The post today is (mostly) for the Mac users (and those considering becoming a Mac user) in the audience!
If you're a Mac user, you probably know that the latest version of Adobe Photoshop Elements for the Mac is 4.0 while the latest version available for the PC (as of this writing) is 5.0. Well...what's a Mac user to do? Is she stuck using 4.0 until Adobe sees fit to release an upgrade? Not necessarily. Read on...
You may or may not remember the big uproar a few years back when Apple announced they were switching to the Intel processor. "Horror of horrors!" many exclaimed. "They've drunk the kool-aid and Macs will be no better than PCs!"
Well, the reality is not nearly as dire as many predicted. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of good news if you have one of the newer Intel-based Macs. I, for one, was delighted to find out that I could run Windows applications on my MacBook Pro. This means I can now travel with a single laptop, my trusty Mac, and work in either an OSX or a Windows environment. Maximum flexibility is always a good thing in my book.
So, if this is all news to you and you didn't know you could also run
Windows applications on your Intel Mac, this post is for you. Read on...
Here's a screenshot of Photoshop Elements 5.0 running on my very own MacBook Pro.
First let's deal with the whole Windows thing.
Number 1...you must have an Intel Mac to do this.
Number 2...you will still have to buy Windows. Apple does not sell or support Microsoft Windows. Just wanted to make that clear.
Number 3...you need to decide how you want to access Windows on your Mac. This is where I enter the picture.
You basically have two choices. One choice involves downloading some free beta software called Boot Camp from Apple. This software allows you to set up windows as a bootable option on your Mac. That means when you turn on (boot) your computer, you can choose which operating system you want to work under...OSX or Mac. Not my favorite choice, but it's free and it works! (It will also come packaged with the next release of OSX -- Leopard.)
Here's how Boot Camp it works. Hold down the option key (that’s the “alt” key for you longtime Windows
users) at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. After
starting up, your Mac runs Windows natively just like a PC. Simply
restart to come back to Mac.
Now, that's certainly a solution. But I wanted something more seamless, more elegant and less involved. I wanted to be able to easily move back and forth between Windows and OSX without having to re-boot my computer every time.
That's when I found Parallels.

Parallels allows me to run Windows on my Mac without having to reboot. This is what I like to call, "the best thing since sliced bread." And it works!
I finished writing my last book while traveling in Europe. The last time I traveled while writing and working, I had to take two laptops with me. One was a Sony VAIO because most of my readers are PC users. The other was my Mac Powerbook because that was my platform of choice.
After I upgraded to my MacBook Pro, though, I was able to finish my book using Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 running under Windows on a Mac. All because of Parallels.
:::
Now, at the beginning of this post I said this was mostly for Mac users. Here's the part that's for PC users. If you've always admired the Mac OSX interface but don't want to (or can't afford to) totally abandon Windows, there's a solution for you, too!
Flyakite OSX is what's called a transformation tool. It transforms the look of a basic Windows XP system so that it resembles OSX. You don't have to unlearn Windows to use it, either. It simply "transforms" the Windows architecture into a Mac look and feel. Here are a couple of examples:
Windows desktop looking like Mac OSX...complete with a Dock!
And here's the Windows Control Panel...Mac-atized!

I actually think it's kind of cool that while Mac users are learning to embrace Windows, Windows users are learning to appreciate (and emulate) the elegance of the Mac interface. Yeah...I think that's very cool!
:::
Hope you're having a fantastic Labor(less) Day! That's all I got for now.
later...