How difficult is it to go from Apple mac OS to Windows? Not difficult at all. They are functionally the same, anyone who is decently tech-savvy will have no problem adjusting. 

I guess you could say it’s like comparing apples to oranges. They’re both round, both sweet, both have seeds, and both grow on trees. 

One of the great things about quick learners is that they also tend to be pretty adaptable. There are some muscle memory things to retrain, like icons they need to look for or where to find settings, but it shouldn’t be hard for someone who is familiar with computers. If they learn how to use a PC, they are adding valuable tools to their skill set as well because many offices/work environments use Windows rather than Apple. 

And just a friendly reminder that if they have any trouble while learning Smokeball, you can always reach out to those of us on the training team to request training and they can spend some time with us one on one over Zoom to get some assistance. 

I do not think it is a problem for a Mac user to learn how to work on a PC. However, using virtual machines can be problematic because the Mac's host operating system often "pauses" them for brief periods to conserve battery life and reduce power consumption. This can disrupt Smokeball's automatic time tracking. It would be better to use a Windows PC for Smokeball to avoid these issues.

Additionally, many Macs now use ARM architecture. If you have a newer M-series Mac, you will have two layers of emulation: the Mac running a virtual machine with Windows and the Windows virtual machine emulating an Intel x86 machine. To avoid these complications, I suggest switching to an Intel-based PC. I believe that Smokeball will eventually be rewritten for Windows on ARM soon, and you can reconsider then.

thank you all - very helpful. But being very excited about having hired someone and impetuous, I ordered a new PC for her before all the answers came in.  A large part of my decision was linked to what @atharkhan said. Without knowing the whys and wherefores I just thought I wanted her monitor to look and act like mine. I will have her go through Smokeball training but I also teach by having someone watch me, and I wanted her to see the exact thing on my PC as she would be seeing at her desk.

I’ve been working on my own with just very limited remote support for ages and I’m so excited to have gotten over my mental speed bump about hiring someone.  So thank you all for your time.

@Carolyn16tx - Congratulations on hiring someone! Also, the first rule of geek club is that you have to share the specs for any tech you buy.  So, you have to tell us what you got.  

Side note -- If you need help or feel stuck, feel free to reach out to me.  Countless people have helped me.  I would be happy to pay it forward.