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macOS Java Developers: How does your OSx productivity compare to XP
- Thread starter sonstone
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I would have to say that I wasted far less time looking for a window, or browsing for files. At first, I was slower, I had to figure out how to do things that I knew how to do on windows. After a month, I estimate a time savings of 30 minutes a day. One of the reasons I was faster was having a full Unix command line, and the Apple Console app available. Expose also contributed, as I did not have to go to the task bar anymore. Another time saver was using TextMate for quick edits, and Quicksilver for launching scripts and copying files around. I know most of these things are available for windows, but everything being consistent and easy-to-find makes life so much easier.
Other areas I saved time were with email. Outlook locks up, Apple Mail does not. I had regular backups, so when I lost something, I did not feel like jumping out the window. I traveled 50%, so battery life and easy wireless were life savers.
I say everything in past tense because now I am working on a stinkpad at my current position...
Other areas I saved time were with email. Outlook locks up, Apple Mail does not. I had regular backups, so when I lost something, I did not feel like jumping out the window. I traveled 50%, so battery life and easy wireless were life savers.
I say everything in past tense because now I am working on a stinkpad at my current position...
You just need to get used to it, and once you are, you'll be just as productive on a Mac, if not more. The UNIX command line is very powerful, and trumps the CMD window with its eyes closed.
What tools are you using? I am probably just as productive on either side and often use Windows anyways to test. Thank goodness for VM and bootcamp!
The main list is here, but I also use some other general editors and tools that I"m sure alternatives exist such as Notepad++, WinMerge, etc...
- A lot of cygwin which I'm hoping to replace with the native terminal
- Java 5
- Maven
- Resin and JBoss
- IDEA mainly, but sometimes Eclipse
- SVN/CVS
- OpenOffice
Well considering you state you use Cygwin, there is going to be zero productivity gain for you. You already use an IDE. You already use a decent texteditor and gvim and xemacs for Windows are indentical to their Linux and Unix versions. The OS X version of GVIM is pretty old now.
You will move to OS X, and get SVN, Java 1.5 and the Unix command line, but these versions aren't going to make you any more productive.
I love OS X, and hate basic XP or basic Vista, but when you have Cygwin, NetBeans/Eclipse and GVIM installed there aren't any advantages anymore to OS X.
You are going to be more secure as there are less exploits than for Windows, but if you have your XP/Vista machine fully loaded with protection, then that is also a moot point.
So your real distinction will be, do you believe OS X will speed up your work in some other way? Maybe.
You will move to OS X, and get SVN, Java 1.5 and the Unix command line, but these versions aren't going to make you any more productive.
I love OS X, and hate basic XP or basic Vista, but when you have Cygwin, NetBeans/Eclipse and GVIM installed there aren't any advantages anymore to OS X.
You are going to be more secure as there are less exploits than for Windows, but if you have your XP/Vista machine fully loaded with protection, then that is also a moot point.
So your real distinction will be, do you believe OS X will speed up your work in some other way? Maybe.
Not sure if they still do, but apple used to heavily optimise the JVM and I used to find that it tended to run quicker on OSX than windows. If you application is particulay heavy going you may notice small improvements in run time when you compile / test. Must say though that this is a hitorical observation, and would guess its probably not as big a gap as it used to be.
I work on both Mac and Windows, and I would say this statement is probably close to the truth.
However, it's not black and white:
- I love working on Mac, it makes me feel good. I really miss expose, the dock and double-click-to-hide windows when I'm on Windows now.
- I hate working on Vista, the new explorer frustrates me and the aero window borders are not easy on the eyes. The basic theme is even more distracting. Turning themse off doesn't work anymore because the explorer windows need themes for their toolbars.
- I like working on XP, it is fast, stable and I know it well.
On Windows I mostly use gVim, Notepad++, Netbeans, Ruby (from the console), Subversion and Sqlite to do my cross platform Java and Ruby stuff. The reason I stick with Windows is because I earn most of my money writing .NET and SQL Server applications.
TortoiseSVN on Windows is magic. I miss that when I'm on the Mac.
TextMate is great, but I tend to go for either vim or Netbeans.
I use Debian Linux to do any and all server related jobs, like hosting repositories, running Trac, that kind of stuff.
Sorry to ramble, it's just that this is something I'm quite interested in myself.
P.S. Macromedia/Adbove creative apps seem to feel much more at home on the Mac. Flash's toolbars and especially the ActionScript editor suddenly make sense. On Windows they feel kind of bodged. I think CS3 improves matters though.