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Mac2Windows
Conversions Plus Lets Windows Users Work with Mac Files and Drives
- 2003.04.30 - Tip Jar
As the minority platform, Mac users have to try harder. As a result, Apple has included the ability to read PC-formatted diskettes since Apple File Exchange shipped with System 6 in the late 1980s.
Mac users have had to learn to live with the quirks of PC file naming - up until 1995, limiting file names to cryptic 8 letters, and even today remembering to add 3-letter file extensions to email attachments and other documents destined to be read by a Windows PC.
Sometimes, though, the shoe is on the other foot. Once in a while a Windows PC user has to work with disks or files designed for the Mac. This is the often case for users who have a Mac at home but have to use a Windows system at work, for example.
DataViz is a company with a long tradition of helping Mac users read documents when they don't have the application that created it. Limited versions of their MacLink Plus filters have been included by Apple with some versions of ClarisWorks/AppleWorks - and even with some operating system versions - to help users open a wide range of documents.
Early versions of MacLink Plus included primitive (by today's standards) connectivity between Macs and PCs; I have a version that includes a serial cable with an oblong PC connector at one end and a round Mac serial connector at the other. Software for DOS and Windows 3.1 and for the Mac allowed the two systems to connect and transfer files, which the MacLink filters translated into commonly used Mac formats.
Currently, Apple is once again including a limited subset of DataViz's MacLink file translators with AppleWorks, providing users of that program the ability to open files created with Mac and Windows versions of Microsoft Office and other programs. And DataViz continues to market the full version of MacLink Plus (no longer including a serial transfer cable), giving users a the ability to view, open, and translate a wide range of Mac and PC data files without needing the program that originally created them. The company claims to have sold over 10 million copies of MacLink over the years.
They've taken this long tradition of producing high quality data translators and concerns with Mac/Windows compatibility and produced a product for Windows users. Their MacOpener 2000 (US$50, $30 upgrade) and Conversions Plus (US$70, $40 upgrade) programs give Windows users abilities that Mac users take for granted - the ability to read Mac-formatted disks. In addition to Mac-formatted diskettes, CDs, and SCSI drives, the latest versions let Windows users read Mac-formatted FireWire hard drives, including the hard disk in Mac versions of Apple's iPod.
While Conversions Plus includes all of MacOpener's abilities to read Mac-formatted storage media, it adds the same range of file translators; this allows Windows PC users to, for example, open old documents created in MacWrite or the PC AmiPro in their current version of Microsoft Word. (Conversions Plus - but not MacOpener - includes a copy of EphPod, a music management program that allows Windows users to send music files to the Mac-formatted iPod).
Both MacLink and Conversions Plus include a large list of word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphics file filters, but they lack the ability to read page layout documents. (Too bad - I'm sure there is a niche market for the ability to open, say, old Ready-Set-Go documents in PageMaker or Quark XPress or Word. Or even to open PageMaker 3 documents in modern versions of PageMaker). Check Dataviz's list for a full list of included translators.
While complex documents - complete with imbedded graphics, tables, and special formatting - will inevitably pose problems, Conversions Plus (and the Mac-equivalent MacLink Plus) does as good a job as possible, allowing users to deal with a wide range of documents, whether created on the other platform or with older, and often no longer easily available software versions.
DataViz has recently dropped prices, making these admittedly niche products more attractive, though they may still seem expensive for casual users who might only need them once in a while. Moreover, the company tends to require customers to pay full upgrade price for what I consider fairly minor revisions.
There are a number of competing products to allow Windows PCs to
read Mac-formatted media, but if you need to also read a wide range of
Mac (or older PC) document formats, DataViz's Conversions Plus is your
best bet. 
Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Columns by Alan Zisman
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- Another Hard Drive Disaster Ends Happily (Thanks to Time Machine), 10.29. This time it was the MacBook's drive that failed. Thanks to automated Time Machine backup, recovery was easy, although far from fast.
- Preview in Snow Leopard Supports Scanners and Screen Shots, 10.19. The newest version of Preview can even use a remote scanner, creates compact PDFs, and includes three screen capture options.
- Creative's Vado Pocket Camcorders Now Work with Macs, 09.16. Until now, Creative's Vado camcorders didn't play nice with Macs. With the release of Vado Central for Mac, that has finally changed.
- More in the Mac 2 Windows index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
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- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
- Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
