Life in the clouds

A few weeks ago, I made the big switch from Windows to Mac. It’s something I’ve been talking about for a while now, and my boss graciously helped me by handing down his (about a year) old 15″ MacBook Pro as he traded up to a new one. (Thanks, Dave!)

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how easy the switch was. For the most part, everything just worked, and I was able to transfer files and move on.

I really do miss a couple of things that I haven’t been able to find exact equivalents for. The first (and most frustrating of these) is Digsby, which I used for instant messaging and social networking on my Windows machine. On my Mac, I’m using Adium (which I love) and TweetDeck (which I’m lukewarm on) and I still feel like it’s not-quite-good-enough. Digsby has been promising Mac and Linux versions for a while, and I’ll make the switch as soon as I can. (I’m not holding my breath, even though I do look good in blue.)

The other one that has been giving me agita is Windows Live Writer. I’ve been really disappointed by the lack of high quality, free offline blog editing software for Mac! Everything that’s been recommended to me is lacking major features (um, tags?) or costs upwards of $20 for the license. For the amount of time I spend blogging, it’s just not worth it to me right now.

So it made me think… part of why my move to Mac has been so easy is because I do so much of my work “in the clouds.” With Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, etc. (do you see a theme there?), why am I fighting for an offline blog editor? Why not just use the built-in, online editor that’s embedded in WordPress? I’m giving it a shot, and would love to hear from others about how the online editors can be best used and enhanced.

And until then, I’ll just keep loving my Mac!