I took a position as a QA / Test Automation Consultant at a Windows shop for the express reason of giving Windows a shot. Up until then I had always worked on Macs and absolutely love them. I took the job because I wanted to better my skill set, be strong on both Mac and Windows. Forcing myself to only use Windows products seemed like a good way to do that.
2. Windows has these 2 apps that are simply amazing.
"Search Everything" - you can find files at lightning fast speeds it is unbelievable, I wish Mac had this.
"GrepWin" - You can find text in a file at astonishing speeds. Yes, you can use the command line Grep with Mac. ( Which I do, but this is far better in my opinion )
3. There are more apps for Windows, simply because Windows is more prevalent. I can find an app I like on Windows and then I can't find it for Mac.
4. Windows has greatly improved from when I used them in 2008 - 2010. Back then they were "dog slow" and constantly broke or had the "blue screen of death". I remember I had an 18-month stretch having to buy 3 Windows machines because they broke for various reasons.
5. Windows have touch screens. I don't use it that much but it is nice to have the option.
6. Windows has become more "Mac like". The icons are slicker and I can set it up to look more like a Mac by docking the apps that I want to use.
7. Windows are cheaper. I always knew that but with Apple not being on it's "A Game" the past 2 years, it's nice to know you can easily pick up a new Windows machine for pretty cheap.
8. Windows is getting better year over year. I don't see that with Mac right now. Also, Windows came out with Visual Studio Code which is simply amazing! So amazing in fact that I stopped using Sublime Text editor which I swore I never would.
9. C#. I learned C# this past year and it has some pretty amazing automation frameworks better than Ruby ( my favorite language ). I think overall Windows has closed the gap between Mac.
Why I still love my Mac better
1. Mac "just works". Mac's solutions are usually easier to set up than Windows. If you download an app on Windows it will be easier to use on Mac.
2. Mac has Unix shell! Windows command line is a joke, in fact, when I use Windows I install the Unix command line so I can use it instead.
3. Mac is more developer friendly. You can easily create and change PATHS. Also, I can very easily create Aliases in Mac. For Windows, you have to sell your soul to the devil to figure it out.
4. I like open source. I feel open source software is far easier to use with Mac. I love that Mac comes with Ruby pre-installed on it.
5. Macs are faster and generally don't simply crash on you. Windows is far more buggy and almost every day I have to use "Task Manager" to kill an app that is acting buggy.
6. I like how nice Macs are. They are sexy with their slick Aluminum bodies. Windows machines feel like they are made out of melted Legos. :-)
7. Macs are typically newer. What I mean is when you work at a company on the engineering team you are assigned a computer. If you work on a Mac team you typically get a brand new Mac. When you work with a Windows team you will usually get an old "brick" sized laptop that is super slow
and cries a lot. :-)
All in all, I can't do too much bashing, pun intended. I am super grateful I took the plunge and learned Windows. In a perfect world, I would have one of each. I think the moral of this story is always keep an open mind, try new things out and be willing to change your opinion when you are wrong.
Also whenever you do hard things you will see growth in your life. For me, it's a better appreciation for Windows.
Whatever machine you have, you can learn to code! Start where you are with what you have, there is no reason not to learn to code and every reason to learn, You can do this!
