lol... I never thought of a computer as a pen*s extender... good one James! So I think I'll elaborate on why I like Mac in response. I certainly respect James' opinion and can see where he's coming from. Like anything else in the IT industry, you have people on both sides of the fence when it comes to competing technologies. I don't profess to be on the extreme side of Mac, but will say the following:
1) I started by getting Mac Pro and the fact it has dual quad core processors probably helped in my immediate satisfaction with performance. However, I noticed early on that the number of times the OS crashed had reduced "dramatically". I think it's frozen up maybe 3 times since I got it back in February. After years of PC use with weekly (if not daily) reboots made this a discovery. I've since gotten a Macbook Pro and again, no crashing. 2) The thing I really noticed with the Macbook Pro (hardware similar to what you'll get in any other laptop) was that performance with a large amount of apps open at the same time was not degraded. I can't say I've done any comparison tests between app usage in windows, and now in mac, but I will say that the perceived difference is huge. I have everything but the kitchen sink open at the same time and the machine doesn't falter.... this is huge! 3) The interface did take some getting used to. I was never a big "keyboard shortcut" guy, but have adapted to make the most of the Mac. I'm really glad that it "forced" me into this because my wrists will thank me for slowing the RSI inevitability in my future. There's two sides to this of course, windows made it very easy to navigate with the Mouse, but Mac has made it a lot faster given a bit of "training". 4) Installation and upkeep of applications and drivers is a no brainer. I'm definitely not one of those guys who wants to know or tinker with what's under the hood, so this is a big feature. I suppose a lot of folks out there are not in the same camp as me on this one, but if you are, you'll love this about Mac. 5) As others have already pointed out in this thread, I have Windows if I need it through VMWare. I have it running pretty much constantly, but admittedly never use it anymore. The only reason I would is for testing or use of an application (ie. quickbooks) which doesn't come on Mac. 6) Things just work... from application install, to drivers, to wireless... it's all good. I can't describe how many times it was next to impossible to get wireless working on open networks at various conferences and locations. With Mac, it just does... Maybe I'm just a dummy when it comes to this though. 7) Horizontal wheel scrolling rocks... the mighty mouse took some getting used to, but I love it now. Things I find frustrating about Mac: 1) I mentioned the ease of interface above, but there are also things about the OS which are frustrating. It often seems like Apple is behind the times on certain features which have been available in Windows forever (ie. resize of windows on edges, not just bottom corner... mouse speed, etc..). However, I've found that most of these situations can be remedied through prefPane apps or AppleScript routines. It's not fun to have to install these to get the functionality I want, but hey... I've already saved time by not worrying about drivers and application installs so I'll take the trade off. 2) Spaces is awesome, but also pretty funky sometimes. I'm not sure if it's issues with the particular applications, or with Spaces itself, but when switching between them on different spaces it gets fugged up. 3) Macbook Pro specific: the trackpad blows... I put up with it when it doesn't make sense to use a mouse, but I carry one with my constantly to use when I can. Multi touch is sorta useful, but cons outweigh pros. It'd be really nice if Apple came out with a similar feature to what Lenovo and Dell have with the small rubber mouse thingy in the center of keyboard... I loved that about my Thinkpad. I'll finish this off by also saying that I don't seen the issues that others do with FlexBuilder on Mac. I've used it extensively on both Mac and PC now and can't say that one is better than the other. Also... I should clarify... listen to Matt on everything else, just not his opinion on Mac :-) And that completes my 2 cents... Brendan On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 2:55 PM, James Douma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've been using a MacBook Pro for some time now. I agree with Matt on > all counts. I got one cuz you can run Windows + OS/X on it which is useful > for testing. > > I have to say I still don't get why people rave about them. It's just a > computer. Its shiney and pretty and there are some features which are sorta > nice (backlit keyboard,etc) but nothing earth-shattering. Usability-wise I > find it requires more from the user than Windows. It seems to be a Apple > pattern to hide things from the user (I guess to reduce complexity of UI and > hide dangerous functionality). > > I really feel like I'm missing something ... like there's some yet > undiscovered gems ... that have escaped my view. All my attempts to > seriously explore why its so great by asking other Mac users have failed. > It's almost as if the computer you use defines who you are as a person ... > so anything thats exposed as a short-coming in the Mac is received as a > personal attack. I don't know ... its very confusing to me why anyone would > care that much one way or another. > > Generally speaking I find all Actionscript/Flex develop to be much less > problematic (and often runs faster) in my VMWare Windows installation than > natively on the Mac. > > Thats my 2 cents > > On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Brendan Meutzner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> I made the switch in February and will never look back. Don't listen >> to Matt ;-) >> >> >> Brendan >> >> >> >> On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 2:20 PM, Matt Chotin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>> So a lot of us on the Flex team now have Macs. One reason is because >>> we have a lot of designers who use Macs anyway. Another is because we >>> obviously build software for Macs, and in running Macs we can actually do >>> tests on both Mac and Windows (via virtual machine). I was entirely a PC guy >>> before I got my Mac about 15 months ago. I don't mind the Mac, but I >>> wouldn't say it's more stable than my PC was, and the inconsistency in how >>> keyboard shortcuts work and whatnot drives me up wall. My IDE is no longer >>> Eclipse/Flex Builder but my email client and Word and PowerPoint, and I >>> gotta say I like the Windows versions better than the Mac. >>> >>> I think if you are a happy Windows user and don't have a compelling >>> reason to use a Mac you don't need to switch just because it appears others >>> are using it. Not saying the Mac is bad, just saying it hasn't made me a >>> convert. >>> >>> Matt >>> >>> >>> On 10/23/08 12:06 PM, "Clint Tredway" <[EMAIL >>> PROTECTED]<grumpee%40gmail.com>> >>> wrote: >>> >>> I recently switched to a MAC and love it. >>> >>> On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 2:04 PM, Alan <[EMAIL >>> PROTECTED]<ultraky%40gmail.com>> >>> wrote: >>> >>> I use a mac, but I've been using Apple products since 1979.... >>> >>> OSX is Unix based, and a lot of devs like the Unix- ish features. My >>> experience with designing and developing on a mac is that it's more straight >>> forward to use. If you love to inker with your OS and hardware, go >>> Microsoft, for a more straight forward enviroment go OSX. >>> >>> Apple has an very large market share of US laptops - and gaining fast. >>> >>> Alan >>> On Oct 23, 2008, at 1:48 PM, Matthew Shirey wrote: >>> >>> Do most Flex developers work on Mac? >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Brendan Meutzner >> http://www.meutzner.com/blog/ >> > > > -- Brendan Meutzner http://www.meutzner.com/blog/
