How is macOS any better? Default macOS, without third-party software. Does vanilla macOS even have keyboard-based window management yet? Does it still have weird modals where you're forced to use the mouse to select an option?
I don't think I've ever encountered a modal like this. Not with "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls" turned on. By keyboard-based window management you mean being able to tile windows? That can be added with a third-party app pretty easily, but I think it's much a much less fundamental problem than those pointed out in Linux.
That, to me, is crazy. How can a company with the resources of Apple not implement this basic feature? Simply the equivalent of Windows' win + arrow keys would be a huge improvement.
I know third party software offers such features and more, I am simply not interested, some are even paid software. I need no such software with Windows or the Linux DEs I use.
Besides, it's just one example of crazy things missing from macOS.
> but I think it's much a much less fundamental problem than those pointed out in Linux.
What fundamental problems?
> That, to me, is crazy. How can a company with the resources of Apple not implement this basic feature?
That's one solution to the problem of selecting the thing you want to work on.
Apple's solution has been to throw hardware at the problem. You have gestures, expose, mission control, etc. all available from a really good touchpad.
It would be crazy for a linux distro to take that approach because they can't bundle a high quality touchpad with every laptop they sell.
I definitely don't claim their approach that they will do best of class support for a pointing-heavy workload will suit everyone, just that it makes sense for a combined OS and hardware vendor.
> How can a company with the resources of Apple not implement this basic feature?
The answer, as it always is in cases like this, is that Apple thinks most users don't want or need the feature. Apple probably considers full screen mode to cover the use case of wanting two windows side-by-side. Personally, I never tile windows to either side of my screen — I prefer to have my windows laid out all over the screen and then switch using cmd+tab or mouse. IMO, this is what windows were designed for.
> What fundamental problems?
The ones pointed out all over this thread.
* paying a few bucks for BetterTouchTool, Alfred, and SwitchResX so I get insane levels of control over window placement, monitor resolutions, etc. via keyboard shortcuts & gestures (on, I should note, my deliciously smooth and responsive apple trackpad)
over:
* spending hours/days/weeks trying to figure out/find the right X config to get my display to work at one resolution I want, let alone trying to figure out how to dynamically switch between configurations without everything crashing every fifth attempt"
any day of the week.
(Now, to be fair, like many others in this thread I hopped off the linux/freebsd/etc. train a few years ago (after being all-in for around a decade), so it's a few years since I've had that second experience - and maybe that particular struggle is no longer a struggle any more. Judging from other comments in this thread, however, it doesn't sound like it.)
For anyone struggling with this, Spectacle is free and open source: https://www.spectacleapp.com