Hacker News Reader

Comment by ihodes | Hacker News Reader

Those points are all reasons I get closer, every day, to switching to Arch. However, OSX still has a lot over the Linices. To name a few advantages:

Great applications/uses that require a Mac:

1. Todo lists (Omnifocus or Things): I manage far too many things, and need to rapidly move through my data in a way org-mode doesn't allow. A GUI, a beautiful one, is key here.

2. Interfacing with my iPhone.

3. 1Password, Alfred, DaisyDisk, Delibar

4. Honestly…I'm struggling to come up with a lot more. I really like my calendar application (BusyCal or iCal, depending on the year). Mail.app is nice, but I just haven't taken the plunge to command-line applications yet. I wonder which I'd prefer if I put in the time required.

What is holding others back?

View on HN

What stops me from switching to Linux is that I value my time. On Linux I have to spend time on meta things. My video driver stopped working, how do I get flash to work, why isn't it finding my memory card, how do I get sleep to work right, why doesn't copy and paste work between these two apes, why did the dropbox menu item disappear when I updated my distro, etc, etc, etc.

Personally I switched from Linux back to Windows 7, but continue to do all of my software development in Linux (Ubuntu). I have VirtualBox installed in Windows 7 running a Ubuntu Guest.

There were 2 pain points, setting up the resolution correctly in the Ubuntu guest (you need to use VirtualBox guest additions, but it is not bulletproof) and getting the guest OS an IP address on my network other than the host machines so I could run Redmine & a development server on it.

But at the end of the day, I can drag my mouse from one screen and be in Linux running all the goodies for software development to the other screen with Chrome and everything I want on Windows.

If I had a Macbook Pro, I'd do the same with Mac OS X and Linux.

It just ended my Windows vs Linux angst. And it is far easier running Ubuntu as the guest on top of Windows than vice-versa.

Stops being valid when you buy a Linux computer instead of installing Linux on hardware designed for Windows. They (System76, ZaReason, etc.) vet the upgrades, the drivers and it should "just work". If it doesn't you know who to blame.

can you link to some examples that you'd recommend.

Copy/Paste actually works in OS X. This is huge. Sleep works on OS X laptops. Sound and video just work.

Linux will never fix these things. I ran linux for 10 years and those 3 issues were there that entire time.

Yes, I miss many things, especially around keyboard shortcuts and multiple desktops, but overall my experience on the mac is better.

>Copy/Paste actually works in OS X. This is huge.

True, but I wish selecting an extent of text copied it to the clipboard like it does with many Linux apps without the need for Command-C.

Apples to oranges. You built your own Linux box but you bought your Macs from a store. Someone has to make sure sleep works, video cards work, etc. When you choose to build your own box that responsibility falls on you. You're blaming the OS because you bit off more than you were willing to chew.

The internet has largely fixed the "app problem". Not just for Linux but for OSX as well. It won't fix proprietary hardware integration for you, so if you want to use an iPhone and want 0 hassle (as you can probably get 3rd party tools and use it on Linux, but with a little more work) then you do want OSX. I doubt you'll have a problem with those other issues though!

SubEthaEdit was the difficult bit for me, as we often use it for collaborative work in the office.

For #1 I used Remember the Milk, I prefer my To-Do list be accessible from anywhere, not just 1 computer.

'Gnome Do' is a great alternative for 'Alfred'.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com