from iPod to G5

Well, I’ve really jumped ship now, and I’ve bought a shiny new dual 2ghz G5. I blame the iPod and my insanity mostly, but it has been a bunch of fun so far. I wrote a rambling boring essay about reasons that might have contributed to the switch.

I love technology and fooling around with the latest gadgets and software. When I first started fooling around with computers as a wee one, I was so intrigued with the idea of being able to have this magical box do what I tell it to do, at least most of the time. Since those days with my Commodore VIC 20, I’ve owned many different computers, and over time some of the magic has gone away.

With each new computer was a new adventure. I’d have a new operating system to learn, new hardware capabilities to play with and usually improved performance. Learning is one of my most cherished hobbies, so I would tackle the new machine with gusto and try to learn as much as I could. I also enjoy sharing what I’ve learned, although I’ve done this less than I should recently.

Alas, I found myself falling into a bit of a slump several years back. I’d lost the constant adventure of learning new things, because I was using Windows, and there wasn’t really much going on in new versions of Windows. Windows also was very obtuse. Things happened for no explainable reason, and the procedure to “fix” problems was often a very unsatisfying thing like a reboot. Then I discovered Linux (Redhat 5.something) and was overjoyed.

I found the mystery again, and had to learn an entirely new way to work. Linux was very open, and problems were almost always solved in a way I could document and remember. But most importantly, it was totally new and I had to learn all sorts of stuff.

Over the years as a Linux user, I’ve reached the point where there are really few surprises left for me. Linux as a platform is moving much more quickly than Windows ever did, but many of the changes are opposite of the direction I’d like to go. I could rant about this, but that is a topic for another really long post. Also, as I’ve become busier, I just don’t have as much time to play with a constantly changing system. My job requirements as a windows developer made it easy for me to switch back to Windows, instead of a stable Linux platform like the excellent Xandros, so I did.

I didn’t much care for running Windows, but I was gaming during much of my free time, and working on windows development projects in the rest. I became used to Windows again. Then I bought an iPod.

I was so happy with the device. It seemed to work exactly as I expected. iTunes (POMG, what is it with the iEverthing??) was fast, intelligent and made it easy for me to do all the things I’d always wanted to do with my various audio players over the years. I’m sure I could have done these things in them, but with iTunes it was easy. I just did what I thought I should do and it worked. The design itself is so elegant and thoughtful that I was floored.

My boss has always been an Apple guy, and we’ve talked quite a bit about all things Apple and the like. He recently bought a Mac with OS X, and has been very pleased with it. He was talking to me about how new everything was to him, and how much fun it was to figure everything out, and it hit me. I wanted to experience that again. I was so sick of the PC platform. I loved the power of Linux, but I wanted something that was designed with more thought and yes probably mostly, I wanted a new toy.

So I got a Mac. And I’m not sorry. It is new and different. It is so much fun. And it even feels a lot like Linux in the ways I wanted. I’ve heard that Mac users are very loyal. I wonder if I’ll become a permenant convert.

Macs are definitely fun, and I’m having a blast figuring everything out. I was very puzzled for a while as to how to open the CD/DVD drive. (there’s a button on the KEYBOARD, POMG) It is lightning fast too, but I suppose it had better be for what I paid for it.

Remember to drink Coke and use Mead notebooks to wallpaper your iPod. Have a great day!