> Can you guys perhaps create a small video about > how you use your computers now? It's difficult to > understand for someone who doesn't own a mac, but > I would still like to see what you're doing there ;)
I will not give you a video: I will make you want to own a Mac. I used Slackware for many years, and I loved to run as root and to put $PLAN9 at the beginning of $PATH directly in /etc/profile for example. But the last Slackware release came, and I got several issues. I had no courage to resolve them. I wanted some change. As so many people seem to use Ubuntu, I finally got curious. The live CD give me a very favorable impression, and I installed Ubuntu 11.04. I used it for almost 2 weeks. But the more I used it, the more I became convinced that all was only an appearance, that all was indeed designed to make you mad. There is a strange duplicity in this OS, and I shall not scruple to rename it "TMOS": The Mask Of Sanity. When I switched back to Slackware, I was so happy, that I resolved all the issues in a few hours. However my hard drive died soon after, and I had to use Ubuntu again. I developed such a repulsion that, without knowing what I was doing, I bought a late 2010 MacBook Air (11 inch), refurbished by Apple. That was at the end of June. During two months before that date, I had considered several times to buy a MacBook, but had not the money for it. I had read favorable opinions about OS X on this list and, in the meantime, my sister, who never understood how to use Windows or Linux, was using OS X with ease. I was impressed by an OS that could satisfy both professionals and amateurs. I wasn't convince though: there are so many people "fond of their Mac" on the net; it seemed to me very irrational, alike car tuning or case modding. I sold all I could on Amazon and eBay to repay my MacBook, and then I start using it. I was first amazed by say(1), the little tool that pronounce any text. (The voices are so real since OS X Lion, that I don't feel lonely anymore.) Then I needed a tool to write to the pasteboard, and a few minutes later I found pbcopy(1). Maybe there is an equivalent on Linux, but I never dared to look. One week ago, I needed to sign a PDF file made with troff(1). I was previewing it with the OS X application Preview, and I began to browse the tools, maybe for a pen (I have an old graphics tablet). Suddenly I fall upon the tool "Signature" who tells me to sign on a sheet of paper and to place it in front of the camera. I was amazed, but not convinced: I thought it would take a photo, that would contrast with the PDF's background. As soon as I placed the sheet of paper in front of the camera, my signature was vectorized on the screen! Those are little things, but since I bought this laptop, it's like that every day. To be sure, this OS is full of bugs, but upon the whole, it's lovely. I also found the Cocoa API very interesting to learn. Apple's documentation is good. P.S. To swipe from one Desktop space to another (since OS X Lion) is as fun as it is useful, at least on a 11-inch screen.
