A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

dumb question part 2 - Erin Pryor

Posted: May 09, 2010

Why do you have to have a windows program and/or a word based program on your computer?

Because that's what the vast majority of people use. - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
A Windows OS (which is, I assume, what you meant when you said "program") is going to be the most-supported platform simply because the vast majority of computer users are using Windows. Word is also pretty much a standard when it comes to word processors so many platforms are based on it and one or more of its versions.

Your Mac is just not going to be compatible with 99.99% of any MTSOs out there that require you to use their platform. Not gonna happen.

Now, if you are simply transcribing voice files without a prescribed platform and only need to return the documents in a .doc or other common format, then a Mac might be the way to go. Otherwise, if you want to be marketable in the MT world the reality is that you need to get over the "But I want to use my Mac" mindset or accept the fact that your opportunities will be far fewer than those who have Windows and/or Word.

Windows is the operating system. Most companies - me

[ In Reply To ..]
use a Word-based platform. Most programs aren't compatible with Mac computers, thus the need for the Windows OS. They also usually specify a version of Windows, because a lot of the MT programs are not compatible with Vista and/or Windows 7 either.

Didn't read the other post and I just basically repeated - me again

[ In Reply To ..]
what she said.

And what was explained to her by the techie below.... - when she asked about MAC!

[ In Reply To ..]
Reading is a HUGE part of this field and must be done diligently. Do a GOOGLE SEARCH for further information.

using Apple OS - MacAddict

[ In Reply To ..]
I am literally a lifelong Mac user (since 1984 when the first Apple came out) and have never owned a PC unless it was purchased by my employer. That said, when I first entered this field I had the same types of questions. At that point there were a lot of problems with how the Apple OS processed information in relation not really to the software (word processing) but to how it dealt with the USB footpedal most of us use to transcribe. However, almost 5 years have passed since then and things have drastically changed.

Now Macs run with Intel chips, just like Windows based PCs. Windows simulation software (Bootcamp) accurately mimics the PC environment, to the point that you should have no trouble running anything on a Mac that you would run on a PC.

Just for the record, it's not the Mac's that can't understand stuff. It's the proprietary information Microsoft encodes into its software and OS (Windows and Office). The Mac OS is based on the Linux platform, a much more open and dynamic OS compared to the Windows-based kernel.

So this question is no longer a Mac vs PC thing, but rather what your Mac looks like (specs) and do you have appropriate software installed in order to run Windows sim environment? If you have a G3 with a PowerPC chip, then you're out of luck. If you have a MacBook Pro or a G5 with an Intel chip and Bootcamp installed along with Mac Office (which seamlessly converts to PC-read word docs, etc.) then your problems will be limited, if any.

Couldn't resist a chance to promote Apple, sorry if TMI.

Just to be nit-picky, the newer Mac OS isn't based on linux -- - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
-- it's based on Darwin, which bears some relationship to FreeBSD and, ultimately, to UNIX.

sorry you are so right - typo

[ In Reply To ..]
for some reason i always type linux when i mean UNIX, sorry about that.

Don't be sorry, LOL - like I said, being nit-picky. :-) - SM

[ In Reply To ..]
They look a lot a like, too. Actually, the Mac OS is an amalgam of a lot of stuff.

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