All thoughts on the switch to Intel aside, and the solid performance of new Macs like the Mac Pro and the MacBook Pro (which are some very substantial thoughts), I was reflecting lately on the new strides made in the application front.
Apple and its third party developers have usually been at the forefront of software development, particularly in terms of UI and aesthetics. But there's some really cool things happening specifically right now. Web development is making some huge strides, for example. Being a UNIX-based system, OS X has been able to run industry standard software like Apache for awhile, but there's some interesting new additions coming up, notably built-in support for Ruby on Rails in Leopard. But there's some amazing apps that define web development gaining prevalence. Here I'm speaking mostly of TextMate (which just blows my mind every time I use it), although a case could be made for Panic's Transmit, too. Panic's Coda is the newcomer to what might be the "next big thing". With apps like these, it's no wonder that a lot of developers are starting to switch. I'm told that at most RoR conferences, you're in the distinct minority if you're toting a laptop not made by Apple.
It's not all for developers, though. Adium is perhaps the gold standard for IM clients, and, as of yesterday or so, I'm finally happy to throw in my support for a BitTorrent application: Transmission. Transmission has always been a decent application, but with the new update that came out, it doesn't have issues with trackers anymore and the UI has really evolved into something really slick. And, while I haven't had a chance to play with the new version yet, HandBrake's looking really nice. Oh, and how can anyone forget possibly the best app ever created: Quicksilver.
New app releases like the past couple of weeks keep me pretty optimistic about the future of OS X, and the future of Apple in general. I can't wait to see how the iPhone turns out (and the 3rd party apps/widgets that will be developed even without official support for it).
I have about ?Ǭ£90 to go until the precious Macbook will be mine, and I'm selling some of my possessions on eBay to get it as soon as possible.
I was originally planning to wait for Leopard, but I'd prefer five months of Tiger and then upgrade to Leopard later.
There are no good Text Editors for Windows, I totally love Coda(only saw the tour). Hopefully I will switch to Mac till the end of this year :((.
I won't be picking up Coda either, though I'd definitely give it a shot if my development work were a bit different. As it stands, though, TextMate is just absurd if you're a RoR developer, so I'm sticking to my main guns there.
I'll be making the switch soon, as soon as Leopard comes out - so it'll probably be next year. RoR comes bundled with Leopard so that's a big step forward for it.
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I've been on the fence about Coda. I like the idea, but its just ... not there yet I don't think. Instead I'm picking up a license for CSSEdit and sticking with TextMate and SSHFS/SVNX/Mac-FUSE/YummyFTP (which I got for free with MacAppADay). Coda's definitely fancy, but at this point I don't think it outdoes any of the individual apps... and Coda would be $80 vs $29 for CSSEdit (considering I already have two TextMate licenses).
The SubEthaEngine is damn tempting though... I wonder if TextMate will get on that.