Posted on 03/24/2009 11:17:41 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Lately I've been thinking about why I enjoy working with Macs so much. Since switching to Macs from Windows a little over a year ago I've tried as much as possible to approach it objectively, calling out both the good and bad as I learned my way around OS X, and recording my findings here in this blog.
It's easy to cite the UI consistency I enjoy with Mac based applications. As a software developer that obsesses with user interface design I have a deep appreciation for disparate applications using similar controls and metaphors. It's difficult enough for people to understand the underlying tasks and logic a software application can perform, making them learn different control surfaces is like asking someone to navigate through their own family room after you have rearranged the furniture and turned off the lights; lots of stubbed toes and muttered curse words are sure to ensue.
Instead of the UI, I'm finding the real draw for me has been how productive I am as a power user. As a Windows user I never questioned the Mac's user interface. It looked "pretty", a back-handed compliment if there ever was one. What I did not know, and not a single Mac advocate ever mentioned to me for fear of scaring me away (I assume), was that Macs could channel that inner power user like no other machine could.
Meanwhile down in my development Space I've got TextMate (my preferred programming editor), MySQL query browser and three terminal windows open. In one of the terminal windows I have an SSH session to one of my production servers open and am running a tail on one of my logs. The other two terminal windows are positioned in specific directories so that I can quickly execute commands for my Ruby on Rails based application and monitor the debug output from my local server instance. Safari is open in that same Space with the local version of SharedStatus up and running in it.
I even have Windows XP running in a VMware Fusion instance with Internet Explorer loaded and accessing my local version of SharedStatus so that I can be sure it works properly in that particular browser.
If you are a power Windows user that wants to dismiss the Mac as just a simplistic and trendy consumer machine—something I was guilty of—you may want to reevaluate that position. In my experience I've found Macs to be the computing equivalent of automotive sleepers; they look soft and simple on the outside but as soon as you push it you realize it's capable of extreme performance.
David Alison is the founder of SharedStatus, an online service for tracking tasks, collaborating with team members and generating status reports. Prior to SharedStatus he was the founder and Chairman/CTO for WebSurveyor, an online survey tool that was later acquired by a venture firm and is now called Vovici.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Cue the Apple-bashers in... 3... 2... 1...
On February 2, 2008 I was a Windows software developer. I had a house full of Windows based machines and was working on building up my next software company using some of them. I am what you might call a heavy duty computer user; I use my machines to communicate with folks (e-mail, forums, etc), develop software, manage my digital photos, edit home videos, play high end games, etc. Basically I spent most of my waking hours in front of a computer and was fine plugging away on Windows XP.
Something however was missing. It took me a while to figure out but I was simply bored with Windows. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Microsoft seemed to have abandoned any attempt at maintaining a uniform user interface and many software vendors were innovating by trying very non-standard UIs. Every time I installed new software I worried that it was blowing up the size of my Registry, potentially subjecting me to Malware and Spyware or installing replacement DLLs for libraries that other applications were counting on.
Every 6-9 months I would have to reinstall Windows and my core applications and suddenly my performance would return. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was having to put far too much time into keeping my machines running smoothly.
It was at this point in my life that many of my friends started getting Macs. They would tell me how much they loved them and how "it just works". I personally didn't find that too informative. What do you mean, it just works? Isn't that just some marketing line Apple wants you to repeat? Are you guys really falling for that?
Still, more and more people, including some highly technical software developers I knew, were getting Macs and raving about them. So on a Sunday afternoon I walked into the Apple store in Tyson's Corner, VA and started checking out a little white MacBook. A short while later I was home with the MacBook sitting on my lap and I wrote the first entry of this blog: a hardcore Windows guy gets a Mac. I wrote nearly daily after that, recording in detail everything I found that I liked and didn't like, hoping it would help other people that were making the adjustment from Windows to Mac.
Invasion of the Macs
What started out as an addition to my collection of computers turned into a full scale replacement of my Windows machines with Macs. For a while I had both my Windows and Mac cranked up and running side by side, though I found myself constantly moving my hands over to the MacBook. Suddenly using a computer felt like fun again. The interface was crisp and clean and the little machine performed incredibly well, much faster than I expected from such an entry level Mac.
It didn't take long before I learned that many of the myths about Macs that I had clung to as a heavy Windows user were just wrong. Things like Macs can only use a single mouse button, that there wasn't much software for them, or that they were really just for consumers and graphic artists. Turns out I was wrong.
Before I knew it I was running VMware Fusion on my MacBook and playing with my Visual Studio development environment in there. Wanting a little more horsepower and a lot more screen real estate I bought a refurbished Mac Pro from Apple and set that up as my primary workstation, re-purposing my dual 20" LCDs as Mac displays. At this point I really didn't even fire up my Windows XP machine any longer. Why bother? Between VMware Fusion and a large collection of native Mac applications I had a machine that could run circles around my Windows XP system.
By the middle of the year my patience for supporting the Windows XP machines that remained in the house was wearing very thin. When my wife would yell to me that her HP laptop "wasn't working" or "is running REALLY slowly" I would look at the machine with disdain and plot to replace it with a Mac. I ended up doing that for her birthday and it's gone surprisingly well, even though she still hasn't mastered how to quit an application (she just clicks the close button on the window).
So here it is a full year later and nearly every member of my family is running a Mac. I've become the "go to" person in my network of friends and family on Mac issues; if someone is considering getting a Mac they like to call and ask me about it and try to understand what will be different, which machine they should buy and how they should set it up. I don't even mind the call and often tell them enthusiastically about things like Time Machine and the iLife suite. If they're more technical I get into Spaces, LaunchBar, terminal windows and half a dozen other "must have" utilities I think they should get.
Not Perfect But Close Enough
My Macs have not been perfect mind you. I continue to get Time Machine errors that correct themselves on the next try (can't it just auto-retry once and THEN tell me there was a problem if that failed???). From a design standpoint I like the fact that the top level menu is fixed and context sensitive because it cuts down on every window having a menu bar, but it means that on multiple display systems that menu may be a screen or two away from what I am working on.
There are also times that the Mac tries to do a little too much for a power user, like when iPhoto insists that I drop my 25K photos into it's collection model in order to do anything useful with them rather than letting me keep it in my own folder structure where it can be shared by everyone in the family. I have a couple other minor complaints but I mention them mainly to point out that I'm trying to be objective in the way I've approached my Macs.
These issues aside I have been extremely happy with my switch to being a Mac user. I frequently run more than a dozen applications at the same time, leveraging Spaces to create a large virtual workspace and jump between my applications. Perhaps it's because I've been lucky but since I became a Mac user I have not experienced a single kernel panic. I mention this only because I have installed a LOT of software on my Macs, trying out many of the tools and utilities that people have recommended to me through this blog.
The performance I get from my Macs has been as good as it was the day that I bought them. I've generally found that all of the applications I get from Apple use a very standardized user interface and because of that most after market vendors have followed that lead and produce applications that look and feel like something you would get from Apple.
Last but by no means least I've found that the Mac community is populated by extremely helpful people that have been willing to give me a hand when I had a question or provide a recommendation when I needed to find the right program. This is something I experienced in places like Mac-Forums and many times in the comments on this blog.
What I find a bit ironic is that when people now ask me why I seem to like Macs so much I don't usually go into all of the details you see in this blog post. I tend to sum up my reason with:
"It just works"
I talk to Cisco gear a lot -- our security system includes a score or so of PIXen and ASAs -- and their Java-based GUI doesn't render worth a damn on my Mac. Unfortunately, it makes my MacBook a little annoying as a carrying tool, such that I put a Win VM (under Fusion) on for the express purpose of dealing with the Cisco GUI.
Granted, I do most of my config work in IOS (PIX-OS, whatever) over the serial console. But there are times when the GUI is a nice display -- and yet it's damn near worthless on the Apple, while it displays just fine in Windows.
Part of it is the menu -- there are whole pieces missing, some of which are critical. But the geometry of the dialogs is screwed too, and repaint is stupid and incomplete a lot of the time.
I'm guessing this is at least partly the fault of the Apple Java. I wish I could get a Java update other than from Apple to test it out and see what's up.
That's about the worst complaint I have after switching from a Windows notebook to a MacBook. Not bad, overall...
I have dozens of computers at home and at work, Mac, Win, Linux, NetBSD, Solaris. But the vast majority of my work is done on two workstations: at the office, a WinXP desktop, and at home, a Mac Mini. I use most of the same applications on both, and administer a world-wide secure network from those two command posts with equal ease.
Personally, I'd like to have Windows Explorer instead of Finder, on my Macs. Other than that, OS-X pisses me off far less than Windows, so you can say I prefer it.
RAGE Macintosh Explorer is okay, but not quite a complete solution...
Anyway, being highly multi-lingual, I must say that Mac hardware with OS-X and VMware Fusion for all the others, is the best of all worlds.
We are the Sneeches with STARS upon thars.
Stay with your PC.
You don’t need a Mac.
These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
bookmark
Apple refurbed iMacs are steals, I’ve bought 2 so far with no issues.
I'm not a power user, really entertainment, sub for TV. And photo editing hobby.(Love iPhoto editor)
I used Windows Explorer a lot and do miss it also.
My wife still has a PC. Her computer needs are about a 10th mine. IOW e-mail and card games.
She's switching to a Mac shortly. She doesn't know it yet though. :^)
Good to hear. I have 2 refurb 13" macbooks, no major issues. The white one - you open it up, and it connects to my wireless in a couple seconds. The black one - it can take 30 seconds to connect...weird.
Plan on getting a 20" iMac soon. Gonna replace my wife's HP with it. Considered a 24", but it is just too big. I think she will port it around more than she realizes, and the 20" should be better for that.
No, it's "Cue the Apple-user-bashers in... 3... 2... 1...".
Haven't you noticed that the MS folks have to resort to ad hominem" attacks like, "Fanboy", "Liberal", and "Gay" -- because they have learned that they simply cannot find a genuine fault with Apple's superior OS and software design...?
So do I once I learned how it worked; it's one of the most powerful tools on Windows, and I would miss it terribly, can fly through my files with it. So it sounds like I'll be able to use explorer on the Fusion side of the imac but not the other. Sigh. I've even got an addon that lets me browse my photos in .CR2 format, it's a real treasure although there are other ways to browse. So sometimes it's just the little things you have come to take for granted that have a great impact on your workflow.
It appears we have some PC vs. Mac wars going. Reminds me of the Nikon vs. Canon wars. I refuse to feed into them because even to this day, sometimes I wish I had both systems because each one has its unique strengths and weaknesses. IOW both are excellent products.
So it seems silly to squabble over it because I plan to keep using both and am sure there are features of one that will outshine the other and vice versa. Given enough time, I'm sure I will gain a preference to one over the other but have a certain nostalgia for this or that.
Last night I went to bed not caring about the mouse, will deal with it. Then I remembered how dependent I am on the mouse for all my graphics work in PS where precision and sometimes freeform are critical. That will definitely factor in. I got a WACOM tablet which I instinctively feel I have to use left-handed. Being on a pc has really thrown me off. I got comfortable using the mouse right-handed. I could have configured it for my left hand. Now anything relating to computers, my right hand dominates while I still write and eat and do a lot else left-handed. Sports I do right handed except for throwing a ball I revert to my left hand. I guess I'm wired funny.
I’m the same as far as handedness(is that a word?)goes. Right hand mouse, everything else left hand.
I use a Logitech trackball w/ my 24”iMac. Let my fingers do the ballin’. That doesn’t sound right. :)
I used to enjoy fiddling w/ the PC. Fixing it, maintenance, etc.
The Mac has spoiled me. Turn it on, boots in 30”, have fun.
turn it off, shuts down in about 10”.
No muss, no fuss.
Don’t enjoy messing w/ the PC anymore.
Open Safari preferences
Click the Advanced tab
Select “Show Develop menu in menu bar”
Before logging into the Cisco gear, click on the Develop menu and select the command “User Agent”
A drop down menu listing 30 different browsers will appear
Select Internet Explorer 7.0
Log into the Cisco gear; the GUI will display properly
Oh, excellent, Thanks! There are still some formatting problems (from the ancient Java in the PIX), but the one critical missing piece -- the top-of-window tool bar -- is there now. I am quite in your debt for this tip.
> No, it's "Cue the Apple-user-bashers in... 3... 2... 1...".
Well, yeah... that's true.
> Haven't you noticed that the MS folks have to resort to ad hominem" attacks like, "Fanboy", "Liberal", and "Gay" -- because they have learned that they simply cannot find a genuine fault with Apple's superior OS and software design...?
I like Apple's hardware a lot. I like OS-X largely because it combines BSD (I'm a Unix-head) with a decent GUI, though to be candid, the Windows GUI over Unix would please me more in some important ways. But NT below the GUI pisses me off more. Such is life.
I don't have a problem with the cost of Apple hardware, for reasons well-known on these threads.
So I tolerate the ad hominem attacks, because as you say, they only point up the futility and silliness of the attacker's position.
But we who recognize the superior characteristics of Apple's products for certain tasks should nevertheless not become complacent.
For some time to come, the main threat to Mac security will remain the USER -- human-engineering attacks are present and growing and some specifically target the Mac. The time will come when Macs will need software utilities to help defend against user slip-ups and outright stupidity.
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