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#2:I feel that Windows 8.1, and the coming 10 has much much better workflow savers. One such example is having grouped apps in the task bar where I can hover and select is wonderful, whereas in mac I have to go to another screen with some hidden finger incantation to see the current windows in an app. Perhaps I'm too windows focused, but as someone that spends about 25% of their time in Mac, I feel trapped and frustrated when working in OSX.

#5: There's SublimeText for Windows, Komodo, Notepad++, and most other tools. Transmit is nice, but there's ExpanDrive for both mac and windows which is equivalent, not to mention open source tools like WinSCP (http://winscp.net/eng/docs/interfaces). MobaXTerm (http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/) is hands down better than iTerm or any other mac terminal that I've seen.

Regarding your response to #2: Hyperdock [0] gives dock icons the same kinds of superpowers that Windows' Aero Peek gives.

[0]: http://hyperdock.bahoom.com/

Thanks so much! You've reduced my suffering a bit.

Regarding number 1... Installing non-apple SSD in a macbook isn't smooth sailing either. The difference is that in windows the OS isn't necessarily playing against you.

I run two MacBooks with non-apple SSD's (and Linux). What goes wrong for you? (serious question)

(Disclosure: I'd prefer to run a ThinkPad or something, but meh, boss-provided machine.)

The problem that the parent is referring to is hardware compatibility in OS X, which using Linux obviates.

Long-time OS X user here. I bought my wife a Surface Pro 3 recently. We both love it. The pen is beyond excellent. The touch-screen works as well as Apple's own touchpad. The new start screen works as a fine replacement for Dashboard. Installing CygWin lets me use all the linux tools I want. I'm sure the new start menu and continuity stuff in Windows 10 will be just as good as with Apple, if not better. Sublime Text works fine on Windows, my son uses it all the time with CygWin. Haven't had any driver issues, granted we're only using the built-in hardware. I even installed Emacs and it works just as well as on my Mac.

Same here. I actually moved from a 13" Retina MacBook Pro to a Surface Pro 3. Can do everything and love it.

Hardware concerns are really a moot point, as you can always run Windows on your favorite flavor of Mac hardware. That's really the only way that I ever run Windows these days.

Couldn't agree more. The reason I'll never go back to windows is simple: no POSIX, no deal. I want my ZSH and gnu tools. And no, cygwin doesn't count.

Why not Cygwin?

> 3: I've never seen a PC laptop with a touchpad as good as on a Mac

I've customized mine with touchegg (made for GNU/Linux systems) and it does everything I've seen Mac users do and more. Need no Apple for that one, and there are probably Windows tools as well though I wouldn't know which.

> 6: Handoff in OS X with my iPhone is such a great convenience.

I don't know what "handoff" is, but regarding interoperability, a rooted Android phone running GNU tools (e.g. Linux Deploy app) is a dream when you have a GNU-based laptop/desktop operating system as well. I can browse my phone like a network drive and getting a shell is as easy as connecting to any old linux server.

This doesn't make your other points less valid, by the way. There is surely a good argument to be made for OS X.

Handoff lets you continue your current task on another device, from where you left off (it hands off the task). So if you have a text document open or you're writing an email on a mac, it will let you continue doing that on an iphone, with the text you entered on the mac already being there.

You can also make calls or send texts from a mac if your iphone is nearby.

https://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/continuity/

> I don't know what "handoff" is,

I think this refers for your phone and computer to integrate. For example:

- When your phone is near your computer, your phone ringing will pop up a notification on your computer, which allows you to answer it via OSX (e.g. using headphones plugged into your computer).

- When your phone is near your computer, Messages.app can text message via your iPhone.

From here[1]:

> When your Mac computers and iOS devices are within Bluetooth range of each other (about 33 feet or 10 meters), they can automatically “hand off” what you’re doing from one device to another. For example, you can start writing an email in Mail on your iPhone, then instantly pick up where you left off in Mail on your Mac.

> Handoff works with several apps that come with OS X Yosemite and iOS 8: Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Maps, Messages, Notes, Phone (iOS only), Reminders, and Safari. It also works with Keynote v6.5, Numbers v3.5, and Pages v5.5 for Mac, and Keynote, Numbers, and Pages v2.5 for iOS. Third-party apps may also work with Handoff.

[1] https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18754?locale=en_US

Regarding #6, what is different between OS X and Windows versions of Sublime?

Nothing I'm sure - just on my list of tools I use

I think (no proof, but I seem to remember) that there are a number of plugins that are only available for Linux / OS X.

Also, I think that point was less about Sublime and more about the other development tools that are Mac only.

Surely non of the Mac only tools are non-replaceable, are they??

When I moved from a Windows/Linux setup to Mac, I was shocked at the quality of the software, including the various development tools. It felt like I'd been lied to a bit: the common thought at the time was that Macs had no software, at least compared to Windows, but after switching I found that there wasn't really anything I missed (besides some games) and that there was a lot of software that was vastly better than the equivalents on Windows.

I'm sure most of the tools have alternatives on Windows, I don't think it'll be anywhere near as good, however. Examples include software by the OmniGroup and Panic, which make some of the best desktop software I've ever used.

My experience is the same as yours, except the opposite. I kept hearing how wonderful the Mac software world was, until I had to work on one for work. Everything was a lie and a lot of software was subpar to the Windows equivalent (Github app for instance, Finder is almost unusable, Eclipse is a memory hog and IntelliJ keeps crashing because it's not fully compatible with Apple's Java version). Just my experience.

"there was a lot of software that was vastly better than the equivalents on Windows."

The reverse is true as well.

"Examples include software by the OmniGroup and Panic"

Coda is so overrated IMO.

Even the feature screenshots on their website look like a lot of oldschool Mac software. There's nothing "best desktop software" about it. I'm genuinely curious what specifically you think it's good about it.

Is it how their window buttons are vertical "just because", spitting in the face of good UX?

Is it how they recommend you connect via FTP to a remote server as soon as you open the app to publish your files directly from your computer? Do you have any idea what a horrible practice that is?!

Oh and let's just put the browser in our app, I'm sure that is a genius move, nothing wrong with that! /s

Oh yeah, and Panic's SSL certificate expired, not very professional if you ask me.

Right... well...

TLDR my point is I don't believe you when you say Mac has better software on average and your examples don't convince me. I work on a Mac too. But hey, we all have preferences.

I think you mean #5, and while I've had good (limited) experience with Sublime, but one of my other favorite tools (SourceTree) is absolutely horrendous on Windows. Just a single data point.

I had the opposite experience with SourceTree going from Windows to OSx. The lack of tabs on the OSx version is horrible.

I don't really care for the tabs actually, haha. I was surprised they made that choice when I first used it on there, after getting used to OSX.

But the UI aside, the problem I was having is that it would just entirely hang the app if you had a large number of changed files or large diffs. This was about three months ago, so it's possible the performance problems have been fixed.

Unfortunately, SourceTree is still horrible on Windows. I've written them couple of times, but no feedback. Guess Atlassian doesn't care.

Haven't found a good alternative on Windows for a Git GUI tool that comes with Git-Flow.

btw, Expose is now called Mission Control

1. At least you can replace the hard drive easily in a PC. I had to remove 21 screws with a special screw driver to get an SSD into my MBP.

2. Windows doesn't need Expose because Alt+Tab actually works. There are equivalents available for Dashboard and Notifications (like Growl).

3. I've never seen a Mac with as much freedom and flexibility as a PC, but I have seen touchpads that work well. Who wants to use a touchpad at all though unless you're forced to? I'll take a 5 button vertical mouse over a touchpad any day.

4. Maybe. I like running a Unix that's closer to production though and nobody runs OS X on servers. A VM is better IMO.

5. Visual Studio with Web Essentials is hands down the best web development tool there is. Javascript, CSS and HTML autocomplete throughout the entire project. Go to definition that actually works...throughout your entire project. There is no equivalent on any OS.

6. ~~Android Chrome and a PC can do the same.~~ (OK, it can't really but I don't need it and there are too many things that I do need on Windows that are so much more important, like a window manager that doesn't work against me.)

Instead of Growl, consider Snarl. I found that it works as well, if not better, and is actively developed, where Growl seems to have stagnated. Growl also hijacks an important Emacs hotkey. Personally I'd like to see Snarl/Growl integrate with the new Notifications center in Windows 10. This way you could have applications written for Windows and other Operating Systems share a common notifications API that is exposed through native implementations on each OS.