So, I got a new job. Leaving the StorePerform startup for reasons that really should not be discussed in public, instead joining Xilinx. I decided to celebrate my new job by treating my self to a PowerBook G4. After years of being a Linux and Windows guy, I decided to try something new.

Why did I switch?

1) I really had only purchased 2 applications on my windows box: Quicken and SmartList Desktop. So I felt the associated software cost for migrating is acceptable.
2) I really enjoyed working on apple software years ago. I just seemed so much more right brain oriented.
3) I can develop software pretty much the same way I can on LInux.
4) The Apple looks too cool!

Initial Impressions - Random Thoughts

1) Wow. Slick machine.
2) It has a light sensor that adjust the screen brightness depending on ambient light.
3) The keyboard has a great feel.
4) Performance is great (1.67 Ghz G4, 1 gig of RAM)
5) Swapping <caps lock> and <control> on the left side is a breeze.
6) Spotlight search is really useful
7) Saving files: When saving a file from apps (e.g. TextEdit) via the 'save-as' menu item, the button that allows you to navigate a file hierarchy is next to the filename. I could not find this until a friendly neighbor pointed this out to me.

But, hey, WTF

1) So, the PowerBook casing has a metallic feel to it. When I type, the metall band of my wristwatch makes an annoying scratching sound. I am a little bit worried that my wrist watch will cause visible scratches on the shiny power mac surface.
2) Palm Integration: I also have a Tungsten T that I have synchronized in the past with the Palm Desktop application on my windows box. I was really looking forward to use the Mac OS X applications "iCal" and "Address Book" to replace the corresponding functionalities in the Palm Desktop. Setting this up is really trivial, but then I realized that the sync software does not sync Palm categories. Note that the Palm categories are maintained, but they are not accessible in iCal. The drawback of the Palm application for OS X 10.4 is that is it not integrated with SpotLight. At the end I decided to use the Mac apps and see how I fair without seeing the categories on the Mac side.
3) Email Migration: My previous email client was Thunderbird. I could use that on the Mac, but the integration with the other apps would not be as nice, and again SpotLight integration is not there. The Mac "Mail" application provides and import option for Mozilla that does NOT work. See these links for reasons. But I found EmailChemy which did the job for for 25$.
4) I am a little bit confused about how you are supposed to navigate quickly between windows in applications that allow for multiple windows to be open. (e.g. "TextEdit"). There should be a shortcut for cycling through windows of the same app, but I have not found it yet.
5) Finder: I am used to seeing the full path of a file in Windows Explorer. Apparently this is frowned on in the Mac world, since the only way that I have found so far to get this info is via when the file is selected in a finder window. How come that the full path currently active in a Finder app is not displayed anywhere?
6) So, where is the 'delete' key on a powerbook? (In contrast to the backspace button!)