Bye-Bye, Apple
blog.cretaria.com
blog.cretaria.com
> Xcode
You either need it and can't switch to a non-Mac, or you don't need it. What's the argument here?
> the omnipresent ‘Dock’ (never used it once)
I hide mine. In 12 years on a Mac this hasn't been an issue for me since I turned Dock hiding on 5 minutes in.
> the omnipresent ‘Finder’
Finder isn't great, but I wouldn't say that the graphical file managers on Linux are particularly stellar either.
> black magic in the ‘Terminal.app’
What "black magic" is this? Also iTerm2 is a wonderful piece of software.
> Notifications (and its omnipresent menu hamburger icon)
Users do typically need to be notified about things. Is the problem that you want these somewhere else? Is it that you want to disable notifications? Because you do have full control over which apps can notify.
> App store
What's the problem here? Since they moved system updates back out of the AppStore, it's very easy to just ignore it entirely.
> start-up chord
If this is making it to your list of things you hate about macOS, you're really scraping the barrel.
Come on. Let's make better arguments than this. Let's be clear about our requirements, our biases, our specific likes and dislikes. This article has no substance to it, it's essentially clickbait.
There are many reasons to dislike macOS, there are many legitimate reasons to move to another OS on other hardware.
We make better decisions when we are more honest like this.
IMO I think there have been way too many of these 'why I left Apple' posts, I don't see the point, they rarely add anything meaningful for anyone who hasn't already made up their mind and the discussion afterwards is always a repetition of the same tired anecdotes.
I'd guess anyone who doesn't like or need macOS is already running something else, and for those of use who still like macOS but also use other systems like myself it is trivially easy to run things in a VM so you can have the 'best of both worlds' (my opinion, YMMV).
The argument is don't giving in to a company that refuses to provide tooling across platforms.
It's like we had to install Windows to test our websites in Explorer. And at least Windows you could install on your own hardware.
Apple is an overpriced fashion company. Ten words or less, end of fucking argument, nothing more should have ever been considered. The entire rest of the thread brings no useful details or counterarguments. If you want practical hardware, buy it from literally any other vendor for a substantial discount and possible improvement in quality.
Okay, that was rough and brutal. I don't know if we can have discussions that are so honest! Let's go back to whining about Finder.
Update: four years ago: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/enable-classic-startup-chim...
Then there are the details that everyone seems to miss, like the fact that OpenBSD has no bluetooth support at all.
For 99% of the world, macOS is still the best option.
90% of the time it's from people who just do coding on the backend and/or web development, plus use web and mail.
If you work or have hobbies that have to do with photography, music, audio editing, video, multimedia in general etc, it's more of a wasteland.
E.g. when it gets to DAWs your options get very limited, very fast (BitWig, Reaper, iirc, and some FOSS ones that are not up to the task). Same or worse for VSTs.
I'm quite fascinated by this dilemma: on one hand there's too much choice with Linux (desktop environments, package managers, shells, ...) while on the other hand there's the complaint that there's too little choice (graphics suites, DAWs, CAD/CAM packages, 3D rendering apps, video editing...).
The actual complaint, however, is that there's no Pro Tools, no Final Cut, no Adobe Suite - because that's what people actually mean when it comes down to it.
The perceived "wasteland" primarily refers to just a handful of very specific products, most of which do have equivalents in Linux (not all FOSS, mind you), albeit often with vastly different workflows associated with them.
That said, for 3D it's a much better situation, but for video, music, and graphic design it's much bleaker. And even when you do 3D you still want some Photoshop, video editing and other stuff, unless you're part of a large team and only do modelling etc.
Then there's a big ecosystem of smaller utilities, plugins, specialty drivers, and stuff, that also doesn't work.
But that's exactly what I said: the complaint isn't that there is no software available. The complaint is that VERY specific software isn't available.
There's Gimp, Krita, and Darktable for image- and photo editing, but people still keep asking for Photoshop. More often than not the very same people, mind you, who also complain about Adobe's subscription model and pricing in general!
They don't want to be able to do the same work - they want to do the same work the exact same way using the exact same software. Same goes for video editing as well - there's kdenlive, OpenShot, DaVinci Resolve, Lightworks, and yes, even Blender can do it. But, nope. People want Premiere, Sony Vegas, and Final Cut - the rest doesn't even cross their mind.
That's the issue at hand - not lack of software. It's unwillingness to learn (pros don't count - they have different needs and concerns) and all to often just plain ignorance of alternatives.
The big ecosystem of smaller utilities is met by FOSS - here marketing and communication (as well as terrible naming in most cases) are the biggest factor.
Plugins and special drivers can be a problem, I fully agree with that. The question is however, whether this is relevant for hobbyists and people who just want to get started.
Seeing as special drivers are only required for special hardware (graphics cards and studio equipment comes to mind) and that plugins can easily exceed the cost of a small workstation, we're starting to leave hobbyist territory again.
They don't merely want to the same work. They also want the best of class software. GIMP is not Photoshop by a large margin, for example. Ardur is too little to be compared to Logic or Cubase or ProTools (even without the issue of plugins). And so on...
>Same goes for video editing as well - there's kdenlive, OpenShot, DaVinci Resolve, Lightworks, and yes, even Blender can do it. But, nope. People want Premiere, Sony Vegas, and Final Cut - the rest doesn't even cross their mind.
No, many would be happy with DaVinci Resolve. But then they'd need many other parts of a video/post production workflow still not available on Linux in good form or any form.
It's not just "you're a videographer, you use Premiere on Windows, just switch to Davinci on Linux". Because I also e.g. might use AfterEffects, tons of video plugins not available on Linux, Photoshop and Audition for post-production work, several post production utilities, drivers for different peripherals I use for video, and so on. Oh, and plus all the saved presets and automations and such they've made for those.
DaVinci on Linux is great, but only solves a small (albeit core) part of the workflow.
Also, it's very understandable that professionals have invested in learning programs and constellations of programs.
Would a heavy Emacs user move to another platform that doesn't have Emacs - but offers e.g. Jove?
So it's not about unwillingness to move from Photoshop to say Gimp and Krita because they're "different". It's that Gimp and Krita are quite behind in several aspects, and that their presence only solves a small part of a professional (or hobbyist for that matter) workflow.
That's exactly what I doubt (again - professionals and semi-pros aside).
People associate video editing with Final Cut Pro or Premiere. Image editing? Photoshop! Recording, editing and mixing - Pro Logic or Cubase of course!
Is it because the vast majority of hobbyists and occasional users need the features these packages offer? No! It's because "the pros" use it and therefore it has to be good and what I need. It's because these are names that pop up when I search the internet. It's because that's what the tutorials on YT use.
Nobody needs Photoshop to crop an image, to do some quick colour correction, make a collage or a meme.
You don't need Pro Logic to do a podcast or edit a recording of your daughter's garage band.
Premiere and AfterEffects are overkill times 20 for editing the footage of your brother's wedding shot on a variety of smartphones, etc.
Sure, some users may want move on from the likes of Kdenlive, Krita, Inkscape, Gimp, Ardour or Reaper at some point. For the average user, however, lack of functionality or workflow support is not the problem.
Take powerful desktops. It's never been cheaper to build a powerful expandable box but whereas you can have something great for 700-1200 apples start at 6000 for something that might not beat the 1200 option.
Alternatively take their very well reviewed laptops that start at 50% more than than the average person pays for a computer. They may be a good value but the average buyer prefers to spend their money on other affairs.
How about a laptop with a modest screen size and dedicated gpu, doesn't exist.
How about a dedicated gpu. You'll need to buy the highest end model starting at 2400 instead of paying 1000 at Walmart.
It seems like 89% disagree with your assessment.
And battery issues?
And issues of not being able to run software (often from Adobe) that are required for work.
i3 here is the ‘magic’ part because with other, more mac/windows like window managers, the battery life is comparable, however, I cannot turn those off on mac/win so I cannot test if that is really the case. But if I use, say, unity, the battery life drops to at or below what it does with it’s native system.
The GUI is precisely the reason I dislike macOS. It's chaotic.
To quote the article, GNOME for me:
> It’s like coming home to a quiet orderly house.
As if 99% of the world can afford a MacOS machine.
And 3.5mm audio jacks are still a thing on the think pad, so you can get a cheaper, higher quality headset for this device which unlike Bluetooth ones does not run out of power every couple of hours.
No idea about the numbers, but my n=1 uses Bluetooth a lot. I use my Airpods Pro on my laptop all the time, for calls and music and watching videos with others in the room, the noise cancelling is really good and I don't have to drain my phone battery as much. I really like the Magic Mouse, which is Bluetooth as well, and I have a keyboard with 3 Bluetooth IDs that I can switch back and forth between my phone, gaming PC and laptop with a single keypress, and I use that a lot and would use it even more if it could handle five devices instead of three. Apart from that, I have a stationary bluetooth speaker I often stream music to from my laptop to conserve my phone battery, and, finally, one of my electronics projects that I never seem to get around to finishing is a lipo-powered glove-shaped bluetooth midi controller.
Macbooks do retain their 3.5mm jacks, but I hate that I have to be mindful of the cable (i.e. can't move around the room), and good wired headphones tend to be bulkier. I don't really mind a 10-15 minutes charging break every couple of hours, and sound quality and noise cancelling are really good for my standards.
In a related note, I see Windows being adopted more as they keep improving WSL2.
The vast majority of software developers have always been on Windows. This is true worldwide and in the US. Only in certain fields and places like Silicon Valley do developers on Macs outnumber those on Windows.
I can link some numbers for you but they are findable. The stackoverflow developer survey shows it year after year.
Perhaps I've offended someones feelings with these statistics. Sorry, I can't apologize for facts though.
[0] https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#technology-de...
[1] https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide
I struggle to see the point in that strategy. We're at a point where the 'average user' doesn't need a computer, since even cheap noname mobile phone are good enough for most things now. Why turn the Mac into an oversized mobile phone? This won't attract any new users who are happy with their phone, it just will drive away the people who bought a computer because it lets them do stuff that's not possible on a phone.
PS: My comment reads a bit snobbish, which wasn't my intention. I do believe that no actual "average user" (or "homogeneous" target audience) exists in the real world. Thus it doesn't make sense to create a single setup which targets such an "average user". Options, customization and (for some people at least) being able to poke into the guts of the system are important, and that's what Apple is taking away on macOS, and that's what makes macOS more and more unattractive.
The OS is a tool. Choose the one you are familiar with or want to work on, and change it if you are not happy with.
I find connecting devices through a dongle convenient in certain cases. I mostly work in my home office with 3-4 devices connected and when I want to move around a bit, it is easier to disconnect the single dongle - rather than disconnecting each individual cable.
I’ve been using a desktop 99.99% of the time for several years, so I’m a bit out of touch with laptop offerings.
You have to confirm that (A) laptop USB-C does PD (power delivery) and DP (DisplayPort); (B) your monitor has USB-C and can deliver enough power (60-100W I guess is enough); (C) the USB-C cable is 3.1 gen2 with 10Gbps rating.
Then you'll need enough USB plugs for your peripherals. I added a hub to the backside of my monitor, works without issues even though the chain is now laptop-monitor-hub-device.
Switching between laptop and desktop is also another consideration. I have desktop with DisplayPort cable + USB-C 3.0 for peripherals. Then I got a short USB-C male-female extension (3.1 gen2) so I can switch laptop/desktop cables without wearing out the monitor USB-C port.
So yes some dabbling required.
I have a 34" LG ultrawide USB-C display that just works with my private and work Macbooks, no issues at all. I also have a non-USB-C monitor with a 40-ish Euros USB-C hub (brand name is Uni I think, no idea what model, it's a relatively small one with ethernet) that works like a charm. In my laptop bag I have a smaller power/1 USB/1 HDMI adapter from the same brand (because it was relatively cheap), a USB-C extension cord, and short USB-C to Micro USB and USB-C to Lightning cables and a small USB-A-USB-C adapter – sounds like a lot but packs very flat and neat into a small pocket, and so far it's been enough for my needs.
I bought another hub for about 100 Euros that should support multiple screens but doesn't really, and it swallows DDC commands, meaning I can't use MonitorControl to control my external screen's brightness – not happy with that one at all, but I believe this is an outlier, it was an early Gen2 device that says it can drive more screens than its bandwidth can possibly allow for.
I've tried and used a couple others as well. So far, this is what I've learned:
- Look for power delivery with sufficient watts (60W for my 13" Macbook Pro) – this is sometimes buried in the description and it sucks when your laptop won't charge under load.
- Look for 4k at 60hz, even if you don't have a 4k screen (yet) — lots only do 30hz, which means 5gbit/s USB 3.1 Gen1, which is the same bandwidth as the old USB 3.0, which may lead to issues with larger screens (starting way below 4k) and fast periphery. 4k at 60hz seems like the best indicator for USB 3.1 Gen2, which is 10gbit/s, which has more headroom. This is sometimes buried deep in the product description, and I may have some of this wrong, the baker's dozen of USB-C standards is a real mess.
- Don't rely on plugging USB-C devices into a USB-C hub; try to do with USB 2.0/3.0 ports. Many hubs offer one USB-C data port, but I've yet to see one that isn't very, very temperamental. I've briefly used a pretty pricey Lenovo hub where this caused the hub to just freeze randomly, regardless of what I plugged into that port. Power delivery nowadays works fine though, as long as the supported wattage is large enough.
The ecosystem seems to have matured quite a bit over the last few years; the first hub I've used at work was barely functioning, with power delivery mostly a joke and HDMI kinda sketchy, nowadays I guess you'll be fine if you buy a 30W/60W/100W (whatever you need), 4k@60hz single HDMI one.
No idea how to get multiple screens off a single USB-C cable to work, though. I hear it's relatively easy on Windows, kinda difficult on macOS and a major engineering challenge on Linux.
Keyboard shortcuts are good, the issue is it does not work across all applications. One example is the end key going to end of line in some application and end of page in others. Ctrl + E does not work on some application etc. This probably partly the applications fault, but it does make for a subpar experience. I assume the butterfly keyboard needs no explaination.
What keyboard shortcuts are you talking about exactly? Also you can map any menu item to a custom keyboard shortcut in macOS for any application
I have been using Rectangle now which makes window management bit more sane. But things like command+tab not working on minimised application, having to use a different shortcut to switch between windows of an application is not ideal. In MSWindows, windows are first class citizens and alt + tab works across all the cases mentioned above.
.DS_Store files? The startup chord? The dock?
These are all incredibly minor things. This read more like an attempt to justify a purchase than any kind of actual comparison or analysis.
As an aside, I may be totally alone here, but I never plug anything into my laptop with the obvious exception of a charger. I don’t need more ports and I don’t see them as a selling point. That said, I can easily imagine different use cases where they’d be useful.
It’s particularly annoying when you ram a USB stick in a TV and have to play “find which file is the film you wanted to watch”.
Granted we have our thumbs.db as well.
As for the solution, if you can switch to OpenBSD on a Thinkpad, having macOS to start with sounds a bit like choosing the wrong tool for the job.
* Quality control has gone completely downhill. Catalina is completely unusable and the last two security updates for Mojave cause constant OS panics
* Apple’s push to switch developers to subscription pricing is unconscionable
* So are their antitrust abuses
* the price-gouging on the Mac Pro has gotten completely out of hand. I’ve owned a PowerMac G5, Nehalem Mac Pro and 2013 Round Mac Pro, but I draw the line at the new one.
I love OpenBSD, sadly it is not usable as a full-time desktop/laptop for me:
* No modern WiFi support beyond 802.11n
* No Docker
I haven’t bought a Mac since 2015.
People give computer and os branding too much importance, this is a non issue.
I'd say the author is in a niche within a niche.
More power to anyone who's needs are met by OpenBSD on a laptop, but they are as far from a typical user as can exist. And I don't mean just a stereotypical 'business user' who only uses their computer to access email and spreadsheets, I mean any power user who actually creates stuff with their computer, whether it's programs, websites, music, video editing, documents, whatever.
This person hates Finder. A normal person hates a laptop that might not go into suspend mode when they close the lid to go to a meeting or it might just lock up and lose all their work because some webcam driver that got loaded doesn't fully support suspend. And god forbid if they try to plug the laptop into a random projector to do a presentation.
This person hates the startup sound. A normal person hates a laptop where the fonts look like crap or all the GUI elements render at way too small a size unless you edit config files and play with DPI settings.
This person hates the dock. A normal person hates a laptop that requires you to install command line utilities and edit config files to enable reliable power management and get decent battery life.
This person hates laptops that don't have lots of different kinds of ports to plug in stuff. A normal person loves that they can just buy any external solid state hard drive on Amazon and plug it into the USB-C port with zero configuration and it transfers files super fast. Or they can buy any brand new USB-C webcam or headset and everything just works and they get it with next day delivery and can get on with their actual job and never thing about it again.
This person hates .DS_Store files. A normal hates a laptop where trying to have a simple video call is probably going to require 6 hours of figuring out which kernel modules are required to support your webcam and audio chipset. And if you use multiple webcams or regularly switch between headsets or whatever, you might as well just give up.
This person hates the App Store. A normal person hates a laptop that doesn't let them run essential software like Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, Illustrator or whatever modern creation software makes them 50x more efficient at their job.
But if OpenBSD solves your specific laptop needs, that's awesome and keep on keeping on. The best thing to happen to computing since the mid-90s is that now pretty much any computer can talk to any other computer and most file types can be read across and range of operating systems and software. It really didn't used to be like that. So at least we live in a world where the steam train people can keep on running their steam trains.