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When it comes to macOS, it seems that it simply stoped caring. Especially when it comes to features for their traditional UNIXy user base. Some examples: - It

When it comes to macOS, it seems that it simply stoped caring. Especially when it comes to features for their traditional UNIXy user base. Some examples: - It took them years to bring back features to Pages (e.g. linked text boxes). - Keynote now crashes on presentations that worked with older versions of Keynote (e.g. presentations converted with PDFToKeyNote). - XQuartz still doesn't permit native resolution in windows (meaning HiDPI-capable Gtk3+ are scaled up and blurry). - Location services steals focus from XQuartz, making X11 applications unusable. - macOS regularly crashes on my MacBook Pro with two external displays when the display configuration changes (e.g. one display is turned off)). - I regularly run into a bug where my MacBook Pro does not charge when the adapter is plugged in (even though the status icon shows the charging status). Plugging out and in again fixes this. - Many basic UNIX utilities are buggy and never updated or fixed. E.g. take grep: $ echo "1234 1234 1234" | egrep -o '^....' 1234 123 4 12 - macOS provides no trivial way to semi-automatically install drivers for Bonjour printers anymore if they support Postscript. Pretty annoying if you need scanner functionality. - Preview.app/PDF kit have become pretty much useless. E.g. form filling for a lot of work forms does not work correctly any more (it used to work find pre-10.12 or 10.11). And since 10.13 Preview.app crashes all the time while regenerating a PDF document using LaTeX (a use-case that worked fine before), sometimes when zooming. Moreover, going through a slide deck with the arrow keys often makes weird jumps through the slides. ...and I could go on for a while. macOS used to be so far ahead of the curve on the UNIX desktop (and perhaps the desktop in general) that even with all the current deficiencies, macOS is still a reasonable desktop. But it is clear that macOS is now beyond its high point. And if Apple does not lose their 'iOS is the future of the desktop'-blinders, things will only go further downhill. What makes this even more sour is that Mac prices have gone up a quite a bit. A reasonable MacBook (and not the near-EOL Air) with more than one port and a 256GB SSD starts at 1749 Euro. When I started using a Mac as a student ten years ago, an up-to-date Mac Mini was 500 Euro and a reasonable specced (and upgradable) MacBook was ~1000 Euro. I think the last Mac Pro and the iMac Pro show the disconnect with their traditional user base. People do not want overpriced works of art. They want a stable macOS. They want an upgradable tower Mac Pro, they want a memory-accessible Mac Mini, they want a MacBook Pro that stops optimizing for thinness but has a larger battery, MagSafe, and perhaps one or two USB 3.0 ports during the transition period.

have_faith 9y ago
> they want a MacBook Pro that stops optimizing for thinness but has a larger battery, MagSafe, and perhaps one or two USB 3.0 ports during the transition period. This is the situation I'm in. I need a new laptop as my MBP (2010) has recently hit the hay, but I'm just putting it off and stalling being of things like this and the massive price increases. Instead of magsafe and useful ports I get touchbar... thanks Apple. Honestly trying to convince myself if I can get by with an alternative laptop with Linux (Windows isn't an option anymore).
- pfranz 9y ago
  I was recently looking at replacing my 13" MacbookPro and comparing laptops that would run Linux. Here are the notes I had in order of most-likely to least likely to choose: * Razer Blade Stealth - 1 USB-C, 2 USB-A, concerns over build quality * Dell XPS 13 - camera below screen (looks up your nose, fingers in frame), proprietary battery charger. They recently updated it; replaced SD card reader with microSD, USB 3.0 and power dropped for USB-C * Thinkpad * Precision 7xxx * Surface - concerns over long-term build quality, USB-A only, magsafe-ish charger I went with a MacBook Pro because soldered on RAM was standard on most all of them which took the price up within 20-30% of the MacBook Pro. With all of the PC laptops I had concerns about trackpad and general build quality and wasn't confident about battery life or resale value. Out of the concerns we share I didn't find anything better on the PC side. The Razer Blade Stealth was closest, but with 1 USB-C port that is used for charging isn't reasonable, either. Why would I buy anything with USB-C on it if the only port is already occupied?
  - have_faith 9y ago
    It's a sad state of affairs. I use the new MBP with touchbar for work and it's a nice machine except the touchbar and dubious keyboard (I can live with it). I just wish it wasn't so user-hostile and objectively good features like magsafe hadn't disappeared. I've already had my work laptop yanked to the floor multiple times by people because the charging cable is much shorter than previous generations. I've pretty much been looking at the same list as you but have concerns over build quality / trackpad / random design choices like a webcam pointing up your nose. Not sure what I will do yet, will likely hang on until next refresh and see if there's a new 15mbp without touchbar.

have_faith 9y ago

> they want a MacBook Pro that stops optimizing for thinness but has a larger battery, MagSafe, and perhaps one or two USB 3.0 ports during the transition period. This is the situation I'm in. I need a new laptop as my MBP (2010) has recently hit the hay, but I'm just putting it off and stalling being of things like this and the massive price increases. Instead of magsafe and useful ports I get touchbar... thanks Apple. Honestly trying to convince myself if I can get by with an alternative laptop with Linux (Windows isn't an option anymore).

pfranz 9y ago
I was recently looking at replacing my 13" MacbookPro and comparing laptops that would run Linux. Here are the notes I had in order of most-likely to least likely to choose: * Razer Blade Stealth - 1 USB-C, 2 USB-A, concerns over build quality * Dell XPS 13 - camera below screen (looks up your nose, fingers in frame), proprietary battery charger. They recently updated it; replaced SD card reader with microSD, USB 3.0 and power dropped for USB-C * Thinkpad * Precision 7xxx * Surface - concerns over long-term build quality, USB-A only, magsafe-ish charger I went with a MacBook Pro because soldered on RAM was standard on most all of them which took the price up within 20-30% of the MacBook Pro. With all of the PC laptops I had concerns about trackpad and general build quality and wasn't confident about battery life or resale value. Out of the concerns we share I didn't find anything better on the PC side. The Razer Blade Stealth was closest, but with 1 USB-C port that is used for charging isn't reasonable, either. Why would I buy anything with USB-C on it if the only port is already occupied?
- have_faith 9y ago
  It's a sad state of affairs. I use the new MBP with touchbar for work and it's a nice machine except the touchbar and dubious keyboard (I can live with it). I just wish it wasn't so user-hostile and objectively good features like magsafe hadn't disappeared. I've already had my work laptop yanked to the floor multiple times by people because the charging cable is much shorter than previous generations. I've pretty much been looking at the same list as you but have concerns over build quality / trackpad / random design choices like a webcam pointing up your nose. Not sure what I will do yet, will likely hang on until next refresh and see if there's a new 15mbp without touchbar.