Mac for translators

Just an update on a topic vital to translators who wish to work with technology that's much better than what Microsoft has to offer.

Since virtually every translator nowadays works with one CAT tool or another, many translators find themselves trapped in the eternally flawed Microsoft environment, which is full of viruses and "congenital defects". CAT programs like Trados are only available in PC versions, thus forcing translators to put up with the mediocre screen quality of PCs (writing and translating off a Mac screen is invariably better and healthier for one's eyes) and all the other perennial problems.

I made the switch to Mac after hearing about Parallels, a program that allows you to create a virtualized operating system (Windows, Linux and, more recently, Chrome) on any Mac computer (iMac, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro). Once installed, you can safely install your PC applications, including Trados and all other CAT tools, on your Mac.

The best part of it is that the virtualized Windows works much better and faster on a Mac than on a genuine PC. For starters, it doesn't take hours to boot up Windows, and your programs don't crash at least once a day anymore.

I run all major CAT tools on my Mac and Macbook: Trados, MemoQ and Across.

Since the recent arrival of the new Lion OS for Mac, and the new version of Parallels, Windows applications run even faster and more efficiently now, even allowing for better battery management in case you work on a Macbook (Macbook batteries can run for eight to ten hours easily, but used to be quickly reduced to around three to four hours when working in the Windows environment, because Windows is a real drain on any battery - simply more proof of how amateurish Microsoft products really are).

I felt it was necessary to write a few words about this after seeing an article written in 2009, in which Austrian translator Thomas Musyl was quoted as saying that virtualized operating systems use up a lot of resources, thus slowing down the translator's computer.

Of course, this information is now a couple of years old, which is why I felt it necessary to provide some more recent information on emulating the Windows OS on a Mac. As I know from personal experience, memory and resource issues are no longer a problem with the current generation of Macs and the Parallels software.

So, if you're a translator sick and tired of Microsoft, fear no more, make the switch to Apple and become a happier and thus more productive translator.