My Random Blog
About Me
Hello. I’m Ashley and I’m a Mac.
05 months ago
Anyone who’s read my previous blogs won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve gone Mac. Those who knew me before 2008, might be.
First some history, beyond computers mainly used for games during my childhood (mainly consoles and an Amiga 600) my first computer was a PC. Running Windows 95, 133 MHz, 4 Mb Ram Packard Bell. It was huge, slow and very offline. Since then my home computer has always been a PC, 1 x Windows 98, 2 x XP and an Alienware water cooled beast running Vista in 2007. But that’s not to say I’ve lived a Microsoft sheltered life, I’ve also used Macs at every job I’ve ever had starting with pre-candy-coloured macs with biege boxes running OS 7, 8, 9 and OS X. Sometimes they were just machines in the office, others they were my main working machine.
Macs did use to look like this.
As I moved more into the programming side of things, using a Mac made less and less sense, and for the past 10 years most of my work has been on Windows, and I got very comfortable doing so. To me Windows is that old pair of trainers, falling to bits, but the perfect fit, slip on in seconds and look right with anything. Macs never came into consideration when replacing my home PC, I had Mini Mac as a HTPC in the living room, rarely used, never even considered using it for much beyond playing videos and testing the occasional website.
What changed? Why have I gone Mac? I guess it started in 2008, with a purchase of a certain new phone, the iPhone 3G. It was a revelation, computing isn’t ment to be this easy. I didn’t need to know about file formats, .dll’s, drivers… I hate to say it but it was strange to have a gadget that “Just worked”. The App store took the risk out of buying/installing software, the apps were very well priced and very well supported. I’m now on my second iPhone, the 4, and the experience has only got better with each new version of iOS.
Pleased with the iPhone, I was sold on the iPad as soon as I saw it. No, I was up-sold from the iPhone. Again the iPad revolutionised my computing. My PC was falling out of use at home. Turning it on became an effort compared to sliding open my iPad. The only time I used it was when I had something “big” to do. Some Programming, writing a long blog, editing some photos, sorting out a new Spotify playlist… Even though it was an Alienware PC gaming was too much of an effort (have you got the latest drivers, the latest directX etc. etc) compared to firing up something new on the iPad or resorting to the Xbox for a proper game. Don’t get me wrong. An iPhone and an iPad cannot replace a PC in my usage case, I imagine it can for some, but as a power user no way can I go PC-less. The comfy trainer was fine, but I was starting to get tired of getting wet feet though the holes.
So a few months ago my beast of a PC starts to take a few tries at booting up, slowing down for no apparent reason, then the network card stopped working… you get the idea. Lots of progress bar not moving and the feeling that multi-tasking is best avoided. So the search for a replacement started and thanks to the iPad and the iPhone, Apple where in the race. Again I’m not a Mac n00b, so I had a better look at the work Macs to see where OS X was, and it had come a long way since I last used it. Not soon after was the announcement of OS X Lion, with the key idea being that Apple are looking to bring what they’d learn’t from the iPhone and iPad to the Mac.
This was all I needed to hear. A few month later new iMac’s arrived and soon after Lion got released. Luck would have it that my PC took a turn for the worse a few days after Lion had come out. Well not really luck, I was planning to save for a few month before purchasing but when my PC couldn’t keep alive for more than 5 minutes at a time my hand was forced.
So I’ve had my lovely 27″ iMac for a few weeks now, I’m going to leave it a few months before putting up my thoughts about how successful the switch has been so I can get past that “justifying you’re purchase” thing. But so far I’m loving it, it just works.
Ashley.
About Me
0
Hi, I’m Ashley. I’m twenty seven. I’m a web programmer/technical manager. I live in Leicestershire in the UK by myself in a town called Coalville.
If you’re looking for an explanation as to why this blog exists, then the best place to look is my first post: http://goo.gl/iS84
I don’t know why but reeling off some of my favourite things is probably a better way to describe myself, this page could easily end up looking like some dating website profile. Sorry.
Music
I’ve got a pretty wide taste in music here’s a link to one of my Spotify playlist: Awesome. If you don’t have Spotify here’s a few artist from it: Johnny Cash, Imogen Heap, Kate Bush, Bjork, Air, Radiohead, The Verve Beastie Boys, Annie Lennox, Nina Simone, Paul Van Dyk, Warren G, M.I.A. Flock of Seagull and Boys Noise. That’s just one playlist, but you get the idea. Mainly I like Dance music because I DJ and it’s also a genre that pushes new ideas and sounds. Anything Daft Punk or Justice or Tiesto and I’ve got my wiggle on. There’s not much I don’t like but ‘Screaming’ heavy metal I just don’t get, and most pop just melts my brain. Occasionally I go through periods of listening to film sounds tracks, of which the soundtrack to ‘The Fountain’ is my fave, along with the Superman Kyrpton theme.
Films
Again, I know it’s a cop out but I will sit through just about any film and enjoy it. Like any true geek sci-fi is always high on the list, Star Trek over Star Wars if you want to know. Any action film with Jason Statham in is a must see, so are Zombie films and anything that looks so crap it has to be good, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to watch films that make me think. As above ‘The Fountain’. ‘Prefume: The Story of a Murderer’ and any Michael Gondry film will get my attention. On the dislike front: ‘Mamma Mia’ – though I like Abba’s music, Sex in the City – As I’m a man I just don’t get it and CG Hamsters Adventures XXII in 3D type films.
I also liked Disney’s Enchanted. So there.
TV
I probably watch too much TV, I have to get a fair bit of BBC News 24 everyday otherwise I don’t feel right. Again as a geek, anything with a Star in it’s name means I’m watching it (except ‘Star’s in the eyes’, is that still on?). 24 , Lost, Battlestar Galactica are boxed set worthy. South Park, Family Guy, American Dad (Not the Cleveland show), The Daily Show (and Colbert when it was on in the UK). Grand Designs – who doesn’t like Grand Designs? Documentaries on pretty much any subject.
I avoid reality TV, I got in to the second or third Big Brother, but beyond that reality TV just makes me wish all participants get drowned when the series ends. Soaps are equally depressing, can anything that’s been on for 2 billion years really have an interesting story?
Politics
OK, listing my favourite politicians would be insanely sad. I’ll be blogging my opinions on the issues but in summary, I’m what Fox News would call a communist aka a normal left leaning sane person. I’ve voted in 3 elections all three times I’ve voted Labour, I nearly got swayed by Nick Clegg in the 2010 Election. But luckily I didn’t, as I’d be physically sick if my vote helped the Tories in anyway. I pretty much disagree with conservatives on everything.
Religion
Firmly in the Atheist camp on this front. I respect people who have faith but for me God etc. just doesn’t add up to what my eyes see. I’m not going to do a Richard Dawkins and go around trying to tell people there isn’t a god and that they are stupid. I just quietly think it to myself. But that said, I do have 2 vaguely religious views.
First I believe in karma, it’s sort of scientific, a lot of nature and science it about things equalling out and I believe if you do something good, who’ll probably reap the rewards down the line.
Secondly, when someone religious finds out you’re an Atheist the first question they ask is along the lines of ‘Why are we here then? is it just random? What’s the point of being alive then?’ Well, without trying to get too deep, I believe the world, the universe has many wonders and is extremely beautiful. It’d all be pointless if no-one was here to witness it. So the point is to see this wonder, experience the world, make it even more wonderful. I’m sure I’ll go further into this on a long boring blog sometime in the future when I can’t think of anything better to blog about.
Tech
Lastly as a geek I should really say what tech I use. Geeks always judge other geeks by their gear. So I’m just going to say. I like Microsoft. Hell, I started a Xbox fansite. But I think Windows is a much maligned OS, Vista got beat up for no real reason in my opinion. OK, IE is a piece of shit. I use Google Chrome it’s awesome go get it.
That’s said I do have an iPhone and I plan on getting an iPad ASAP. Apple do have a way of creating that gadget that just hits the spot right. Not a fan of the Mac though I spent many years working on one.
That should give you, and me, a pretty good idea of who I am. It’s ended up as a weird dating profile/drunken rant (I’m not drunk though, I hardily ever drink). I’m sure most people won’t of got this far but if you did well done.