There are translators who use Mac OS X as their Operating System (recently including myself), yet most of translation tools that we use in our work are designed for Microsoft Windows. Same applies to Trados. But is it really impossible for Mac users to work with Trados? Luckily it is not!

Trados and Mac OS X

As far as I know, there are two very simple solutions to the problem stated. All Mac Users who have Intel-based machines can instal two operating systems (Mac OS X + Windows XP/Vista) and select the one they want to use when they turn the computer on.

The second solution (preferred by me) is to use the Parallels Desktop application, which allows us to use Windows XP as a MAC OS X application. In this way, we use our Macs just as we do everyday, and whenever it is neccessary to use Trados, we open Windows XP and then just open Trados. Easy! The latest version of Parallels Desktop allows users to share files between Windows and Mac OS in real time.

Trados for Leopard

I hope that soon there will be a version of Trados available straight for Mac OS X Leopard, as I am becoming a MacBook fan! Any questions about using MacBooks for translation? Please send me an email at mylingua (at) mylingua.pl and I will try to help.