My First Mac
Recently a friend gave me his untouched Powerbook G4 because it didn’t work with his proprietary software the way he wanted. I have never owned an Apple product and I must say, I have been missing out! Before owning a Mac, I had used several Ubuntu flavoured Linux dists. and became quite comfortable with them… but then came the free shiny new mac and my computing world was flipped upside-down
First Impressions
I found it difficult to get used to the fact that the menu bar at the top changes on window focus, and I absolutely despised the keyboard shortcuts. At the time it was running 10.2.1 and I thought it was a free upgrade to Leopard, but it wasn’t. So for the first time in my life I BOUGHT software! - Leopard to be exact. I was pissed tiger couldn’t play any video formats and Photoshop / Zend Studio were not supported.
After One Week
I had the keyboard shortcuts down 100%. I forced myself to learn how to use this new environment, even with a tight deadline. Though I was tempted to pick up my Linux box again to finish the job quickly, I stuck it out and in turn I have a deep respect for OS X developers.
Many people say mac is so easy to use and so intuitive however that statement is not 100% true. OS X is very easy to use and works extremely well, and can read your mind too but if you have been trained for years to use retard Windows, you no longer think logically. You expect things to break and crash and then try to find other ways to do something so that maybe it might work this time. I was conditioned to use Windows for years, then four years ago switched to Linux, now I finally have a Mac and though Tux holds a very dear place in my heart, he stays at home on my server and I bring my Mac with me to work.