silentcorner

It’s been just over a year since I bought my 15″ G4 1Ghz Apple PowerBook. Prior to this, the only Mac I have ever owned is the original PowerBook 100 when I was in college, and it was more of a toy… I even sold it a year later.

This is different.

I’ve been an Intel man historically. I’ve used DOS, DR-DOS, PC-MOS (anyone know/remember that?), Windows since it was an interface that ran on top of DOS, OS/2, Minix, Linux since it was alpha code, pretty much most other flavors of Intel *nix’s, BeOS, and so on… But my staples in the last 10 years have always been Windows on the desktop, and Linux for pretty much everything else. I liked Windows because it had the software I needed to function every day, and Linux because it was powerful, flexible, and free. I’ve tried to make Linux my desktop, but there was always something that would keep me coming back to Windows… usually some software I needed for my job, and Linux was relegated to remain my hobby OS (well, and as a big part of my job as a server OS).

Then came Mac OS X. Actually what really lead to me getting into it was my job wouldn’t give me any hardware that was decent for a system, and I really wanted a laptop so I could work anywhere I wanted. I primarily deal with *nix environments every day, so having a unix-based kernel is a big bonus. And I was sick of using Windows, and being limited by it’s design. So I went out, took the leap, and bought myself a Mac. What did I find out? Mac OS X just works. No, it’s not the holy grail of operating systems, it does have it’s shortcomings. The interface is not as flexible as Gnome, and there’s not as much software (or games) for it as Windows. But with just one system, I can do almost everything I need. There are numerous good Mac applications, including Microsoft Office which I’d prefer not to have to own, but it allows me to have 100% compatability with my co-workers. I can run the majority of my unix apps (Fink… get it, know it, love it!), plus many of the daily tools I use to manage the numerous *nix servers I’m responsible for are native. I can even run Windows on my Mac (via VirtualPC) and I do when there’s something I just need to run on Windows. We can’t rule out Mac only apps either. They’ve been coming, and they are good. And for networking… this thing can swap networking technologies on the fly with the best of ‘em, and never lose a beat. So while I could get into technically what’s good and what’s not about the Mac, I can’t argue about the point that it really is a well put together package overall, and that my ability to be productive has increased because of it.

So while I’m still a Linux man deep down inside, the Mac has become a new staple in my life. So much so that Windows has been relegated to a glorified gaming console. And it doesn’t hurt that Macs are just so damn sexy! So on the anniversary of my PowerBook, I wanted to take a moment in my own rambling way, to salute you, Apple! You’ve really taken an important step, and in the process won over this geek. The Mac has become a central part of my computing life.