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Sounds like you just want to keep using MacOS. All of that should be more or less easy to tweak on Linux but that’s currently the trade-off. What you’re asking

Sounds like you just want to keep using MacOS. All of that should be more or less easy to tweak on Linux but that’s currently the trade-off. What you’re asking for is someone to rip off MacOS but it’s only acceptable if it’s a rigid and as well supported as MacOS which is developed by a trillion dollar company. That or perhaps join the Elementary OS QA team so that it can have a chance at reaching that really solid _feel_.

apatheticonion 5y ago
> Sounds like you just want to keep using MacOS This is the essence of the issue. As someone who started on PCs running Windows and Linux for decades, I moved to MacOS for work because it's a zero config Unix based system with a productive and ergonomic desktop environment. I don't have an inherent bias towards Apple/MacOS and currently no longer use it (though I have an old x86 MacBook I use when not working on my desktop) It was always an issue that I was not able to use my existing PC to run MacOS due to Apple's restrictive license model and since Apple's move to proprietary hardware (M1), I have abandoned MacOS. I am actively polling various Linux variations to see if something offers me the same level of productivity but am using Windows+Linux within VBox for my work/engineering requirements in the meantime. So it's not that I want to keep using MacOS specifically, it's that I need to use a Unix based operating system that has the polish, usability and stability of MacOS. I respect that the Linux ecosystem is maintained by volunteers and I have as much opportunity as anyone to contribute (and I have been trying to contribute by submitting QA tickets to the Gnome project). That said, I would be more than happy to pay a substantial annual license fee for a Linux experience that rivals that of MacOS. EDIT: > All of that should be more or less easy to tweak on Linux A lot of this functionality simply does not exist on Linux. With multi monitor setups, virtual desktops scroll on both screens. Gnome 4 is the first DE to pseudoreplicate MacOS's model. Screenshots and screen recordings are close but lack the nuance of MacOS (and Windows) that make them valuable. For instance no DE offers the ability to draw notes on a screenshotted area, copy the modified version to clipboard (rather than save a file). There is also no way that I know where you can create an mp4 video of a selected area of the screen as easily as you can take a screenshot. This is invaluable for me as I like to send detailed representations of bugs, with screenshots, notes and videos. Really helps when working remotely or contributing to something like Gnome.
- yepthatsreality 5y ago
  Licensing is where it gets weird. If you want a bit more control than Gnome, I have since switched to KDE and find it more flexible and feature rich. I’m enjoying discovering the KDE ecosystem and the “have it your way” philosophy. The DE included software might not get you there but there’s seems to be plenty of variations you could install. Again it’s not as polished but I’m not super picky about the specifics of how my OS appears to function. I’m looking to add some niceties myself to KDE soon as apart of an attempt to learn some C++ and/or Rust.
- smoldesu 5y ago
  I think if you gave KDE a try, you'd be really surprised. I too like fancy screenshots with drop-shadow compositor effects and transparent elements; the Spectacle screenshot utility does this perfectly for me, and can be bound to a universal keybind. Desktop utilities like 'peek' give you instant gif-recording capabilities for the more advanced stuff, and of course there are full-fledged apps like OBS for more advanced capture work. > That said, I would be more than happy to pay a substantial annual license fee for a Linux experience that rivals that of MacOS. Are you looking for BSD? Joking aside, you're going to have to be a lot more specific than "rivals" MacOS. There are a lot of cases where MacOS has dug itself into arbitrary, insurmountable leads (eg. nobody is going to add haptics to your touchpad with a software update), but there are also cases where Linux whoops MacOS up and down the block (full WINE functionality, Vulkan drivers, Nvidia compatibility, system-agnostic filesystems, etc.) > A lot of this functionality simply does not exist on Linux. With multi monitor setups, virtual desktops scroll on both screens. Gnome 4 is the first DE to pseudoreplicate MacOS's model. This is tacitly untrue, KDE scrolls all monitors by default, and most x11 sessions can be configured to do the same afaik. The only holdouts are esoteric window managers like i3wm, where arbitrary desktop/monitor association is just part of their design paradigm. I'm pretty sure GNOME 3 could be configured to do the same, too (the developers just didn't put the option in the default settings app because they don't trust you, I guess). Not sure where you're getting this impression from, but it sounds like a misunderstanding. > Screenshots and screen recordings are close but lack the nuance of MacOS (and Windows) that make them valuable. For instance no DE offers the ability to draw notes on a screenshotted area, copy the modified version to clipboard (rather than save a file). Again, KDE's default screenshot utility ("Spectacle") has robust annotation and saving options. I just let it save the screenshotted areas to my clipboard, and it works fine. It should probably be compatible with your GNOME system too, if you want to try it out. TL-DR: Linux is not MacOS, for better and for worse. Most of the features you've listed are indeed configuration options, but nobody really ships a "MacOS clone" distro because it doesn't exist. You can't pay developers to make something like that because there's not a single other organization on earth with 200 billion dollars in liquid cash to spend on decadent UIs and eye candy.

apatheticonion 5y ago

> Sounds like you just want to keep using MacOS This is the essence of the issue. As someone who started on PCs running Windows and Linux for decades, I moved to MacOS for work because it's a zero config Unix based system with a productive and ergonomic desktop environment. I don't have an inherent bias towards Apple/MacOS and currently no longer use it (though I have an old x86 MacBook I use when not working on my desktop) It was always an issue that I was not able to use my existing PC to run MacOS due to Apple's restrictive license model and since Apple's move to proprietary hardware (M1), I have abandoned MacOS. I am actively polling various Linux variations to see if something offers me the same level of productivity but am using Windows+Linux within VBox for my work/engineering requirements in the meantime. So it's not that I want to keep using MacOS specifically, it's that I need to use a Unix based operating system that has the polish, usability and stability of MacOS. I respect that the Linux ecosystem is maintained by volunteers and I have as much opportunity as anyone to contribute (and I have been trying to contribute by submitting QA tickets to the Gnome project). That said, I would be more than happy to pay a substantial annual license fee for a Linux experience that rivals that of MacOS. EDIT: > All of that should be more or less easy to tweak on Linux A lot of this functionality simply does not exist on Linux. With multi monitor setups, virtual desktops scroll on both screens. Gnome 4 is the first DE to pseudoreplicate MacOS's model. Screenshots and screen recordings are close but lack the nuance of MacOS (and Windows) that make them valuable. For instance no DE offers the ability to draw notes on a screenshotted area, copy the modified version to clipboard (rather than save a file). There is also no way that I know where you can create an mp4 video of a selected area of the screen as easily as you can take a screenshot. This is invaluable for me as I like to send detailed representations of bugs, with screenshots, notes and videos. Really helps when working remotely or contributing to something like Gnome.

yepthatsreality 5y ago
Licensing is where it gets weird. If you want a bit more control than Gnome, I have since switched to KDE and find it more flexible and feature rich. I’m enjoying discovering the KDE ecosystem and the “have it your way” philosophy. The DE included software might not get you there but there’s seems to be plenty of variations you could install. Again it’s not as polished but I’m not super picky about the specifics of how my OS appears to function. I’m looking to add some niceties myself to KDE soon as apart of an attempt to learn some C++ and/or Rust.
smoldesu 5y ago
I think if you gave KDE a try, you'd be really surprised. I too like fancy screenshots with drop-shadow compositor effects and transparent elements; the Spectacle screenshot utility does this perfectly for me, and can be bound to a universal keybind. Desktop utilities like 'peek' give you instant gif-recording capabilities for the more advanced stuff, and of course there are full-fledged apps like OBS for more advanced capture work. > That said, I would be more than happy to pay a substantial annual license fee for a Linux experience that rivals that of MacOS. Are you looking for BSD? Joking aside, you're going to have to be a lot more specific than "rivals" MacOS. There are a lot of cases where MacOS has dug itself into arbitrary, insurmountable leads (eg. nobody is going to add haptics to your touchpad with a software update), but there are also cases where Linux whoops MacOS up and down the block (full WINE functionality, Vulkan drivers, Nvidia compatibility, system-agnostic filesystems, etc.) > A lot of this functionality simply does not exist on Linux. With multi monitor setups, virtual desktops scroll on both screens. Gnome 4 is the first DE to pseudoreplicate MacOS's model. This is tacitly untrue, KDE scrolls all monitors by default, and most x11 sessions can be configured to do the same afaik. The only holdouts are esoteric window managers like i3wm, where arbitrary desktop/monitor association is just part of their design paradigm. I'm pretty sure GNOME 3 could be configured to do the same, too (the developers just didn't put the option in the default settings app because they don't trust you, I guess). Not sure where you're getting this impression from, but it sounds like a misunderstanding. > Screenshots and screen recordings are close but lack the nuance of MacOS (and Windows) that make them valuable. For instance no DE offers the ability to draw notes on a screenshotted area, copy the modified version to clipboard (rather than save a file). Again, KDE's default screenshot utility ("Spectacle") has robust annotation and saving options. I just let it save the screenshotted areas to my clipboard, and it works fine. It should probably be compatible with your GNOME system too, if you want to try it out. TL-DR: Linux is not MacOS, for better and for worse. Most of the features you've listed are indeed configuration options, but nobody really ships a "MacOS clone" distro because it doesn't exist. You can't pay developers to make something like that because there's not a single other organization on earth with 200 billion dollars in liquid cash to spend on decadent UIs and eye candy.