4 ms·

I read through the comments here and I’m not excited at all about using something other than Ubuntu. Instead I’m solidly confident that macOS as a daily driver

I read through the comments here and I’m not excited at all about using something other than Ubuntu. Instead I’m solidly confident that macOS as a daily driver is the right choice for a busy developer who doesn’t want to mess with stuff.

Topfi 3y ago
Over a year ago, I switched to an M1 Max 14-inch as my main computer from an AMD Renoir equipped laptop running Fedora Silverblue with Pantheon. Previously used MacOS from Snow Leopard to Yosemite and very much liked it back then. Everyone of course is going to have different experiences, but I continue to be disappointed how issue ridden MacOS Ventura has been for me. My Fedora laptop could run for weeks without the need for a reboot (honestly only necessary because I used Silverblue which is immutable), whereas my Macbook constantly has issues adjusting scaling when plugging in a monitor during sleep (necessitating logging out and in), or randomly failing to connect to any WiFi connection after waking up, requiring a full reboot around three times a week. The settings app is appalling too, I genuinely am flabbergasted how sluggish (as in not loading settings pages for multiple seconds) it can be, especially considering the hardware. Very rarely, Xcode will try to open even though I set VSCode as the default for that file type, but this may be user error (though I don't see what else I can do beyond click that tick). Also, though this is more their design than a fault, I have become far to reliant on dnf via toolbox and whilst I am thankful for Homebrew, I can't stop feeling that a more integrated package manager would make MacOS more usable. Worst of all though is how MacOS handles USB peripherals. Upon plugging in, it should ask for confirmation, a good idea in theory. But for me, no matter the device (printer, usb drive, hub, display), this confirmation window only appears for a split second before disappearing. I then have to unplug and replug the cable about five times before, for some magic reason, the confirmation window stays upon permanently and I can actually interact with it. I tried a fresh install and spend a bit of time on the phone with customer support, neither helped. Simply cannot see MacOS as the choice for someone who needs to rely on their machine in this state. I'm constantly testing the Asahi Fedora Remix[0] and cannot wait for that to be at a level where I can use it day-to-day. The hardware is amazing, but the software really needs to be improved. [0] https://pagure.io/fedora-asahi/asahi-repos/tree/main https://pagure.io/fedora-asahi/asahi-repos/tree/main
lmm 3y ago
I bet if you looked on a MacOS tweaker forum you'd find just as much attention paid to nonsense tuning. And if anything I'd say MacOS is more likely to pull the rug out from under you than Ubuntu, they're pretty aggressive about droping backward compatibility for things.
bsder 3y ago
> Instead I’m solidly confident that macOS as a daily driver is the right choice for a busy developer who doesn’t want to mess with stuff. This is true in the way you intend it, but also in a way that you don't. Yes, macOS "just works" for most stuff--so you don't have to mess with it. However, if you hit one of those things that does not just work, you can't mess with it so you still don't have to mess with it. (Yes, I have hit them and they were enough to make me leave the macOS system. USB and Bluetooth are perennial frustrations for me with macOS and there are active threads with dozens of pages of complaints--so it isn't just me.)
pessimizer 3y ago
As a Debian user who would never buy an Apple product, the amount of time I've spent troubleshooting Macs for coworkers who thought they were a ticket to not understanding how their computers worked is absurd. And the proportion of those failures that lead to an Apple support thread where dozens of people were being ignored or gaslit by Apple support is probably a third.

Topfi 3y ago

Over a year ago, I switched to an M1 Max 14-inch as my main computer from an AMD Renoir equipped laptop running Fedora Silverblue with Pantheon. Previously used MacOS from Snow Leopard to Yosemite and very much liked it back then. Everyone of course is going to have different experiences, but I continue to be disappointed how issue ridden MacOS Ventura has been for me. My Fedora laptop could run for weeks without the need for a reboot (honestly only necessary because I used Silverblue which is immutable), whereas my Macbook constantly has issues adjusting scaling when plugging in a monitor during sleep (necessitating logging out and in), or randomly failing to connect to any WiFi connection after waking up, requiring a full reboot around three times a week. The settings app is appalling too, I genuinely am flabbergasted how sluggish (as in not loading settings pages for multiple seconds) it can be, especially considering the hardware. Very rarely, Xcode will try to open even though I set VSCode as the default for that file type, but this may be user error (though I don't see what else I can do beyond click that tick). Also, though this is more their design than a fault, I have become far to reliant on dnf via toolbox and whilst I am thankful for Homebrew, I can't stop feeling that a more integrated package manager would make MacOS more usable. Worst of all though is how MacOS handles USB peripherals. Upon plugging in, it should ask for confirmation, a good idea in theory. But for me, no matter the device (printer, usb drive, hub, display), this confirmation window only appears for a split second before disappearing. I then have to unplug and replug the cable about five times before, for some magic reason, the confirmation window stays upon permanently and I can actually interact with it. I tried a fresh install and spend a bit of time on the phone with customer support, neither helped. Simply cannot see MacOS as the choice for someone who needs to rely on their machine in this state. I'm constantly testing the Asahi Fedora Remix[0] and cannot wait for that to be at a level where I can use it day-to-day. The hardware is amazing, but the software really needs to be improved. [0] https://pagure.io/fedora-asahi/asahi-repos/tree/main https://pagure.io/fedora-asahi/asahi-repos/tree/main

lmm 3y ago

I bet if you looked on a MacOS tweaker forum you'd find just as much attention paid to nonsense tuning. And if anything I'd say MacOS is more likely to pull the rug out from under you than Ubuntu, they're pretty aggressive about droping backward compatibility for things.

bsder 3y ago

> Instead I’m solidly confident that macOS as a daily driver is the right choice for a busy developer who doesn’t want to mess with stuff. This is true in the way you intend it, but also in a way that you don't. Yes, macOS "just works" for most stuff--so you don't have to mess with it. However, if you hit one of those things that does not just work, you can't mess with it so you still don't have to mess with it. (Yes, I have hit them and they were enough to make me leave the macOS system. USB and Bluetooth are perennial frustrations for me with macOS and there are active threads with dozens of pages of complaints--so it isn't just me.)

pessimizer 3y ago

As a Debian user who would never buy an Apple product, the amount of time I've spent troubleshooting Macs for coworkers who thought they were a ticket to not understanding how their computers worked is absurd. And the proportion of those failures that lead to an Apple support thread where dozens of people were being ignored or gaslit by Apple support is probably a third.