iMac, uMac, Can We All Mac?

They said I was setting myself up for a fall, but I didn't listen to them. For years, I ignored warnings from friends that my computer of choice would put me in digital quarantine. I was a Mac user, and the Apple Macintosh, they said, not only lacked peripherals that were compatible with PCs but also failed to run key business applications.

It's a Windows world, my geek friends warned: 85% of computer users work in a Microsoft Windows environment. While Macs might be fine for designers, teachers, and kids, grownups who are serious about their work opt for a truly serious computer: the PC. Mac users think just a little too "different": If you can't easily share your work with PC-using clients and coworkers, you're not a daring iconoclast -- you're just an outcast.

Well, it may still be a Windows world, but Mac users are making room for themselves within it. In 1998, the Mac came back. Apple spiffed up its product designs, lowered its prices, and introduced the first desktop computer to become a fashion accessory: the iMac. Priced at around $1,200, the iMac was dubbed a "consumer" machine. But iMac buyers also included companies, and the translucent boxes started popping up on many an office desktop. Including sales of the PowerBook G3 and the Power Macintosh G3, Apple sold almost 1 million Macs in the first quarter of 1999 alone. Not surprisingly, software developers and hardware manufacturers ramped up releases of programs and peripherals for the growing Macintosh masses.

But much of the business world could not have cared less. Mac sales notwithstanding, the fact remains: 85% of businesses run on PCs. But what has changed is the Mac user's quality of work life: These days, it's possible for Macs to work seamlessly in a Windows world. Just consider the following stories about three iconoclasts who figured out how to avoid becoming outcasts. By taking advantage of a few tricks, a couple of new peripherals, and some software savvy, you too can thrive by using a Mac -- even if you're surrounded by PCs.

Leveraging a Mac in a PC World

How does a brand-new recruit at a blue-chip company convince her new employer that it should buy her a Mac -- when everyone else in her department uses a PC?

Bring up the M-word when you get the job offer, advises Stephanie Vardavas, 42, an attorney for Nike who specializes in endorsement and league affairs. While interviewing for her job at Nike, Vardavas could not help but notice that people were working on Compaq PCs. So, before accepting Nike's offer, she asked whether she could use a Mac on the job. After reviewing the network implications of her request, the company said yes.

Vardavas had explained to Nike's recruiters how the company would benefit from letting her use a Mac. "For me, it's a quality-of-life issue: I am far more productive on a Mac than I am on a PC," she says. "Mac users don't require much MIS help. We have great support people here, but most of the time, I don't need them."

Vardavas's Power Mac G3 resides on Nike's network, giving her the same access to files and programs as the company's PC users. She says that putting her Mac on the network was surprisingly simple -- thanks largely to Microsoft software. "Now that our department is using Microsoft Outlook [Microsoft's email and scheduling software], I can do pretty much anything that PC users can do. I can even dial into the network when I'm working at home."

While Vardavas's solution sounds ideal, it works best in offices that are equipped with Microsoft's server products, including the Windows NT operating system and Microsoft Exchange messaging-and-collaboration software. For those who lack that setup, Vardavas offers this fundamental rule for exchanging files between Macs and PCs: "Make sure that your Mac software is at least as up-to-date as the Windows software that you work with." In other words, don't expect Microsoft Word 5.1 for Macintosh to mix well with Word 6.0 for Windows.

"I always preferred Microsoft Word 5.1," sighs Vardavas. "But now that the rest of my office is using the latest version of Microsoft Office -- which includes Word -- I've switched over to Office 98."

Office 98 is the latest version of Microsoft's "productivity suite" for Macintosh computers, and it works almost seamlessly with Office 97, the version for Windows. Although Microsoft has always sold separate versions of its word processor (Microsoft Word), spreadsheet program (Excel), and presentation software (PowerPoint), it was not until the release of Office 98 that files created by a Mac could be read by a PC (and vice versa).

Now Mac users who get Office 98 can share, exchange, and collaborate on documents with PC-using friends and coworkers who run Office 97. Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations can be opened on either platform, regardless of whether they were created on a Mac or a PC, and no conversion is necessary.