5 ms·

A long time between Macs

12 points by jedwhite 18y ago

One coder's story of why he switched back to Macs after years on PCs, Windows and Linux.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
calambrac 18y ago
How many times can the exact same stupid article be written? Congratulations, you use a Mac. This is hacker news?
- DannoHung 18y ago
  Yeah, I like my Mac and all, but I wish no one would ever submit one of these stupid articles again.
  - threep 18y ago
    if you cant say something nice...
nanexcool 18y ago
" Pitching on a PC sends a subtle signal of dowdiness and "unsexy"." I know this is just this guy's opinion, but does anyone else here share it? I don't.
- DannoHung 18y ago
  I do think that Keynote blows PowerPoint out of the water, but I think it would blow PowerPoint out of the water on any platform.
  - jedwhite 18y ago
    I think it's more than just Keynote though. Keynote blows Powerpoint away because it is philsophically different, and that philosophy is inherited from its operating environment and the DNA of the company that made it.
- jhickner 18y ago
  I do. The last of my Microsoft friends switched recently. A lot of the best .Net development now happens in VMWare, believe it or not. Although rather than "dowdy and unsexy" I'd say the signal you're sending by pulling out a PC laptop is that you either can't evaluate good design or you don't see it as a priority.
  - zcrar70 18y ago
    > the signal you're sending by pulling out a PC laptop is that you either can't evaluate good design or you don't see it as a priority. You could also argue that by pulling out a Mac laptop, you're sending out the signal that good design is the only thing you're capable of evaluating. I agree that Macs are good-looking machines, and that OSX is aesthetically superior to Windows and Gnome/KDE, but surely that shouldn't be the main driver for choosing an OS or a machine over another? There isn't a day that I don't wish my Linux desktop looked better, but I still use that over the Mac because I find it a better development environment, even if it doesn't give me a warm glow inside each time I look at it.
    - jedwhite 18y ago
      I've been using Ubuntu as my main development environment as a while (mostly Eclipse with Rails/Python and still a bit of Java), but having started using a Mac for my notebook again, I have to say that as a development machine it is pretty sweet. Everything is well integrated and you spend a lot less time keeping the environment running. Now I know with Gnome/KDE that half the appeal IS that you have real control over the environment. But as a result you spend a lot of time futzing around setting it up the way you want, and a lot of time managing just keeping things running together. I still haven't had time to figure out all the things that broke after moving to 9.0.4 (like Google Gadgets and Flash in Firefox for a start). Don't get me wrong cause none of that is hard and I love playing with that stuff as much as the next guy. But there is no question that you spend a lot less time worrying about those things (because you like it or not) coding on a Mac.
socratees 18y ago
I'm buying a mac very soon.
jedwhite 18y ago
Anyone else made the switch recently and had any problems with it?
- req2 18y ago
  I use a Mac at work, and I have, essentially, three problems. The biggest problem as I run up against it all the time is the mouse tracking. I tried switching mice, Microsoft's Intellimouse software for Mac, and finally settled for a custom setting widget that lets me boost the mouse speed to 10x (!) that allowed by the default controls. This is a bit of a personal thing, but I like sensitive mice, and I dislike needing to move my arm to cross the screen. The weird acceleration curve that I am stuck with is very frustrating. The second problem is Mac support. If I find something on the internet, it usually has a Windows version. And a Linux port. And maybe someone ported it to Mac. It's not always a problem, but it happens often enough that I don't want to reinvent the wheel to try a new program and I wish I were using another OS. The third problem is cost- $1200 for 8GB of RAM? http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME_IMAC_AL_20_G3 http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME_IMAC_AL_20_G3 There are times when you don't need to go to Apple for hardware, but when you do, you get taken to the cleaners, and that's after spending quite a bundle on the software.
  - dangrover 18y ago
    You can buy RAM for Macs from non-Apple sources for much cheaper.
  - jedwhite 18y ago
    The multi-touch trackpad is a real boon for browsing and reading, but for anything pixel-related I find having an external optical mouse is useful still. Price is still the big issue all round - especially as PC hardware just keeps dropping.
  - chrisbolt 18y ago
    8GB of RAM isn't exactly a great example though, 4GB DDR3 SODIMMs are expensive nearly everywhere. Going through Crucial is still almost $1k. http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=836DF3A7A5CA7304 http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=836DF3A...
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
jzachary 18y ago
If the pitch is for a great product that people want to use, does it really matter if it's on a Mac or Windows laptop? Substance is more important than style. I use PowerPoint, but I design my decks using the principle of "austere minimalism". Each slide makes one point with the minimal amount of material. Keynote wasn't better or worse as a presentation tool when I had a Mac.
njharman 18y ago
First it's annoying that people call Apple computers "macs". Second isn't this more of a case of devs picking "*nix laptop that doesn't suck" rather than choosing an apple.
- jedwhite 18y ago
  Especially all those guys from Apple :)

12 points by jedwhite 18y ago

One coder's story of why he switched back to Macs after years on PCs, Windows and Linux.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

calambrac 18y ago

How many times can the exact same stupid article be written? Congratulations, you use a Mac. This is hacker news?

DannoHung 18y ago
Yeah, I like my Mac and all, but I wish no one would ever submit one of these stupid articles again.
- threep 18y ago
  if you cant say something nice...

nanexcool 18y ago

" Pitching on a PC sends a subtle signal of dowdiness and "unsexy"." I know this is just this guy's opinion, but does anyone else here share it? I don't.

DannoHung 18y ago
I do think that Keynote blows PowerPoint out of the water, but I think it would blow PowerPoint out of the water on any platform.
- jedwhite 18y ago
  I think it's more than just Keynote though. Keynote blows Powerpoint away because it is philsophically different, and that philosophy is inherited from its operating environment and the DNA of the company that made it.
jhickner 18y ago
I do. The last of my Microsoft friends switched recently. A lot of the best .Net development now happens in VMWare, believe it or not. Although rather than "dowdy and unsexy" I'd say the signal you're sending by pulling out a PC laptop is that you either can't evaluate good design or you don't see it as a priority.
- zcrar70 18y ago
  > the signal you're sending by pulling out a PC laptop is that you either can't evaluate good design or you don't see it as a priority. You could also argue that by pulling out a Mac laptop, you're sending out the signal that good design is the only thing you're capable of evaluating. I agree that Macs are good-looking machines, and that OSX is aesthetically superior to Windows and Gnome/KDE, but surely that shouldn't be the main driver for choosing an OS or a machine over another? There isn't a day that I don't wish my Linux desktop looked better, but I still use that over the Mac because I find it a better development environment, even if it doesn't give me a warm glow inside each time I look at it.
  - jedwhite 18y ago
    I've been using Ubuntu as my main development environment as a while (mostly Eclipse with Rails/Python and still a bit of Java), but having started using a Mac for my notebook again, I have to say that as a development machine it is pretty sweet. Everything is well integrated and you spend a lot less time keeping the environment running. Now I know with Gnome/KDE that half the appeal IS that you have real control over the environment. But as a result you spend a lot of time futzing around setting it up the way you want, and a lot of time managing just keeping things running together. I still haven't had time to figure out all the things that broke after moving to 9.0.4 (like Google Gadgets and Flash in Firefox for a start). Don't get me wrong cause none of that is hard and I love playing with that stuff as much as the next guy. But there is no question that you spend a lot less time worrying about those things (because you like it or not) coding on a Mac.

socratees 18y ago

I'm buying a mac very soon.

jedwhite 18y ago

Anyone else made the switch recently and had any problems with it?

req2 18y ago
I use a Mac at work, and I have, essentially, three problems. The biggest problem as I run up against it all the time is the mouse tracking. I tried switching mice, Microsoft's Intellimouse software for Mac, and finally settled for a custom setting widget that lets me boost the mouse speed to 10x (!) that allowed by the default controls. This is a bit of a personal thing, but I like sensitive mice, and I dislike needing to move my arm to cross the screen. The weird acceleration curve that I am stuck with is very frustrating. The second problem is Mac support. If I find something on the internet, it usually has a Windows version. And a Linux port. And maybe someone ported it to Mac. It's not always a problem, but it happens often enough that I don't want to reinvent the wheel to try a new program and I wish I were using another OS. The third problem is cost- $1200 for 8GB of RAM? http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME_IMAC_AL_20_G3 http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME_IMAC_AL_20_G3 There are times when you don't need to go to Apple for hardware, but when you do, you get taken to the cleaners, and that's after spending quite a bundle on the software.
- dangrover 18y ago
  You can buy RAM for Macs from non-Apple sources for much cheaper.
- jedwhite 18y ago
  The multi-touch trackpad is a real boon for browsing and reading, but for anything pixel-related I find having an external optical mouse is useful still. Price is still the big issue all round - especially as PC hardware just keeps dropping.
- chrisbolt 18y ago
  8GB of RAM isn't exactly a great example though, 4GB DDR3 SODIMMs are expensive nearly everywhere. Going through Crucial is still almost $1k. http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=836DF3A7A5CA7304 http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=836DF3A...

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

jzachary 18y ago

If the pitch is for a great product that people want to use, does it really matter if it's on a Mac or Windows laptop? Substance is more important than style. I use PowerPoint, but I design my decks using the principle of "austere minimalism". Each slide makes one point with the minimal amount of material. Keynote wasn't better or worse as a presentation tool when I had a Mac.

njharman 18y ago

First it's annoying that people call Apple computers "macs". Second isn't this more of a case of devs picking "*nix laptop that doesn't suck" rather than choosing an apple.

jedwhite 18y ago
Especially all those guys from Apple :)