Made the switch to MacOS X
Well, after seeing and hearing how cool MacOS X is, I finally decided to take the plunge and buy my first mac - a 12-inch PowerBook G4.
I remember sitting on the plane travelling back from JavaOne last year with a copy of JDJ that had a special feature about MacOS X and how it was everything that the Java geek could want. It's the best of both worlds - a very easy to use (and gorgeous!) UI with the power of Unix.
One of the reasons that I've held off for so long is that when you think of Macs, you always think of them being used by creative types for photos, imaging, movies, etc. Also, I was never really sure how compatible they are with hardware and an existing Windows network. As I found out, these are just myths. Sure, MacOS X is taking a little getting used to, but putting aside that it's different from Microsoft Windows, actually using the OS seems simpler. For example, networking was a breeze - all the config was taken care of, even for the wireless Airport card. Installing apps is also very easy and I don't think I've even been asked where something should be installed. MacOS X just takes care of it.
As for Java, I got JDK 1.4.1 automatically through the Apple software updates mechanism and have had no problems getting Tomcat, Ant, etc up and running. Even checking out code from the SourceForge servers was easy. I've only had it a few days but I am very impressed. I'm not sure I will look at Windows XP in the same way again.
Re: Made the switch to MacOS X
From yesterday... Ouch: http://macnet2.com/more.php?id=338_0_1_0
At least they'll be honest and hopefully as neutral as they claim they will be. I wish you well with the slick new machine, though! Maybe you could wow us with a screenshot of you doing mad coding on Pebble with it?
