Never been happier to be a conformist
Ryan Stewart and I go on and on about this topic. But there is a heavy trend that I am seeing. Everyday I see more and more developers switching to macs. Now I understand that the number that switch still have no significance in terms of the percentage of windows computers out there, but that doesnt bother me. Because this trend is starting just like all the others, that is it starts with the geeks and the filters to their people. Its like broadband internet. I got it because it made a difference in my life. When I got it most of my family and friends didnt even have dial up yet. And then more of them got on the internet because it allowed them certain niceties. Maybe it was seeing pictures of friends. Maybe it was checking sport headlines. Maybe it was to email old friends. Who knows, but now they all have internet, and not just that, they all have broadband.
I see the same thing happening again with macs. I made the switch and people asked me why. I showed them why I did things my way, and they thought about it. Then they asked how they could do it too. I have more friends on macs than pc’s these days. And when I met most of these people, none of us were using mac’s. Everyday I have someone ( non tech people ) ask me about why I use a mac. And everyday I show them the things I like about the OS. I show them how my mac works everywhere I want to go and has no problems connecting up with legacy pc networks :) And I dont remember when the last week went by that I didnt get an email from a friend telling me they just bought their new mac. And none of them (except ryan) have been disappointed with the switch.
As I have started doing more Ruby and Rails code I have realized I have stepped into a community where I fit in very well. So well that at the 2006 Rails conf here in portland they estimated that of the 550 attendees 90% of them were using macs. As such they thought it would be fun to give certificates to those who chose to stand against the status quo and hand out “non conformist” awards. These Non Conformist awards were given to pc users at the conference.
I am not usually one who is proud to be part of the crowd. I like to stand out and be identified. But I dont think I have ever been happier to be part of the conformist group!
Sim, I have to say that you were fairly instrumental in my decision to buy a mac. My only regret is that I didn’t do it 10 years ago.
Glad I could help with your switch! :)
And I dont mean to call you out, but I think the world should know that by day you are a windows system admin. So you have truely seen the dark side of the pc :)
Okay Sim. I’m ready. Buy one for me and I’ll make the switch.
Welcome to the Social! Oops. wrong line. I’ve been on Macs for 5 years now. I "switched" from Linux. I dropped Windows back in the mid-90’s. There is definitely something building here. A co-worker of mine attended the Python Conference in 2004 and he commented on the number of Macs there. I estimate there was about 30% Macs at last years CFUnited conference. I anticipate it to be about 50% this year. Much to the chagrin of Ben Forta and Adobe probably.
Like you, I’m starting to mess with Rails quite a bit. At our local Ruby User’s Group meeting last night, all seven of us had Macs.
I switched about 6 months ago, but you didn’t have anything to do with it. Sorry. :-)
Like you, though, I’ve been noticing the trend toward Macs within the development community as a whole and I think it indicates nothing but good things for wider adoption. I really think that technophiles and, perhaps more specifically, professional technophiles drive the adoption of technology because – wrong or right – non-technophiles trust our opinions, our judgment and our expertise. All else being equal, non-techies will often take the recommendation of someone who "knows" and follow that path.
As a technology vendor, I think the best thing you can possibly do is get the technology community behind your offering. Others will follow.
Good post Sim – I too dislike being part of the crowd (for the sake of being part of the crowd), but the good news is you were part of the crowd before there was a crowd :)
@DamonGentry
You would’ve disliked Macs 10 years ago – I hated them.
I totally dig my Macs, but OS 9 was horrible from a developers stand point IMO (no offense to Apple guys, I just found it unusable). OS X came out in March 2001, and even it was a bit rough till about the Jaguar release – about August 2002. Tiger is the shizzle though, and Leapord is going to be fsking awesome.
… yikes, I just realized, I am a Mac geek …
"Everyday I see more and more developers switching to macs."
Which I’ve found funny ever since they released that "don’t use a Mac if you’re a programmer" commercial =)
"And none of them (except ryan) have been disappointed with the switch."
he’s just doing it wrong ;-)
I’m enjoying this trend. I test drove a Mac Classic back in the eighties but couldn’t afford it (I couldn’t afford *any* computer back then). My first Mac was a PowerBook 160 (named for the 160Mb HD). I bought a PowerBook 520c when they appeared (a color laptop!) and then a Performa 630 and then a Performa 630+ (an early PowerPC model). Then I spent five years in the Windows wilderness (with a Fujitsu LifeBook 400 that lasted just one year before falling apart, followed by a Dell Latitude – which I still have and which runs Red Hat Linux now, then a Toshiba Tecra 8100 which lasted 18 months before falling apart) and then I came back to Macs with a PowerBook G4, followed by another PowerBook G4, then a 15" MacBook Pro and now, after leaving Adobe, a 17" MacBook Pro.
Oh, and after the Windows laptops which lasted less than two years, I should note that I sold the PB 520c when it was ten years old and it still worked perfectly (except for the battery).
I switched my wife to a 17" iMac (PPC) several years ago after many years of Windows machines and she loved it so much she recently upgraded to a 20" iMac (Intel) and tells all her friends to get Macs…
Ah yeah Sean!!! I still have my PB 520. No C though :( My batteries (spend the clams for a second) are both shot. and still to this day, expensive!!
Well, I bought a Mac andhave had nothing but grief. Mainly hardware related (trackpad, airport card, etc), but I can’t just swap any of it out. Don’t get me wrong I am NOT a M$ fan (I’ll never own Vista), I really wish I was having better luck, but I’m now looking at Ubuntu.
Well Bryan, I am sorry that you are having problems. But because you said trackpad, I am gonna assume this is a laptop. Which means your problem with not being able to switch out parts is not apples fault. If it was a dell you would be in the same boat.
But that doesnt change the fact that its giving you grief. How long have you had it? 1st year is covered by apple care and within 30 (maybe 15) days you can exchange it. Maybe you got a lemon.
You’re correct on the trackpad issue. It is a 15" MacBookPro I’ve just never had any trackpad issues on my Dell (work) laptop that is two years old. Of course these could be software (driver) issues. Basically the trackpad has mind of its own. I’ll be using one finger and it will start scrolling the page (two fingers). I’llhave using a jerking (left/right) motion repeatedly to "unlock" it. The airport will just drop my connection frequently. It likes to lock up a lot ("spinning beachball").
Sorry, you didn’t ask for all that info. It is less than a year old (8 months now), so it is under warranty. I do plan to take to the Apple Store, but the Apple support model sucks. Unless I pay them for the extended warranty (which is twice as much as any other PC warranty), I can’t schedule an appointment in advance. Why do I have to schedule an appointment anyway? From what I have seen on Apple’s support site I can expect a minimum of a 2 week turn around though.
On a lighter note, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to all the windows.
There I go again. Sorry for the rant. AS they say, the first impression is the most important, and mine hasn’t been that great.