Java podcaster Tim Shadel is going the other way , dumping Ubuntu after using Linux for years and stretching his legs into Mac OS X.

Since Mail.app was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Mark Pilgrim, it’s extra interesting to read Tim’s experience with Mail, compared to Evolution, his Linux mail client:

Mail.app is great. Evolution almost works. I have to use exchange at work (I have Ubuntu installed there, too). Evolution has a module to integrate with Exchange, and it sorta thinks about working. It’s slow, and frequently it hangs. So much so that I got sick of typing

ps -ef | grep evolu | grep -v grep | awk ‘{ print $2 }’ | xargs kill

that I put it in a batch file shell script. I ran it no less than twice a day, sometimes more. Calendaring almost worked, except when it didn’t. Frequently I’d send out an appointment only to figure out that my colleagues version of the appointment didn’t repeat over the right interval. I don’t blame anyone for having trouble integrating with a Microsoft product. But at the end of the day, it was still annoyingly brittle. On Mac, there’s Entourage — an M$ product to work with the M$ server. As it is, Mail.app rocks for processing my personal email really efficiently. Oh, and it can export your mail to mbox. Duh. On Ubuntu, mail almost works.

He goes on to list many more ways in which Mac OS X simply provides a superior user experience—searching, wireless, GUI, audio effects, bluetooth and more.

In the end, it’s all about an OS that (wait for it…) “just works”:

My reasons for choosing to dump Ubuntu for a Mac are almost entirely about the experience. After years of Linux work, I’m tired of fiddling. I’m tired of things that almost work. I’m ready for a change. I’m sick of the war to get things to work. I’m ready to simply Get Things Done.

mail.app, apple mail, switching, Mac osx, linux, ubuntu, apple, open-sourceSimilar Posts:

• Evolution 2.6 ported to Mac
• Ubuntu switcher takes a step back to Mac
• Apple Mail vs. Ximian Evolution
• mutt: A thing of beauty is a joy forever
• Mark Pilgrim’s Ubuntu/Ze Frank/WinFS/Apple mash-up

Hawk Wings covered it because of Mail.app’s central role in Mark Pilgrim’s decision to switch away.

Now Tim Bray is almost having second thoughts. He has posted a list of things that Mac OS X does better and things that Ubuntu does better. Mac OS X wins out in some important areas.

Mail.app and iCal don’t fare so well though:

I have so had it with Apple applications. A couple weeks with Thunderbird made it obvious I should have long since dumped Mail.app. Every week iCal gets slower and every week I hate it more. When I was on Ubuntu, I maintained my schedule by typing it into a plain-text document in Emacs, and that was so much less painful.

No love lost there!

Given that the Mac vs. Ubuntu debate got caught up in the unrelated “proprietary vs. open format” issue, perhaps the most interesting sentence in the post is this:

now that I’ve realized that I can have a decent application suite that doesn’t lock up my data and runs on whatever OS/Hardware, my desire to get off the Mac has moderated.

ubuntu, linux, mac OS X, Apple, Mac, mail.app, apple mail, ical, switchingSimilar Posts:

• Mark Pilgrim’s Ubuntu/Ze Frank/WinFS/Apple mash-up
• Mail.app on Mac trumps Ubuntu hands down
• John Gruber, Mark Pilgrim, Mail.app and openness
• What if: Opening up Mail.app
• Mark Pilgrim and Mail.app’s “Save As…” function

Today he posts a very funny video on his blog, involving bunnies (not ducks), Ubuntu (not Apple), WinFS (not) and more.

Give it a spin.

[Via Tao of Mac].Mark Pilgrim, ubuntu, apple, not apple mail, zefrank, bunnies, WinFS, laughing my butt off by the endSimilar Posts:

• Ubuntu switcher takes a step back to Mac
• John Gruber, Mark Pilgrim, Mail.app and openness
• Mail.app on Mac trumps Ubuntu hands down
• Mark Pilgrim and Mail.app’s “Save As…” function
• iVideoMail: Posting video clips in Mail.app