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I've been using Macs since 2008. My next machine will probably be a Thinkpad or a Dell. Apple has dropped the ball too many times now, both hardware and softwar

by erokar 10y ago

I've been using Macs since 2008. My next machine will probably be a Thinkpad or a Dell. Apple has dropped the ball too many times now, both hardware and software vice. And somehow everything Apple does now feels stale and off mark.

H4CK3RM4N 10y ago
But they really haven't dropped the ball in terms of pricing or privacy, which is enough to scare me away from Windows.
astrodust 10y ago
No OS license key. No "Patch Tuesday". No finger pointing between hardware vendor and OS vendor. No third party drivers necessary to clean boot. Built-in backup system, both to "cloud" if desired or external hard disk if preferred. Application signing that serves to protect users rather than nag them into unquestioningly running anything and everything as administrator. Fantastic, fully native support for the wealth of open-source software available for UNIX/BSD. Apple hasn't dropped the ball. You'll realize this once you end up in the Windows world frustrated and trying to do the same things you take for granted now.
- lmm 10y ago
  > No OS license key Not something you see as a user, at least on the Surface. > No "Patch Tuesday" Because Apple leaves you running vulnerable software for months at a time. (Remember the zlib double free?) > No finger pointing between hardware vendor and OS vendor. No third party drivers necessary to clean boot. Not an issue with Surface. > Fantastic, fully native support for the wealth of open-source software available for UNIX/BSD. "Linux on Windows" may theoretically be non-native but it's a better experience than mac - real apt-get, install anything that works on Ubuntu without having to compile anything yourself. And has OSX figured out how to display any OSS GUIs yet?
  - astrodust 10y ago
    The double-free thing dates from 2002. I'm sure there's better examples than that. The Surface is a big step forward in terms of eliminating a lot of nuisances from the Windows experience but it also proves that the biggest nuisance of all is OEMs. Eliminating them also cuts out a lot of reasons for using Windows in the first place, like low-cost equipment. I agree it's a great product, but it's also great because of the tight integration you get with a unified hardware/OS vendor. Dell, HP and others don't have this luxury, so their experience is always second-rate. Also "Linux on Windows" is a huge step forwards, but sheesh, it's still atrocious compared to proper native support. It's like a slick version of Cygwin. Remarkable but not a drop-in replacement for Linux. You can compile GUI apps on macOS, but I've never needed to. The one app that depended on that was Wireshark, but I found a way to use tcpdump instead. It's mostly a non-issue.
    - lmm 10y ago
      > Also "Linux on Windows" is a huge step forwards, but sheesh, it's still atrocious compared to proper native support. It's like a slick version of Cygwin. Remarkable but not a drop-in replacement for Linux. What's the practical distinction you're making? I develop a program that has Linux as its primary platform there. It gives you a closer-to-Linux experience than OSX does.

by erokar 10y ago

H4CK3RM4N 10y ago

But they really haven't dropped the ball in terms of pricing or privacy, which is enough to scare me away from Windows.

astrodust 10y ago

No OS license key. No "Patch Tuesday". No finger pointing between hardware vendor and OS vendor. No third party drivers necessary to clean boot. Built-in backup system, both to "cloud" if desired or external hard disk if preferred. Application signing that serves to protect users rather than nag them into unquestioningly running anything and everything as administrator. Fantastic, fully native support for the wealth of open-source software available for UNIX/BSD. Apple hasn't dropped the ball. You'll realize this once you end up in the Windows world frustrated and trying to do the same things you take for granted now.

lmm 10y ago
> No OS license key Not something you see as a user, at least on the Surface. > No "Patch Tuesday" Because Apple leaves you running vulnerable software for months at a time. (Remember the zlib double free?) > No finger pointing between hardware vendor and OS vendor. No third party drivers necessary to clean boot. Not an issue with Surface. > Fantastic, fully native support for the wealth of open-source software available for UNIX/BSD. "Linux on Windows" may theoretically be non-native but it's a better experience than mac - real apt-get, install anything that works on Ubuntu without having to compile anything yourself. And has OSX figured out how to display any OSS GUIs yet?
- astrodust 10y ago
  The double-free thing dates from 2002. I'm sure there's better examples than that. The Surface is a big step forward in terms of eliminating a lot of nuisances from the Windows experience but it also proves that the biggest nuisance of all is OEMs. Eliminating them also cuts out a lot of reasons for using Windows in the first place, like low-cost equipment. I agree it's a great product, but it's also great because of the tight integration you get with a unified hardware/OS vendor. Dell, HP and others don't have this luxury, so their experience is always second-rate. Also "Linux on Windows" is a huge step forwards, but sheesh, it's still atrocious compared to proper native support. It's like a slick version of Cygwin. Remarkable but not a drop-in replacement for Linux. You can compile GUI apps on macOS, but I've never needed to. The one app that depended on that was Wireshark, but I found a way to use tcpdump instead. It's mostly a non-issue.
  - lmm 10y ago
    > Also "Linux on Windows" is a huge step forwards, but sheesh, it's still atrocious compared to proper native support. It's like a slick version of Cygwin. Remarkable but not a drop-in replacement for Linux. What's the practical distinction you're making? I develop a program that has Linux as its primary platform there. It gives you a closer-to-Linux experience than OSX does.