Over the last several years, I have two discrete sets of workflows:
- Kostadis, the developer who wants a full Linux experience
- Kostadis, the guy who interacts with product managers, engineering managers and business leaders who require a complete Windows experience.
When IBM used to make the Think Pad, the solution was obvious: use VMware Workstation to create a Linux VM.
However, after IBM sold the ThinkPad to Lenovo, and Lenovo couldn’t retain the same quality, and the improvements of the Mac made the Mac an attractive compromise.
You could use a Mac and use Windows software like Outlook, while simultaneously having a native Unix development experience without dealing with the complexity of virtual machines.
The experience wasn’t Linux, and the quirkiness of Mac OS made things annoying, and yet it was close enough.
At some point in time, pre-Nadella, the crappiness of the Windows software on the Mac made a choice painful. And at some point, the pain was significant enough to cause me to switch back to Windows.
A few months with the best Dell and Lenovo had to offer, and that transition lasted less than a year.
And after the utter underwhelming release of the latest Mac hardware, the opportunity to check out Windows hardware became an option.
And so I looked at what IT had to offer and discovered the Dell Precision 5510. The power of a modern PC coupled with improvements in virtualization software has meant that the overall value proposition of the PC + VMware + Linux to be superior to the Mac + Crappy Microsoft Apps + Not Quite Linux or Mac + VMware w Linux and Vmware with Windows or some flavor of those.
With office365 I found that lately you could have a very decent Office experience on Linux when you need to interact with others that are using MS office.
For the rest well it’s Linux on bare metal, so no need to have VMs, LXC containers are here if you need isolation