A few weeks ago I wrote about using a Chromebook as a Developer Device. This worked quite well with my really fast Chromebook, which is equipped with an Intel Core i5 8th Gen. and 16 MB RAM, with the IDE installed in the Linux emulation and I was able to work wonderfully. Nevertheless I was annoyed that I have to buy a Chromebook with a fast processor and enough RAM only for the software development. Everything else was already running in the cloud, so why not the IDE?

Almost all the applications I need run in some cloud. E-mail program, calendar, chat software, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, etc. There are even IDEs in the cloud! But I haven’t gotten really warm with them yet. Either they weren’t so great from the usability point of view or the payment model didn’t meet my expectations. It may cost something, I also use a commercial IDE, but it has to be within an acceptable range. Since I haven’t found a cloud IDE that fits my needs, I will continue to work with a local installation of the commercial edition of IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate. That’s the idea.

Things change. Some things evolve. Reason enough to think again about some solutions, whether they still fit for me. For example, the computers I use. Do I really need a top-of-the-line MacBook for my work? Like it has been for many years? Or should I rethink my workflows and try out alternative possibilities?