Switch
After twenty years of using Microsoft software on a daily basis, I’ve switched to the Mac. Specifically a 13″ Macbook Pro. There are two reasons for this.
First, the hardware is beautiful. In my opinion, these new unibody Macbooks are easily the most attractive personal computing devices ever designed. In fact, from a design perspective, this laptop is among one of the most beautiful things I own. It’s not only skin deep, though. The solid aluminum body disperses heat extremely well, which means that it runs quiet and cool unless you really push it, and it’s quick to get back to that state whenever your über job is complete. The LED backlit screen is beautiful, if you don’t mind the glare, and the multi-touch trackpad makes me grimace every time I have to go back to using a mouse.
All of that is well and good, and would make the price of entry worthwhile. However, the real gold is Mac OS X. Recent Linux distros are better than ever, and quite usable on the most common hardware but, far too often, you find yourself in a text editor editing fstab, or compiling a driver for that usb device that isn’t supported out of the box. OS X truly is the first Unix-like OS that is usable by everyone. As a web development platform there simply isn’t anything better. With the upcoming in-box Exchange support it should be a competent client in corporate settings as well.
OK. Let’s dig into specifics. I use this thing in three major roles.
- Personal computing: Web browsing, gmail, facebook, syncing my iPhone, etc.
- Web development: Ruby, javascript, deployment, source control, etc.
- Corporate client: Exchange email, remote desktop, virtual servers
In the first role, Apple pretty much nails things out of the box. After all, the consumer market is their bread and butter. I’m perfectly happy with Safari as a browser, though that’s a pretty personal decision and I may yet switch, perhaps after Chrome becomes available for the Mac. I have installed Fluid for some commonly accessed spots, like my hosted Gmail, facebook, and Google Reader. The Google Notifier is handy. Also, Growl is fantastic for managing your system notifications.
It’s in the second role where this thing really shines. This is Unix after all, and the web is built on Unix. Install MacPorts and Bob’s yer uncle. No more Cygwin or any other Windows-specific workarounds. Just pure bash-y goodness.
I should take this opportunity to mention TextMate. This is the first time I’ve ever ponied up fifty bucks for a text editor and it was worth every penny. Its bundle support, snippets, automation, and OS integration mean it stands up against even the grandaddies of text-editing — emacs and Visual Studio. In fact, I’m using it right now to write this post. I was easily able to customize the blogging bundle to my preferences with a minimum of Googling.
In the third role, the Mac functions more as a front end than a workhorse. As a Windows system software developer, the Mac itself isn’t a whole lot of help. However, Remote Desktop for Mac makes it perfectly usable. Also, I’ve been using the free and open-source VirtualBox as a virtual host. It’s good, and performs well, though its seamless mode is, apparently, not quite on par with the solutions in Parallels and VMWare Fusion. Given the project’s momentum, though, I’ve no doubt they’ll get there, and you can’t beat the price.
I can’t speak to the Mac’s prowess as an Exchange client yet. But I will be able to next week when I get my hands on the next version of the operating system, Snow Leopard, which will have built-in Exchange support. That’s something not even Windows has. There are rumours that this code has been ported from the iPhone. If so, I’ve no doubt that it will work well.
If there is anywhere that the Mac falls down, it’s that it doesn’t really seem to be meant to be used from the keyboard. Even after a bit of tweaking in the accessibility control panel, it’s still Windows for the win at this point. Who knows — maybe I’ll get used to it.
Anyhow, if you’re on the fence, go buy one and thank me later.
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