Saturday, February 16, 2008
The Sound of One Mac Tapping
A computer operating system is the foundation of the "tools of the trade" of home office professionals.
Much as a metaphorical Swiss Army knife of computing life, the operating system and applications provide the customized production tools in each user's bag-o-tricks.
The operating system provides access to the two basic functional parts of the computing experience: applications and files.
Accessing these two components has gotten easier over the years with successive evolutionary iterations of the Mac OS. Rarely does one need to drill down into the hard drive icon. If you're clicking away on the Hard Drive icon, through window after window of successively deeper directories, you might think again.
Simplified, applications can be accessed from the Dock or the Go menu. The Dock has been a familar sight for many years, but the Go menu is often lost and forgotten. No need to dig for applications in the hard drive. The Go menu takes you directly to all applications installed on the Mac.
As for file access, this chore is greatly facilitated by the Documents folder icon in the Dock. Click and hold. Watch the contents of the Documents folder, unfold before you in fan-shape or a classic linear alphabetical list. Can't find a file? Spotlight it in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Get to know effortless hierarchical navigation through the new Leopard Documents Dock icon, and avail yourself of the powerflu search capabilities of Spotlight.
On a tangential note, for switchers, PC Magazine has outlined reasons for making the switch from the PC to the Mac now. Leopard on the new Intel Macs, is effectively two computers in one box....but that's enough for today.
The Mac has home office professionals coming and going. Learn to go lightly in your Mac.
The sound of one Mac tapping is a thing of beauty.
Much as a metaphorical Swiss Army knife of computing life, the operating system and applications provide the customized production tools in each user's bag-o-tricks.
The operating system provides access to the two basic functional parts of the computing experience: applications and files.
Accessing these two components has gotten easier over the years with successive evolutionary iterations of the Mac OS. Rarely does one need to drill down into the hard drive icon. If you're clicking away on the Hard Drive icon, through window after window of successively deeper directories, you might think again.
Simplified, applications can be accessed from the Dock or the Go menu. The Dock has been a familar sight for many years, but the Go menu is often lost and forgotten. No need to dig for applications in the hard drive. The Go menu takes you directly to all applications installed on the Mac.
As for file access, this chore is greatly facilitated by the Documents folder icon in the Dock. Click and hold. Watch the contents of the Documents folder, unfold before you in fan-shape or a classic linear alphabetical list. Can't find a file? Spotlight it in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Get to know effortless hierarchical navigation through the new Leopard Documents Dock icon, and avail yourself of the powerflu search capabilities of Spotlight.
On a tangential note, for switchers, PC Magazine has outlined reasons for making the switch from the PC to the Mac now. Leopard on the new Intel Macs, is effectively two computers in one box....but that's enough for today.
The Mac has home office professionals coming and going. Learn to go lightly in your Mac.
The sound of one Mac tapping is a thing of beauty.
