First: My new blogging initiative failed miserably after about two days. Go me.

But today, I stand before you a changed man. Where I once loved Linux, only malcontentedness remains. Where I once loved setting servers up, only a mild interest in configuration remains. And where I once had money, only a few bucks remain.

Yes, my friends, enemies, former classmates, mentors, and other random intarweb assclowns, you are reading this correctly: I ordered a Mac.

But why? Why would OwlManAtt, lord of all that beeps and buzzes, spend so much on a non-Free product?

Well, I’d like to say ‘this all started a few months ago,’ but I am not really sure when it did start. I have just known for some time that I needed something more mobile. And mobile implies wireless. And wireless implies NOT FUCKING LINUX.

Now, before you lose your shit, calm down and read a few more lines. I know not all wireless chipsets are difficult to work with under Linux. Of all fucking people, I think I am qualified to tell you that some of them work really well, and some of them don’t. But I am sick of it. I buy a machine and I want it to fucking work. I don’t want to have to spend four hours fucking around with wireless drivers from SourceForge. I don’t want to fiddlefuck with my power saving options. I don’t want to worry about a new kernel release breaking my drivers because they were compiled for a different kernel version than the one I’m running now.

It needs to just work. It needs to be powerful. It needs to be able to handle Doom 3 on the go (and no, I am not a gamer, nor do I play Doom 3). And damnit, it needs to give lots of love to Ruby on Rails. So what is the ideal product for my requirements?

I evaluated solutions from Dell, HP, and Levono. I thought about doing a Linux laptop, even though I know it might drive me up the wall. I really did. But none of these vendors would sell me what I want: A really powerful machine without a fucking Windows license or extra bullshit bundled in.

Apple, on the other hand, fit the bill perfectly. A 2ghz core duo processor, a gig of memory, a 15″ screen, bluetooth, wireless, an 80 gig drive, and a fucking camera built in to the case? For roughly the same price as the shitty Dell laptop I was looking at?

Jesus christ. We have a winnrar!

But it wasn’t just the hardware that had me sold on the Macbook Pro. OS X sold me on it, too. John Hirbour and Steve Domorod both love their Macs. Wyatt loves his Mac. The Ruby on Rails committers all run OS X, without exception.

It claims to Just Work. I’ve seen it Just Work. It’s pretty. It’s functional. It’s nifty. And it has TextMate!

So I took the dive and placed an order for the Macbook Pro yesterday afternoon. It came with a Free* (* after rebate) 1GB iPod Nano. The iPod was actually shipped the same day, but my precious Macbook is still at the factory.

I went to an Apple store last night, too. (And afterwards, I was carded on an O’Doul’s, wtf?) Hirbour was looking to get his DVD drive fixed and a replacement battery, since his had been recalled. After waiting about forty five minutes (He, a valued Apple customer for some years, had to make an ‘appointment’ at the so-called ‘Genius’ Bar, which the Apple guy missed by about twenty minutes).

I was not pleased by that. And then, the assclown was unable to do anything besides tell Hirbour to request a new battery on the website and go to an authorized Apple repair shop to get the DVD drive fixed. Not only that, but it took forever to get any service, because there were about twelve people to every one Apple employee.

So in short. Apple stores == bad. Store.apple.com == good.