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SO I am typing this on my Personal Surface pro, and I have a Macbook Pro (2012) for work. I also have developed a distaste for Macs and am not afraid to voice m

by jriver 8y ago

SO I am typing this on my Personal Surface pro, and I have a Macbook Pro (2012) for work. I also have developed a distaste for Macs and am not afraid to voice my view. Simply Mac OS has become shitty in comparison. The Windows XP of the modern era. It's got some cool tricks, but the OS is stale, and almost has to be. Windows and Linux can be innovative because they have more too lose (Like Macs in 2001). Mac OS's deepest flaw (in my view) is simply terrible window management even compared to earlier versions I have used. If you are a mac head I'm sure it all makes perfect sense, but as someone who aims to switch comfortably between OSs (to the point that I favor OS neutral apps as much as possible) the radical difference in philosophy for Macs is simply Jarring. But that personal issue aside, the system over relies on security through obscurity. This means that because Mac OS is only used for at most 10% of laptop/desktops, and not servers (Linux) or 90% of laptop/desktops (Windows) they are an incredibly small target for hackers, and are thusly "Secure" despite regularly ranking at the bottom of security reviews. You can see this in the basic security flaws in every new OS release. Lastly the biggest issue is exposure. The more people there are using something, the more problems there will be. every new person is another chance to find a flaw. Dell, HP, and every computer manufacturer has experienced this. Now all that said why did I pick a Macbook Pro, and why would I recommend anyone buy one? Simply support, unix, and build quality. Macs get a lot of developer support, meaning that you have access to really great tools. This is the same reason to choose windows for the best MS Office support or what not. My Co-Worker has a hackintosh just so he can run music editing software when he is not gaming (which of course he runs windows for). Unix is also a killer feature. You get the great native Posix shell (which LSS on Windows, and just Linux also provides), which makes it easy to develop on and for the Linux/unix systems I rely on at work. The build Quality is also great. Windows PCs are finally rivaling Macs, but Macs just are well made and hold up well to age.

lokedhs 8y ago
But the problem with the Mac is that the OS has become actively worse in recent years. They could have literally not updated it at all in the last decade or so and the system would be better than it is today. The same is true for the hardware. A Macbook of 5 years ago is a better machine than the current ones (except for things like CPU speed etc, of course). Note that this is of course not limited to Apple. Windows 8 was also quantifiably a worse operating system than Windows 7. GNOME has gone through the same quality degradation on multiple occasions as well.
- zeusk 8y ago
  > Windows 8 was also quantifiably a worse operating system than Windows 7 But not Windows 10 or arguably even 8.1 whereas the stability of macOS has been downhill since 10.8 - From my 2017 mbp running 10.12 because 10.13 is so much buggier and I can't go down any further than .12
  - lokedhs 8y ago
    I specifically talked about the difference between Windows 7 and 8, because that's one case where I don't think anyone could disagree. I personally feel that 7 is still a better system than 10, but I acknowledge that other people could make a valid argument for the opposite. My 2011 Macbook Air is still on 10.8. Partially because it has a 64 GB SSD with not enough free space to upgrade, but also because there is absolutely nothing in newer versions that would make it better, and plenty of things that makes it worse.

by jriver 8y ago

lokedhs 8y ago

But the problem with the Mac is that the OS has become actively worse in recent years. They could have literally not updated it at all in the last decade or so and the system would be better than it is today. The same is true for the hardware. A Macbook of 5 years ago is a better machine than the current ones (except for things like CPU speed etc, of course). Note that this is of course not limited to Apple. Windows 8 was also quantifiably a worse operating system than Windows 7. GNOME has gone through the same quality degradation on multiple occasions as well.

zeusk 8y ago
> Windows 8 was also quantifiably a worse operating system than Windows 7 But not Windows 10 or arguably even 8.1 whereas the stability of macOS has been downhill since 10.8 - From my 2017 mbp running 10.12 because 10.13 is so much buggier and I can't go down any further than .12
- lokedhs 8y ago
  I specifically talked about the difference between Windows 7 and 8, because that's one case where I don't think anyone could disagree. I personally feel that 7 is still a better system than 10, but I acknowledge that other people could make a valid argument for the opposite. My 2011 Macbook Air is still on 10.8. Partially because it has a 64 GB SSD with not enough free space to upgrade, but also because there is absolutely nothing in newer versions that would make it better, and plenty of things that makes it worse.