Hi Mac!

Time for a change.

It’s been a few days since I got my new iMac, which might explain why it’s been quiet around here this week. I’ve been spending as many waking moments as I can getting used an entirely new OS. I haven’t used a mac regularly for a long time and I thought it was time to come back for a few reasons…

• Most of my development work is now targeted toward Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP, and OS X is unix, which feels more and more like home. I spend most of my productive time in a terminal using VIM or Mutt or Firefox, which all run lovely on OS X.

• The software is getting better. There are an awful lot of Ubergeeks using OS X. Those are the folks that make tools which make life on a computer better. Not only that, but many of the cool things that run on Linux are easily portable to the Mac.

• Most importantly, I was simply getting bored with Windows.

So after a few days getting to know this thing….

Hardware

• The iMac is georgeous. I didn’t like the new flat-looking things at first. Thought they were boring. After having it on my desk for a bit, I now think it’s the best looking most elegant computer I’ve ever used.

• The screen is fab. 20" of bright, sharp beauty. I could stare at this thing all day, and probably will.

• I can’t believe Apple won’t admit that a 1-button mouse is a bad idea.

Software

• Two things: Expose and Quicksilver. These two alone make it worth dumping Windows. I spent about 20 minutes just making my windows disappear and reappear in all sorts of interesting ways. “Hey Jess, watch this!” I then went into an epileptic fit and had to stop.

• Installing apps is really too easy. I spent a while trying to find what I must have missed. There’s no way you just drag an icon to your Applications folder, is there?

• Why can’t I resize windows using all sides. Hitting that little corner on the lower right is sucking up valuable minutes of my life.

• When I close all of the windows of an app, the app still hangs around doing nothing but eating RAM. Command-Q is becoming the keyboard shortcut of choice.

• The Finder kinda sucks. I’m so used to using Directory Opus on Windows that the anemic, slow and goofy Finder interface is more trouble than it’s worth. I hope I either get used to it or someone writes a worthy replacement.

• The applications are, for the most part, wonderful. Someone has been improving things while I was gone. Even the little freeware utilities feel polished and professional.

I’m hooked. My PCs are soon to be moved to an unused corner of my desk for use only when I need to do some SQLServer work or for testing web apps in IE. Good riddance.

I tend to get a little, uh, involved when I find something new, so this particular blog might get a tad Mac-centric for a bit. I’ll get over it soon enough.