Synergy

As a web developer, it’s important that I check and make sure my web pages work in as many different browsers as possible (or at least, as expected). This is even more true considering I use a Mac as my primary machine. I can, and have, spent all day working on a website on my Mac, checking it in Firefox and Safari, only to utter curses when I check the layout in IE.

Here at work, I have a Windows XP machine, along with my Mac. It was a tedious process, considering my desktop arrangement, to code on the Mac, swivel around to the Windows box and his refresh. Now, however, things are quite productive.

My current setup includes 2 19-inch Dell LCDs, the one on the left showing my Windows XP machine, the one on the right, my Mac. I have my Mac keyboard and mouse controlling both boxes. This little nifty trick is done using Synergy, which I just downloaded and installed this morning. I cannot even begin to tell you how friggin cool this is. Having the two OS’s and their related browsers side-by-side has already increased my productivity. I can cut and paste between the two OS’s as well. Best of all, Synergy is free.

That and I don’t keep ripping my headphones off my head when I turn to the Windows box.