[doki_pen]

I'm not trying to besnarky, but why even use a MAC. It seems like Linux is a better fit and less expensive. MAC is really about the UI, and if you don't take advantage of that you are just left with an almost Unix environment.

[thibaut_barrere]

To me it's really nice UI + convenience/simplicity of use + all the command line goodness. I use it for a couple of reasons:

- simplicity and reliability (I'm on mac since 2006) - it just works, for everything I do actually

- an ecosystem of tools that are decently priced and very simple and reliable (such as 1password, knox, deskshade...)

- interop with our (i)phones

- the UI is really pleasant to my eye (fonts)

- I'm still in love with TextMate after all those years (Allan if you read this, take your time)

But then everyone is free to use what they like, no need for the neighbours to use the very same platform :)

[tvon]

Not to pile on, but It's "Mac", short for Macintosh. MAC is, as far as I can think, only for Media Access Control (as in MAC address).

That said, my first thought for the low barrier to no-mouse would be Linux as well, but as others have said there is more to OSX than just a pretty face.

[doki_pen]

yeah, sorry. entered from my "auto-correcting" android phone. too lazy to fix.

[tmcw]

I appreciate that you're trying not to be snarky, but that's a vast oversimplification of the differences between Mac and Linux.

[kashif]

Can you explain why?

[tmcw]

I'd rather not. It's off-topic and a dead horse if there ever was one.

[evilduck]

Considering the time most of us spend on a computer, the cost differences between a Mac and a PC are negligible over the lifetime of the purchase, people should use what they prefer and what they're most productive with.

A $300 to $500 difference over two or three years of primary usage is probably a difference of pennies per hour of usage, and that's assuming that you won't waste more time maintaining a Windows or Linux install and that you're equally productive on each OS, which generally isn't the case.

[mike_h]

A common misconception about the OSX UI is that its main virtue is visual. For me, an equally-prominent virtue is the far-superior ability to control it using the keyboard and a universal scripting framework (applescript/automator). No linux WM that I know of has such a unified UI paradigm.

[Terretta]

I think "MAC" is a kind of makeup: http://www.maccosmetics.com/

The computer is capitalized "Mac": http://www.apple.com/mac/