If you buy a system made with known linux compatible hardware you'll have zero problems. Just like a mac. Windows has the advantage that it gets first tier service and thus a greater chance with being stable with a broader swathe of hardware. OSX to me is much better than Windows because it doesn't get in your way. You want a new app download it and drop it in Applications. I don't know WTF windows does but some installs take forever; on Mac OSX and Linux install times are so much more reasonable and transparent. Obviously it matters WHAT you do with the OS, for some situations only Windows will have the software you need, and on those occasions I reluctantly use it. As far as stability on good hardware, for the average user, there's very little difference in the 3.
For me, I'd like an OS that Just Works with what I do with it; Linux has never been it. Linux desktop has always been a compromise - it KINDA works.
Professionally, I've used all three major operating system branches. Windows was a hack when it came to things like terminal support. Linux needed me to hack into config files pretty quickly just to make it work, and it's lacking the UI polish that the other operating systems have. Mac combines the best of both worlds.
Privately I've always used Windows, simply because all games work on there at the intended performance. It's not in the way.
I suspect a lot of people using OS X would be perfectly fine with Linux, but Apple's hardware and support go so far above and beyond what you get from most stock Windows laptop manufacturers, it just feels like you have a better product in your hands when you buy a Macbook Pro than it would if you bought the relative beast of a machine you could get if you went for something non-Apple.
And OS X works well enough (and does things in just a Unix-y enough fashion) that there's no really compelling reason to use Linux on the Apple hardware. Not to mention those of us that do iPhone dev...
I know you're probably joking, but in the limited experience I've had with Linux, I've never had a more negative experience with an operating system than I did with Linux. I'd run Windows XP way before I'd consider running Linux. At least XP works. OSX has tons of advantages over Linux, including a window interface that runs smoothly, OSX has way more software available and there is no discussion whatsoever to be had in this area, and OSX has a lot better tech support available to users. I could go on and on. Linux is a hobby OS at best.
I don't know how anyone could reasonably conclude Apple's software is vastly superior. Apple has always been and continues to be a hardware-first company; their software always lags behind.
In the past two days I've had to reboot my mac twice because the headhone jack stopped working. At my previous job, the terminal program segfaulted at least once a week. Bluetooth is notoriously flaky and requires frequent reboots to fix. My entire OS locks up about twice a month and requires a full reboot. At one point, my OSX got in a state where whenever I would play a video full-screen it would lock within minutes and require a reboot.
When it comes to pure software quality, windows is hands-down the best platform. I worked in a .NET shop for 3 years and had zero problems with the actual OS. Linux is unfortunately the least stable of the three, but I prefer it and currently use it at work over OSX.
Care to enlighten? I've been using all three, and I'd rate Linux to be miles ahead of MacOs, which is a few steps ahead of Windows.
For what an OS should do, Linux does it far better, and Windows does it terribly with its ancient nt kernel.
Then it comes down to usability for end user, gnome gets out of the way, and allows pretty good customization. MacOs is pretty mediocre and restrictive. And Windows is again pretty bad.
Then it comes to software availability, which is a bit a chicken and egg issue that I don't find too much value in. If the software availability restricts you, then you got to do what you got to do, with the options available.
Then it comes to value for hardware. And here, oh my how things have changed in the past 5-10 years. If you don't buy a mac for the software availability, or for some other restriction, you are literally making a terrible purchase. You get a far worse computer for more than twice the cost. This is no exaggeration. Upgrading components when buying is somewhere between twice and ten times more expensive than the equivalent components.
At no point in my life has it ever been hard or regretable to install Linux on anything. I hear talk about trackpads and Bluetooth not working, but I've never experienced this at all. Maybe it's because I use i3 and vim but it just seems like if you want a development environment what more do you need besides a working terminal and a robust package manager which every distro has out of the box. Mac has always just seemed like a gimmick to me and after getting one at work I just find that at best it feels like a bloated freeBSD. If I wanted Unix there are plenty of superior alternatives and if I want to get work done I install Linux.
Linux is a totally different story. “Linux” doesn’t support anything. It’s a kernel and doesn’t remove things out of tree so comparability is rarely removed so you could build things. But user space / distros and binary drivers can be a different beast (DKMS helps). Anyway. Linux is choose your own adventure and not comparable.
For Windows you’re not comparing the same thing. Apple ships a new major OS release on a yearly cadence compared with Microsoft’s 7 years. Some people might prefer Microsoft’s approach. People buying into the Apple ecosystem understand Apple takes a different approach. Also Microsoft isn’t your one stop shop for support. While Windows may be supported for 7 years, i doubt your OEM is supporting your firmware for that long. Apple ties firmware to operating system so that is easier to understand.
Other than being proprietary, macOS is definitely much better than Windows. The problem is that macOS requires Apple hardware, which has been dog shit for years now.
It's very much not as cut and dried as you imply here whether OS X is better than linux. Anyone I know who knows enough to actually make an informed decision about both, thinks linux is better. Almost to the extent that I'd make the exact reverse observation you make, that it's completely obvious linux is better.
However, I know many people who just don't know linux very well who are happy sticking with OS X, so I don't think that's a valid observation to make either.
I've long felt that the greatest threat to Linux on the desktop (for the past ~15 years) has been OSX, not Windows.
We all want a solid and reliable UNIX-based OS, but we also want an OS that won't be treated as a bastard child by hardware and software vendors. As much as we all love the world of free software, sometimes we actually do want/need to use commercial software as well.
Apple has given us what we fundamentally want, so we just put up with all the baggage that comes along with it. After all, what else are we going to do? Use Windows?
I've tried very hard to understand what benefits a MacBook has over Windows/Linux.
I've boiled it down to- it can compile iOS apps, and you can use Unix commands. The first is Apple intentionally being anti competitive, the later is a genuine benefit that I nearly am unaffected by being a Windows/Linux user.
However the strangest thing came up in my research, the number of SWE that said they liked the way it looks. It's shinny.
I genuinely don't know what to think about Apple users decision making.
Before switching to a Mac, I was a Linux user for years and years.
I use a Mac simply because I feel OS X is the better operating system. Linux has made strides on the desktop but when push comes to shove, it's just not "there" yet. I'm sure I'm going to be downmodded for saying that, but I really feel it's the truth. Desktop Linux is unstable. While it doesn't crash often, it does sometimes, and I feel that one crash is too many. Multiple displays are wonky. Flash still doesn't work properly. Etc. Etc.
I use OS X because it has the UNIX underpinnings I need to do my job with the stable desktop and cohesive UI that I feel Linux is missing.
Unlike many Linux zealots, I don't feel that there is anything "wrong" with closed-source software. I didn't use Linux for years because it was free as in beer or free as in freedom. I used it because I thought it was the better tool.
And that's why I use a Mac.
Here is my biggest concern though: Apple is an evil, proprietary company. In my opinion, worse than Microsoft. If you use OS X, you are legally locked in to Apple hardware. You cannot legally run OS X on anything but Apple-bought-and-branded computers. At least, with Windows, I have the freedom to install the software on any bloody hardware I want. Yeah yeah, you can Hackintosh or whatever, but it goes against Apple's EULA.
Just because Apple releases parts of OS X under open source licenses, doesn't mean OS X isn't completely proprietary. You can only run it on what Apple lets you run it on. If you need to upgrade your workstation(s) and want to stick with OS X, you are completely at mercy to Apple's products and prices.
In the end, I suck it up. Hopefully one day this will change, but right now OS X is a pleasure to use, and that outweighs the dislike I have with the license.
Before I moved to macbook in 2014 I had had pretty positive experience with linux on the desktop.
I don’t want to disclose the reasons for that move since here is discussed the opposite but I have a question.
I absolutely loved my laptop and dwm instead of bloated desktop environments and I would be happy to move back to this universe.
BUT.
I got trapped to the apple’s ecosystem. I find it convenient to be able to share copy-paste buffer between my devices at hand. I find it useful that when I take a photo it gets uploaded somewhere and then I can see it on my laptop screen. Reminders, notes, music, phone backups.
I have a 7 year old tablet that still receives critical OS security updates.
If something turns my laptop, phone or tablet to ashes I can get a new one and get it back to the working condition pretty quickly. Laptop will require a bit more hassle because I don’t do backups and I haven’t created a provisioning script for it but still it is a matter of hours.
I don’t care about the logo and the company behind tools that I use. I just want a tool that fits my needs best and allows me to focus on things that are really important for me.
I want a phone/tablet that will still get official love and support from the vendor even 7 years after release.
I want my day to day getting things done be synced across my devices flawlessly.
I want smooth user experience and I don’t want spend my motherfucking time on choosing across multiple options related to the tools I use. Or at lease I am ready to spend some time in advance in order to forget about all that crap for a long while to focus on really interesting stuff.
Apple is very good at selling stuff to you. They are effing effective. Once you get one of their devices you will get used to it and will try more. And then out of a sudden you are surrounded by their shit. And it seems like you are happy about it.
Linux is fun. And the open source is fun. I am allergic to Android to the point of disgust. But what is the alternative to apple’s “ecosystem” in the open source world? Like phone, tablet and laptop/desktop + cloud sync among all three. I am ready to jump. Just tell me where.
Unfortunately a lot of proprietary software packages require either Windows or macOS, with no option for Linux users. Windows has its annoyances, but using macOS requires purchasing a Mac (I’m ignoring Hackintoshes). Since Apple is the only vendor of Macs, if Apple’s configurations don’t meet your needs or are too expensive, then tough luck. I was a long-time Mac user but I switched to PCs due to the proliferation of soldered RAM and storage plus the outrageously high prices for upgrades. I don’t like Windows but Macs require me to pay massive sums of money for future-proof configurations compared to PCs with user-upgradable components, and plus I need Microsoft Office and other proprietary tools, which prevents me from switching to Linux or the BSDs full time.
As others have said, Windows is the issue with windows computers.
OSX has plenty of flaws, but it (generally) stays out of your way, is a less hostile development environment, and is compatible with all the things you need. I feel like the Linux folks are attacking this problem by trying to create distros that are easier and easier to use, which is great, but it doesn't solve the compatibility piece, which is this weird chicken and egg thing (consumers still don't want to figure out how to use Wine). Luckily, gaming seems to be making progress here?
This is why Windows or OSX beat Linux on the desktop. Practicality beats philosophy. There's also another consideration, incentives. Compare Apples incentives with, say, Red Hats.
Apple makes money selling overpriced hardware with extremely user friendly software. If the software causes problems, if it doesn't make their life easier, users won't pay the premium for the hardware, Apple has every incentive to invest heavily on GUI-candy and ease of use in general.
RH makes money providing support for their software. If the software is too easy to use, nobody will by the support. They have every incentive to keep a certain level of complexity.
reply