Ask HN: Developer world Mac obsessed?

2 points by dmn 16 years ago | 4 comments

Is there any specific reason that much of the vocal developer's world __seems__ to be made up of MacAholics?

Or is it that Mac developers are more vocal about their OS beliefs?

I'm honestly wondering if theres something magic that I'm not seeing (considering the fact that my 650$ laptop is more powerful than a 1700$ macbook pro...)

For reference I mainly use Linux dual booted with Win7.

kowen 16 years ago |

I can't speak for anyone other than myself, naturally, but I was a very vocal Linux user until I got my first macbook and didn't have to google X-server error messages every time I did an upgrade. Getting various flavors of linux working was always exciting... and challenging and sometimes extremely frustrating. I think I never got the video card working properly on my last laptop.

So what I like about the Mac is OS X and all the handy *nix based tools that are still available to me, all packaged in a nice and slick package where stuff just works.

dmn 16 years ago | |

Point well taken, I will admit a lot of been looking at it through my cheap college lifestyle goggles.

caleboller 16 years ago |

Like kowen said, it's still a (STABLE) *nix OS, but with a beautiful, functional UI.

RE: "Or is it that Mac developers are more vocal about their OS beliefs?" The question you should be asking is what makes Mac developers so vocal about their OS beliefs? I think the answer you'll find is that they are so pleased with their Mac they feel compelled to share.

There's also a handful of fantastic development tools unique to OS X, two of my favorites being TextMate (RoR editor of choice by many), and Coda. There's also obviously been large growth in Objective-C developers since the release of the iPhone, again something (unless you count mono) unique to OS X.

rodyancy 16 years ago |

Apple makes the best hardware. I'm not talking about ram, processor speed, power, blah, blah, blah. I'm talking about the best integrated package, between design, specs, and OS. Apple also makes some of the best software.

Developers make software that they want to run on all hardware, especially the best hardware. They appreciate software when it works, and is designed well. Some developers value design more than others. Those, developers understand and appreciate the value in Macs.