Big Juicy Apple
I’ve previously mentioned my antipathy for OSX. It’s been two years since I made a go at switching to a Mac. I can’t say anything major has changed with the Mac since then. What has changed?
- My Vaio has become unacceptably sluggish
- Adobe apps now run properly on the Mac
- There’s no way I’m going to use Vista
- Most of my work happens in a browser, so the OS is secondary
But perhaps the biggest factor: my iPhone. The iPhone has really made me lust for more. More luscious details. More speed. More fun.
It’s now been about 5 weeks since getting my hands on Darryl’s old iMac 24″. That’s 3 weeks more than I endured last go round! Many of my previous gripes still linger. Like the inability to maximize app windows. Font rendering. On the 160 dpi iPhone type is stunningly gorgeous. Font rendering on the 72 dpi Mac is a sad imitation, often resulting in butchered illegible type that makes my eyes bleed. I really don’t understand how type purists delude themselves so relentlessly.
Lucky for me, I have a couple Mac die-hards sitting nearby who have been showing me all the secret five fingered key commands, hidden settings and special software that makes working with a Mac tolerable.
So far, the best thing about being on the Mac is…
- The beautiful bright screen
- The beautiful visual design details like sublime: gradients, drop shadows, translucent windows, and animations
- The beautiful hardware
- Networking is finally acceptable
- It’s fast and stable, unlike my experience 2 years ago
Overall, I’m happy with the Mac experience. I certainly don’t think it’s flawless. But the speed, the lickable graphics (in spite of the type rendering) and the hardware win me over. I admit that it’s starting to make my eyes hurt whenever I go back to using Windows.
There does seem to be an interesting correlation between the increasing number of iPhones and Macs at Xero. Everyone seems to be switching. Even Grant switched.
With the abject failure of Vista, the mainstream switch-to-Apple tipping point is truly upon us. Jobs is well on his way to resurrecting Apple from the dead, while Microsoft have dug their own grave.
Fifty or a hundred years from now I suspect history will smile broadly on Jobs as a monumental business and cultural icon, while reflecting on Bill Gates as a one-time antagonist in the Steve Jobs story.
Posting your comment
Wayne | May 23, 2008 @ 6:37 am
As a recent switcher (in the last year) myself I have to agree with most of your points. The fonts aren’t great but are significantly better than XP (haven’t used Vista). One big add regarding finder is how often I use Expose, such a big deal for me, for some reason.
I still use the PC laptop for browser checks, and when I look at things on it, yeah there’s a cringe factor, everything does look…worse. The funny thing about the mac vs. PC thing with designers and visual people is we can create a giant detailed list of bullet points about why the UI is nicer looking, but I suspect motivating it all is the gamma/brightness issue. People naturally like how things look better when they are brighter. You can create all the intellectual reasons, but the eye likes shiny, like the nose likes bacon.
Richard | June 7, 2008 @ 9:36 am
I also switched late last year. The kicker for me was Adobe apps, and being Unix under the hood. It makes it simpler to run my dev environment (PHP and Rails), and tools like Git (the SCM). Everything on Windows was always a lash up for me. There were a few minor annoyances first, but now I find it annoying to use my desktop (windows XP) machine. I use the MacBook Pro as the primary machine.
I also ditched our home Kubuntu machine (used for 2 years) and replaced it with an iMac. The lack of decent application ‘design’ and clunky workflow on Kubunut for some tasks drove my family up the wall. There was no way I’d have Vista.
I think we have reached the tipping point. Mac users are no longer looked on as an odd breed. People now look with envy.