Switching from Microsoft (Part 2/2)
Switching from Microsoft (Part 2/2)
- Subject: Switching from Microsoft (Part 2/2)
- From: Goodbye Bill <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 11:16:50 -0400
(Continued from previous message)
So, at this point, you know why I need Java (for cross-platform abilities).
You also know why I don't want to use a Java-based language from Microsoft.
The one thing I have not addressed is why WebObjects or the Mac. The only
way I can answer that one is: common sense.
Let's face it, time is money. I need to be productive on whatever platform
I am using. This means I need a stable and reliable platform that I can
produce a working application on as quickly as possible. Now, while I can
get Eclipse, Sun's development environment, or WebObjects to run on an Intel
box, none of them work all to well in a Windows environment -- and, yes, I
have used them all over the last few months. While each product is nice and
does TECHNICALLY function, there are just too many things that are
inconsistent with a typical Windows environment. Heck, even the tutorials
and screenshots for WebObjects are almost impossible to get through on a
Windows machine because it simply does not work entirely the same as the
same dev environment on a Mac. Again, this is no fault of the product -- it
is obvious that certain things had to be adapted to function in the Windows
environment. These types of inconsistencies left me with three choices for
a Java development environment:
1. Deal with the inconsistencies and work on a Windows box;
2. Suffer from an increased learning curve on a UNIX/Linux box; or
3. Find an OS that handled Java more natively with less learning curve.
The answer was simple: Mac OS X.
As I said, I need to be productive immediately. From composing emails and
general productivity, to writing code, I need to minimize the learning curve
wherever possible. Developing Java-based apps on a Windows box is the
typical "square peg, round hole" scenario. I don't have the patience or
desire to suffer from installing an Intel/Linux box -- the UI, OS, and
various applications alone would change my environment so drastically that I
would spend months just getting a stable and proficient operating
environment! I have had to suffer from none of that with my new Mac. From
Day #1 when I cracked the seal on my new PowerBook, I was productive. I
haven't had any downtime and my clients have not been impacted at all by the
change. This means that the only learning curve that remains is with my
development environment.
As for WebObjects, I can't say that I needed to give it as much thought. It
is simply the most logical product to go with. The development environment
is the closest to the Microsoft environment which I am already familiar
with. This obviously cuts down the learning curve. And, deploying is much
easier (from what I can tell) since WebObjects takes care of so much. In
the most crude sense, all I need to do is have Java and WebObjects on the
target machine and I'm able to deploy my apps on Windows, Mac, or Solaris
without having to jump through a ton of hoops. Also, even MORE importantly
(in my opinion) is the abstraction that WebObjects provides. The less I
have to understand about the underlying code, the more I can focus on the
quality of the application and easing into the development process using
WebObjects. Now, my goal is to become as good as a developer with
Java/WebObjects as I am with the Microsoft technologies, so I will never
simply ignore what is happening "under the hood." WebObjects just makes it
so I don't have to know all of it BEFORE I can build a quality reliable
application.
Oh, yeah... one other "no brainer" that I should throw in here: With my
Mac, I still have the ability to run Virtual PC and develop on .NET, so I'm
not abandoning my Microsoft-centric clients.
So, in short, it's more than just a decision to move to WebObjects. It's a
decision to move to a better platform. At the end of the day, it all just
makes sense. I'm more productive on a PowerBook than I was on my PC-based
laptop and, in the very near future, that productivity will gradually
include my Java-based applications.
Oh, and speaking of productivity, I've been sitting here in my office since
9:00 AM this morning (now 9 hours) setting up two Windows servers. I'm 50%
done. I've blown my PowerMac away and rebuilt it three times since I've had
it (just because I can) and that task only took me about an hour each time.
Hope this helps in some way. Sorry for the ramblings.
=)
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