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Bad: - Inability to set up your /home/ (which is /Users/ on a mac) the way you like it. There are default folders for Documents, Pictures, Music, etc and they

Bad: - Inability to set up your /home/ (which is /Users/ on a mac) the way you like it. There are default folders for Documents, Pictures, Music, etc and they cannot be deleted. If you delete them they are recreated either immediately or on reboot. My hack-of-a-solution was to alias ls to hide them [1]. - There are also applications that you cannot delete. One such application is Chess - a program that let's you play chess. No idea why it's there by default and why it's impossible to delete it. - .DS_Store files. Whenever you open a folder in a Finder (default file browser on a Mac) it will add a hidden .DS_Store file within that folder. This file stores and remembers how you chose to arrange your folders in a graphical file manager. But these files often get in a way: you will find them in tarballs, git repositories, etc. Just like with removing folders, I don't think there is a solution that can turn them off. - Recent OS update made system-settings look like you are on a phone. Apple probably wants to push an interface for system settings that is common to iPads, iPhones, MacBooks and even Apple Watches, but for me it's hard to get used to that. Good: - Default Applications are quite tasteful. In particular the Mail client, and default Apple Terminal. They have everything I need without being full of toy features - Stable. Both hardware and Software. My MacBook pro is 5 years old now, but I never had an issue with hangs, reboots, crashes or anything of this kind. - Third-party package managers. Homebrew is more popular, but I prefer MacPorts. Whichever you choose, you can set up your system to use linux compilers, shells, coreutils, etc. By default Apple command line arsenal is a bit dated and opinionated so to me this is a must. Once you have this done the command-line experience is almost indistinguishable from Linux (well, apart from /home/ stuff and .DS_Store things). [1]: http://karolis.koncevicius.lt/posts/cleaning_home_on_macos/index.html http://karolis.koncevicius.lt/posts/cleaning_home_on_macos/i...

TigerTeamX 4y ago
Thanks for the nice summary. What about user interface? I always felt MacOS clunky when I tried a Macbook. E.g. no sticky windows.
- kkoncevicius 4y ago
  The desktop environment is quite configurable and can adapt to a few different styles of doing things. For example, I like asceticism so I hide the menu bar (clock, etc, on top), hide the dock (list of opened applications and quick-launch icons), and have an empty desktop with just a wallpaper. I use "Spotlight Search" (which you get by pressing meta-spacebar) to launch everything. The search is very integrated with the system so you are able to start applications, search your email inbox, browse bookmarks and web history, open notes and contacts, etc, all with the same search. But of course there are also feature for people who do things differently. One good example is Stage Manager [1]. There are also things like "Mission Control" and multiple desktops, but I am not the right person to talk about these. Oh one more thing - seems like Apple likes to reverse things on purpose. So the "x" for closing windows is on the left, and not on the right. The desktop icons appear on the right, not on the left. If you use trackpad to scroll it's also reversed - when your fingers slide down the page slides down as well. Takes some time getting used to this. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7t_BCmY-lg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7t_BCmY-lg
- Tagbert 4y ago
  There are a number of different third-party window managers that you can use. Rectangle is a popular one. There are a lot of little tool like that so they don't always get incorporated into the OS.
unethical_ban 4y ago
Including games in a desktop OS is at least a 30 year habit. I am surprised that it's non removable in this age
rcarmo 4y ago
I honestly don’t think /Users is a problem (heck, I used time sharing systems where user homes were all over the place, and the original NeXT), but you can turn off .DS_Store creation on network media (I think there is an equivalent one for removable media, can’t find it now): defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true Also, check if dot_clean is in your system.

TigerTeamX 4y ago

Thanks for the nice summary. What about user interface? I always felt MacOS clunky when I tried a Macbook. E.g. no sticky windows.

kkoncevicius 4y ago
The desktop environment is quite configurable and can adapt to a few different styles of doing things. For example, I like asceticism so I hide the menu bar (clock, etc, on top), hide the dock (list of opened applications and quick-launch icons), and have an empty desktop with just a wallpaper. I use "Spotlight Search" (which you get by pressing meta-spacebar) to launch everything. The search is very integrated with the system so you are able to start applications, search your email inbox, browse bookmarks and web history, open notes and contacts, etc, all with the same search. But of course there are also feature for people who do things differently. One good example is Stage Manager [1]. There are also things like "Mission Control" and multiple desktops, but I am not the right person to talk about these. Oh one more thing - seems like Apple likes to reverse things on purpose. So the "x" for closing windows is on the left, and not on the right. The desktop icons appear on the right, not on the left. If you use trackpad to scroll it's also reversed - when your fingers slide down the page slides down as well. Takes some time getting used to this. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7t_BCmY-lg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7t_BCmY-lg
Tagbert 4y ago
There are a number of different third-party window managers that you can use. Rectangle is a popular one. There are a lot of little tool like that so they don't always get incorporated into the OS.

unethical_ban 4y ago

Including games in a desktop OS is at least a 30 year habit. I am surprised that it's non removable in this age

rcarmo 4y ago

I honestly don’t think /Users is a problem (heck, I used time sharing systems where user homes were all over the place, and the original NeXT), but you can turn off .DS_Store creation on network media (I think there is an equivalent one for removable media, can’t find it now): defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true Also, check if dot_clean is in your system.