A Microsoft-free Mac. (Don't worry - it's not an anti-MS rant.)

Five years ago, while I was in the hospital, I took advantage of tax-free weekend and ordered a new computer - a refurbished iMac. I still have in my (home) office today. I very much needed a new desktop Mac at the time and I saved hundreds.

Last Sunday I was again the hospital and it wasn't tax-free weekend, but I found a fully-loaded Macbook Air, 11 inch size, in the refurbished section  (refurbished isn't used - it's never been open, but was ordered, then the order cancelled; by law it can't be sold as new")   And again I saved hundreds. It's got the fastest processor, the brand new Haswell i7, eight gig of RAM, and - sweetest of all - a 512 gig solid state hard drive.  It boots up in eight to ten seconds.

It arrived Wednesday afternoon and I've finally got all my necessary files transferred over.

One thing I didn't transfer:  Microsoft Office 2008, the second most recent version of Office for Mac.

OK, PC friends, this is not an anti-Microsoft rant.

It's a sign of how things have changed.

A new version of MS Office would cost me - at the cheapest - $95.  A year. Yes, it is cloud-based; yes you can collaborate with others on documents.  But over five years on a computer, you've paid $500 for the privileges of creating and viewing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

I've long been a user of Apple's suite called iWork:  Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.  Over the years it's become much more compatible with Office. Now the compatibility is almost absolute.  It's cloud-based (or you can still keep all your docs on your hard drive).

And it costs $20 for each module. Once. Not once a year. It imports from and exports to MS Office formats.

I've also been using a little word processing gem for years - Mac only - called Nisus Writer Pro.  Nisus has been around since the days of 1980s Macintosh and it's evolved beautifully.  It will do everything from a simple letter to a fully laid-out document, prepared for publishing.

It costs $79 once.  I create my church bulletins with it.

I've set my Mac to open any .doc or .docx, or .xls or .ppt, etc., with the appropriate iWork program. I've set things so any .rtf (rich text format) opens in Nisus Writer Pro.

Another advantage of iWork, being cloud based, is that I can even access - and edit - my work using a web browser on any Windows PC.  Which means PC users can edit - with log-in permission - documents I created on a Mac.

Plus all my iWork documents can be viewed and edited on my iPhone and iPad.

The world is changing. No one software company will ever be the dominant one.

I hope my 11 inch Macbook Air (I've nicknamed him, "Toby") appreciates what I've done.

Nisus Writer Pro:  Nisus Writer Pro

iWork: Apple's iWork (scroll halfway down the page)

It's been since May when I last posted here.  How many blog posts could I have done, had I been faithful, to cover all that has happened since.
I've gone on at home peritoneal dialysis, four times a day. I've endured multiple related infections and illnesses.
I''ve spent eleven days in the hospital to discover where a blockage resulting from a failed umbilical hernia surgery was. Now it'll take me weeks to get my energy back, but the problem is solved.

Related experiences:
Arriving at the doctor's office too week to stand.
Being taken in an ambulance about 300 yards from the Jackson Clinic to the Jackson General Hospital, across the street from the clinic.

But I'm on the mend, I have a beautiful new Macbook Air, and I promise to post more updates and reflections.