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As a developer I've been quite happy with the Linux desktop experience. I only ever use Windows for games. I have a Macbook Pro, which I bought for the combina

As a developer I've been quite happy with the Linux desktop experience. I only ever use Windows for games. I have a Macbook Pro, which I bought for the combination of weight and hardware but frankly the experience has not been good. The model I purchased suffers from the "staingate" issue and good Apple customer service where they do repairs and replacements for free is non-existent in this part of the world. I am still running El Capitan because I hear the upgrades break a lot of CLI stuff. One of the speakers is completely distorted as well. As an OS, macOS is great if you buy in to the other Apple ecosystem because it is all built to work well together. macOS is a lot more polished and a lot more pleasant to use than a Linux desktop, unfortunately it is all very bad value for money, and Apple operates like a criminal enterprise as far as I'm concerned. I received Airpods for my birthday this February and one of them no longer charges or has its battery detected. Apple Support shrugged their shoulders and said they aren't covered by any warranty. By contrast I have Chinese knock-off ones that are working fine. I got them for free when I bought a suit off the rack. I have recently learned that a lot of the more modern Apple hardware is near-impossible to repair because Apple has locked down the supply chain for spare parts. In Western countries, there is some semblance of consumer protection and customer service. In the rest of the world you are pretty much hung out to dry. Since the OS only works with their hardware, that's enough of a scam to keep me away from it. I keep reading all kinds of anecdotes online about how Apple is a benevolent company and has good customer service, but I am wondering if many of those stories are astroturfing. I'm also surprised that they have such a loyal fanbase. I have never owned an Apple product that wasn't horribly defective after being barely used. I have also recently been following the great Louis Rossman on YouTube who regularly talks about the bad design and engineering practices that go into their hardware, which almost make it seem like they are designed to fail and earn servicing revenue.

amelius 6y ago
I think Apple's story is that they keep OS and hardware tightly coupled because that way they can better control quality. But of course, the consumer (even the average one) isn't really served by this attitude, in the long run. Personally I think this should be regulated more. If a device is built as a general purpose device, then it should be accessible as such by its owner. There are many advantages for the consumer (not just functionality but also privacy), and also the environment can benefit as fewer devices will become obsolete because of software.
- fareesh 6y ago
  In theory if they do ARM macbooks and ARM phones and ARM tablets, they pave the way for merging iOS and macOS which has great potential because app developers can basically maintain a single codebase and use the features of the development process to carve out the parts that work on-the-go. It has the potential to be great, perhaps the greatest OS, but the foundational problem of the scammy business model is where they lose me.

amelius 6y ago

I think Apple's story is that they keep OS and hardware tightly coupled because that way they can better control quality. But of course, the consumer (even the average one) isn't really served by this attitude, in the long run. Personally I think this should be regulated more. If a device is built as a general purpose device, then it should be accessible as such by its owner. There are many advantages for the consumer (not just functionality but also privacy), and also the environment can benefit as fewer devices will become obsolete because of software.

fareesh 6y ago
In theory if they do ARM macbooks and ARM phones and ARM tablets, they pave the way for merging iOS and macOS which has great potential because app developers can basically maintain a single codebase and use the features of the development process to carve out the parts that work on-the-go. It has the potential to be great, perhaps the greatest OS, but the foundational problem of the scammy business model is where they lose me.