<i>[2] Y Combinator is (we hope) visited mostly by hackers. The proportions of OSes are: Windows 66.4%, Macintosh 18.8%, Linux 11.4%, and FreeBSD 1.5%. The Mac number is a big change from what it would have been five years ago.</i><p>I'm interested to know what the proportions of OSes are today.
OK, someone convince me to go Mac.<p>I've had essentially zero issues with Windows. I do 99% of my development in Linux (access my devbox through VNC). For desktop use, I have absolutely no problems. I work very fast zooming around with keyboard shortcuts. I don't get viruses or bloatware. Everything is calm and familiar.<p>Every time I get my hands on a Mac, even to simply Google something, I immediately hit issues. Paste is crazy squiggly hash v (or maybe apple v?), I can't right click, I can't win+d to the desktop. I'm sure all of these things are possible, but I'm fumbling around like my grandpa when I taught him to email.<p>At this point, I'm pretty sure it can't all be brand hype (my thoughts a few years ago). I'd really like to know what the incentive is for throwing away years of muscle memory, familiarity, and tweaking ability.<p>So, go ahead, someone sell me on Macs.
I switched from a Dell laptop to a PowerBook G4 in 2005 as I was going off to college. I remember very clearly the initial confusion I had dealing with the radically different file setup ("What, you mean I have to distribute my Jar files in 6 different directories? Windows just has the one!") and Unix interface. I laugh now, but the documentation was actually pretty terrible back then, and I couldn't initially figure out where to store files that I was dealing with. (This was back in the day when Apple distributed its own behind-the-times JDK and wouldn't support anything else.)<p>I was so upset the first week I owned my PowerBook that I actually wrote Steve Jobs saying "Why would you ever separate Java externals into so many different directories? Where's the documentation for this Terminal.app program? You're going to lose my business if I find more shenanigans like this in your OS."<p>I got an e-mail back that week from Apple saying "You'll learn to love it, we promise." I was skeptical, but I quickly realized that there's a sanity to Apple's FHS (and Unix's moreso). I also grew to love scripting on the G4 far too much to be able to return the computer as I'd threatened to.<p>Now, I can't imagine ever going back to the "Windows Way", or anything close to it. I still have that G4, and it runs (Arch Linux) like a charm.<p>The one thing I haven't grown fonder with Apple's popularity is that customer service now feels cold. In 2005, it was a legitimate pleasure to talk with an Apple rep on the phone. Several of them were happy to explain the internals of the OS to me my first time through, as they were thrilled to have any Windows convert they could get.<p>Now, things are different, and I don't get the warm, fuzzy feeling I did 6 years ago.
I'm totally out of phase with other hackers. Apple user: 1985-2003. Windows/Linux user: 2003-2011. I just recently (2011) got a MacBook Pro to work on my first ruby project.<p>I was one of those hackers that stuck with Apple through the 90s. In 1996 I learned how to install netBSD on my mac and in 1997 I installed MkLinux (an Apple sponsored project). I was incredibly excited when Apple announced that it was going to integrate this new (to me) exciting world into the next generation of their operating system. In 2001 I finally got my first machine that was powerful enough to run OSX. But I was a little disappointed. There was no native software, my OS 9 software barely worked and the thing kept breaking. When two power cords broke, the screen broke and the disk drive crashed, I traded for a ThinkPad.
Did this quote make anyone else think of the iPhone a bit?<p>"In the fall of 1983, the professor in one of my college CS classes got up and announced, like a prophet, that there would soon be a computer with half a MIPS of processing power that would fit under an airline seat and cost so little that we could save enough to buy one from a summer job. The whole room gasped. And when the Mac appeared, it was even better than we'd hoped. It was small and powerful and cheap, as promised. But it was also something we'd never considered a computer could be: fabulously well designed."
I have always used Macs and good lord, the days of Mac OS X being out but the processors not being Intel were truly some of the most embarrassing years for Apple computing.<p>I remember owning (and loving - for some reason) an iBook G3 that was basically unusable for a few months whilst I awaited more RAM for it. I think this was when their laptops had 64Mb RAM but Mac OS X really needed 512Mb. And remember when Mac OS X had OS 9 built into it? Ugh.<p>It's crazy to think how dominant Apple is now, compared to those days, and the even more pathetic days before that.<p>I cannot even think of a reason why any consumer wouldn't now go out and purchase a Mac or iPad for their next computer.
One important phrase: <i>When it comes to computers, what hackers are doing now, everyone will be doing in ten years.</i><p>This really often explains upcoming trends in the computer / tech world.
Here is the change of Apple stock from 2005 to 2011:<p><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=AAPL&a=08&b=7&c=2005&d=07&e=8&f=2011&g=m&z=66&y=0" rel="nofollow">http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=AAPL&a=08&b=7&c=...</a>