I was doing some coding today on my PC, and I realized that I hadn’t done web work on a PC in a really long time. Most of it I do on my Mac, using a combo of Transmit and Textmate. I was getting really frustrated about not being able to easily edit the files on the server directly, and I was sorely missing Expose to get back and forth between all the windows, and the tabbed windows in the task bar. Alt-tab just doesn’t do it for me, especially if I have a lot of windows open.
It got me thinking about how the platform we develop on influences the type of software we build. I once heard David Heinemeyer Hansen say that OS X inspired him to write creative programs, which was interesting to me.
I suppose that if I was trying to create a piece of art for a room, I would need to be in the room for a little while to gather inspiration, and to get the feel of the place. Surely working in an efficient operating system would make your work easier, or more fun - but does it make the work better?
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