I really don't get the philosophy of the trash on the Mac I know you're not supposed to use the Trash as a holding place for the files you're not sure about, but why can't I delete individual files? Why? Here's a scenario I've had: I wanted to get rid of several gigabytes of files, in multiple folders that I'd just zipped into an archive so, I moved them all to the trash, and then opened the trash to get rid of them permanently. So now that I've switched, here are my favourite things about the Mac some may seem rather insignificant, but when your working full-speed and don't want to break that flow, little things matter a lot. However, there's a catch on the software, too.
For example, I use Evernote a lot their Windows client does as much (and a bit more, I think) as their Mac client, but it's just not as pretty. Then, there are programs that do the right things, but aren't as aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly as the Mac apps. (Now, Uri Fridman has made Notes, which is based on Notational Velocity, and will soon support Simplenote sycing! Check out his site for other great nuggets Codex is another of my favourites). Example: I use Simplenote a lot on my iPod Touch there are four or five Mac apps that sync with Simplenote before I switched, I had to use a perl script to do this on Windows. First, there's nothing on Windows that does as well, or at all, what I've found in a Mac app.
The final reason was simply this: there's a lot of great software for Macs that doesn't have a good Windows counterpart.
So why didn't I just switch to Ubuntu? Well, Ubuntu is really nice, especially the latest release, but it really just didn't work for me, not for a full time gig. And of course, there are so many other low-level benefits to running Unix. Then there are Ruby and Python, so much more at home on Unix. Yes, I've tried Cygwin, but it's not quite the same (and I never actually got it to work on Window 7 RC). Being a real geek, I'm reasonably comfortable with the terminal if you're the same, you probably know that a Unix shell offers a lot more power than the Windows command line.
Probably the biggest motivation to switch was the fact that Mac OS X is built on Unix. So what came out of those few weeks of deliberation? Here's why I switched: 1 Unix After a week or so of deliberation, I found myself in a miniature Starbucks in downtown Toronto, buying a 20-inch iMac off a third-year psychology student. However, when my Windows 7 Release Candidate ran out, I gave myself an ultimatum: either buy Window 7 and secondary monitor, or get a used Mac. Of course, there were better reasons than peer pressure (more on that in a minute). While it's definitely not impossible on Windows, they don't seem to integrate with the OS in the same way they do with Unix flavours. It seems that it's always easier to start up with these languages if you're using a Unix-based OS. The next big shift was dabbling in several dynamic programming languages, like Python and Ruby.
Since I see them rather regularly, there was no shortage of opportunities for them to tout their new tools. First, a couple of my cousins-shoutout to Britt and Matt-came in possession of a couple of MacBooks. Windows and how I thought Windows had a stronger position (thankfully, that was only published on Google Docs, so no one can ever find it, as it was obviously biased). I even wrote a lengthly piece about Mac vs. A year or three ago, you'd be hard pressed to find a more dedicated self-ordained Windows evangelist. Have you ever tried to resist brainwashing?īefore I get into why I switched, there's some background you need to know. I'll tell you why I made the change and give you some reasons you might consider switching, as well as what trip-ups you might run into in the process.
If you're curious about this change, wonder no more. If you've watched/read my latest tutorial and screencast, you may have noticed a change: I've switched from Windows to Mac.