From Windows to Mac--anyone done this?

I moved a friend from Windows to a Mac a few months ago. After being in the Apple community for several months now (along with the free hand-holding Apple provides), she'll never go back to Windows. If I wasn't running Linux, I'd pick a Mac too.

I was a die hard PC (windows) user for years, but completely moved to Apple (Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.) several years ago and never looked back. I haven't regretted the change. I don't feel it was a big deal to make the change, but, I am technically very savy, so I'm not sure how difficult it would be for others. I can say there are certainly tradeoffs. There are some capabilities that you could lose. However, for me, I just wanted simplicity and interoperability, and that's what I got with the Apple platform. No doubt, many will have different ideas about what a computing environment should be. I used to really hate the Apple fan boys who would always say, "it just works." But I have to say that for the most part, it really does all just work. If you are okay with accepting less options for the benefit of a compatible structure, you won't regret the move.

What is the goal with the phone, file access (easy) or tethering (data access)?

Apple provides a tool to move files from Windows over. Applications would have to be acquired. Plus current Mac's can run Windows in a "virtual machine" mode.

One other thought - I use Quicken. Quicken for Mac is terrible. So I was able to install Windows on a separate partition on my Mac (Bootcamp) so I can run Quicken for Windows with no problem. If you have some Windows programs that you can't live without, this is an option for you.

Maybe I'm just too old, but I just never caught on to the Apple I-pad my wife got me. She uses it all the time though. I don't like it. We've had it about 3 years now. I just got a new PC laptop, and FINALLY, I can tether the 2 machines together and transfer files (photos) back and forth. FINALLY! For some reason, my last laptop just did not like the I-pad.

Do it, you will love it.

I was using MS Office with Word and Excel, and am evolving into Apple Numbers and Letters, which is taking some time to learn, especially the formatting.

I've used both Windows and Mac for decades, although I am mostly Mac. I've had many friends make the switch, and what I've seen is that while everyone doing so has a learning curve -- Macs do many things differently -- most folks have little trouble. The few I've seen find such a transition most difficult have been folks who are extremely well versed in Windows. Serious power users of one platform making the transition to the others have the added difficulty of un-learning things. For example, on one of the Mac forums, there was a switcher who was going berserk because he couldn't find the bios to make a particular change. Since Macs don't USE or HAVE a bios, of course he couldn't find it. The change he wanted to make was easily made in a preference file, just not in bios, and he was struggling.

You will find that text files, image files, etc. will pretty much be 100% compatible. Some documents will suffer some formatting issues, Word files, for example, because of differences in the way the two systems render text, but such differences will usually be minor. There are, of course, some programs that have no analog between the two OSes, and will be "interesting" to transfer. For example, there is no Mac version of Microsoft Publisher, nor is there a Windows version of Apple's Pages. Thus there is no way to work with Publisher files on a Mac, or Pages files on a Windows PC. That being said, Apple software usually has a way to make Windows readable files, from non-Windows readable documents, and often is capable of reading/translating Windows files.

Publisher files, however, are an exception to this.

Hmmm. Sounds doable. Will I still be able to get my email on my Android phone? How do you create a partition to use Quicken for Windows? Most importantly: Is there a manual with tips for making the switch?

I don't use Android, but I would think it would work. Install Bootcamp (included with Mac OS) and just let it know you want to install Windows. It will walk you through the steps. There is a ton of guidance on the internet as well if you just Google it. I have seen "tips sheets" for transitioning from Windows to Mac. Again, just Google it.