I HEART Mac, why doesn’t EQ?

My husband and I have made a big decision in our lives for 2011 - we’ve decided to switch from PC to Mac.

I’ve gotten a jump on this process already as during the middle of last year I got a cute little white Macbook.   I’ve always been a bit computer savvy and have used lots of different computers and Macs before.  But for the past 10 years or so most computers I’ve been exposed to at work and the platform we use at home have been PC.  The big change over started with my little Mac. 

My husband has experienced his frustrations with PCs throughout the years but never seemed interested in taking the ultimate leap of faith and switching platforms at home.  It wasn’t until he experienced the magic of the ‘i’ that he began thinking a complete switch over might be desirable.  It started with the iPod and has progressed to the iPad.  For him it was love at first touch.  Now we have our eye on two new iMacs to replace our home PCs.  I’m more than happy about this really and have only one hesitation – Electric Quilt only runs on the PC platform. 

I’m still running EQ6 and it presently lives on my old PC laptop (which only gets used now for EQ).  When we make the big switch to Mac hopefully within the next month or so I’ll still need to keep my old Acer running just so that I’ll have EQ still available. 

I have to vent my frustrations here at the makers of Electric Quilt and their short-sightedness in not making their program more readily available to a wider audience on multiple platforms.  I do understand that Apple in general is more demanding of program developers and that their requirements to produce software in Apple’s platform are more stringent than PC.  But think of the client base EQ is losing by not making available to the Mac user, i.e. Mac based quilters, of their fantastic product.  I know there is some kind of program out there that lets Mac users ‘use’ PC programs by emulating a PC environment.  But why would I want to do that?  If I own a Mac than I want to work within the Mac environment – it seems to be a no brainer to me. 

After doing a search I’ve found that EQ’s competitor, Quilt Pro offers their software for Mac.  I guess I’ll have to seriously consider making the switch to them shortly as I’m petrified my old Acer will soon be going to that great computer cemetery in the sky and consequently my EQ with it.  If you’ve read my earlier post entitled ‘2+2=8’ you’ll understand my stress.  I’ve come to really rely on the marvel of modern technology to take the thinking out of quilting for me so that I can enjoy the best part – the sewing.  Doing the calculations for the blocks and all the mathematical stuff around it is not my cup of tea.

I NEED my EQ! – or I’ll NEED whatever equivalent exists  that will run on a Mac.  I live in fear of having to return to my rulers.