Comment by babuskov | Hacker News Reader

Comment by babuskov | Hacker News Reader

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I have been using Linux on desktop since 2002.

1. git-gui and gitk do the job just fine. I never felt a need for anything else. I have no idea what Tower or Sourcetree does, but doing stuff with git is less than 1% of my development time, so really fail to see what I could be missing?

2. I developed some cross-platform gui programs using wxWidgets and wxFormBuilder was fine. Not Delphi level of WYSIWYG but did the job quickly.

3. What's that, care to give an example?

The reason I switched to Mac after 12 years on Linux was because I got tired of having to fiddle with the system. It's nice when you have a lot of time or while you are learning a new OS, but these days I just want things to work out of the box.

I was seriously considering Windows at one point, but then I got a Mac Mini to develop some iOS stuff. Initially, I set it up as dual boot, but I spent more and more time in OSX and finally just stayed there all the time. Installed software I was missing and done.

I wish Linux all the best luck and I'm still using it on servers, but I'm not sure it can reach that level of Things Just Working(tm). Windows has a huge number of payed developers to make it happen. Mac has locked themselves down to just a couple of types of hardware and manage to do the same with less people. It seems to me that Linux tries to cover the widest possible hardware range with comparatively smaller team - and many developers don't care about UX that much. I know, because I developed some open source programs, and I'm guilty of that as well.

I think the "Just working" argument is too subjective.

Ubuntu just works, unless you have some specific hardware that is too obscure or new. Then one day someone starts expecting you use files from some obscure source and you need an application that isn't on Linux.

Windows just works, until you need to re-install because of virus and need to track down drivers. Then you realize the version of office was some weird OEM license and need to figure something else out.

I am sure Mac OS X has problems too but I haven't used it much.

All these things are so advanced that they just work... until they don't for you.

Mac OS X just works until one day the UI locks up and App store updates hang, and the computer becomes an unusable brick because nothing can be read from the disk after the non-replaceable SSD because it died (happened to me two weeks ago).

Everything just works until the awful built in media management applications corrupts your media collection/destroys their metadata.

Everything just works till their terrible disk format results in an undetectable error that slowly corrupts your files until even most of your backups have been quietly corrupted.

Everything just works till the UI for resolution becomes permanently scrambled and doesn't allow you to switch away from Fischer Price mode on the retina MacBook you use for development.

Using Apple computers has thoroughly disabused me of the notion that there is anything in the world that "just works" for anything but the most hilariously trivial use cases. It's a flawed platform just like all the others.

I've been using Macs for years, and these are some pretty amazing problems you've had, I can't imagine ever experiencing them. You've had some bad luck, friend. Sorry to hear it.

In all my years using Macs, I've never had any of these, and I push my machines quite hard. They've always kept up like a pro, always reliable.

> I got tired of having to fiddle with the system

Never understood this argument... I use both Linux and OSX, I spend the very same amount of time to get from a fresh install to a friendly dev environment. Install bunch of extra stuff (either with brew on OSX or with dnf on Linux), import my config files (git clone my-dotfiles-repo), done.

The only extra quirk on Linux is that I have to use a network cable until broadcom wifi drivers are installed.

The rest is a matter of personal tastes... I believe GNOME provides an optimal user experience and I like it way more than OSX, but both stay out of my way enough to not care that much.

The windows install/reinstall is pretty much guaranteed to be a huge pain. Its only easy when someone else set it up in advance for you.

You need have the original install media for each application because there is no centralized repo. For things you downloaded you need to go running around and re-download things, even basic things like drivers.

If you get the wrong network drivers because you misread a model number then you pretty much need a second machine.

This would be a minor thing if I didn't do a ton of windows installs when my friends and families got viruses. I have since given them one re-install and after that if they want me to clean up their virus they get Ubuntu. Dad and Grandma haven't got a virus since their Ubuntu installations and my Brother figured out his shit either he reinstalls and doesn't tell me or stopped getting viruses.

I don't use windows for anything anymore but having to occasionally rebuild a machine for a friend I've found this tool [0] to be a HUGE help and timesaver. It lets you pick from a big list of popular tools and it gives you 1 installer for all of them. Installing a base windows machine for me went from an all day off-and-on event to <10min to get 90+% of the apps up and running.

[0] https://ninite.com/

.. and then there was BSD.

One additional comment. "Windows has a huge number of PAID developers to make it happen" Uhm, is that why they have a turd of an OS that looks somewhat decent aesthetically, but underneath is the biggest turd a great dane couldn't even produce?

Same boat more or less as you. I switched to macOS just to play with it (after using Windows and Linux) and ended up never leaving. Power of unix with a beautiful UI/UX. I knew I needed to be on something Unix based for my own sanity (so Windows was out) and I tried Linux multiple times but always needed some app that I couldn't use unless I used wine and even then it was shitty. Also dealing with graphics drivers and a number of other small annoyances and a generally ugly UI I switched to macOS. My tools are beautiful to use and I spend my time working instead of fiddling/fighting with my OS. People may say that it doesn't matter how your tools look but IMHO they either wear the "ugly" as a badge of honor or simply just don't know any better. Good looking tools (and ones that all fit together instead of each being different creating a jarring experience switching between them) used to be something I didn't care about until I had them and now I can't imagine going back.

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