So I got a new MacBook Pro last week……
…. and it’s easy to say I’ve missed having a Mac. In every way possible. They are just light years ahead of just about anything else.
As far as the hardware is concerned… they’re just a mid-to-high-end Intel-based notebook. It’s the software that makes these things truly sing (and of course the utterly beautiful design of the thing itself).
Short of doing a free review for Apple, I’ll just say that anyone intent on getting the most out of their computer and wanting to experience what it really means to “use” a computer, you’d be doing yourself an injustice if you DIDN’T buy a Mac. To quote Steve Jobs…. “everything just works”.
I simply despise Windows, and not just because Microsoft is, in my opinion, a monopolistic behemoth bent on world domination. There’s something about Windows (all the way from 3.11 to Vista) that screams “we are trying too hard to make it look really cool”. That and it is sloppy, unstable and insecure. In fact as far as I’m concerned, the only thing it is any good for is playing games, and even that is starting to fade into irrelevance in the face of the latest consoles to hit the market.
I also tried Linux for a spell. If you’re a seasoned Windows-basher like me and your budget can’t quite stretch to buying a Mac, Ubuntu Linux makes a great alternative, and for a power user like myself who routinely gets his hands right under the hood (read: uses console a lot) it makes a great development platform. I STILL keep two machines running at home and one at work, all running Debian, for my web development escapades. Add my VPS from NetLogistics to the mix, and I have four Debian boxes at my disposal at any given moment. For a serious web developer, using Linux or FreeBSD isn’t an option…. it’s a necessity.
And please don’t talk to me about XYZ.Net (ASP, C#, J#, whatever). The entire concept of a mission-critical application running on a machine that has its wheels turned by a piece of software the owner of the hardware doesn’t actually OWN, and has no fundamental control over, simply gives me the creeps. .Net has been a somewhat unfunny joke since Day 1 and I don’t think that’s likely to change. I honestly feel that .Net is still alive simply because of the amount of spineless middle-managers throughout the world who chose to go the MS path simply because it was a “safe bet” as far as their jobs were concerned – Nobody Ever Got Fired For Choosing Microsoft.
Microsoft (and in particular Steve Ballmer) need to face the facts*…. nobody likes them. Nobody wants them to partner with Yahoo! and become a major media player. Nobody wants them to cut the price on all their software to $1.00 a piece for a few choice 3rd world clients in a bid to establish a foothold in growing economies (why pay $1 a piece for software when you can get Linux/FreeBSD for free). Nobody cares whether or not they think they are the best. The simple fact is, people’s eyes are opening (albeit slowly) and they’re scanning around for alternatives, and finding them. Couple Apple’s slowly dropping prices with an ever-improving offering from Ubuntu (and other desktop-oriented distros), and you get a rich set of alternatives, without being too diverse as too blur existing standards and turn the whole desktop market into a muddy, incoherent mess.
* “Facts” as in “what people like me perceive to be likely” facts, not “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury” facts.
I’d like to take this opportunity to state that the above post is my opinion only, and not to be taken as verifiable fact or a suggestion thereof.