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Am I a fanboy?

16 January 2008 - 6:32pm — Bevan

Apparently I'm an Apple Fanboi. Maybe I am. I don't try to be. Actually I try not to be. Maybe I'm a sucker for shiny gadgets. Worse, perhaps I'm a sucker of good marketing. In any case, I'd like apple-fanbois and critics to know that I <metaphor> keep a lifejacket under my seat in case I need to jump ship </metaphor>. By that I mean;

  • I am an open source enthusiast. I'm not religious about open source -- I don't think it's the only way all software should be. I think there are some, but not many, cases where closed-source software is better for all than open-source software.
  • I use Apple hardware and Mac OS X for a number of reasons, but primarily and generally;
    • it enhances my workflow
    • it lets me focus on the things I'm interested in
    • it lets me use a laptop the way it was intended
    • it's affordable and the best value for money
    • OS X is tied to Apple's hardware. (I'm not promoting this, but respect it's difficult for apple to do their thing any other way)
  • I would stop using Apple hardware and Mac OS X if I found a better alternative or if Apple became evil.

To date I haven't found a better alternative. Granted I haven't given ubuntu or any other linux flavour a good spin for about a year now. However that is a rather time consuming process which I don't desire to do more than annually. And I'm yet to be convinced that there is enough consistency across distros and enough hardware support for linux to 'just work' most of the time in my daily tasks and let me 'focus on the things I'm interested in'.

I haven't forgotten that apple is a corporation and might go evil. This is something I watch out for and am wary of.

Comments

16 November 2008 - 1:26am — Japan Web Design (not verified)

Leopard is no better than

Leopard is no better than Vista, in the sense that some—perhaps many—of the same migration complaints and problems apply. Windows' visibility and exponentially large number of applications amplify its complaints. There are more potential problems to have with Windows compared to Mac OS X. Besides, Microsoft is the successful company so many people love to hate. Criticism is easy, and it's frequent. Ha ha

22 May 2008 - 4:10am — Used Les Paul (not verified)

apple

I run a Macbook that is running Windows. What would that make me? I am so confused! LOL!

22 May 2008 - 2:16pm — Bevan

Crazy

That makes you crazy! One of my professors at university does this too. I don't understand it. Why would you want to use windows at all? Let alone when you have Mac OS X available...

If you have windows-only apps, well, that's what parallels and VMware are for.

Maybe I'm becoming religious...

6 May 2008 - 12:16am — Mac (not verified)

Phil, taken my words out of

Phil, taken my words out of mouth. Apple is good in iPod's & iPhone's !

I like Red Hat more than apple.

19 January 2008 - 8:50pm — follower (not verified)

a reply

> it lets me use a laptop the way it was intended
I'm gonna have to start charging you every time you use that phrase I think. :-)

> or if Apple became evil.
"More evil"? :-)

--Phil.

18 January 2008 - 7:54am — Luci (not verified)

I wouldn't really say it's

I wouldn't really say it's 'affordable'. Mac's come at a price, but I will admit, I think they are built nicely, and they are far more innovative than most companies out on the playing field today.

If you're an open-source enthusiast, why Mac OS X over, say, Ubuntu? According to some people, Linux has been doing things that Mac has just started to introduce (for example, 'Spaces', i.e. Multiple Desktops), and with KDE, I think you'd get a lot (or even more) custom shiny-desktops than you would on a Mac.

Apart from the fact that it is time consuming (I feel the same way about customising jEdit from a fresh install..), do you think you would freely use Ubuntu later? What would have to change to make you change your mind about running Linux?

18 January 2008 - 11:41am — Dave P (not verified)

My two cents ...

My two cents ...

> If you're an open-source enthusiast, why Mac OS X over, say, Ubuntu?

I've been using linux for a long time now ... both on servers, desktop and my laptop machines. I recall having to do a significant amount of low-level hacking to get the distros of the day to run on my various tosh and ibm laptops.
When I got my first G4 Powerbook the overriding first impression was 'this is like linux ... but everything just works'. That is the benefit of apples close integration of hardware and OSX. I loved it because I could just plug in my digital whatever (DV camera, digicam, music system) and it was instantly working as intended by the designers of said kit. After years of trying to edit DV on both windoze and linux, I finally had a system that really worked ... and all with the software supplied with the machine. Superb given that the underlying *nix OS is also at my fingertips for doing my day job.

> Linux has been doing things that Mac has just started to introduce (for
example, 'Spaces', i.e. Multiple Desktops)

and vice-versa ... Linux is now able to do things that Mac has done well for years ... especially multi-media type stuff. It's a great time to be a computer geek given the rich 'non-windoze' ecosystem now have available to us ... choice is good.

Living and Working in a mixed Mac/Linux environment gives me the best of both worlds ... I'm a happy Mac Camper and am willing to pay a premium for an environment that works well for what *I* do ... just waiting for those quad-core Mac lappies to arrive :-)

18 January 2008 - 9:19am — Bevan

Affordable, not cheap

Thanks for your excellent questions Luci.

I wouldn't really say it's 'affordable'. Mac's come at a price

I said 'affordable', not 'cheap'. ;)

I don't think Mac's are cheap. They are certainly (on average) more expensive than non apple equivalents if you only consider the hardware. However combined with Apple's OS and other factors I mention on this page, I find Mac and OS X together is far better VALUE for money. I know many will disagree and I respect that. It's a subjective matter that depends on what each person values and how they want to spend their time.

For example, I don't particularly enjoy tinkering with configuration files or working only on the command line. If I did, I'd be a sysadmin and I'm not a sysadmin.

If you're an open-source enthusiast, why Mac OS X over, say, Ubuntu?

I think I answered this already, but essentially because I haven't yet found that ubuntu complements my workflow as well as Mac OS. Admittedly another trial of Ubuntu is probably due.

Linux has been doing things that Mac has just started to introduce (for example, 'Spaces', i.e. Multiple Desktops)

That's true, but spaces or multiple desktops isn't a killer feature for me. I tried it recently on Leopard for a week and never found it useful. I also tried it on ubuntu about a year ago with the same result. It only disrupted my flow. Expose is a killer feature for me. I'm sure there is an equivalent on many linux distros. However that's not what spoils my flow in a linux environment. It's more basic, lower level tasks that are difficult and frustrating (for me) on linux. Not knowing about hardware support, connnecting to a new wifi network, connecting to a printer, adjusting screen resolution, configuring multiple screens, starting a web server, connecting to something with bluetooth, fixing file permissions, etc. -- are all tasks that make linux disruptive to my flow.

Call me impatient or stupid for not knowing or learning how to do these things on linux, but (last time I tried) most or all of these tasks usually had to be done by editing files and/or on the command line.

These are all tasks that apple "gets right" with excellent UI design (and OS). As a usability student and wannabee-usability-expert this is something I appreciate and respect. And it complements my workflow, makes me considerably more productive (20 to 40%?) and helps me feel better about the work I'm doing.

do you think you would freely use Ubuntu later? What would have to change to make you change your mind about running Linux?

Now that I've been off windows for some time and working more and more on servers over SSH I'm getting more confident on the command line with those sorts of tasks. However I think those sorts of tasks would need to be largely automated, easy to understand and just-work most of the time, whilst being easy to fix and configure the rest of the time.

Additionally I'd need time and motivation to trial linux (properly -- like for a week) again. Given that my MacBook Pro is only 6 months old, I love the way Mac OS complements my flow, and I have a great dev environment set up in Mac OS X, that time and motivation isn't likely to come soon. However it is something I do intend to do before I need a new computer.