James Duncan Davidson — x180:
- Mac OS X is the first real desktop Unix with end user applications. I can hack a Python script, run a J2EE server, develop a Cocoa GUI app, keep track of things in Excel, write proposals in Word, tweak images in Photoshop, and listen to music in iTunes. All at the same time. In fact, I'm my desktop is showing that I'm doing exactly that. And it's a native Unix, not some glommed on thing like MKS or Cygwin (with all due respect to the accomplishments that those products bring to the Windows platform).
- Apple is providing a rich set of technologies on top of Unix upon which ground breaking applications are being written. Some of these apps were written first on the Mac and are now showing up on Windows. Others, like SubEthaEdit are ground breaking and are yet unmatched on any other platform.
- Even though you shouldn't believe the reports that Mac OS X is invincible, it is a fact that because of its Unix heritage, along with at least a passing thought that security is important, that makes it a more secure platform than Windows. John Gruber says it better than I can in his article Broken Windows. I can tell you that until a few weeks ago, I was oblivious to the whole spyware problem on Windows. It was while I was on a client site where they were reporting over 200 spybots on a single machine that I came face to face with the problem for the first time.
- Software Update. Point blank: I don't ever want to recompile my kernel again. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. It was fun while it lasted, and I don't regret it at all. But I've got better things to do with my time now.
- Unix. Did I mention this already? Let me make this clear. I'm a developer. I'm a hacker. Unix is a developer's and a hacker's wet dream. It doesn't get any better than this. Because it's Unix I have access to the largest collection of tools to get my job done ever assembled.
- Innovation. Apple is innovating harder than anybody else out there in the personal computer landscape. They've been pushing the state of the art through the downturn of the last few years when other PC vendors innovations have all revolved around... well, what the heck have they been doing? For example, wireless has become the biggest buzz this year, after being a pretty big buzz last year. Yet I've been doing it since 1999. It's been part of my life (and the lives of lots of people around me) since 1999 because of Apple pushing the tech first. Rendezvous. Sync. Bluetooth. The list goes on. And the hits keep on coming.
- Excitement. There is a palatable excitement around the Mac. It's so powerful that people get seriously bummed when Steve doesn't announce enough cool stuff every time he gets on stage. Every developer I know that was at both JavaOne and WWDC this year talked about the difference. Sure, the developer-to-developer interaction at JavaOne was as happening as ever, but the conference itself? Please.
So what about the argument of the Mac being a small market? My response: Define market. First off, I can develop in a host of languages deployable on any platform. Second, in my tribe, Macs are rampant. For example, at this year's Emerging Tech Conference the machines in tow were about 50/50 Mac vs. Intel. Note that I said Intel and not Windows. The Intel machines seemed evenly divided between Windows and Linux.
