I going to take the leap and change over to OS X. Problem is, when I take the leap, 120 people will have to also. My head hurts from all the hoops I’ve jumping through, but I dread the ones that are coming.
What was your experience with the conversion?
Bonus points if you have an Exchange server. (by far the biggest headache. Anyword on if/when Microsoft is to release a real Exchange version of Entourage, not the flaky fake IMAP version they currently have?)
Any little things that you ran into that you didn’t expect?
I copied as many things as I though I’d need (applications, files) to zip disks and then reformatted my HD. Because I was working with old information, I partitioned the HD first and put OS9 on one partition and OSX on the other. That is not necessary. Because some of the programs I use a) are not OSX compatible or b) have not been replaced, I’ve hung onto OS9. They’re both on the same HD. Some programs boot up in classic, some you actually need to restart the computer from OS9.
It really depends on the types of software/applications you’re running. If you’re jumping right in to Panther, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well everything seems to just work, right out of the box. I am talking only of system-wide applications. I’m into graphic design, so I’m using apps like Photoshop, Quark, Suitcase (font manager)… and since Quark 6, I really have no need for OS9 anymore. Already, there seems to be many shareware/freeware programs out there that can replace just about anything you were using in 9 that made using a Mac even better. But it really depends on what you’re accustomed to, and what type of software you use the most.
Can’t give you any info on Exchange, but if it helps, Where I work uses an Exchange server company wide, and us creatives have made the switch from Outlook (OS9) to Mail… and haven’t had any trouble. 'Course we only use it for email and scheduling meetings.
To make switching easier, what 11811 said were some good tips. It’s not necessary to partition your HD, but reformatting is definitely a good idea. Start fresh. You could also use an external Firewire HD or a networked computer to make the file copying faster and easier (I don’t know about you, but I keep several Gigs of stuff on my drive all the time… there aren’t enough Zips in the world). I would put off installing 9 until you think you’ll REALLY need it. You don’t have to install 9 to run Classic. Only install it if you think you honestly have to boot up in 9 natively. Classic has always been wonderful for me when i’ve had to use it, but I really haven’t had to in the last few months or so.
All that said, now is a great time to make the switch. OSX has never been better, and there are now MANY apps and alternatives to OS9. And it’s only getting better… Good luck on your endeavor, believe me, It’s worth it…
I converted 12 lab computers from OS 9.1 to OS 10.2.4. No Exchange server, although we did have a Retrospect server. These were all 400 and 500 MHz G3 iMacs with 512 MB RAM, so we were kind of pushing the processor envelope.
We backed up onto Retrospect. I then rebooted, low-level formatted, installed OS 9.2 (we have some DNA analysis Classic mode programs), and installed OS X over the top. We then installed Office, Photoshop, Deneba Canvas, EndNote 6, and a few other programs.
It did not all go flawlessly – several computers had issues with third-party RAM. Some had some drive issues. It was solved by going back to Apple RAM and some intensive DiskWarrior. One of our SCSI CD-RW and one SCSI scanner are unusuable under OS X. But for the most part, it all went very well. We have been happily running OS X for several months without major issues. People adapted quickly, I love the UNIX functionality.
If Apple releases a version for an Intel processor, I would gladly switch at home.
I did the change over nearly two years ago when 10.1 came out and haven’t looked back. It’s been nearly a year since I’ve had to do anything in OX 9.
You will probably need to update several applications. Things will go much smoother if you do some homework and have the upgrades ready to go.
The latest update to Entourage provides access to Exchange servers. Not every feature is supported, but all the common ones are. I haven’t used this feature, but there is excellent information on The Entourage Help Page.