I cut my computer teeth on microprocessors – specifically, building my own 6502 based 1KB computer back in the late 1970s! I can still read 6502 Hex code 😉
My school back then had no computers at all, and at University we worked on terminals to a semi-mainframe. I’d seen a few “desktop” machines, but my first real experience with them was after I graduated, when I joined a company developing 6502-based products on CP/M systems. The first computer I worked on had a 8MB hard drive (yes, MB not GB), divided in to 2 x 4MB partitions because that was as much as CP/M could handle (of course with less than 64K RAM, programs weren’t big so that was ample storage for all I was doing).
Moving from CP/M to DOS was easy, and after resisting Windows and mice for a long time, I eventually grew to like them (converted by PCB layout programs) … but after more than 15 years of Windows & mice, I still use keyboard shortcuts in preference to mouse clicks.
I’ve looked at Apple computers a few times, but always been put off by (a) the lack of a right-mouse-click and (b) by the lack of compatibility with all the software I know & use. But my recent purchase of an Apple iPhone made me review Apple computers once more …
So I visited our local Apple store (before the huge new one opened), and had a VERY frustrating few hours dealing with sales folks there – but impressed with the products.
Initially, I looked at the Airbook; I saw the same attention to detail that the iPhone offers – those “tricks” that make you wonder “why don’t all computers work like this” … scrubbing the mouse over an iPhoto event to see all the pictures inside, click-dragging to easily select a video clip in iMovie, that sort of thing.
However the Airbook seemed sluggish, and it was pointed out to me that with no Firewire connection, video editing is discouraged.
In the end, I splashed big time and walked out with the portable with the most amazing display (the 17″ hi-res Macbook Pro).
Re-learning everything my fingers know is taking a long time, but already when I return to a Windows PC portable, things are difficult … why can’t I slide my fingers on the trackpad to scroll, for example.
At work, all our PCs are PCs – many still run DOS-based programs developed back in the 1990’s, although we’ve been forced to rewrite a few to run under the quite incompatible DOS simulation in Windows XP (and let’s not mention Vista!).
Like many MINI owners (it seems), Josh has been complaining about the PCs at work and arguing that Macs could do just as well; last Tuesday prior to my work trip to California, he set up Parallels on my Mac and installed Windows XP (easier than installing it on a real PC apparently); then he installed one of our companies RS232 based communications programs, plugged in a USB RS232 cable and installed the Windows drivers – and almost magically, the program was running and communicating with our products!
Windows on MacBook
I took both my Mac and the twice as bulky HP portable to California, and worked with both. Parallels proved itself reasonably capable of mimicking a PC, and the Apple clearly exceeded the HP (running hours instead of minutes on batteries, being lighter/easier to transport, and offering the higher resolution clearer display). I’m hoping that by my next work trip, I might be able to take just the light machine!
So, since there seems to be a strong synergy between MINI owners and Mac owners, let’s hear what else I’m missing … 😉
[By the way, there’s a whole negative side to this Macbook that I’ve skipped here, like the fact that the machine I have is #3 from the store! We’ll save that for a chat at the bar]
