(XP and OS X) a skit in one act.

"Torn between two lovers, Feeling like a fool. Loving both of you, Is breaking all the rules."
by Mary MacGregor

(XP and OS X) a skit in one act.

For the moment, I will be genderizing items in this blog: Mac = Female, XP = Female, and myself = Male. I have a new love - Apple's OS X. I have an older estranged love - Microsoft's XP. They are friendly around each other, but separately, there is a hatred that is whispered in between thoughts for the opposing. I cannot help it. I want OS X to be my true one and only. I want to be able to shut the door on XP and the rest of the Microsoft Clan, but there are times when I am returning to the (b)rainwashed steps of the house of Microsoft asking for XP to come out to talk about things.

When that happens, XP brings out her older brothers, Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL. The intimidation is heavy when I ask XP for a helping hand. Just a little task to tie me over till I am ready to move on. After much brow beating, XP eventually gives in and agree to meet me in Parallels playground. So, I leave early to get there and get everything ready.

Windows XP shows up and acts spurious seeing Mac in my arms. I coyly wait while XP steps up and sits down. Conversely, we are getting along. XP seems to be acting 120% better than when it was just XP and myself. Strange. I remember XP practically dragging ASS to run Microsoft Word 2007, and while Mac is around and in Parallels, the same ass dragging load time is almost nil on a cold start. WTF!? I think to myself, XP's just showing off, like saying... "See, I still got it."

THE END

I've got problems. OS X kicks ass (for the most part) and I'm sure the 10.5 upgrade will further itself in the right direction. XP used to kick ass (for the most part) but Vista sealed the deal, and now, Microsoft, I'm moving on. The only problem is, Microsoft's corporate servers and services (Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, etc) are really now starting to show their beautiful plumage! And of course, what works best with SharePoint? Office 2007!

So, the waiting game for Mac Office 2008 has started. More importantly, I'm hoping and waiting that a very special feature will be part of the final features list... SharePoint connectivity. I know you can connect to SharePoint with any browser, but the truth is, the most powerful functionality of SharePoint is the file editing from the SharePoint site and the ability to see the SharePoint users who are logged on at the time you are working on the file.

I only hope and pray that Microsoft's MacBU get far enough from the Microsoft MCP to give Mac users some of the mojo that is Microsoft's server and services connectivity. I love Parallels, but I don't want XP anymore, and do want to keep working in Mac Office data files.


JamesCho