Going Mac
Just got a Mac (a 13" MacBook Pro) for work. Its awesome. I use a Mac at home and I have used it in previous jobs, but I’ve been running Ubuntu for so long now I can’t imagine using much else. It’ll take some getting used to again, but I’ve always been a huge fan of Macs, at least running OS X.
For people out there who don’t really know much about why OS X is so great, I’ll go into some of the details. One of the greatest parts of the OS is its heavy use of frameworks and APIs. It makes app development extremely easy, and makes it so there are a large number of Open Source and / or free applications out there to do just about anything. OS X also includes Ruby and Rails by default, which is awesome. I find it refreshing to be able to type irb without having to install anything.
OS X also includes Safari, one of the best web browsers around. OS X comes with an X server called X11.app, but you have to pop in the install disc and look around for the extras installer to get it. OS X uses a different (and in my opinion better) method for starting and monitoring services called launchd. For system-wide intelligent searching, Apple did things right with Spotlight.
I hate for this post to sound like an Apple commercial, but I’ve got to say that I’ve only hit the tip of the iceberg with this post. Seriously, Apple’s OS X has every right to claim that it is the world’s most advanced operating system. Other OS’s might appear, on the surface, to have caught up to what OS X offers, but I’m certain that if you dig deep, you’ll see they have a long way to go.