This is the story of why I changed my primary operating system from Ubuntu Linux to Mac OS X Tiger. Spoiler: I can't afford to not have advanced communication tools that work seamlessly.

This past weekend I lost my Lenovo power adapter and with a three week wait/process/ship time for a replacement from Lenovo, I decided it was time to retire my 4 year old Think Pad. After giving it some thought, I came up with my top 3 ways in which I would like to improve my laptop situation.

Requirement 1 - I need better communication tools.

I work on a distributed team all around the world. I need the kind of communication tools that make it pointless to be sitting in an office with my coworkers.

Requirement 2 - I need to start virtualizing my dev environment.

A sandbox should be completely disposable and easily spawnable. Using Ubuntu as my primary operating system was an easy choice to make after wrangling with wamp, mamp, xamp but over time I've realized I need to separate where I get shit done from where I fuck shit up. I need to be able to have the kind of flexibility where I can smash my server in the face with an ax to see if it runs better that way and not be afraid of it dying.

Requirement 3 - If the hardware breaks can I fix it quickly?

3 weeks is an unacceptable amount of time to wait for replacement parts and I'm not about to start scrounging in the bowels of a dying PC distribution model. I want to buy directly from those who make the hardware and to know they will get me parts quickly and reliably. Part of the reason I feel this way has to do with the fact I work on a small independent team and not for some giant corporation that has tons of spare parts for the computer equipment they standardized on.

Considering Requirement 1:

This requirement stems from my disappointment in Linux based communication tools. Canonical, the company working on the Linux distribution known as Ubuntu, has done a wonderful job of making communications front and center in their distribution but it still lacks a tool that combines seemless Chat, Voice/Video conferencing, Screensharing, and remote control of other computers. To fill this gap other companies have released products on Linux such as Skype, WebEx, etc. Yet, in my experience, these products fail more often than they work. Ubuntu WILL get there, but right now I can't afford to not have the tools that work today on Mac and Windows platforms.

Considering Requirement 2:

Considering I can run virtual appliances for my sandbox in Linux, Winbows, and Mac OS X, it comes down to requirements 1 and 3. Note, if virtualization wasn't an option, then Mac OS and Windows wouldn't be options for me because Linux runs the WWW and I'm a web developer.

Considering requirement 3:

As far as I know, Dell can overnight anything. But Apple, they have actual physical locations that I can walk to and pick up a part the same day I need it.

Conclusion:

From a hardware perspective, Apple is killin it.
1. They have walk in stores in all the major locations I travel to.
2. Their hardware can run any Operating system I want.
3. They have, as far as I can tell, the most well engineered laptop hardware in history.
4. Built in camera. This does not make them special or unique. It's just part of my communications requirement.

From an OS perspective, Windows could work but I'm favoring Mac OS X for the following reasons:
1. It's based on BSD Linux so I'm more familiar with how the command line tools work.
2. Mac OS X has made communication tools a priority with iChat's amazing Video/Voice conferencing, Screensharing, and remote screen control. The same could be said about Windows with Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, but Microsoft didn't write Skype and they very well may end up blowing up that acquisition.

So what did I end up doing with my Saturday night? I set up my brand new Macbook Air! For $1,199 I got all the power I need in 2.38lbs of laptop. So far the virtualization of Ubuntu Server is going wonderfully on Mac OS X using VirtualBox and NetBeans on Mac OS X is already debugging code on my virtualized sandbox using SSHFS for access to the virtual machine's files and Safari to browse the websites on the virtualized Ubuntu Server (I'll write up a post on this later). I'm still experimenting with the various communications tools at my disposal so more on that to come!

On a parting note, dear Canonical, the moment Ubuntu has the communication tools I need, I'll run Ubuntu as my primary operating system on my shiney new Mac. Using Mac OS X betrays my values but I can't afford to not have the communication tools I need. So... for now, let good times (I hope) roll on Mac OS X.