> time for you to step away from the computer, and take a walk. Get
> outside
> this... month. I just wanted to know what people are using OSX and Perl
> for, sheesh. When people think Mac, they think, desktop publishing, not
> Perl. Since I do graphic design and programming, I wanted to hear what
> people are using my once only really good for graphics box which now,
> can be
> used for much much more.
Indeed. To answer your original question: For me, it's *almost* the best
of
both worlds: The stability and power of Unix, but with the ease-of-use
and
style (and associated illusion thereof) of an Apple product. I've used
OS 7
for years (but not for programming), then remembered my original studies
and
went back to Windows, then very quickly to Linux to work in a
hacker-friendly
environment.
OS X is neat in that it is an OS written for this specific hardware, so
you
know it just works. Ok, not all the drivers are there yet, but that's a
matter
of time - you don't have to ask whether program X needs driver Y to work
with
device Z. Apple has to try and make this powerful OS as easy to use as
any
Mac OS used to be and is. Sure, to do that they have to make choices
that may
seem strange to someone coming from Linux, such as the nonstandard paths
and
the administrator-vs-root issue. But once you get into the OS X mindset,
it
actually makes a lot of sense.
When considering OS X, I was looking for a laptop (since I like to be
able to
keep working when travelling and in cafes and such) with a nice display,
long
battery life, sensible design and an OS where I can use a terminal window
like on Unix, yet have access to all the Mac software I got used to.
That OS X is flashy and trendy is no hindrance either :) Ok, it does
use a
lot of memory - 128 MB seem barely enough. And I wish there was a way to
not load Aqua during startup and just be in console mode (maybe there is
one and I just haven't found it yet). And it'd be nice if Aqua was a
client-server windowing system (I know, there's XonX - but at this time,
I don't want *two* memory-hungry window systems on this powerbook).
Marcel
--
We are Perl. Your table will be assimilated. Your waiter will adapt to
service us. Surrender your beer. Resistance is futile.
-- London.pm strategy aka "embrace and extend" aka "mark and sweep"
