clog

Vendor lock-in is an ugly thing. I try to avoid any platform that uses a lock-in style of marketing, which pretty much means I avoid Microsoft products. I’m not religiously against them though. I use them as needed and have some installed. If there’s a reasonable alternative though, I’ll use it - even if it’s not quite as good.

Now we have a new form of lock-in. It’s the I-can’t-live-without-the-interface lock-in, and it’s far more dangerous. I’ve been using Mac OS X for two years now and although initially learning it was very frustrating, I’ve become so addicted to the UI niceties that I almost can’t function without it. This is particularly surprising considering the amount of time I spend using a terminal.

So why then am I addicted to OS X? Reason #1 - the shortcuts. OS X shortcuts are well thought out and are based on a combination of classical UNIX/Emacs shortcuts and PC based shortcuts. Now I have no idea whether Command+s came before Ctrl+s and I don’t care - I’m just calling them PC based shortcuts. PC shortcuts ARE sensible shortcuts. In Emacs the Ctrl+s equivalent would be Ctrl+x Ctrl+s - Not quite so friendly (and that’s an easy one for Emacs). Movement shortcuts resemble Emacs shortcuts though. These ARE handy. Ctrl+n, Ctrl+f, Ctrl+p, and Ctrl+b will move you around almost everything. Whether I’m checking email, browsing the web, or writing code - I can ALWAYS count on these shortcuts working as expected. Another less known shortcut is the Escape key. Type a word and hit escape and OS X will auto-complete it - ANYWHERE. It’s universal and only happens on command - unlike the annoying pop-up style auto-complete Windows and Linux apps use.

Let’s not forget the other reasons…

Reason #2 - It’s beautiful. Call me a romantic, but I much rather look at a visually appealing OS all day rather than something that looks like Playskool’s My First Small Business Kit.

Reason #3 - TextMate. I write code. This is the best editor in the Universe. Period.

Reason #4 - Expose. Ultimate window navigation.

Reason #5 - Spotlight. Dump your crap in just the one relevant folder and forget about it. Spotlight will always find it for you down the line.

Reason #6 - Quicksilver. The awesomely effective application launcher. Who needs a stupid Program Files menu when you have magic. I wish it was more stable on Intel though..

Reason #7 - Growl. I know what your email is about because I saw the first line in the growl cloud. And I already know I don’t want to read it, so I’m not opening my email. Also.. I know I’m getting a critical server error because I saw it pop up in the growl cloud. That looks important…

Reason #8 - It all “just works.” This is the only OS where downloading an application is almost always synonymous with installing it. No stupid dialogs with useless questions and no need to make sure your gcc flags are correct.

Reason #9 - Dashboard. Weather/Documentation/well anything you want at the touch of a button. Highly useful once you get used to it.

Reason #10 - Finder. Seriously, I’m not joking. Finder is great. It does NOTHING but the bare minimum and that’s all it should do. Why? Reasons 4, 5, 6, and 9. I used to hate finder, but now I love it’s simplicity. The real productivity gains come from not having to use finder in the first place. When you do need it, it’s there and it’s very easy to get from point a to point b. If you find yourself hating finder, then you’re using it for the wrong things.

Take those things away and my productivity sucks. Working without them these days is like going back to the stone age.

The thing that surprises me the most is the huge number of Mac users that don’t learn ANY of the above. LEARN THEM!! You’re brain (and fingers) will thank you.