Moving from Apple to Windows

I recently switched back from an Apple computer to a Windows based system. The main reason for that is to consolidate down to one machine. Truth be told, I love, love, love the Apple ecosystem, and if not for the fact that you can’t really play video games in that environment, I’d never leave. However, running two computers at home, that’s just a waste of space and resources. So instead of purchasing a new iMac as mine has been becoming sluggish, I decided to move to Windows.

I’m running Windows 11, and so far, it seems fairly stable on this Lenovo Legion computer. Not so much so on the Alienware or HP Omen. Those were a damn nightmare.

This move back to Windows has proven to be one of my greatest technological challenges, despite my preparation efforts to avoid this exact scenario. Not because it is hard per se, but because Apple does not make it easy to move off of their ecosystem. They don’t make it easy for you to export your Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Contacts or pretty much anything. Look at how much work it took to get my Notes off, and it’s still not really completed as I haven’t finalized where my notes will live.

Years ago, I moved from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy. Granted, I didn’t stay because I found so many issues with the stability of the Samsung phone, but that provided me with a valuable lesson. Do not embed your data into a platform that doesn’t make it easy to retrieve it. A mistake I committed yet again when I bought a iMac and went all in with the Apple ecosystem. I didn’t think I’d ever leave again, so I started to use Apple Notes, reminders, etc. After 1,500 Notes, leaving has proven to be quite a challenge.

Evernote really started to get too clunky and annoying to use, that’s why I left that app and went back to Apple Notes. Since then, I have tested dozens of notes apps (I will speak about those at a later time) but I have yet to settle on one. There were a few that were great like Notejoy, but at the end of the day they have all been lacking somewhere.

I’m currently playing with Notion and Apple Notes on the browser, but I just want something very simple, and I may return to Standard Notes again. The problem for me is that I would love to get my Notes imported as they are now, and that has proven quite difficult.

Another major disconnect that occurs when leaving the Apple world is the seamless integration of your iPhone, iPad and iMac. Though honestly, these days it is not as seamless and stable as it was historically. However, it does the job for the most part.

I think I have pretty much stabilized my environment, but my advice to you is, keep your data somewhere that allows easy export into multiple formats. Research the platforms extensively and choose wisely. Thankfully, I kept my contacts and calendar separate on Google, and I can export from there to any format easily. Unfortunately, I’m in pretty deep with my Notes and that struggle continues.

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