What Makes the Mac Great

The Mac has been known for its elegant and easy to use interface. For that reason, creative types like layout designers, writers, desktop publisher, etc., are drawn to it.

Ease of use, however, has a downside. Some of it are achieved by reducing the number of choices or options a user can make. The idea was: less options, less confusion.

This works fine for those with a definite set of feature requirements because once those feature set are provided by the system or its applications, the user is satisfied.

But there are those users who need, say, feature A for determining network connections and a slight variation of the same feature A for checking FTP logs, and so on. The developer cannot predict the different variations this type of users need for feature A. The result is, either the developer tries to implement all conceivable variations of feature A, which would result in bloated software, or the developer would only implement a small set of the variation. In both cases, the end result is sub-optimal. This type of users need more flexibility than ease of use.

For these users, a flexible system is necessary. While this need is satisfied by Linux, FreeBSD and other Unix-like systems, some people cannot stay with these systems alone for long. Even though they needed the flexibility offered by these systems, they do not need that degree of flexibility all the time. Sometimes, they also do mundane tasks with definite requirements which, while doable, is unnecessarily difficult using these systems.

There are two possible solutions for this: the first one is to buy a Mac, and also a PC with Linux or FreeBSD; the second is to configure a dual-boot PC which allows the user to choose either Linux or a more familiar MS Windows operating system.

Obviously, the first option is only for a fortunate few. Most would go with the second option. During boot time the user would choose either an easy to use system or a flexible one. Seems good on the surface—until you decide, in the middle of your job, that you need to work on the other operating system. This would require a reboot and and choosing the other system from there. This is okay if you only have to do that like once or twice a day; but if it is more than that and your boot time is not fast enough, it will start to become a hassle.

But with the introduction of MacOS X, these problems vanish in thin air. Like the previous Mac Classic, it still has the elegant and easy to use interface Mac users come to know and expect. At its core, however, is Unix. It is as easy to use and as elegant as all its predecessors but has the flexibility only Unix (or Unix-like systems like Linux and FreeBSD) can offer. In short, this is the best of both worlds.

So, if your PC is currently configured to dual-boot Windows and Linux or FreeBSD, the Mac could be the best platform for you. Your friends will gawk at that beautiful hardware too.