I am certainly enjoying the iMac. There are things it does really well, which are unsurprisingly mostly graphics and audio based.

Here are some of the things I've found in my first week of using a Mac.

Keyboard

The hash key is missing. Is this a big deal? Yes, if you program at all. The default mapping requires you to press ALT+3 to get the hash symbol. Crazy.

Thankfully, a kind soul has remapped the keys to what we expect from a UK keyboard.

Other keys which still confuse me are the page up/down, home/end keys, and that strange one next to the = sign on the number pad.

Web Browser

Mac OSX ships with Safari: A fast browser with lovely RSS integration. However, it lacks the versatility of Firefox. If Safari had Quick Searches and Extensions, I would consider using it as my main browser. As it is, I think I'll use Safari for feed reading and Firefox for everything else.

Terminal

I find that I complete tasks faster on a CLI than using a mouse. Therefore, a good terminal program is required. The built-in Terminal is adequate, but I am currently considering iTerm as an alternative. The main reason for this is tabbed sessions.

Text Editor

I am using vim as my basic editor. For ruby/rails development, I am trying out Textmate. However, it has yet to show me anything which warrants forking out money. It has no feature which it does better than vim or Xcode.

Virtual Desktops

Desktop Manager is a lovely little app which gives me multiple virtual desktops. This is a real boon if screen real estate is at a premium (and when isn't it?)

Ruby

Ruby on Tiger is somewhat crippled. There is no readline or support for extensions. These can be rectified by following/running this script.

Windows on Top

Maybe because Expose is built-in, Apple felt there was no need for this. However, I like being able to set certain windows to be on top of all others. If I'm watching a DVD, I don't want any windows to go on top of the DVD player, even if I move them that way.

Mouse follow and window roll up are other features I've not being able to find yet.

Copy and Paste

I am still getting used to using keys to copy and paste. I'm used to selecting text and pasting it using the middle button.

Here's how I see it. If I'm selecting some text, then I'm probably going to copy it, so why not do that for me? The next place I go to is probably where I want to paste it, so make that the middle mouse button click. This is how it works in Linux.

A Mac user pointed out that maybe they wanted to replace some text, so that's when their key use would be useful. Let's see shall we?

Mac way

1. Select original text (mouse)
2. Cmd + C (keyboard)
3. (if overwriting) Select text to overwrite (mouse)
4. Cmd + V (keyboard)

Linux way

1. Selet original text (mouse)
2. Paste text (mouse)
3. (if overwriting) Select text to overwrite (mouse)
4. (if overwriting) Delete (keyboard)

Note that the text to overwrite is now stored in my clipboard, should I choose to paste it elsewhere. The Linux way requires fewer steps and less attention switching from mouse to keyboard.

Dashboard

Apps that you use occasionally, but you want up fast. For example, a calculator or dictionary. Pressing F12 brings up the apps ready to use, on a transparent background.

Expose

Fancy window handling:

• F9 displays all the currently active windows
• F10 shows you all the active windows in your current application
• F11 makes all the windows slip off the screen

Holding down the key for longer makes it spring back. If you tap it then you'll stay in that view. You can also make it go in slow motion by holding down the shift key as you do your actions. Actually that's applicable to any window action - try minimizing while pressing shift.

RSS Screen Saver

Brilliant. It looks good and is very practical. Obviously there are more things I'd like it to do. Multiple random feeds. Different colours and styles. Ability to go back and forth. Timing. But I'm just getting picky.

Conclusion

No machine is going to be perfect. No shift from one OS to another is going to happen without some change and compromises. There are some annoyances and some gems. Most of the problems I've encountered have had solutions. Overall, I'm pleased with the iMac and would consider Apple for future machine purchases.