It pains me to say it, but I’ve left Ubuntu as my primary OS and switched to Mac. I used Ubuntu as my primary operating system on my Dell laptop for over two years. I loved it. I felt very productive in the OS, especially relative to Windows. Many people have commented on how excited I must be (“Dude, you’re getting a Mac!”) but for me it kind of feels like it did when we moved out of the house our kids were born in–I know we moved for the right reasons, but the old place was special to me.
So why the switch? With Ubuntu there were a few annoyances. The major ones included:
- Palm Treo synchronization. Worked in Gutsy once then started working fine after upgrading to Hardy Heron so this one wasn’t ultimately a factor.
- OpenOffice.org incompatibilities with Microsoft Office. At Optaros we’ve tuned most of our standard documents to work with both. Just to make sure I always sent a PDF version of documents and presentations along with the original.
- Broken wireless with the upgrade to Hardy Heron. Worked great in Gutsy. Completely broke in Hardy. The problem is a bug in Network Manager related to the Intel wireless device in Dell laptops. I learned to live without wireless.
- Unreliable display detection. This is correctable with edits to xorg.conf, but when my machine couldn’t detect the projector settings, it was usually 10 minutes before a pitch which is a bad time to be fooling with that file.
- Inability to host a Webex. I worked around this one by dual booting, running a virtual machine image, or using an alternate machine. Co-workers running Gentoo don’t seem to have a problem with Webex so I’m not sure what was going on here.
- Gnome instability. Every once-in-a-while, I’d hear my hard drive start swapping and then–boom–all of the “file menu” frames around all of my active windows, and all of my Java processes would simply go away. There was no way to recover without restarting X (ctrl+alt+backspace). Gnome is probably not an accurate description of where the problem was here.
Could I have fixed these issues? Given enough time, probably. But I’d rather spend my time elsewhere rather than fooling around with stuff that ought to “just work”.
I realized that what made my development so productive on Ubuntu was:
- Being able to install software quickly and easily through apt-get
- Working with the same command-line tools I enjoy working with on Linux and Unix servers
- Building and running open source technology on its “target” platform
- Having complete control over what is installed and running at any given time
- Enjoying increased stability and performance (gnome issue aside) compared to Windows
- Never having to worry about procuring a license
- Finding helpful community and online resources for self-support
Ultimately it was my former colleague and friend, Tom Pierce, a fellow Linux lover and Mac user, who convinced me that with a Mac I could keep the productivity of Linux while gaining the benefit of a consumer-oriented machine–Mac users don’t have to settle for broken wireless or worry that an archaic projector will derail a client presentation. (To be fair, neither do Linux users with the time and inclination to work through the issues).
So I bit the bullet and switched. At least on my primary work machine. My wife and kids still run Ubuntu on their desktop, my son runs Debian on his laptop, and our DVR is a Windows Media Center PC that talks to an XBox 360. (My home IT environment is now every bit as heterogeneous as Optaros’). Tom says my MacBook Pro is essentially a gateway drug and that my house will be all-Apple in no time. I hope he’s wrong. I don’t want to be a fan boy. Variety is the spice of life. My Treo is looking a little long in the tooth, though. I’ll bet an iPhone would be a nice complement to this machine…
The whole idea of “fanboy” is bizarre. People buy more of things they like; it’s a human trait. Buying two macs no more makes you a “fanboy” than getting a second Toyota, or a second Guinness, after you liked the first one.
If you find it good, use it. If you don’t, use something else. There’s no large importance to it.
You’ll soon discover that being a ‘Fan Boy’ just means you like being able to just get things done without the OS constantly getting in your face.
If you put the white Apple sticker on your car, you’re on your own…
The Cons of Switching from Windows to Mac. Ten Quick Ones.
#10: 10. Owning a Mac makes you want to own more Apple gear. It sounds like a joke. It isn’t.
http://neuroticnomad.wordpress.com/2007/03/26/the-cons-of-switching-from-windows-to-mac-ten-quick-ones/
Get Parallel’s and you can work in Linux, Windows, and Mac!
You’re only a fanboy if you ignore the benefits of the other platforms. I’m sorry… using a solution that works for you doesn’t mean that you’re anything except a productive human.
Now, if you start posting “Windoze Sucks” postings on Thurott’s page… 😉
Welcome to Macintosh. Don’t worry about being a fanboy, as that’s simply a slam from those who are ignorant. Longtime Mac users know exactly why they champion the platform — elegance, excellence, and powerful simplicity. While the Mac is not without fault — no other platform provides the same degree (or better) of user experience.
You are taking your life in your hands by actually admitting you switched from Ubuntu to OS X. The Linux police will be breaking down your door any minute now.
Seriously, while Linux in its various incarnations may be thought, by some or even many, to be a superior operating system it still is a long way from being a common solution for the consumer desktop. Not the tech savvy consumer, mind you, but the average, everyday, typical OS X or Windows user. We the people.
If you got yourself a MacBook Pro (late 2008 model), it would be a bad move.
Now, you will have to fork out more dough for your kids and your wife…. to buy them one as well…
I’m a scientist, a Mac user, and long on AAPL. It doesn’t surprise me to hear about 100’s of thousands of people dumping Vista to switch to Mac every quarter, but is VERY gratifying to hear about people switching to Mac from OS’s that are far superior to Windows.
I sympathize with your experience. I, too, have used various releases of Ubuntu (as well as Fedora, CentOS, and other Linux distros). I’ve used also other UNIX/GNU operating systems, but here’s the thing: While no computing platform is perfect or free of flaws, I confess that there’s a hell of a lot of truth to the Apple marketing tagline that the Mac just works. And as I get older, I’m less enamored of tinkering with things that should simply work.
If I am to tinker, then let it be with something relatively new to the industry, something I would not rightly expect to work seamlessly or straightaway. It’s not that I no longer enjoy delving into the far corners of a platform; I just don’t want to do this on such fundamental things as networks and monitors. This is not the 1980s anymore.
Incidentally, I’ve never quite understood how those who favor Linux (or a specific Linux distro), as well as those who favor Windows, are simply people with a platform preference, while those who favor Macs are fanboys. Sure, there are fanboys out there (for all platforms), but your preference simply is what it is. Clearly you don’t have the gushy demeanor of the groupie, so you need offer no caveats on this score.
I do on balance prefer the Mac OS X platform, inasmuch as it provides the best of the consumer experience while still being part of the UNIX/GNU/Linux family and allowing access to virtually all tools thereto. Add to that the possibilities of virtualization, (including of Windows itself), and it’s a truly great platform.
‘Fanboy’ is a smear anyway, since when was enthusiasm inherently juvenile? I hope your new MacBook Pro earns that enthusiasm.
The Linux police ought to have more pressing concerns. Its not like there is anyone in Cupertino rubbing their palms with glee at the thought of poaching customers from Ubuntu. Dell, yes, Ubuntu, no. 😉
Welcome. May your Mac live long and prosper. Mac Star Trek fanboy.
The great thing about a Mac is that you can simultaneously run any other OS in virtualization.
Thus, if you still like some aspects of Ubuntu Linux, then run it in Parallels Desktop.
You will still have the full power of Mac OS X to back up the faults of the other operating systems.
You may find, however, that Mac OS X can do everything that Ubuntu can yet also “just work”. Thus it frees you from the headaches of the other OSes. In this case, you may find – like many Windows users – that you use the original OS less often, if at all.
When you find you use the other OSes less – given their headaches, you may find yourself buying a Mac for the rest of your family too.
In any case, WELCOME TO MAC !!!!
Gateway Drug?
Yeah, well no, well… The way it went with me was.
Mac Mini, original PPC 1.25GHz model. Used that for nearly 3 years.
Work/Tax incentive meant laptops got the nod. So bought MBPro 17″ with everything on it. At same time got wife iPod Touch.
Then wife liked MBPro more than her Dell laptop she bought herself so I found myself using my MBPro less and less. But I resisted buying more Apple gear 😉 well kinda…. sorta….
Switch to contractor status made big tax break for mobile phone so got iPhone 3G on 2 year plan.
Then needed more spending for contractor tax breaks so bought Apple Time Capsule with 1TB hard drive because found Time Machine so much easier to work with than anything in my nearly 32 year IT career.
Then wife’s Dell laptop blew up on her after not even 2 years of age. Taking it apart found parts she paid for were not even installed by Dell. She vowed never to buy herself a Dell again or anything with Windows… I think I lost my MBPro 17″ at this point 😉
Then the PC external hard drive (all made with cheap chinese parts) blew up (power supply) and took out half the house, tripped all the breakers. Thought the hard drive was dead, but the power supply blew out completely. Lucky there was no fire.
So its not necessarily having gone out and just buying Macs and Apple gear that is the Gateway drug. Its more of your cheap PC crap just blows up and dies left and right on you and the Apple built gear just keeps on running and out living your PC gear.
By this time you really like and appreciate all the small touches in Apple products so you add that with longer life and use and you soon discover your cheap PC gear habits cost you a lot more in the long run to own.
Well thats my story…
MN
I’m a 16+ years mac user at home and windows/unix developer at work. Java development on linux isn’t fun that’s why we have to use windows on our company…until os x. Now we are doing development and design on a single os and have our servers loaded with centos (stable, solid os). For me linux = development + server, linux != other purposes unless you have time to research and try to fix everytime things get funny.
Don’t forget that Mac OS X is BSD Unix and you can recompile your unix/linux applications to run under Mac OS X —
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Porting/Conceptual/PortingUnix/compiling/chapter_4_section_3.html
I have a Vista / OS X dual boot. An XP desktop, an XP / OS X dual boot, and 3 Macbooks with OS X only.
My last linux machine went to the recycle depot a couple of months back. My XP and Vista get booted up about once a month.
The Macs have become the machines that are always on – and with good reason.
I am myself a hard-core Ubuntu fan as well as your blog fan (No comments about book so far because I got it last Friday, haven’t started reading it).
Feels bad to see a ubuntu user getting converted. My biggest issues with Ubuntu are wireless instability and problems with projector. But, I have learned to live with these problems; primarily because of production like dev environment and apt-get.
I am very curious to know your experience with Mac. I hope you post your experience with Mac in coming few weeks/months.
Macs are just a pleasure to use, without needing to tinker. Of course, you can tinker as much as you want, so before long you will likely be hooked.
My household is a mix of Windows, Mac, and Linux too. While work is a non-Mac world with Windows, Linux (RHEL), and Unix. The Macbook Pro at my house was recommended by me for my wife, a professional photographer.
While the Mac has proven more reliable than Windows XP/Vista and friendlier than Linux…it isn’t perfect. And that’s why I find the Mac so frustrating. At twice the price of a Windows or Linux machine…I had hoped for more.
After a few days with your Mac, is there anything about Ubuntu or Linux that you’re missing or craving for?
“just means you like being able to just get things done without the OS constantly getting in your face.”
hmm, I haven’t used os x enough to know if (discover & refine how) it can “get thing done”, but why would you have trouble using windows? I’ve used it since 3.11, so i suppose I’ve accumulated ways to use it quickly. In the mid-late 90’s, I used os 6, 7 and they seemed about as good as w95, 98 at that time. different, but overall similar.
Bryan,
The only thing I miss so far is not having the emacs key bindings in the bash shell. I’m sure I can get those back…I just haven’t taken the time to look it up.
I think I liked the keyboard on the Dell better, but I’ll adjust.
Jeff
“It pains me to say it, but I’ve left Ubuntu as my primary OS and switched to Mac. I used Ubuntu as my primary operating system on my Dell laptop for over two years. I loved it. I felt very productive in the OS, especially relative to Windows.”
I mirror your experience – I was an Ubuntu user (using for development) on a Dell for a few years, and before that it was simply Ubuntu on my desktop. Week or two ago, I bought a Mac since I saw how well my colleagues were getting on with them. Now I’m a Mac user (for development!), and it’s great.
The article Neurotic Nomad has got there is completely right though. People really DO take personal offense to your purchase.
Thanks for making me sound like a drug dealer, Jeff. 🙂
Welcome to the club. I know where you can get this swell tattoo…