I just bought a Mac

That's right, I bought a Mac. A cheap iBook, to be exact. I'm not planning to write software for the Mac, but I do want to keep up with the goings-on in the Mac world, and I could also learn a lot from the Mac UI. See, there's one thing that Apple consistently gets right that Microsoft consistently gets wrong: style.

After working with OS-X for a few hours, switching back to Windows is like partying with Charlize Theron then coming home to Kathy Bates. Sure, Kathy Bates is exceptionally talented, but sometimes a little glamour is exciting.

Comments

[Xueilonox]

Congratulations. I just bought my iBook last Wednesday:

http://www.digitalmerging.la/archives/2004/09/so_i_bought_my_first_mac.html

[Dale]

Congratulations Nick. My son has an iBook G4. Did you get the 12" or 14" model? If you have any questions orienting to the Mac way of doing things or would like suggestions about equivalent software, please post these in your blog. I think you'll find there a few Mac user's like myself who read it and would be happy to help out.

And if you do consider writing software for the Mac at some point, please consider porting TopStyle. I reckon it'd be very competitve on the Mac platform against BBEdit given TopStyle is a fully featured XHTML/CSS editor and cheaper to boot! I'd suggest it might also be profitable to do so.

The real challenge would be rewriting TopStyle. You use Delphi and it isn't available on the Mac platform. Apple's Cocoa API might be closest (it's an OO version of C where Delphi is an OO version of Pascal).

I'd recommend at least having a play with Cocoa to see what you think. It'd be interesting to hear your opinion of Mac OS X from a PC developer's perspective. Apple include its Developer Tools with every Mac, either on the Mac OS X CD's or in a compressed ".dmg" file on the hard drive.

Cheers.

[ericd]

Congratulations Nick.

Actually, look into XCode & Objective-C please - I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. Make some Cocoa apps. I'm glad to see you opened the window to let a little light in :)

[Cameron W]

Congrats Nick

If you got the G5 it would have been better. but an Imac Lappy is always a good thing to have around. :)

[David Blangstrup]

As a switcher the other way around, I have to say that -- for the money I could get an iBook for, with an already too weak graphics card just like my old iMac -- I got a super monster pc that can do everything I couldn't do on a Mac. I still like Mac and Apple, but it's too expensive. And it's absolutely no choice if you're a gamer.

[Ian Firth]

Kathy Bates also has a right mouse button and a wheel, and her menu bar isn't jammed up at the top of the screen.

I'll take usability over looks any day with my Windows PC.

[Ryan Parman]

I've got a monster PC and a 17" PowerBook. I use my PC for gaming, and my Mac for just about everything else.

I know you said you're not planning to write any software for Mac OS X, but I'm hoping you'll change your mind. The Mac world is in desperate need of Feed Demon.

Port, port, port, port, port...

[Matt Zur]

I have a bit of a different approach. At one of the offices I worked at, we had a Laptop with OSX installed. To me the Mac OS is like a trailer for an action movie. You see all of these flashy scenes and cool things in the trailer, but then when you go see the movie... all the flash turned into a boring plot line. Don't get me wrong, OSX does really neat things windows cannot do. However, I find it 10x easier to switch between applications in Windows vs Mac.

[Alastair Scott]

Actually, the Mac has some interesting and effective RSS applications such as shrook http://www.fondantfancies.com/shrook/ and NetNewsWire http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ although it is also suffering from the problem, noted earlier, of an assortment of packages having RSS handling tacked on to them whether appropriate or not.

However, it would do the dedicated applications no harm to have a fire lit under them :)

Alastair

[George]

Good on you for getting a Mac! I am a recent switcher & I still develop on both platforms, but I much prefer my MacTop :o)
Infact l have just received my first book on how to program Cocoa - nerdy but exciting stuff

[Nick Bradbury]

Ian, I agree with you about the right-mouse button - so far that's easily the biggest thing I miss when I use my Mac.

[Nick Bradbury]

Thanks for all the tips about Cocoa, folks. One of these days I know I'll take a look at it, but for now I'm strictly a Windows developer.

[Cameron W]

yeah thats the spirit!

[John O]

Nick and Ian -- you can use any USB 2 button mouse with OSX and it works out of the box, w/o drivers.

Matt -- Control/Cmd - Tab works for both windows and mac.

I use both in my office, connected via KVM. I use the Apple keyboard and Logitech mouse. Most platforms have their uses, although I find myself using Windows more recently, although I scream at both for various reasons. :)

[Jon Thompson]

Congrats Nick.

Let me know if you need any assistance.

[Alex Ezell]

As for good RSS readers on the Mac, I suggest the oft-overlooked PulpFiction from the folks at Freshly Squeezed Software.

http://freshsqueeze.com/products/pulpfiction/

[Wolfgang Chico Toepfer]

Hi,

Welcome to the Mac world! Actually, I am a new old user/developer on the Mac who has been around the PC world for probably too long time ;)

To put it in a few compressed statements, this is what I think regarding the Mac/PC comparison:

- the usability is much higher, which also has to do with the great shareware stuff available for the Mac

- the location of the keys is much more practical, particularly the apple key: cut copy paste is easier; note: only going back to PC is rather awful ;)

- the Java integration is part of MacOS, which is great for a Java developer (I am)

- the Desktop is really used: while working I have quite a lot of windows around, partly minimized; on pc I just use the Desktop to keep a couple of folders and links around

- on windows pc I do not have a nice unix-like os underneath

Actually, I would love to only work with a Mac but unfortunately the world around me is much more geared towards the trivial and cheaper things, big MHz numbers and other technical data that on the surface look good ;\

Best,
Wolfgang.

[Simon Cox]

Well done Nick! I have both Macs and PCs and I prefer them both to an abacus or writing with a fountain pen. The debate over which is best is long dead as the simularities between then continue to grow - which is a good thing. Having both really does help if you are web developing - not essential but helpfull.

[TC]

To Ian:
Please note that UI experts state that Apple's placing of menu bar at the top actually speeds up menu operations. Please look up Fitt's Law for further explanation.
Cheers,
TC

[Matt Heerema]

The ONLY thing that I miss about PC/Windows since I switched to Mac is TopStyle. No joke.

USB 2 button mouse w/Scroll whell ++. It works beautifully. And you'll get used to apple+click or ctrl+click soon. Whenever I use a windows machine now, I find myself alt+clicking and wondering why nothing happens :)