8 ms·

If I were to switch, it would be because I am disappointed in the company that manages my current platform (Apple) not because I dislike the platform experience

If I were to switch, it would be because I am disappointed in the company that manages my current platform (Apple) not because I dislike the platform experience. The point of a switch for me would be to keep my workflow but extract the element I dont like (Apple); to that end I would switch platforms and then try to keep everything else as it was before. I really don't get why that seem's so off.

bostand 10y ago
But then you will completely miss all the advantages of the new platform has while getting mad at everything that doesnt work exactly as in osx. You will be running back to osx in no time after a horrifying Linux experience. So take my advice: save yourself the headache and stay with Apple.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >But then you will completely miss all the advantages of the new platform has while getting mad at everything that doesnt work exactly as in osx. The parent's goal is not to embrace change, is to get back to having the same things they liked and worked for them on the new platform. If they could be satisfied with any random thing, they would have just as well stayed and followed the old platforms new direction.
  - wtetzner 10y ago
    > The parent's goal is not to embrace change, is to get back to having the same things they liked and worked for them on the new platform. I think that's understood. It's just that trying to make Linux behave like OS X might end up being more painful than just embracing change. That doesn't mean they shouldn't try, I guess, but it's something to keep in mind.
AsyncAwait 10y ago
What seems off is that you'll not be taking advantage of the platform's capabilities and thus handicap your experience, which seems like a large cost to pay for a tiny amount of adjustment cost. Using Homebrew on Linux seems really off.
SiVal 10y ago
I've switched OSes many times over the decades. If you've never seriously used another OS, you might not see them, but there are a LOT of little nuisances in MacOS that you either can't do anything about or would require buying workarounds requiring license mgt on multiple machines. If you switch from MacOS to, say, Linux, you'll inevitably lose some things you value, but there are also inevitably things in the new OS you would miss if you switched in the other direction. You owe it to yourself to go find a few.
- beagle3 10y ago
  Indeed. I'm making the switch from Linux (which I've been using almost exclusively since 2004) to MacOS, and so far I find a lot of nuisance, and almost nothing that works better. Different, yes. More pro apps available, yes. But inherently better (or just basically in the OS)? Haven't found where yet.
  - godzillabrennus 10y ago
    If you're a laptop user you'll likely notice much better battery life.
    - herbst 10y ago
      My 6 year old thinkpad has a slightly better battery life than my 2015 MBP had in the beginning (and only then) Not every non mac laptop comes with shitty battery and components ;)
  - tornadoboy55 10y ago
    Best battery life, best trackpad, best HiDPI scaling, best app selection under the UNIXes, ecosystem (Apple's garden is indeed high-walled, but its also very nice) Oh yeah, and you don't have to be afraid an OS update will make your laptop unbootable. Has happened to me under Ubuntu twice.
    - vetinari 10y ago
      There are other annoyances though. My current ones are: - Apple Kerberos does not support MS-KKDCP and multiple factor auth. Services that require Authentication Indicator are simply not available from macOS. Their Ticket Viewer is even more simplistic than in 10.6 timeframe. - Their IPSec implementation is weird and haven't managed to make it work with Strongswan yet. > Oh yeah, and you don't have to be afraid an OS update will make your laptop unbootable. Has happened to me under Ubuntu twice. Just wait, sometimes it happens there too. There's a reason for that recovery partition.
mwfunk 10y ago
I think it's the general pattern that's off, and that pattern may or may not apply in this case. The general pattern is that a developer builds up a lot of skill with one specific instance of a broad category of software: a programming language, an OS, an editor, a 3D graphics API, whatever. For one reason or another, they move to another instance in that category. The first time anyone does this, there's a natural tendency to try to make the new software conform to the patterns of the old software, without learning the idioms of the new software first. Example: in college I had to work with some C code written by a professor who was apparently a Pascal diehard. He included a header in everything he wrote which #define'd Pascal keywords to their C equivalents: #define BEGIN { #define END } ...etc. I like Pascal just fine (Turbo Pascal 3.0 forever), but this just seemed belligerently pointless. Eventually the person gets more acclimated to the second system on its own terms, and when the need arises to use a third system, they just go straight to learning the idioms of that system first, they don't try to make the third system conform to a previous system. I've got to think that the Pascal guy stopped using that header after a while, and didn't bother making a new one when circumstances made him move to a third language. Anyway, so IMO that's the general pattern that people might think is off, because we've all had to deal with it in one form or another, but I don't think that's necessarily what's happening here.
- mrkgnao 10y ago
  I think bash was (is?) written in that kind of C.
nkkollaw 10y ago
> I really don't get why that seem's so off. Because you're fighting a losing battle. There's absolutely no way to make Linux work the same way as macOS, simply because they do things differently by design. If you try, you're going to waste countless hours, have a horrible time, and at the most only make Linux slightly resemble macOS in terms of the experience. I actually find that in terms of UX, Linux is a lot more similar to Windows than it is to macOS. For me, what I missed of macOS when I tried out Linux was the easy shortcuts, easy access to special characters (accented letters, etc. without the compose key), the focus on drag-and-drop to do things, the quality of the look & feel of most apps, and most importantly the consistency that macOS has. There is of course no way to make all Linux developers stick to the exact same guidelines, but I had a feeling on Linux that every time I installed an app, I had to relearn a lot of things. Shortcuts and other conventions are always the same on macOS, on Linux they change alongside many interface elements, down to the windows controls. In general though, I had a better time when I embraced how Linux does things, rather than try to recreate my macOS workflow. Ultimately, I have no interest in wasting hours and hours configuring and fixing things up, just so that I have freedom with the software on my computer. I don't like many decisions that Apple has taken lately, and don't especially like how expensive and outdated their hardware is, but my hourly rate is pretty good, and with the money I make from gained (or not lost) productivity because things just work I can buy not one, but probably 10 MacBook Pros, and save myself a lot of frustration. I can then have freedom not from using open source software, but because I'm done working and I can go grab a beer with my friends or girlfriend instead of staying home configuring X.org.

bostand 10y ago

But then you will completely miss all the advantages of the new platform has while getting mad at everything that doesnt work exactly as in osx. You will be running back to osx in no time after a horrifying Linux experience. So take my advice: save yourself the headache and stay with Apple.

coldtea 10y ago
>But then you will completely miss all the advantages of the new platform has while getting mad at everything that doesnt work exactly as in osx. The parent's goal is not to embrace change, is to get back to having the same things they liked and worked for them on the new platform. If they could be satisfied with any random thing, they would have just as well stayed and followed the old platforms new direction.
- wtetzner 10y ago
  > The parent's goal is not to embrace change, is to get back to having the same things they liked and worked for them on the new platform. I think that's understood. It's just that trying to make Linux behave like OS X might end up being more painful than just embracing change. That doesn't mean they shouldn't try, I guess, but it's something to keep in mind.

AsyncAwait 10y ago

What seems off is that you'll not be taking advantage of the platform's capabilities and thus handicap your experience, which seems like a large cost to pay for a tiny amount of adjustment cost. Using Homebrew on Linux seems really off.

SiVal 10y ago

I've switched OSes many times over the decades. If you've never seriously used another OS, you might not see them, but there are a LOT of little nuisances in MacOS that you either can't do anything about or would require buying workarounds requiring license mgt on multiple machines. If you switch from MacOS to, say, Linux, you'll inevitably lose some things you value, but there are also inevitably things in the new OS you would miss if you switched in the other direction. You owe it to yourself to go find a few.

beagle3 10y ago
Indeed. I'm making the switch from Linux (which I've been using almost exclusively since 2004) to MacOS, and so far I find a lot of nuisance, and almost nothing that works better. Different, yes. More pro apps available, yes. But inherently better (or just basically in the OS)? Haven't found where yet.
- godzillabrennus 10y ago
  If you're a laptop user you'll likely notice much better battery life.
  - herbst 10y ago
    My 6 year old thinkpad has a slightly better battery life than my 2015 MBP had in the beginning (and only then) Not every non mac laptop comes with shitty battery and components ;)
- tornadoboy55 10y ago
  Best battery life, best trackpad, best HiDPI scaling, best app selection under the UNIXes, ecosystem (Apple's garden is indeed high-walled, but its also very nice) Oh yeah, and you don't have to be afraid an OS update will make your laptop unbootable. Has happened to me under Ubuntu twice.
  - vetinari 10y ago
    There are other annoyances though. My current ones are: - Apple Kerberos does not support MS-KKDCP and multiple factor auth. Services that require Authentication Indicator are simply not available from macOS. Their Ticket Viewer is even more simplistic than in 10.6 timeframe. - Their IPSec implementation is weird and haven't managed to make it work with Strongswan yet. > Oh yeah, and you don't have to be afraid an OS update will make your laptop unbootable. Has happened to me under Ubuntu twice. Just wait, sometimes it happens there too. There's a reason for that recovery partition.

mwfunk 10y ago

I think it's the general pattern that's off, and that pattern may or may not apply in this case. The general pattern is that a developer builds up a lot of skill with one specific instance of a broad category of software: a programming language, an OS, an editor, a 3D graphics API, whatever. For one reason or another, they move to another instance in that category. The first time anyone does this, there's a natural tendency to try to make the new software conform to the patterns of the old software, without learning the idioms of the new software first. Example: in college I had to work with some C code written by a professor who was apparently a Pascal diehard. He included a header in everything he wrote which #define'd Pascal keywords to their C equivalents: #define BEGIN { #define END } ...etc. I like Pascal just fine (Turbo Pascal 3.0 forever), but this just seemed belligerently pointless. Eventually the person gets more acclimated to the second system on its own terms, and when the need arises to use a third system, they just go straight to learning the idioms of that system first, they don't try to make the third system conform to a previous system. I've got to think that the Pascal guy stopped using that header after a while, and didn't bother making a new one when circumstances made him move to a third language. Anyway, so IMO that's the general pattern that people might think is off, because we've all had to deal with it in one form or another, but I don't think that's necessarily what's happening here.

mrkgnao 10y ago
I think bash was (is?) written in that kind of C.

nkkollaw 10y ago

> I really don't get why that seem's so off. Because you're fighting a losing battle. There's absolutely no way to make Linux work the same way as macOS, simply because they do things differently by design. If you try, you're going to waste countless hours, have a horrible time, and at the most only make Linux slightly resemble macOS in terms of the experience. I actually find that in terms of UX, Linux is a lot more similar to Windows than it is to macOS. For me, what I missed of macOS when I tried out Linux was the easy shortcuts, easy access to special characters (accented letters, etc. without the compose key), the focus on drag-and-drop to do things, the quality of the look & feel of most apps, and most importantly the consistency that macOS has. There is of course no way to make all Linux developers stick to the exact same guidelines, but I had a feeling on Linux that every time I installed an app, I had to relearn a lot of things. Shortcuts and other conventions are always the same on macOS, on Linux they change alongside many interface elements, down to the windows controls. In general though, I had a better time when I embraced how Linux does things, rather than try to recreate my macOS workflow. Ultimately, I have no interest in wasting hours and hours configuring and fixing things up, just so that I have freedom with the software on my computer. I don't like many decisions that Apple has taken lately, and don't especially like how expensive and outdated their hardware is, but my hourly rate is pretty good, and with the money I make from gained (or not lost) productivity because things just work I can buy not one, but probably 10 MacBook Pros, and save myself a lot of frustration. I can then have freedom not from using open source software, but because I'm done working and I can go grab a beer with my friends or girlfriend instead of staying home configuring X.org.