What a long title! You’d be surprised to know that even the website url is just as long as that. Well let’s not bother about that shall we? With the holiday season, Apple gets lot of switchers buying Macs. A lot of these switchers are too afraid to touch anything that doesn’t look like a bright green Start button. I’m sure you know someone who fits this profile. 

Scouring around the net I came across this little video tutorial which boldly advertises its contents. A 300MB download later, I launched the application. Based around a flash interface, Switch to Mac is an absolute beginners guide to help new users to get familiar with the OS. 

The UI of the app is well done, and simple enough for anyone to understand. The host of the tutorial, Saied, is a gentle guy and speaks in a clear and concise way. The best part of this tutorial is it’s non-linear way of learning. The flash based UI allows you to choose what you want to learn. So clicking the Finder icon (suggested by Saied in the introduction) launches the Finder tutorial from where he tells you all kinds of things about the Finder. He also switches back and forth between a Windows PC and a Mac to show key differences in ways of working. Saied covers all the key applications that ship with Mac OS X, spotlight, Dashboard, Spaces, and even Stacks. After looking watching the tutorial, you get to interact with the virtual flash based Mac OS X and perform the steps that Saied just showed you (with a helpful notes panel at the top). 

I’d say UI wise this is a perfect way for a beginner to learn about the Mac. The app loads in full screen so you don’t have to worry about distractions, and the level of learning has been brought down to basic levels. They have obviously taken a lot of time to make this package (I noticed that the Stocks widget showed AAPL at 175!) which is basic, concise, and will help out a switcher. 

Of course, I have some issues. First, I noticed that the app is sometimes a bit buggy. Maybe it’s just my Mac, but sometimes it would refuse to act the way it should, which would end up confusing a new user. I’ll be testing the package on a MacBook to see whether that bugginess is just my Mac and report back on that front. Second, it can be a bit too short. I would have preferred the lessons to be a little longer, offering a few more tips on how to work things.  

This is not recommended for those who know their way around a computer, nor for those who are already using a Mac for a while. At $29.95 for a shipped box pack, I’d say it should be a helpful Christmas gift for your friend who has just switched to a Mac. Those who prefer to download, it’s a cool $25.