Comment by old-gregg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by old-gregg | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Saying that it's popular because it's trendy is wildly misguided- how do you explain all the developers that use it?

Trendy, popular, whatever... The original comment is spot on. Products becomes trendy and popular mostly because of great marketing. The reason you prefer OSX (or almost anything else in your life) is because you've been conditioned to. We make decisions based on a complex cocktail of facts and feelings, most of them external to our own thinking and, therefore, susceptible to clever manipulation.

Every BMW owner buys an "ultimate driving machine" (with an automatic transmission) and most OSX users believe they're enjoying "the best UI/UX" (and obediently squeeze their life into ~500 vertical pixels leaving the rest to the Dock and global menu).

It does not make sense to look for a technical explanation for why "Linux desktop" is not popular. Technology has nothing to do with popularity. Moreover, Linux Desktop is indeed widely popular among people who're pre-conditioned to like things it offers.

Here's an anecdote: I have introduced younger relatives to computers in mid-2000s using only Ubuntu. After years of daily Gnome 2.x use they find both OSX and Windows incredibly "retarded" and hard to use.

Don't kid yourself thinking we're far ahead of Pavlov dogs.

The reason you prefer OSX (or almost anything else in your life) is because you've been conditioned to.

No, it's because I've used the other alternatives and made a rational decision. I tried Ubuntu, it didn't work with the hardware in my laptop, the trackpad was useless and it didn't run a number of programs I require (the Creative Suite, for one). I would happily use Windows, but the hardware Apple creates (in my case, the Air) is largely unparalleled in terms of build quality and weight. So, OSX it is.

These are all measurable, quantifiable things. While I can't disagree that marketing affects people, to suggest that the reason everyone likes something is because of conditioning is a gross generalisation.

This. While it's true many people buy Apple gear because of branding and image, well, that's marketing for you. That's how retail works. As a well seasoned computer guy, I've chosen every single mac I've purchased over the last number of years. There was a time when I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole, and I'm sure a time will come when I won't want a new one.

I've used enough different operating systems in all kinds of configurations over the last 20+ years to decide like a grown-up what I'm going to spend a considerable amount of time using.. not because other people think it's cool, but because it fits my budget and works for me. My recommendation to others is: Try stuff and use what works for you.

This is what Apple does right. Windows and Linux were never a realistic option.

If you needed the form-factor of an Air and Creative Suite there really was no decision. Rational or otherwise. There is certainly no conditioning, playing with Ubuntu was pointless.

The Dock is auto-hideable and can move to the side, and the global menu is 20px tall, leaving 748px even on an old 768px iBook, and fullscreen mode supresses that global menu, which is just a relocation of the in-window menu grapeshot all over all the windows in other OSes. So where is the squeeze?

Most of the people you are lecturing actually use 2 or 3 of Windows/OSX/Linux on a regular basis, and so have informed experience backing their preferences.

I switched to OS X in 2008. Prior to that, I had been using Linux since 1995, and contributed quite a lot to Free Software (Gnome, gtkmm, KDE, Rosegarden). May be I saw one too many Apple add on a billboard. Or may be after trying my mom's macbook, I realized that OS X is pretty cool to use while I just had to google around some poorly written docs to restore my tilt-wheel mouse configuration which a Kubuntu upgrade had broken.

>> The reason you prefer OSX (or almost anything else in your life) is because you've been conditioned to

>> I have introduced younger relatives to computers in mid-2000s using only Ubuntu. After years of daily Gnome 2.x use they find both OSX and Windows incredibly "retarded" and hard to us

You are refuting your own arguments. eg How can your nephews like Linux if they have not had marketing to condition them?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com