Windows user, considering moving to Mac

[avive]

Hi everyone.
I'm a programmer, and an experienced windows user- I'v been with Windows since the very beginning, and as I'm a power-user, I'm very familiar with the gory details of windows, tweaking many of its aspects, and using many opensource utils and hacks to enhance the experience.

In the last year I've been thinking of moving to Mac.

From what I know about Mac OS X, it's an extremely easy to use OS, very smooth and fun-to-use for a simple home-user, and I wanted to ask (at the risk of sounding funny to some):
- Is OS X suitable for high-end power users / devlopers, or does it confine you to a "beginners use"?
- Does it has as many hacks and free OS utils as in Windows environment?
- Is it a "confined garden" as the iOS based apple devices, or is it open for users to play with and hack it?

I'd really appreciate answers!

 

[GGJstudios]

- Is OS X suitable for high-end power users / devlopers, or does it confine you to a "beginners use"?
- Does it has as many hacks and free OS utils as in Windows environment?
- Is it a "confined garden" as the iOS based apple devices, or is it open for users to play with and hack it?

I was a Windows "advanced" user from the beginning, as well, having begun my experience with computers about 40 years ago, with mainframes. One thing that attracted me to Mac OS X is the promise of not having to "monkey" with the system anymore... no more cleaning the Registry, running antivirus apps, rebooting to free up memory, running countless maintenance utilities, etc., just to keep system performance optimized.

After having made the switch almost 4 years ago, I only have one regret: that I didn't do it sooner! Mac OS X doesn't confine you to any level of expertise. In my opinion, it's a much more elegant system than Windows. There is a plethora of free (not pirated) apps and utilities, such that the only software I've had to buy in the past 4 years is MS Office and Boom.

You can tweak it and change default settings if you choose, and I've done some of that, but I like the fact that I can be 100% productive with my computer, rather than divide my time between using it and maintaining it. In fact, in the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what to do with all the time it freed up. Like any OS, there are some idiosyncrasies that I don't care for, but overall, I've been extremely pleased with my Mac experience. While I'm still involved with Windows to the extent that I provide remote tech support to those using it, I would dread the idea of going back to a Windows-only world.

 

[Mal]

I was a Windows "advanced" user from the beginning, as well, having begun my experience with computers about 40 years ago, with mainframes. One thing that attracted me to Mac OS X is the promise of not having to "monkey" with the system anymore... no more cleaning the Registry, running antivirus apps, rebooting to free up memory, running countless maintenance utilities, etc., just to keep system performance optimized.

After having made the switch almost 4 years ago, I only have one regret: that I didn't do it sooner! Mac OS X doesn't confine you to any level of expertise. In my opinion, it's a much more elegant system than Windows. There is a plethora of free (not pirated) apps and utilities, such that the only software I've had to buy in the past 4 years is MS Office and Boom.

You can tweak it and change default settings if you choose, and I've done some of that, but I like the fact that I can be 100% productive with my computer, rather than divide my time between using it and maintaining it. In fact, in the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what to do with all the time it freed up. Like any OS, there are some idiosyncrasies that I don't care for, but overall, I've been extremely pleased with my Mac experience. While I'm still involved with Windows to the extent that I provide remote tech support to those using it, I would dread the idea of going back to a Windows-only world.

That's almost worth a sticky!

jW

 

[StevenMeyer]

I am a network engineer and bootcamped win7 and backtrack. best option.