tuesdayDeveloper;

I’m a Mac. I love my Mac. I’ve used Windows, I’ve used Linux, and while I like them both, but when I have my way, I use a Mac.

There are a few reasons I choose to use a Mac—it’s not for the “cool factor” (though that is a nice perk). My reason for using a Mac is because of usability. As a software developer, that is an area of primary focus for me, how do I make it usable? How do I make it so that anyone can pick it up and just use it? I’ve found that Macs are easier to use, and have a lot less problems than PCs, and that’s why I chose to use a Mac.

But, while I’m a Mac, I’m also a pragmatist.

If you like Windows better, that’s great, use Windows. A lot of people like Windows and that’s just fine. In fact, my purpose in writing this post is to explain to everyone that I think it is okay for you to be devoted to whichever OS you prefer.

The best analogy I’ve herd comparing two operating systems compared two cars. Each car is the same. They are the same color, brand, model. They have the same radios, interior, and tires. They are exactly the same in every detail except one. One car was built for America and the other was built for England. Americans think that English cars are “weird” because the steering wheel is “on the wrong side of the car.” Does that matter really? If an American person took an English car for a spin, chances are he could get used to it, though it may take some time. That is the same for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. If you spend enough time with any of them you’ll be able to use them quit proficiently. Chances are, you wont have to spend a ton of time either to become proficient. You may develop a preference, but you could probably drive an English car just as well as an American car with some practice. All cars are about the same the pedals of the car may be in different places, the car may look completely different, but really they are designed for the same purpose. Operating systems aren’t much different, they may have different buttons and menus, they may test your adaptability, but they were all designed to add another layer of abstraction from running the computer.

What about security?
People are always comparing the securities of different operating systems. Here’s the truth: any system build by man can be broken. Any security device someone can build can be bypassed by someone else. The best thing anyone can do for security is to know what your doing on the web. Don’t go to suspicious sites, even if it promises you a brand new car if complete 50 offers. Don’t forward those “cute” email messages that have been forwarded 100 times before that say that “someone who cares about you sent this to you, send it to someone you care about” (that’s were you get a lot of your spam, by the way). I’ll always advocate security measures, but ultimately, users can still have computer problems because they didn’t know any better. If you want security, the best thing to do is to know how to interact with the web.

But which is better?
I’m also not going to tell you that I’ve never ever had any problems with my Mac (less problems, yes, but I’ve still had problems). In fact, I write this post on my wife’s Mac because mine in being repaired (the screen started wigging out on me). I’ve had other problems on my Mac too. Now, I will say that I’ve had a lot less ID10T errors (what can I say, Macs make more sense to me).

The reason for my choice?
Ultimately, the reason I chose my OS is because I really think Apple puts a lot of thought into the end user experience. Everything from the look and feel to the key strokes make more sense on a Mac. Because things make more sense to me on a Mac, I got a Mac. I suggest you do what makes sense to you. I think that Macs are the best and I’ll continue to use them until something better comes along.

So buy a Mac, buy a PC, use Linux, buy a granite boulder and chisel it out to look like a new computer, I’d recommend getting or waiting for a tablet computer, but really, it is all up to your preferences what is best for you. If you don’t know much about computers, ask someone you trust, but you may want to take it all with a grain of salt.

What do you think? Is one OS better than the other? Am I off my rocker? Feel free to say so.

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I have two development Environments: MAMP (Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and IIS with PHP.

I created a development tool in PHP a that simply decodes a JSON string and outputs it for easy viewing:

<form method="post" style="padding-bottom:20px;">
<textarea name="json" cols="75" rows="10"></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" />
</form>

<?php
if(!empty($_POST['json']))
{
	echo '<pre>';
	print_r(json_decode($_POST['json']));
	echo '</pre>';
}
?>

The tool worked well in the IIS with PHP environment, but would choke out every time in MAMP. It kept automatically escaping single quotation marks (‘), double quotation marks (“) and back-slashes (\).

It was a php.ini thing, not an environmental thing. The fix? Open up the php.ini file, and make sure your magic_quotes_gpc variable is turned Off, like this:

magic_quotes_gpc = Off

I believe this is default for most PHP environments, except MAMP.

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It’s no secret that Microsoft is dominant in the PC industry. According to some estimates Windows (in all its various flavors) account for about 88.6% of the PC market, Mac OS X has almost 7%, and Linux has 4.5%. While I make no secret that I prefer Mac, it doesn’t surprise me that Windows is still so popular.

The simple truth of the matter is this: The PC market is driven first by price, then by usability and choice. Linux may be the cheapest and most diverse, but of the three it is also the most difficult to use for the average user. Windows on the other hand may be more expensive than Linux but it is far simpler to use and there is still plenty of choices to choose from. Macs are very easy to use, but they are the priciest and there is the least diversity of their line (less choice of specs, etc.). True, you may feel that Macs are very hard to use or that Linux is by far the simplest of the three to operate, but we’re talking about the general populous and what they think: Linux is too hard, Macs are too expensive, Windows is just right.

Everything is about to change.

I’ve said that the tablet computer is the future of computing. The average user will use a tablet computer for all of there needs. Desktops and laptops will still be used by those who need more computing power or screen real estate, but make no mistake tablets will reign (unless the real estate heavy programs can be elegantly reworked into a smaller touch-screen, cloud-based system). So what does that mean for Microsoft?

Right now there is only one tablet on the market (the iPad) with another tablet coming soon (basically Android though not exactly), and even more coming later. It is obvious that Microsoft is working on comparable tablet software of their own but their making a lot of mistakes. The Zune (or Zune OS) isn’t ever going to make it the way the iPod/iPhone has, but if Microsoft is going to make a tablet computer they have to follow the same rules Apple created. A tablet has to boot instantly, be incredibly simple, and feel like it is a “touch based” OS (not a “mouse based” OS that has been tweaked into a “touch based” OS. For the record this doesn’t mean that Windows as it is can’t be that system, but if Windows is to be a “touch based” OS has to feel like it’s a “touch based” OS).

It would surprise me greatly is Microsoft didn’t have a tablet computer within a few years (the “tablets” they have now don’t count, they don’t boot instantly and they don’t have a “touch based” OS, I’ll let you make up your mind if their “simple” or not). So yes, Microsoft will have a Windows 7 mobile tablet (or something like it) within just a little while. My question is whether it will succeed or not. Once again, it would surprise me if there weren’t a lot of Window’s tablets out there once they become available. I don’t think, however, that they will dominate the tablet market like Windows dominates the PC market. Why?

The first iPad I saw in the wild belonged to a professor of mine. I couldn’t guess his age if I wanted to, but if I had to guess I’d say he was in his late 50′s. The second iPad I saw in the wild (if you can call church “the wild”) belonged to a woman in Sunday School who had to be in her late 60′s (I don’t know her she was only visiting). She was using the iPad to look up scriptures (isn’t that awesome)! My point in mentioning these sightings is this: the people who have iPads now are the very people who are most afraid of change. Now, I know for a fact that my professor is a Mac guy, and I have no idea where the woman’s operating system devotions lye, but I can tell you from the numbers that many of the people who bought an iPad were middle aged or older and statistically speaking most of them use Windows. Will this trend continue once someone releases a Windows table? I don’t know, but I think it will. I think that before Microsoft finally has a tablet that’s been done right, it will be too late for them. By that time, Apple and Google will dominate the tablet market, but that doesn’t mean that Microsoft will disappear into nothingness. (My ten year prediction for the tablet industry: Microsoft 20%, Google 40%, Apple 40%.)

Microsoft’s future is in Microsoft Office. Microsoft already makes more money on Office than it does on it’s OS sales. Moving Office to the cloud is a good move for them. It is really the only move for them. While I certainly don’t prefer Microsoft Office (iWork is so much easier) people are used to it and it will be available soon enough to be a part of the tablet revolution (as long as people are willing to do their editing in a browser). Google Docs (while superior in some ways) still has a long way to go before it will rival Office Online (or docs.com Microsoft partnered with Facebook).

None of my predictions mean a thing if Microsoft can figure out how to do things right. If they release a real tablet by Q1 2012 they have a chance. I’m just guessing that they won’t have a decent tablet by then. What do you think?

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When I heard about the iPad I knew something right way: there are going to be a lot of people who want one of these—but, I wasn’t one of them—why would I want a big iPod when I have a laptop that will do everything and more that an iPad will do? I thought that people who use their computers to check email and look things up once in a while would be the only ones who wanted an iPad.

Then I tried one…

While I’m still not going to rush out and buy one (seeing as I’m living on a student budget and all) I’ve changed my mind. While I was sure that this product would be big with a lot of people, I didn’t think that people in certain jobs (software developers, journalists and writers, business, people who need real computers) would have a real interest in them. I was wrong. Everyone will have one of these in the near future.

I’m not limiting my prediction to the iPad. Apple’s products aren’t going to disappear from the marketplace, but there will be other big competitors (I personally think that Android will be quite popular). No, the future won’t be limited to the iPad, but everyone will have a tablet computing device (probably multiple) in there homes. What I’m not entirely sure on is whether we’ll have other computers as well.

If the technology stays about the same as it is then us programmers will need a desktop or laptop computer and a laptop in addition to our tablets, but the technology could evolve so that all anyone needs is a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard. All most programmers would need would be a good online IDE as good as Eclipse and we’re set. The good news is that there are a few online IDEs out there (coderun.com, ideone.com, ECCO) they just have a long way to go (but then again Eclipse has a long way to go too).

While that could be what happens, I don’t quite see it working out that way. While most people could use their tablet for all of there needs, programers need their screen real estate. When I was using the iPad to surf the web the screen didn’t seem too small. On the other hand when I program I never feel that I have enough screen space on my 13in MacBook, theres no way I’d have enough space on a little 9.7in screen).

I think this is how it will work out: Most people will own one or more tablet machines. People who do a lot of art work, writing, architecture, programming, etc. will have a desktop and/or a laptop as well. I wouldn’t doubt it if many homes had some sort of media server in their homes. Web servers, application servers, and mega-computers will stay were they always have where they’re needed.

Overall, the era of the PC as we know it (with desktops and laptops) is over. Tablet computers will rule the next era.

What do you think? Are tablet computers the next big thing or are they just a fad?

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The idea of an “App store” is pretty new. In the past if you wanted to develop an application you would write it and publish it on your site for users to download. Apple had a different idea. They wanted to control what applications were on the device (presumably to protect their image) and so they developed the App Store. Now, if anyone wanted to develop an application for the iPhone, you have to go through Apple to get it approved.

At first, it seemed that Apple was only denying apps that infringed on built in functionality—Android has a hundred different phone dialers, iPhone has one—programs like Google Voice were denied. Then Apple changed the rules. Apple said they didn’t want any “overly sexual” apps on their App Store and then they deleted all pornography and similar from their store. After that, they started to deny applications that had “limited functionality.”

I have mixed feelings on the idea of a controlled app store. On the other hand, shouldn’t people be able to have the apps they want, even the pointless duck phone app? On other hand, I understand that Apple wants to protect their image, not to mention if it were my app store I would ban pornography apps as well, I don’t condone pornography of any kind and I applaud Apple for sticking to their guns on that issue, but at the same time, I don’t think that there should be such a strict approval process.

If I were Apple I’d do things a little differently. In the official app store, as part of the developer’s agreement I would absolutely say that any apps that were overly sexual, crude, vulgar, offensive or malware would be summarily removed. Other than that I’d let the customers decide what they want.

What do you think?

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