually surprised the new PC migration tool took this long. Back in the days of Apple's Switcher ad campaign (remember that?), a tool like this would have been a good sell in the days of OS X Tiger. Instead Apple Stores were having to recommend third party utilities to do the same thing.



    Or using the complexity as a selling point for their training program (which includes the transfer as a free perk).
  • Reply 27 of 39
    This is a good start, but it could be so much more.



    There's a lot involved in migrating over to the Mac from a PC. Maybe it could scan the drive and hand off some of the details to third party authored plug-ins.



    For example, going from Quicken PC to Mac? Have Intuit write a plugin that made the transition effortless (and perhaps offered to sell you the latest Quicken for Mac version). While Apple could move files, Intuit could spot "Hey, that's Quicken 2003, we know exactly what quirks we need to handle to migrate that over." and perhaps warn if there are features that were eliminated or never developed on the Mac side.



    Leaving it open to third parties would allow, for example, Google to migrate users MS Office docs to Google Docs if Microsoft couldn't be bothered with the effort to author their own migration plug-ins.



    There might even be an opportunity for an anti-virus company to create a plug-in to make sure there were no known infected files being moved over to the Mac.



    Even better would be if VMWare and Parallels could take a look at the drive and migrate a Windows virtual machine based on the copy of Windows installed. There are legal implications doing this, but these two companies are experts at both the tech and legalities of this process.



    In other words, the raw migration functionality is a great start, but there's so much more opportunity that could make this a great experience rather than just "surviving the shipwreck" experience that migrating to a new computer can feel like.
  • Reply 28 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macnoid View Post


    Leaving it open to third parties would allow, for example, Google to migrate users MS Office docs to Google Docs if Microsoft couldn't be bothered with the effort to author their own migration plug-ins.



    I'm not so sure it would be about Microsoft not being bothered. Microsoft writing plugins to migrate people from Windows to Mac seems a little like turkeys voting for Christmas! Not sure the person running the MBU would survive a decision like that.
  • Reply 29 of 39
    frykefryke Posts: 217member
    In case no one noticed: Developers were _also_ seeded the "Mac OS X Lion Migration Assistant Windows". Haven't tried it, haven't seen it explained, but I'd guess it generally tries to move your data (not apps), and maybe even your desktop background over to the Mac. Over the network, of course, since there is no Firewire target mode in Windows.
  • Reply 30 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Read the info on the link you provided. it?s not exactly an elegant feature.



    Tell me about it. I used it yesterday to migrate a friends' PC to a new one (yep, he remained on Windows). As usual, it worked, but not without its issues.



    Mail came over from Office 2003 to the new PC with Office 2010. But no email signature, account info came over but it couldn't fetch new mail due to a 'verification error'. IE favs came over, but not the favs toolbar. Several other issues made it a crappy tool. What struck me the most was that while leaving the PC on while out for lunch, the email worked when we got back. Without changing a thing, figure that.



    Windows; I should bill by the hour.
  • Reply 31 of 39
    I shudder at the thought of contaminating a Mac with anything from m$.

    But to those who must, welcome to the 21st century.
  • Reply 32 of 39
    What about infected files ?

    So I guess it will be up to the user or Mac to identify these, don't you just love m$.

    Create garbage and then expect everyone else to fix their pile of SHIT.
  • Reply 33 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by White Rabbit View Post


    What about infected files ?

    So I guess it will be up to the user or Mac to identify these, don't you just love m$.

    Create garbage and then expect everyone else to fix their pile of SHIT.



    Don't double-post, edit your existing ones.



    "Infected" files? Who cares? They'll do nothing to OS X.
  • Reply 34 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    He is probably just joking. It seems you're making a bigger deal out of it than he was.



    For the record, he isn't the only one getting really tired of "Ireland" and his annoying personal remarks. He's basically been deep into troll territory for the last month or so. He's acts like a classic schoolyard bully.



    Also, have to say again how stupid it is of him to "call out" Daniel over hiding behind an alias while posting with an alias on an anonymous Internet forum.
  • Reply 35 of 39
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by White Rabbit View Post


    What about infected files ?

    So I guess it will be up to the user or Mac to identify these, don't you just love m$.

    Create garbage and then expect everyone else to fix their pile of SHIT.



    Infected files won't do anything to a Mac with the exception of the browser cache (which won't be transferred), and word documents with "macro viruses" (which won't do any damage but can be annoying).



    Deleting "normal.dot" will remove those, and no one but a heavy business user should have macros turned on at all in the first place. Macros are another classic Microsoft "feature" that helps out some tiny portion of the business community while simultaneously making life a nightmare for the majority of their regular users.
  • Reply 36 of 39
    IF Apple can provide a migration tool from PC Outlook mail then this is a complete winner - if not - MASSIVE FAIL...
  • Reply 37 of 39
    pxtpxt Posts: 683member
    When I switched from a PC to a Mac, just after Leopard came out, it wasn't even easy to move an Apple iTunes library from a PC to Mac. You could copy the music files, and create a new library, losing all the additional info you had entered. You could export, copy and re-import each playlist, one by one. But the data I had spent 2 years entering, such as ratings did not come over.



    I had expected this to be seamless, but instead I threw away a lot of data and started again.

    It was the first real disappointment with Apple, after the initial pleasure not needing Anti-virus.



    If they want to get serious about switching, they should think beyond the hardware, and work on an actual process.
  • Reply 38 of 39
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Read the info on the link you provided. it?s not exactly an elegant feature.



    While I cannot argue that Windows option is perfect - because it isn't - this article is a bit too short on details for some proper judgement, I'd say. How does this transfer deal with different versions of Windows and Office? What if destination Mac hasn't got Office at all, but uses standard Mail/Calendar/Address Book apps? Etc. etc.
  • Reply 39 of 39
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by White Rabbit View Post


    I shudder at the thought of contaminating a Mac with anything from m$.

    But to those who must, welcome to the 21st century.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by White Rabbit View Post


    What about infected files ?

    So I guess it will be up to the user or Mac to identify these, don't you just love m$.

    Create garbage and then expect everyone else to fix their pile of SHIT.



    You should educate yourself a bit before taking liberty to welcome people to 21st century. As it is, you sound equally pompous, pretentious and ignorant. I'm sure you are better than that.
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