So… I’ve been working exclusively in windows for the past week – Windows XP SP2 deploying on Windows Server 2003 to be specific.
I was lucky enough to start working on this new gig doing some C# coding, and helping to get a close-to-done-but-still-a-ways-to-go project over the finish line. I’ve been feverishly coding for the past week (well, aside from Tuesday when I got hit by a car. But that’s another post I guess.) so I haven’t had much time to post or reflect on the experience – so here I go.
The coolest part about the situation is: I didn’t have a mobile computer running windows (just some test servers) so I had to go out and buy a new Macbook Pro – I just had to, I had no choice you see :). I now have a blazingly fast Mac, and a blazingly fast Windows laptop (and Linux in VMWare too). I love this computer – it’s unnatural. Bye bye G4.
I have to say, I thought working in Windows all day was going to suck horribly. It doesn’t. It’s not as good, or as pretty, or as fun as coding on a Mac (sorry, it’s not), but it’s not too terribly bad either.
(Here is a shot of my desktop for proof)
Here are some applications I found that make coding in / using Windows… dare I say it… fun.
XKeyemacs – This is the best application on the planet for Windows. It makes windows emulate emacs key bindings everywhere. It is so awesome to be able to scroll firefox pages with ctrl+n. And it’s not just for moving around either ctrl+w, alt+w, alt+y, ctrl+k, ctrl+x ctrl+s – all of them work, everywhere. It’s great (if you like that kind of thing).
Google desktop – The gadgets and clock are pretty neat, but the thing that makes this rule is "ctrl ctrl". It works somewhat like Quicksilver… well not really… but it’s a nice application launcher / spotlight-ish tool.
Putty – To get back into unix land (ssh into servers)
Filezilla – (not the server the client) There are quite a few free ftp programs out there. I just happened to have found this one. It’s a really busy UI, but it’s good.
Windows Live Write – blog poster that works with quite a few blogging engines. Aside from the fact I can’t find a way to edit previous posts, this is probably the best WYSIWYG blogging tool I’ve used.
StarDict – hover over Chinese characters to look them up in a dictionary.
iDisk Utility – get access to your .mac iDisk from windows. (you have to be a .mac member to get it).
Paint.Net – I am sure everyone know about this one already. Free, simple graphics editing program.
ClamAV – free virus scanner, oh yeah I need one of those on this side :-/
Trillian – which, aside from the name, I don’t really like the application. However, it supports a lot of protocols (just not jabber in the free version) – it’ll do.
Miranda IM in my opinion a better multi-protocol client than Trillian. In addition to a more intuitive UI, it’s open source, and it supports gtalk / jabber protocol without having to pay.
Thunderbird – email client.
By the way, the only reason I went with XP instead of Vista Business (aside from the deafening cries of "don’t do vista"), was because Vista Business recommended minimum disk space is 15GB and XP was around 1.5GB. Less seemed better when you are dual booting.
Here are a couple tips on using Windows on a MacBook Pro.
* If you are going to run windows on your shiny Macbook Pro, and you are going to do serious stuff, don’t do virtualization. It’ll make you cry. For example, for this project I need to be running: vs.net 2005, the project complied and running, tomcat, IIS, MSSql, ArcIMS, a few administrator tools, and all the other extra bits (email, IM, etc). There is just a lot less headache when you just boot camp and let windows have the full computer – and it’s been performing very well.
* To choose an OS at startup hold down the alt/option key.
* To take a screen shot in windows (there is no print screen key on Mac), use one of: Shift+fn+F11 or Shift+Alt+Fn+F11. If you have a USB or bluetooth full Mac keyboard, F14 or Alt+F14.
* Esc+F12 rolls up the active window like old school Mac OS 9 – I didn’t even know windows could do that.
I think that’s all of my notes I wanted to jot down. If you have any tips or software suggestions, I’d love to hear them.