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In the year 2002, impressed by AnchorDesk’s executive editor David Coursey’s experiments with an iMac, I seriously considered owning one. Then I saw screenshots of the then recently released Windows XP. And the thought of owning a Mac remained just that—a serious consideration.

Fast forward to 2008—the year of resurgent unix-like operating systems.

I bought a Macbook—my first ever Macintosh computer—in the month of April this year despite reservations. Given my open criticism of the Mac platform, for supporting DRM, and for its poor metadata support—in the long run, let’s just say this post is anything but.

Some of you must be wondering why this, and why now? Why wasn’t there a rave or a rant post earlier—as it is typical to think bloggers do what Scoble does best? For one, I was not sure how it would all pan, beyond the initial irritation of having to adapt to a new computing system, and its environment. And to be fair, within a couple of months of use, I actually did write a post, or two, about why this Macbook sucked. On hindsight, it was perhaps a good thing that I never got around to publish them. Because knee-jerks were what they essentially were. Still a part of me kept reminding that I should have—for the sake of keeping those transition notes.

So a few thoughts on why I resisted the Mac earlier, and how eventually I got around to owning one.

On Price. Obvious isn’t it? Some years ago, it felt expensive, in terms of value for money. I would often go determined to the Sungei Wang plaza in Kuala Lumpur, look around the Apple Store, and then not buy. I must have done this a few times, because after a while my wife began avoiding that IT@SungeiWang floor altogether. In the last couple of years, however, things changed when Macbook became an affordable choice, together with being the best featured in its class of sub-14″ notebooks.

Mac OS. Unlike the ubuntu OS, there was no way I could try the Mac first—before buying. I didn’t want a €1299.- paperweight if it didn’t work for me. And in that respect, Boot Camp was a real ice-breaker. Last year, we had an intern from TUDelft at work, who showed me how he was using Windows XP on his Macbook. Suffices to say that his demo was enough to convince me. (Note to Apple, and Mac stores: Do have a Mac running Windows XP just to highlight the option to the curious, and the cautious. It would make a world of a difference to those minds with pre-conceived notions.)

After the initial, and generally baseless FUD about the Mac OS X, and post inertial irritation, and after minimal customization—like moving the Dock to RHS, and after getting used to out-of-place terms like “Finder” (the file explorer; one could mistake it for a search tool), the Mac OS X started working for me. Beautifully. And without thoughts about switching back to Windows via the Boot Camp.

The keyboard. While the look and feel of those Scrabble tile-like keys are great, the layout is a bit tricky because I also use a PC keyboard at work, and for my ubuntu desktop at home. So it goes without saying that I still have issues with Macbook’s keyboard layout. For instance, I am yet to come to a full circle in understanding the use of its special keys—notably the ⌥ (Option), the ⌘ (Command), and ⏏ (Eject). I mention the ⏏ key in particular because sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. (I reckon it is used not just for ejecting the optical media out of the slot-drive, but also to unmount volumes—like the software types, and safe disconnection of peripherals.)

Another intriguing feature is the Trash-bin in the Mac OS X. Curiously it double-hats in function as the eject button! Drag a CD or a mounted volume to it, and voila. (An instantaneous shock and thrill moment for Windows users is guaranteed.)

And, I miss the Del key. In its absence, going to the EOL, and then using Backspace for deleting letters (and ⌘+Backspace combination for deleting words) is something I am still getting used to. On the flipside, I am rediscovering the utility of the Backspace key like never before.

The trackpad. I prefer a mouse. For the right click, and for scrolling; and it helps resist change—since I am not exclusively on a Mac day-in and day-out. There were times when the accidental second finger on it would initiate scrolling, instead of the cursor movement. And then with regards to the cursor, I have seen blobs before—although I must admit I haven’t seen it in a while now. (May be it was fixed in one of these updates.)

File compatibility, and data preservation. This may sound funny but for some reason until a couple of years ago, I thought files created on a Mac were unreadable on Windows, and vice versa. Glad to put that urban legend to rest. That files can be opened, modified, and edited without loss of fidelity across Operating systems—Windows, ubuntu, and Mac OS—is a reality today. For regular coders, the carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF)—their combination or lack thereof might pose minor annoyances while working across OSes. Weekenders like me won’t sweat.

Features. There are a number of features in a Mac that I absolutely love. I’ve listed some below, while still discovering others from that list.

• Its attention-to-detail workmanship exhibits a kind of finesse non-existent in the computing industry. Or in my experience, never before.
• Every installed software stays up-to-date—by virtue of an automatic check when you start an application. (The ubuntu model is even better since it checks from a trusted tree of software repository. This, of course isn’t possible for the Mac since commercial software repositories could be independent. But the mechanism to check for newer version is built-in. And that’s nice to keep up to date.)
• The built-in firewall, and Parental controls within the Mac OS X.
• Slot loading drive.
• The built-in camera, and mic.
• The back-lit display. At such rich colors, brightness, and at a width to height ratio of 1.6, what’s not to like?
• The infrared remote. Great for playing media, as well as for presentations.
• A number of included curious pieces of fun, and very useful software (or utilities):
• Dictionary, because it helps me look up either by typing the word in, or via the right-click—in other applications.
• Chess, because my eight year old daughter loves playing.
• Photo Booth is an addictive, and self-indulging software that my wife Sneha loves.
• With Front Row, I get to play music, or play DVDs.
• iSync for managing my phone’s contact book.
• Spaces, for multiple virtual desktops. Fun and handy.
• Dashboard with 7-day weather etc.
• Spotlight for its brilliant file searching capability and intuitive interface.
• Automator is a macro-like feature on an OS level. I haven’t used it yet, but given its high utility value, I could learn a thing or two on how to put this to my use.
• Terminal. This is still the best. I am much home in the comfort of an integrated bash shell—for using unix-like native commands viz., ssh, sftp, rsync, and svn, which I use primarily to connect and maintain this site, as well as for infrequent uploads (plugins as contributions) to open source projects like WordPress.

Professional and scientific Software. I wish I had a Mac at work. But with limited (or non-existent) professional, and heavy duty scientific software for (non-IT) engineers, it seems highly unlikely—at least in my case. Windows continues to dominate our corporate environments. Switching, besides mindsets, is much like changing course of a giant ship—guided, and excruciatingly slow. Even if companies were willing, this lack of tools would still be a problem for the Mac. (Hope to see it change, in future though.)

While it’s possible today to run Windows applications via virtualization, or via emulation, any alternative to running an application natively is potentially a hassle—or at the least is seen to be.

The other problem of course, is getting support from within the organization, because the supporting IT-staff are unwilling, and often resist change; and which is just being human. So if there is a pothole en route to Macintosh’s world domination today, this is pretty much it.

The only thing to avoid while using the Mac is entering detailed metadata within Mac OS applications. I am told such curations often go wasted.

For what it’s worth, I use the Macbook essentially like a net-book. And for such generic home use, I see the Macbook as a perfect little computer I enjoy using.

Update: I discovered that fn+Backspace key combination works like a Del button. (Boy, I am glad to know this.)

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