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    Macs on the Make Blog

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Dekabal, Jul 6, 2011.

  1. Dekabal

    Dekabal Notebook Evangelist

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    I like to look at the Maker Blog and noticed that they all use macbook pro's. I was wondering why that was as most engineers i've seen use windows machines.
     
    Dekabal, Jul 6, 2011
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  2. kornchild2002

    kornchild2002 Notebook Deity

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    They probably used Macs in the past and wanted to continue the tradition. It is true that many engineers use Windows based systems but I also know a bunch of civil and environmental engineers (including myself) that use Macs. AutoCAD 2011 is for Mac OS X, MATLAB has supported Mac OS X for numerous years, and even Excel 2011 pretty much puts it on par with the Windows release (I actually like it better as there is less reliance on those stupid ribbons). There is also plenty of other engineering software available for Mac OS X.

    There is nothing set in stone saying that, if you are an engineer, you have to use Windows computers and vice versa. People now go with whatever platform they want as software availability is becoming something of the past (especially since one can always fire up Windows on a MacBook Pro and run a Windows only program if need be).
     
    kornchild2002, Jul 6, 2011
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  3. calxn

    calxn Notebook Geek

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    Having developed on Windows for over a decade and switched to Mac, I can understand why people are moving to Macs. Windows is very task oriented. Just like the idiotic Windows Phone advertisement, it's for people to get in, get their job done, and leave. Macs feels more like fun and exploration (atleast of a new system). It also brings back the old Unix/Linux memories that nearly all engineers have been exposed to while in college. I'm sure less fortunate engineers may not have had exposure to *nix in school, but the vast majority did. I love being able to have access to a real *nix terminal. The Windows terminal reminds me of dos -- limited.

    On top of that, anyone who is doing new web work that is not stuck in the niche .net Windows world would rather use a computer that feels more like the open source systems that their work is deployed. Also, alot of developers out there are now doing mobile development, and sorry to say, but Microsoft is a side show within a side show when it comes to mobile development. iOS, Android, WebOS developers usually prefer Macs.

    I remember 15 years ago when I was still doing hardware engineering, all design and simulation was done on Unix. No one was using Windows because those software didn't run on Windows yet. Non-software engineering work on Windows is actually a very recent development (10 years or less).
     
    calxn, Jul 8, 2011
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