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What are people doing with their computers that a Mac is so stifling? I'm late to the Mac game, have been on it for about a decade, and was a 15-year Windows an

What are people doing with their computers that a Mac is so stifling? I'm late to the Mac game, have been on it for about a decade, and was a 15-year Windows and Linux desktop user before that. Still, I don't even know what it might be.

sofixa 5y ago
Docker Desktop is relatively bad compared to native docker on Linux. If you spend your day doing that macOS is very stifling. Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab.
- brimble 5y ago
  Ah—I've done a lot of Docker on Mac, but just with the command line tools, so I don't know how Docker Desktop is (on any platform). > Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab. The only keyboard customization I do is something that Mac makes at least as easy as Linux (use Caps Lock as an extra control) but I bet it is frustrating if you want to customize stuff outside the cases that they explicitly support remapping. That makes sense.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    To run Docker on macOS you need Docker Desktop or any of the alternatives. The docker CLI is really slow compared to native, at least with Docker Desktop, and i Rancher Desktop failed installing.
ryukafalz 5y ago
The options for package management on macOS aren’t great in my experience, coming from using Linux on all my personal machines. Homebrew exists but it always feels bolted on and I’ve had things break in interesting ways using it. Nix might be better, I don’t have much experience using it on macOS. Also, tiling window managers.
- webmobdev 5y ago
  That's because most mac users fall to the well-crafted publicity of Homebrew, and remain ignorant about the better https://www.macports.org/ https://www.macports.org/ package management system. MacPorts was inspired by the FreeBSD Ports Collection, is created by Apple engineers, used by Apple internally, is unix-y and has more packages than Homebrew. (But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging systems in terms of the number of packages they have).
  - brimble 5y ago
    I started as a MacPorts user, and moved because it managed to break itself about quarterly over the two years or so that I used it, usually in some way weird enough that it was easier to just remove all my packages (rm the whole directory) and start over than try to fix it. HomeBrew's done that zero times for me, in about eight years. I've extensively used Portage (gentoo), rpm (Fedora, Mandrake), and dpkg/apt (Debian and Ubuntu), and MacPorts, plus put in a smaller amount of time with several others. HomeBrew is, overall, my favorite. [EDIT] And this in particular: > But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging systems in terms of the number of packages they have HomeBrew has failed to have a package the fewest times of any I've used. AFAIK only Arch and Portage even come close. [EDIT] Downvoted for countering someone's passive-aggressive insult ("people who don't like the software I do must be gullible morons, it can't be that they have good reasons") with my own, honest anecdote, in a respectful tone. I know, I know, don't complain about DVs, but man HN, sometimes....
    - rbanffy 5y ago
      I had exactly the opposite experience. Homebrew chewed up my computer a couple times back when it installed everything alongside OS files. The only sane way to get rid of it was to reinstall the OS.
      - brimble 5y ago
        > back when it installed everything alongside OS files. Whoa—I don't recall it ever doing that. Some time before ~2012?
flatiron 5y ago
If you are used to using gnu user land you’ll be using a utility like brew to install the gnu components. The bsd counterparts are just off enough to find something a bit off on most of them. I really dislike finder. I’ve not found a sane replacement. Updates for me took 10-15 minutes. Rebooting a few times. Relegated to answering slacks on phone during that time. Office is also awful on the Mac. I wound up using office in a windows VM because a lot of stuff was broken opening complex documents. My newest job I asked for a windows laptop. WSL2 is ok. I just run vscode connected to wsl and do my work there and use native office. Those two apps, postman, and chromium (chrome and slack) is really my stack and it works well enough. I would rather use Linux but our IT department have a big thumbs down since they have no clue what they are doing regarding securing that.
- cyberge99 5y ago
  Microsoft Office has gotten better but it’s still bad on Macos. I think it’s by design.
- justinlloyd 4y ago
  I am not saying it will solve your problems, but I like PathFinder on the Mac. I use Directory Opus on Windows. They fulfill the same niche & need for me. I find Finder and Explorer to be anemic in terms of functionality.
KerrAvon 5y ago
I've used Windows, Linux, Mac extensively for decades and I also frankly have no idea. The other responses to you as of this writing seem to be nitpicking and not anything truly foundational to the user experience.
2c2c2c 5y ago
I had to start using mac for my current job as of last year and have no idea. once you learn about cmd-` and the weirdness with minimizing, and installed rectangle, i became as productive as I am on windows finder to drive navigation to native desktop apps + a first class unix terminal nails my productivity needs. I ended up buying an m1 pro pretty soon after getting accustomed
einichi 4y ago
Similar usage pattern here. MacOS desktop design is not perfect, but it's fine. I could never have the majority of apps in full screen though, I switch apps far too often. My desktop is just a pile of windows on top of each other.

sofixa 5y ago

Docker Desktop is relatively bad compared to native docker on Linux. If you spend your day doing that macOS is very stifling. Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab.

brimble 5y ago
Ah—I've done a lot of Docker on Mac, but just with the command line tools, so I don't know how Docker Desktop is (on any platform). > Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab. The only keyboard customization I do is something that Mac makes at least as easy as Linux (use Caps Lock as an extra control) but I bet it is frustrating if you want to customize stuff outside the cases that they explicitly support remapping. That makes sense.
- sofixa 4y ago
  To run Docker on macOS you need Docker Desktop or any of the alternatives. The docker CLI is really slow compared to native, at least with Docker Desktop, and i Rancher Desktop failed installing.

ryukafalz 5y ago

The options for package management on macOS aren’t great in my experience, coming from using Linux on all my personal machines. Homebrew exists but it always feels bolted on and I’ve had things break in interesting ways using it. Nix might be better, I don’t have much experience using it on macOS. Also, tiling window managers.

webmobdev 5y ago
That's because most mac users fall to the well-crafted publicity of Homebrew, and remain ignorant about the better https://www.macports.org/ https://www.macports.org/ package management system. MacPorts was inspired by the FreeBSD Ports Collection, is created by Apple engineers, used by Apple internally, is unix-y and has more packages than Homebrew. (But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging systems in terms of the number of packages they have).
- brimble 5y ago
  I started as a MacPorts user, and moved because it managed to break itself about quarterly over the two years or so that I used it, usually in some way weird enough that it was easier to just remove all my packages (rm the whole directory) and start over than try to fix it. HomeBrew's done that zero times for me, in about eight years. I've extensively used Portage (gentoo), rpm (Fedora, Mandrake), and dpkg/apt (Debian and Ubuntu), and MacPorts, plus put in a smaller amount of time with several others. HomeBrew is, overall, my favorite. [EDIT] And this in particular: > But yeah, I think both Homebrew and MacPorts still fall behind Linux / xBSD packaging systems in terms of the number of packages they have HomeBrew has failed to have a package the fewest times of any I've used. AFAIK only Arch and Portage even come close. [EDIT] Downvoted for countering someone's passive-aggressive insult ("people who don't like the software I do must be gullible morons, it can't be that they have good reasons") with my own, honest anecdote, in a respectful tone. I know, I know, don't complain about DVs, but man HN, sometimes....
  - rbanffy 5y ago
    I had exactly the opposite experience. Homebrew chewed up my computer a couple times back when it installed everything alongside OS files. The only sane way to get rid of it was to reinstall the OS.
    - brimble 5y ago
      > back when it installed everything alongside OS files. Whoa—I don't recall it ever doing that. Some time before ~2012?

flatiron 5y ago

If you are used to using gnu user land you’ll be using a utility like brew to install the gnu components. The bsd counterparts are just off enough to find something a bit off on most of them. I really dislike finder. I’ve not found a sane replacement. Updates for me took 10-15 minutes. Rebooting a few times. Relegated to answering slacks on phone during that time. Office is also awful on the Mac. I wound up using office in a windows VM because a lot of stuff was broken opening complex documents. My newest job I asked for a windows laptop. WSL2 is ok. I just run vscode connected to wsl and do my work there and use native office. Those two apps, postman, and chromium (chrome and slack) is really my stack and it works well enough. I would rather use Linux but our IT department have a big thumbs down since they have no clue what they are doing regarding securing that.

cyberge99 5y ago
Microsoft Office has gotten better but it’s still bad on Macos. I think it’s by design.
justinlloyd 4y ago
I am not saying it will solve your problems, but I like PathFinder on the Mac. I use Directory Opus on Windows. They fulfill the same niche & need for me. I find Finder and Explorer to be anemic in terms of functionality.

KerrAvon 5y ago

I've used Windows, Linux, Mac extensively for decades and I also frankly have no idea. The other responses to you as of this writing seem to be nitpicking and not anything truly foundational to the user experience.

2c2c2c 5y ago

I had to start using mac for my current job as of last year and have no idea. once you learn about cmd-` and the weirdness with minimizing, and installed rectangle, i became as productive as I am on windows finder to drive navigation to native desktop apps + a first class unix terminal nails my productivity needs. I ended up buying an m1 pro pretty soon after getting accustomed

einichi 4y ago

Similar usage pattern here. MacOS desktop design is not perfect, but it's fine. I could never have the majority of apps in full screen though, I switch apps far too often. My desktop is just a pile of windows on top of each other.