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(Source: Ex-googler for 5yrs) So first this comment is clearly influenced by your own preferences for MacOS. Stackoverflow Developer Survey shows irl about 40

(Source: Ex-googler for 5yrs) So first this comment is clearly influenced by your own preferences for MacOS. Stackoverflow Developer Survey shows irl about 40% of development is done on Windows, 30% Mac and 30% Linux. So the platforms are at least equally appealing in real world circumstances. Secondly Goobuntu was insanely well integrated with Google’s custom source control and internal ecosystem. No one actually did real engineering work on Macs because it was disallowed for security reasons by policy, but I also never met anyone who wanted to. The tooling and customization on Goobuntu was very good and although I’m sure people asked for a better experience on Mac, the ability to customize and control the Linux dev experience just beat Googles ability to modify MacOS hands down. Also I think there’s very little MacOS offers from a developer perspective that isn’t matched or easily trumped by Linux, but now that’s my personal bias showing ;)

csdvrx 4y ago
> So first this comment is clearly influenced by your own preferences for MacOS. I've always found very strange the love for MacOS professed by so many here on HN! > Stackoverflow Developer Survey shows irl about 40% of development is done on Windows, 30% Mac and 30% Linux. So the platforms are at least equally appealing in real world circumstances. Indeed. I use Windows and there's no amount of money you could pay me to use a Mac: at the bare minimum, I want an OLED screen, and there's no such option on MacOS. OTOH, I try Linux every know and then, the terminal experience is still sub-par but the foot terminal emulator, despite how hard it is to configure it, is quite promising!
- _y5hn 4y ago
  Kitty and alacritty are both good options for Linux. With Kitty you get very easy access to themes.
- watermelon0 4y ago
  > I want an OLED screen, and there's no such option on MacOS. Mini LED on M1 MBPs is not OLED quality, but it's quite close in many cases. Additionally, in my experience (and from reading various reviews), M1 laptops are really quiet (fans are not loud even under load), have great battery life, and don't get nearly as hot as most (if not all) PC counterparts (under the same load conditions.)
  - csdvrx 4y ago
    > Mini LED on M1 MBPs is not OLED quality, but it's quite close in many cases. No, it's not even close. When I say OLED, I mean OLED, not qled or something that's "almost like" it. To be clear: no OLED= I won't buy it. > Additionally, in my experience (and from reading various reviews), M1 laptops are really quiet (fans are not loud even under load), have great battery life, and don't get nearly as hot as most (if not all) PC counterparts (under the same load conditions.) Thanks, it might be nice if I cared about such things, but I absolutely don't - especially if the only non negotiable requirement (OLED) can't even be met. FYI, if you want to know other things I care about once the bare minimum of an OLED screen is there: ECC RAM, removable NVMe drives, ideally 2 of them (or better: 3x) Unfortunately, there're no such things on macs. I'm sure "quiet, long battery life, cold to the touch" are important factors for those who purchase macs- but not for me. It seems that those who have found the M1 macs suitable to their needs think that it must be ideal for everyone else - it's not! Different people have different needs.
YPPH 4y ago
Thanks this is a great answer. So are the others, I think I poorly expressed my initial post. I use Linux on the desktop myself. I can't justify the price, so I don't use Mac. But if my employer gave me a choice in the matter, I'd pick a macOS machine given - why not go for the fancier option? One where the UI, OS and hardware are tightly integrated. I can always download Debian for free any run it on anything. That's what I was wondering and what you've answered.
- p_l 4y ago
  (not a googler but discussed this with some) If I recall correctly, if you choose mac and you aren't in a team directly working on mac stuff, then it means you're going to do everything using SSH to Linux workstation - iirc the choice is essentially on what kind of laptop you want and you can't do development on the laptops by policy
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    You can work on your Mac (I do, and my official duties pertain to Android) but you get to deal with the janky FUSE/network server mount, and if you're running builds locally they're going to be slow.
    - p_l 4y ago
      thanks, TIL :)
- whyagain1885 4y ago
  > But if my employer gave me a choice in the matter, I'd pick a macOS machine Provided the convenience is the same. If one is used to certain way of working with linux (may be scripts, desktop environment, or workflow - Keyboard shortcuts etc. ) then just picking a machine for "fancier option" is worthless or even annoying. Also wait to migrate scripts from bash to zsh. Again not all macs allow for baremetal install of Debian.
saagarjha 4y ago
People who typically want to use Macs don't care much for Google's ability to modify macOS. In fact, the less Google puts on the computer the happier I think most of them would be.

csdvrx 4y ago

> So first this comment is clearly influenced by your own preferences for MacOS. I've always found very strange the love for MacOS professed by so many here on HN! > Stackoverflow Developer Survey shows irl about 40% of development is done on Windows, 30% Mac and 30% Linux. So the platforms are at least equally appealing in real world circumstances. Indeed. I use Windows and there's no amount of money you could pay me to use a Mac: at the bare minimum, I want an OLED screen, and there's no such option on MacOS. OTOH, I try Linux every know and then, the terminal experience is still sub-par but the foot terminal emulator, despite how hard it is to configure it, is quite promising!

_y5hn 4y ago
Kitty and alacritty are both good options for Linux. With Kitty you get very easy access to themes.
watermelon0 4y ago
> I want an OLED screen, and there's no such option on MacOS. Mini LED on M1 MBPs is not OLED quality, but it's quite close in many cases. Additionally, in my experience (and from reading various reviews), M1 laptops are really quiet (fans are not loud even under load), have great battery life, and don't get nearly as hot as most (if not all) PC counterparts (under the same load conditions.)
- csdvrx 4y ago
  > Mini LED on M1 MBPs is not OLED quality, but it's quite close in many cases. No, it's not even close. When I say OLED, I mean OLED, not qled or something that's "almost like" it. To be clear: no OLED= I won't buy it. > Additionally, in my experience (and from reading various reviews), M1 laptops are really quiet (fans are not loud even under load), have great battery life, and don't get nearly as hot as most (if not all) PC counterparts (under the same load conditions.) Thanks, it might be nice if I cared about such things, but I absolutely don't - especially if the only non negotiable requirement (OLED) can't even be met. FYI, if you want to know other things I care about once the bare minimum of an OLED screen is there: ECC RAM, removable NVMe drives, ideally 2 of them (or better: 3x) Unfortunately, there're no such things on macs. I'm sure "quiet, long battery life, cold to the touch" are important factors for those who purchase macs- but not for me. It seems that those who have found the M1 macs suitable to their needs think that it must be ideal for everyone else - it's not! Different people have different needs.

YPPH 4y ago

Thanks this is a great answer. So are the others, I think I poorly expressed my initial post. I use Linux on the desktop myself. I can't justify the price, so I don't use Mac. But if my employer gave me a choice in the matter, I'd pick a macOS machine given - why not go for the fancier option? One where the UI, OS and hardware are tightly integrated. I can always download Debian for free any run it on anything. That's what I was wondering and what you've answered.

p_l 4y ago
(not a googler but discussed this with some) If I recall correctly, if you choose mac and you aren't in a team directly working on mac stuff, then it means you're going to do everything using SSH to Linux workstation - iirc the choice is essentially on what kind of laptop you want and you can't do development on the laptops by policy
- saagarjha 4y ago
  You can work on your Mac (I do, and my official duties pertain to Android) but you get to deal with the janky FUSE/network server mount, and if you're running builds locally they're going to be slow.
  - p_l 4y ago
    thanks, TIL :)
whyagain1885 4y ago
> But if my employer gave me a choice in the matter, I'd pick a macOS machine Provided the convenience is the same. If one is used to certain way of working with linux (may be scripts, desktop environment, or workflow - Keyboard shortcuts etc. ) then just picking a machine for "fancier option" is worthless or even annoying. Also wait to migrate scripts from bash to zsh. Again not all macs allow for baremetal install of Debian.

saagarjha 4y ago

People who typically want to use Macs don't care much for Google's ability to modify macOS. In fact, the less Google puts on the computer the happier I think most of them would be.