Discussion: Why we're Mac centric
Merlin Mann
of an announcement (rant?) than anything, I won't open comments, but if
you would like to discuss it further, please do so in this thread.
Thanks.
Chris Hobbs
> Since my [recent post about why we're a "Mac-centric" site][1] is
more
> of an announcement (rant?) than anything, I won't open comments, but
if
> you would like to discuss it further, please do so in this thread.
> Thanks.
<caveat>I work in a school district, supporting Windows, Macintosh, and
yes, even Linux (both server and desktops)</caveat>
All computers suck. But they each suck in their own unique fashion.
Although I'm primarily Windows guy (at least since 2000, now that I
don't see the BSOD every other hour), I thoroughly enjoy reading 43F --
it gives me an insight into the different types of apps that are being
built there. I assume it has to do with Mac's lineage as a more
"creative" platform.
For me at least, the OS on my desktop doesn't matter so much, since I'm
trying hard to make GTD work with my Palm (actually, a Treo) -- I have
it with me all the time, but at work the desktop environment makes
typing into it easy, and I especially like being able to cut-n-paste
from other apps (e-mail, pdf's, etc.).
So all in all Merlin, I say keep up the Mac focused info. Even if I
can't run the programs, simply reading about how they work and how they
help you work broadens my horizons.
Chris
bryce benton
I think you mean to say "Fourth one? You poor bastards..."
--bryce
p.s. Personally, I would prefer that the site be more bryce-centric,
but that's just me.
bryce benton
Merlin Mann
thanks.
In future editions, I will try to include a Bryce-specific footnote
that addresses your interests. ;)
Thanks a million for the proofreading.
Jeremiah McElroy
heavy mac user myself (I run linux at home and am forced to use
winders at work), my wife has only used macs as long as I've known
her. And, since she has a mac that also happens to be a laptop, I
find myself using a mac a fair amount of time at home.
I've managed to find a huge number of links, tips, and new software
for both of us to use that we simply would never have been aware of if
not for my addiction to 43Folders and Merlin's ranting. By being
exposed to this software, I'm also being exposed to the lack of some
of this software for my chosen OS.
This is a Good Thing (tm) for a few reasons:
1) I get to find out about new sexy things for the mac.
2) I am forced to learn more about my chosen computing platform and
how to make it work more like I would prefer
3) By finding this distinct lack of software, I have started thinking
about getting off my arse and actually writing some tools that
incorporate the functionality of the mac software that I find useful.
Just my 2 cents.
jeremiah
Tyrone Mitchell
You know what? It doesn't bother me at all. I've been enlightened to open
source, and ever so slightly to Macs, even as far as suggesting my fiance
buy one (It'll probably be less of a maintenance headache than her
Compaq). We'll see how far that goes.
In any case, I've been using (suffering) with Windows since version 3.0,
and even though I am not Mac-Centric, I read 43 folders very often for the
GtD stuff, and even get a kick out of some of the apps that you discuss.
(sometimes even wishing I could get to play with Tinderbox on a PC).
I won't get into the religious wars, cause it's not so much about the
tools as it is the process. If the tools don't let me get the job done,
then they're not worth it, and everyone's situation and opinion is
different. Use the knowledge for what it is - maybe it'll spur you to
'switch', maybe not, but for me, the entire GtD process is about
increasing my prodcutivity in things that truly matter, and tossing the
mundane to the side. I'll keep reading and sharing.
I might even make the move to add a Linux machine in my home environment
in the next year like I've hoped.
Reading the Mac-Centric stuff, even if it doesn't apply to me right now,
is worth the invaluable tips and opinions that have been shared already.
[-----------------------------------------------------------------------]
Thought of the week:
-------------------
"Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.
And no good thing ever dies. "
--Andy Dufresne
_/_/_/_/_/ Tyrone Mitchell
_/ _/ _/ http://www.mitchellonline.com
_/ _/ _/ AIM: trexatplay
_/ _/ _/
_/ _/_/_/
_/
_/_/
[-----------------------------------------------------------------------]
bryce benton
quiksan
want it to turn-holy war in any way, but I think you put it all just
right.
I don't consider myself any kind of crazed mac-head - I'll use
whatever's in front of me, and make it productive, I just choose a mac
for my personal use/time. BUT, I love what I can do with my mac, that
I can't do on a pc (windows os that is) I love the 'wow' people elicit
(whether in their face, or audibly) when they see something I can do
(so simply!) on my powerbook.
But as you said merlin, it ain't for everyone. A friend of mine got
one because she saw all the neat things I did on mine. I pour hours
into modding my user environment with apps and tweaks and the like.
She's more a casual user. any computer will do what she needs, but she
fell under the mac spell anyway. she doesn't get out of it what I do.
The only reason I don't worry about it, is she made the decision on her
own without asking my thoughts on the decision.
bongoman
http://www.waferbaby.com/corner/johngruber/
"they will say, "what can a mac do that a wintel computer can't?" and
the truth is they do the same things, it's just that the mac does them
better. maybe only slightly better, but better nonetheless. the pc
industry, however, is all about feature checklists. whoever has the
most features wins; if you offer the same features, whoever is cheaper
wins. and so if you compare macs and pcs that way, there seems to be no
logical reason to decide to use a mac."
"that's ok. if someone doesn't perceive any difference between the mac
and windows, they should just use windows."
Hell, just being able to nod knowingly as you read Gruber
(http://www.daringfireball.net) is reason enough to use a mac.
BTW, is the word wrapping in these google groups all over the place or
is just me?
Paul Wren
vs. Mac, and had a revelation of sorts.
Why would we (as Mac users) want the whole world to move to our
platform of choice? The only real reason Windows users are plagued by
malicious malware while the rest of us are not is because we are not
where the action is.
This may be a "well, duh" for many of you, but I just realized that
Macintosh is like that great little cafe two blocks off main street
that you really love. It's got great service, great atmosphere, and
terrific food and drink.... and it's not too crowded either-- just
enough to stay in business.
If too many people find out about that little cafe, it (and all of the
current customers) will suffer from its success. The same would happen
to the Mac.
Perhaps we're better off letting those Windows users think what they
like, and enjoy our well-kept little secret.
Oh, and let a close friend in on it, every once in a while.
Derek
elitist. The web is my OS. Go ahead and fetishize the Mac. Sit at it
all day, fondling its buttons and knobs. Its so pretty.
I just took offense to the comment:
"But, if the existence of information outside your single area of
interest causes you stress, you should either stick with the non-Mac
categories or just not visit here at all."
In other words, deal or shut up. Awww, isn't there a slightly more
tactful way to put this?
Richard Karnesky
choices:
3.5. Ideological separatism---"I wish that I could get general
Productivity/Lifehacks/GTD-type posts, without the platform-specific
product plugs."
This is the best new blog on both OS X and productivity. I appreciate
the categories, but do wish there was a simple method to show all posts
from one that AREN'T in the other. I also wish that the OSX
category be divided-it is good to see a Quicksilver category, but I
wish there were more. In particular, I want a CLI category: many of
the tips are also useful to me (I run Linux).
I do like having access to and do read all the content: I like OS X &
am interested in hearing what I could do if I was willing to pay more
for both hardware and software. I just wish there were better ways to
get at the posts which are most relevant or immediately useful to me.
--Rick
Merlin Mann
tactful way to put this?_
Possibly, Derek, but it was intended as a polemical post, and I stand
by what I said.
I do wonder what sort of reception *I* would get from telling PC
Magazine that they report too heavily on Windows-based computers.
Merlin Mann
good.
Again, though, this is a site that's intended to help OS X users first
and foremost. Anyplace I can work in a little trick or hack, I most
certainly will.
Having said that, thanks for visiting and for your interest. If it's
any consolation, I think sites about GTD and productivity will really
be taking off in the near future (esp. after that post, I imagine! :)
), so I wouldn't be surprised if other options presented themselves to
you soon.
Andrew Denny
?switching? for the very reason this post now exists; it takes a
lot of courage to move from the hegemonic center to the slightly less
well-defined edges of any system".
My experience of Mac, nine months after 'switching', has been fourfold
unhappy. Part is poor quality hardware, and a threat from Apple that
if the machine is returned and declared by them not to be faulty, they
will charge me just for inspecting it. Part is what I feel to be a
poorly designed and 'unergonomic' interface, and a third part to be an
inflexible and uncustomisable OS. (It crashes and locks up a lot too,
but no more than Windows XP)
But the worst quarter has been the response from the Macophiles who
were trying to encourage me to 'switch' late last year. They were a
lot more present and encouraging and as wide-eyed as Moonies about
getting me to buy an iBook than they were to help me sort out the mess
three months later, when I started regretting my decision.
I'm delighted to read your GTD efforts and it's a great and readable
blog. But a lot of the helpful advice you ladle out seem to me to be
answering problems that definitely exist on my Mac at home, but not on
the Windows XP and 2k machines I use (and support) at work.
I bitterly regret spending my hard-earned home money on a Mac, but I
have no money right now to switch back. (It did, after all, cost me
twice as much as an equivalent PC clone) Hopefully I'll be a little
more solvent by Christmas.
Of course, the appropriate slogan here is 'your mileage may vary'.
Obviously Merlin Mann gets a lot farther on a tankful of OSX than I do.
Reading 43 Folders, I'm wide-eyed with delight for all the fat promises
held out. But I feel a lot like Oliver Twist overhearing Mr Bumble the
Beadle tell Mr Limbkins how large the portions are at dinnertime in the
workhouse!
Merlin Mann
yesno
have learned about Unix using it than I ever did messing with Linux.
And I did Linux the Gentoo way, the next best thing to rolling your
own. But I spent all of my time fiddling with it and trying to get
things to work. Everything always works on my Mac, so I have time and
energy to actually learn sed, vim, LaTeX, etc.
yesno
of why it did things the way it did. Frankly, it can be the hardest
for expert or power users to make a platform switch. They already know
how to get Windows or whatever work. They don't get pop-ups or
spyware. Their systems don't crash, because they know what they're
doing. It's like being a PhD in English literature, or a nobel prize
winning author, and then learning Japanese where all you can say is "I
like doggies." More apt, it's like knowing Portuguese as a second
language and being pretty damn fluent. Then you try to learn Spanish
and it's just weird how everything is ever so slightly off.
Macs are hard to use for Windows users. I know this. Go to a
university computer lab. No one knows how to close an application-
they just close windows. You'll go up to a computer with 10+ open
applications, and no open windows. People run IE even though Safari
and Firefox are right there, begging to be clicked on. When things
don't work the way they expect them to, they don't blame their own lack
of knowledge, they blame the computer. Macs are more logical and
intuitive, I think, to new computer users and to people who are
interested in interface design, usability, and that kind of hoo-ha.
But most people who are going to have a computer, already have one, and
it's a Windows box. Habits are hard to break, and for most people,
it's just not worth the energy.
That said, I tell people the main reason that they should buy Macs is
that if they're asking me, that means I'm the computer nerd they know.
And I can hook them up with Mac stuff. If they want to buy a PC, they
can depend on the Web OS if they want any good software.
John S J Anderson
1998" pants and my "it's your damn blog, write about what _you_ care
about, and if people don't like it, they can start their own" hat and
say that you've clearly tapped some sort of vein and should ignore
whatever backlash is springing up and keep on keepin' on with your bad
self (just more frequently, please. 8^>=).
Andrew: Don't feel like MacOS X is the only thing you can run on that
iBook. One of the reasons I choose to invest in the Apple hardware is
because I knew that even if I ended up totally hating MacOS X, I'd be
able to run Linux. It might be something for you to consider.
I also had a lot of troubles with my initial iBook; I had to send it
back to Apple 4 times in a little over two years. (Buying the
AppleCare was a good, good idea.) Finally, with the fourth time, Apple
gave me a new iBook -- so if you've got a lemon, just keep on
bitching. (The Mac world is totally ripe for a "words from the Genii"
site skewering rude and/or ignorant things that the "Geniuses" at the
Apple store have said, IMO...)
Yesno: I'd call Linux From Scratch the next-best thing to rolling your
own. Gentoo is good (and it's what I actually run) but you can't beat
LFS for the sheer "learning how it's all put together" factor.
MetaCrossThread: yes, the Gmail word wrap is wonky, especially in the
editing stage.
cheers,
john.
--
http://genehack.org * weblog == ( bioinfo / linux / opinion / stuff )
Richard Karnesky
these are merely "wishes."
> Having said that, thanks for visiting and for your interest. If it's
> any consolation, I think sites about GTD and productivity will really
> be taking off in the near future (esp. after that post, I imagine! :)
> ), so I wouldn't be surprised if other options presented themselves
to
> you soon.
Perhaps, but I'm sure I will continue to enjoy reading your site too!
-Rick
Dan Hartung
Well, I was willing to read as long as you kept in your place, but now
that you've come out as a wild-eyed platform fanatic ....
I kid! I'm primarily a Windows user for reasons of professional and
personal history, but I've had Linux and Mac boxen on and off for years
as well. I'm way behind on the Apple side because I don't have anything
that will run OS X, so I enjoy reading about all the cool new tools and
gadgets you guys have for that. Although I'm not going to be a
switcher, it's always been my impression that Macs have a much more
organic and interoperative field of software to work from.
Also, I definitely like to take the comparison and see what might be
useful from those tools, and seeing them (at least through your eyes)
*in operation* really teaches me more than just reading the specs in a
review. If I can, I'd like to get back into tool-writing, so there's
plenty of opportunity to learn in that regard as well.
Jon
manly way, of course.
But then, I'm a mac user at home, so I guess that's to be expected.
[Eeeek...I've just realised I switched 11.5 months ago. Time to go get
that Applecare ordered on my Powerbook.]
This is one of the few blogs I bother to check on a daily basis. Keep
on doing what you've been doing, and I'll keep reading. :)
Jon
Todd
your site overly Mac-centric at all. Sure, the apps and utilities you
talk about are for the MAC, but the ideas and philiosphies cross over
to all platforms. I've been able to apply some things I found here to
my Outlook setup at work. Use the tools that you feel comfortable with,
and that allow you to trust in the fact that your GTD system won't let
you down.
jonathan
with all personal email, ssh to my server, etc.) that sites beside my
phone, while I work on a honking big IBM laptop.
It seems that the richness of knowledgeworking tools in the Mac space
along with the increasing number of people who routinely use separate
personal laptops alongside their office PCs (thanks to corporate
lockdowns on installing applications, security, filtering, etc.) is a
potentially new niche for you Mac zealots to jump on.
cait
subjects. Have always been kind of stuck between "mmmm... pretty!...
soooo pretty!" and "aaarrrrgh! it's NOT THE SAME."
All the cool Mac tricks here have inspired me to get learnin' so I can
move on from muttering ["I don't understand... where's my
taskbar...goddamit there's only one button on the mouse..."] to doin'
interesting type things.
All this *and* the hipster PDA! Don't stop.
eric Farris
> All the cool Mac tricks here have inspired me to get learnin' so I can
> move on from muttering ["I don't understand... where's my
> taskbar...goddamit there's only one button on the mouse..."] to doin'
> interesting type things.
usb mice just fine. On the G5 at work i use the Microsoft Trackball
Explorer, which has five buttons, all supported via a (surprisingly
very nice) driver from MS. I have expose mapped to buttons four and
five, which is awesome. Along the same lines, i use the Microsoft
Natural Keyboard Pro instead of that little keyboard-like thing that
Apple ships. The only two MS products i regularly use, and they're
both hardware. :) I love 'em.
On the Powerbook, use SideTrack
(http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/index.html) as the
replacement driver for your trackpad, and you get the same cool
features of the Synaptics driver in Windows, like scrolling along the
edges, corner-taps for other mouse buttons, etc.
Richard Karnesky
first
> and foremost. Anyplace I can work in a little trick or hack, I most
> certainly will.
<http://www.macosxhints.com/>
--Rick
jdim...@gmail.com
variable is underappreciated in terms of how good of an experience you
can get with a computer.
I'm the mac nerd all my friends know. If and when they switch (and a
lot have), they can come to me to ask questions and get quick answers,
and that eases the transition until they reach the magical point where
they grok the way the mac works, and start teaching themselves.
Whenever I find out that someone has switched to mac because of
evangelism by friends who (for whatever reason) aren't going to be able
to be there for them to aid the transition, I wince.
43 Folders is performing a wonderful function, then, of being a
friendly voice to OS X users who haven't figured this stuff out for
themselves. And it's doubly valuable to the rest of us.
teri.p...@gmail.com
say I really love either OS. I decided to learn Macs a couple of years
ago and have worked my way through the entire sequence starting at
version 6 and working my way up. And I have to say that while I like
their implementation of Unix, it's still not the perfect OS. It is less
backwards compatible than any other OS I have ever seen. There are
programs like Voodoo Pad that have to be OS 10.2.8 to run. I can't
upgrade past 10.2.3 without upgrading my video card. Apple decided not
to support either the printer port on the G3 or the floppy drive. I can
run my old Apple laser printer on a PC (via serial port) but not on
this Mac. What kind of stupidity is that?
At some point, when I finally retire this Mac, I'll go back to a PC
with whatever seems to be the best version of Linux (another OS I like,
but still isn't the perfect OS). I enjoy having a Mac centric site
without the evangelism of some of the others. But mainly I come here
for the GTD, which seems to work fine on my plain vanilla Mac.
yesno
needs to stay readable forever, I see no reason to cripple and
cruft-ify an OS just to run old programs. That's what emulators are
for. Rarely do those programs have a value that offsets the penalty of
having to make your OS retain inefficiencies. Some people think
that Windows' backwards compatibility is a feature. I see it as cruft.
Teri Pittman
talking about brand new programs that run only on what is labeled to
be a minor update. If something is going to run on OS 10.2, why
shouldn't I expect it to run on both 10.2.3 and 10.2.8? It doesn't
irritate me nearly as much when something doesn't run on 10.2 if it
says it runs only in 10.3. The thing is, I don't see similar problems
in the Windows world. If it runs on XP, it will probably run on Win2K.
The Mac market isn't large to begin with. Why do they artificially
disclude those with versions of OSX that are a year or so old and make
programs that run on just a few updates.
While you may not need to run older programs, please remember that
most programs are not free. If you spend several hundred dollars on a
program, you would probably like to get a few year's use out of it
before it becomes obsolete. Same thing with hardware--why decide to
make it so that you can't use an Apple brand printer on a new Mac?
Would it have been that difficult to allow the printer port to be used
on G3s or write a driver to make the floppy work? These may not be
things that everyone needs, but when you have a company that decides
these things for users and doesn't consider their needs, you are going
to lose customers.
Samuel DeVore
>
> The problem is that I'm not refering to running old programs. I'm
> talking about brand new programs that run only on what is labeled to
> be a minor update. If something is going to run on OS 10.2, why
> shouldn't I expect it to run on both 10.2.3 and 10.2.8?
adding easy ways to do hard tasks to the development environment by
building the functionality into the core system. Examples of this are
live searching (like in iTunes), graphics, UI features and controls.
It is frustrating, but I bet windows users will run into similar
issues as MS moves into the changes that will be inherent with
Longhorn. For the most part you SHOULD expect things to run in both
10.2 and 10.3 (and 10.1) and if they don't it is an issue to take up
with the developer. I have found that most things that keep apps from
running in older os's is usually an issue that the developer should be
able to work around either by disabling a feature or working around.
In the windows world developers will have to deal with changes to
WinForms, Avalon new data structures, new file systems (though I hear
that MS has dropped major changes to the filesystem from the inial
releases of Longhorn)
I do find for the most part that software that ran well in older
versions almost always run in new versions of the os. Heck I still
run MORE in classic on almost a daily basis, it may be the only reason
that I still keep classic installed.
Sam D
ps I use mac and windows about equally (though I am a little more
productive on a mac because I have personal momentum there)
yesno
point revision. I've used a USB floppy drive with OS X when I've
needed to put software on some super-old computers.
Apple has the few customers that it does because we like that they
don't make compromises. We like that Macs haven't had floppy drives
for years. We like that there are no serial ports.
One thing I like about OS X is that new versions run faster on older
hardware. Panther is faster and does more than Jaguar, and previous
versions of OS X were absurdly slow. Plus, each revision adds lots of
functionality. My iBook runs faster now than when I bought it.
On the other hand, I can't have my girlfriend improve her PC by
switching it to XP from Windows 98. A Windows 98-era PC won't run XP.
I think a big reason that updates to Windows always require more
hardware is that there are too many levels of backwards compatibility
that are an overall drag on performance.
Anyway, lots of people like backwards compatibility for lots of
reasons. Joel Spolsky wrote a classic article on the topic [1]. And I
wonder how this fits in with the notion of "software that lasts 200
years." [2]
[1]: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html
[2]: http://www.bricklin.com/200yearsoftware.htm
Andrew Denny
43 Folders) suggested it would give me a much-desired end to tinkering
with computers. I simply want a computer as 'finished' appliance,
like a refrigerator or a bicycle.
I really appreciate everyone's kind motives in suggestions such as "One
of the reasons I choose to invest in the Apple hardware is because I
knew that even if I ended up totally hating MacOS X, I'd be able to run
Linux."
However, to me, that's back to the same bad experience as Windows - but
without the mass-understanding of Windows.
Simple example: I live in the UK, and grew up on typewriters and UK
keyboards that have the double quote (") over the 2, and the @ sign
over the single quote. And all Windows and other PC keyboards work as
typewriters do.
UK Macs, I've learned, have them transposed, for reasons I don't know
and don't care. To my thinking, any sophisticated OS ought to offer a
simple key remapping system. It ought to be very simple, surely. But
the Macs don't have this built in. And I've been offered ways of
changing this setup, and I don't understand it. Should I? I support
an NT network. Would you expect a non-computer expert to understand
the solution if I don't? (work it out!)
My sister gave up a Mac in despair, and switched to a PC. She didn't
understand a Win98 machine too much better, but at least she had me and
all her friends, who all understood it.
All computers have a long way to go. I wish we'd all stop arguing the
merits and start discussing the consensus.
Sorry, I've said my piece, and I'll now shut up.
Best regds
Andrew Denny
www.grannybuttons.com
David Engel
else -- though the term "rich" could have a different meaning: I think
I'd get a Mac if I could afford one.
I just wish there was a Linux-centric site like this. I've seen
Windows-centric sites, and they're only a help because I have to use
Windows at work, but I would love to find a Linux-centric site, or at
least one that had some hints on interoperability (is that a word?)
between Windows and Linux. I have a base Linux system and I prefer the
command line for most of the things I do, but I realize my big
challenge will be finding something which will allow me to move
information back and forth from my home system to work.
David Engel
John S J Anderson
see a site like that too.
> I would love to find a Linux-centric site, or at
> least one that had some hints on interoperability (is that a word?)
> between Windows and Linux.
These days it's mostly a matter of installing and configuring Samba
and OpenOffice -- although there's still not a great personal finance
solution, IMO.
cheers,
john.
ps: oh gmail gods -- it is most annoying that your spell checker
thinks 'linux' is misspelled. *especially* annoying when you consider
what OS is powering the machine serving up the spell checker...
--
