My mind set before

Before I became a web designer/developer I was a PC technician. I’d never even touched a Mac, or used Linux for anything more than the most basic commands.

I like (and still use as my primary computer) PC’s. I know them, I’m comfortable with them and when they break I know where to kick them to get them working again.

So what has changed?

That’s a question I’m still grappling with, but I have noticed this change occurring with the way I approach everything recently.

It’s changed in the way I code. Once upon a time I would never have dreamed of using a framework such as Zend, cakePHP or the PEAR packages. That’s cheating I would say. But now I do…

I would never have considered using a javaScript library, how do you learn if you don’t do everything from scratch? But now I’m an avid supporter of jQuery, it’s fantastic!

I went on some training for Linux not so long back and now I have a Linux box sat next to me that I use for development.

And what about Mac’s? Well I’m still not convinced on how I personally will benefit from using one. I think what has always put me off about Mac’s are “Mac evangelists”. Apple seems to have this cult of passionate, preaching, followers who will happily beat you over the head with Mac keyboard until you believe! (it’s the same reason I don’t like football), which is a real shame because instead of just letting the technology speak for itself, it’s being rammed down your throat by it’s fans and I can tell you now, if you complain about that statement, you are one!

But like with everything else my view point is starting to change and I’m starting to become more open minded.

Overall I think this change is due to time. I don’t have enough time now days. And I seem to be constantly looking for ways to make my life easier and save me time.

The iPhone

Conveniently my mobile contract is coming to an end, so when I realised the iPhone 2.0 was being released at the same time; I started looking into it more. And I think most people agree that this version looks fantastic! Although I have heard people bitching and moaning about the camera, but does it really matter? Or is it just something for people to bitch and moan about? I’m personally not bothered about it. I’ve never had a phone with a decent camera anyway.

The idea of having a single device that I can get all my e-mails on, access the internet, phone from, use GPS, watch video, listen to music etc, etc, is very appealing and not only is it cool, I think it will make me more efficient.

The keynote from Apple just made me want one even more and has even made me consider getting a Mac just so I can develop apps for the iPhone and when I received my iPhone update the other day from O2, I got giddy.

Roll on 11^th July! I can’t wait.