Yes, I agree. I'm a professional visual designer, FWIW.
After 22 years on Macintosh, I've completely transitioned to Crunchbang on a MacBook Pro and a Windows 7/Crunchbang dual-boot workstation. I really like the translucency and general look of Win7. I had started to feel like OS X was visually dated, but more importantly, harming my workflow.
For development and design, I am working nearly twice as fast in the OS using Crunchbang, and I've made it look and behave just the way I want it to. OS X is completely non-configurable! Since the only thing I need a consumer OS for at this point is for digital audio, I moved to Win7 as I wasn't about to lay out the $$ for the new, unfathomable, Mac Pro. What is that thing anyway? I worked with a guy in a metal shop to customize a case for my new workstation, tricked it out with an internal pro audio interface with exposed preamps and 1/4" jacks, and made it a 3U rack-mount. That versus a garbage can?
That being said, my 2007 Mac Pro is still ticking and I've been able to upgrade it considerably, though changing the processor was a PITA. It's still on 10.6.8- what I consider the high-water mark of OS X- but I would need Mavericks now, and that needs a 64-bit bootloader. (Couldn't use the hack for this since I have a flashed PC GPU in it and that precludes the hack.) Like I said, I can't fathom buying a new Mac Pro.
The way I see it, Apple is just for consumer devices now, and I love 'em. My iPad is critical to my workflow. OS X? Considered harmful. And visually dated!
I'm really curious what you use for your design process. Are GIMP and Inkscape solid enough now that you can spend all day in them without tearing your hair out?
Luckily I don't have to spend all day in any apps, since I have a lot of varied responsibilities. GIMP is sufficient for me for most bitmap/photo editing work and there's certain parts of it I like better than PS. Inkscape is underpowered; okay, but not my favorite. Then again, neither is Illustrator. In a pinch, I can use Adobe products either on my old Mac or the Win7 box, but that's usually for using old files or opening files from others. (I have a KVM.) It can be inconvenient using non-Adobe tools, but I figure now is a good time to break vendor lock-in. Five years ago I still found GIMP insufficient but that's no longer the case.
Believe it or not, two iPad apps have become really important design tools for me- iDraw, a vector graphics app, and ProCreate, a painting app. They cover most straightforward duties. I was very surprised at their power, and not having to whip out the graphics tablet is nice. Working anywhere from an iPad mini retina is pretty liberating. Obviously the laptop is still needed for on-the-move coding, but again, that's Linux, despite the (good) Mac hardware.
After 22 years on Macintosh, I've completely transitioned to Crunchbang on a MacBook Pro and a Windows 7/Crunchbang dual-boot workstation. I really like the translucency and general look of Win7. I had started to feel like OS X was visually dated, but more importantly, harming my workflow.
For development and design, I am working nearly twice as fast in the OS using Crunchbang, and I've made it look and behave just the way I want it to. OS X is completely non-configurable! Since the only thing I need a consumer OS for at this point is for digital audio, I moved to Win7 as I wasn't about to lay out the $$ for the new, unfathomable, Mac Pro. What is that thing anyway? I worked with a guy in a metal shop to customize a case for my new workstation, tricked it out with an internal pro audio interface with exposed preamps and 1/4" jacks, and made it a 3U rack-mount. That versus a garbage can?
That being said, my 2007 Mac Pro is still ticking and I've been able to upgrade it considerably, though changing the processor was a PITA. It's still on 10.6.8- what I consider the high-water mark of OS X- but I would need Mavericks now, and that needs a 64-bit bootloader. (Couldn't use the hack for this since I have a flashed PC GPU in it and that precludes the hack.) Like I said, I can't fathom buying a new Mac Pro.
The way I see it, Apple is just for consumer devices now, and I love 'em. My iPad is critical to my workflow. OS X? Considered harmful. And visually dated!