I recently made the switch from Pixelmator to Acorn, but not for the reasons you might expect.
Pixelmator and Acorn are both best-in-class image editors for Mac OS X. Developed by small dedicated teams, each app has a long history of updates dating all the way back to September 2007. As far as features are concerned there is very little I can do in Pixelmator that I can’t do in Acorn and vice versa. Both apps cost $29.99, (although Pixelmator has received free upgrades since appearing in the App Store). No, the reason I switched from Pixelmator to Acorn has little to do with features and even less to do with price. I switched from Pixelmator to Acorn because I believe in indie Mac app development,nand I want to support applications that continue to grow outside of the Mac App Store.
Pixelmator has been an App Store only app since the release of version 2.0 in 2011. At the time I choose Pixelmator as my primary image editor for its impressive features and familiar Photoshop-like user interface. But since October 2011 every Pixelmator update I have received has been free of charge, and over time Pixelmator’s progress has slowed. I would argue that since the release of version 3.0 in October 2013, Pixelmator for Mac has not received a single meaningful update. Meanwhile Acorn continues to receive multiple meaningful updates several times a year.
I don’t mean to pick on Pixelmator while applauding Acorn, but I believe the difference in their business models is clear. Complex apps like Acorn and Pixelmator cannot thrive indefinitely on a one time fee. Apps require regular paid updates to fuel innovation. Pixelmator is a victim of the myth of the App Store, that somehow indie Mac developers will make up lost revenue in volume by releasing only on the Mac App Store. All while Apple takes their thirty percent off the top. If you value indie Mac development, respect Mac developers by purchasing paid upgrades outside of the Mac App Store when possible. Apple, the wealthiest company in the world doesn’t need your thirty percent, and indie Mac developers don’t deserve to fall victim to the myth of the App Store.
Last week Apple announced the 2019 MacBook Pro, and the word keyboard did not appear in the press release.
Apple is not talking about MacBook keyboard reliability because the problem is fixed. They are not talking about MacBook keyboard reliability because they want the problem to go away.
It will take times for us to learn if the ‘new materials‘ Apple has added to the 2019 MacBook Pro keyboards will solve the reliability problems, but even Apple has their doubts. The “Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro“has been extended to cover not just the 2018 models, but the keyboards in last week’s 2019 MacBook Pro’s as well.
If you are aware of the risks, new materials or not, now is a good time to buy a new MacBook. Should things go wrong, Apple will cover the replacement of your keyboard for up to four years from the data of purchase. If you have already been burned by Apple’s keyboard reliability problems or want to wait, don’t expect MacBooks with a new keyboard design until at least 2020.
Seven years ago this blog post by Mark O’Connor changed my life.
On September 19th, I said goodbye to my trusty MacBook Pro and started developing exclusively on an iPad + Linode 512. This is the surprising story of a month spent working in the cloud.
Mark went from working locally on his MacBook to working in the cloud using his iPad.nWith a reliable network connection Mark could take his work with him anywhere.nFrom the office to the coffee shop, Mark’s mobility was made possible by the portability of Vim.
Perhaps the only reason this transition has been so smooth was because my favourite editor / IDE looks and feels almost exactly the same running on an iSSH console as it did running locally on my Macbook. iSSH supports xterm-256color, which means you can still have pleasant colour schemes despite working in a terminal. All my plugins are there, my code-completion, quick navigation and so on.
Seven years ago I started work at MIT.nI needed to work on dozens of different systems running a variety of operating systems.nI could no longer rely on BBEdit — my text editor of choice for over a decade — to be availablenBefore long VIM became integrated into my workflow.nToday VIM is not only the best text editor available, it is my favorite text editor.