I’m just this guy, you know?
Since this is becoming a popular place for people to learn about Apple tricks and tips, I suppose I should add some info here so you can evaluate what I say on the blog, so here goes.
I was born in 1970. My father was a very forward-thinking person, and when I was about 12(?) he realized that computers were going to be a big thing someday, and this was just at the beginning of the PC era. So he bought an Apple II, and while I was working at my father’s office during the summer, an intern at the office who was a math major in college at the time would teach me to program it for a couple hours a day, after I finished my regular duties learning book keeping or sweeping parking lots (I had a pretty unusual childhood). From that point on, I always had access to computers, though they were all IBM compatibles after that initial Apple II.
By the time I was in college, Windows NT was released. I decided this was the future, and I focused on NT and started doing network admin and design, while still writing simple utility programs when necessary. When I graduated college (with a degree in Creative Writing (emphasis Poetry), if you can believe it), I took a job with a consulting firm doing network trouble-shooting and design. I worked as an independent computer consultant for several years, then took a job I couldn’t refuse with an publishing company that needed to move a very large database in house. So I designed their network and ended up their CIO for a decade. Over the years, I found that DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) made incredible products, and for many years everything I did was DEC. Eventually, almost everything was DEC Alpha server-based, running Windows Server. Then, in quick succession, Windows dropped Alpha processor support, and a weakened DEC was bought by Compaq, which then promptly finished what Microsoft had started, destroying the DEC product line. It kind of makes you wonder why they bought DEC in the first place. Anyway, we bought some Compaq systems, then some IBM, and they were ok, but the reliability just wasn’t the same as the DEC era. We started building our own systems, which I hadn’t done since the old days, when I had more time than money, and it made sense.
Then, a great thing happened. Apple had made fantastic hardware for a long time, but it had always been worthless to me. Running MacOS was a non-starter; it simply wasn’t practical in a Windows world. Then, one day, Apple decided to abandon IBM’s Power PC line of processors, and switch to Intel, and that changed everything. They released bootcamp, so you could run Windows on Apple hardware, and I immediately bought my first Apple product ever (remember, I was a kid with that Apple II; I certainly hadn’t bought it). That Macbook Pro was the first thing that compared to the Digital Hinote Ultra 2000 I had seen since the demise of DEC. I ran Windows for several months, splitting time using bootcamp and OSX, and I discovered that there was a whole lot to like about OSX beyond just Apple’s hardware. Happily, this coincided with the beginning of a new period in computing, where OS choice was rapidly becoming less of an issue, partly due to the rise of JAVA and the web. Finally I switched completely to OSX, and almost never booted Windows. There are a lot of reasons I made that switch, and I’ll document them in posts on this blog.
Of course, there’s a lot more to write, but that gives you the gist of where I’m coming from. Now I manage systems running Windows and OSX, both on the server side and on the desktop. When Windows is better for something, I’ll tell you that, and the same for OSX. I have a moderate bias against Windows, due to the fact MS makes a System Admin’s life so much harder due to their super-restrictive DRM. I mean I shouldn’t have to call India to re-authorize a server just because I change a hard drive, right? Yet I do. That drives me nuts. But, I’m getting off topic. Now you’ve got my background. Trust me; I am a professional 