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The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

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Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#101

Post by serge2k »

lloyd-christmas wrote: post #48
threeseed wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple doesn't have anything to stand out anymore They have execution and commitment. When I buy a MacBook Pro I can expect to get many years of use out of it. The hardware execution is almost always exemplary and they will continue to support it on the software side during that tenure. Buying a Windows or Android product feels like you're only going to be supported for a year or two and that's it.

I'm typing this on a 2013 macbook. I use it everyday/allday. I also have a fully functioning Asus laptop from 2009. I'm reasonably confident my 2005 inspiron is still kicking. Those two laptops are still running on their original charger. I'm on my third macbook charger in 3 years. I have a box full of broken apple chargers from merely glancing at the cord. I think you're drastically overestimating the macbook's abil…

> I have a box full of broken apple chargers from merely glancing at the cord. I think you're drastically overestimating the macbook's ability to stand out of the crowd in hardware.

having to buy a 70 dollar charger every year vs having to buy a new laptop every 18 months.

I'll stock up on chargers.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#102

Post by mark_kalvelage »

nathas wrote: post #46
bradleybuda wrote: post #43

I'll keep buying Apple hardware (even if the latest rev isn't great) since macOS is the only usable operating system. Windows is (still/increasingly?) a tire fire that's only useful if you're a gamer, and Linux is for programmer-masochists.

Why do you think Windows is a tire fire and OSX is usable? I used my first OSX machine ever earlier this year. I wanted to add some extra keyboard commands, so I had to download a 3rd party program that had to unlock accessibility controls and essentially take full control of the machine. That's absurd to me. I also hit tons of external display problems. Things wouldn't connect or sync right, desktops not correctly m…

Last year I bought a new Macbook Air that came with Yosemite, so after I got home and went through the setup process, I tried to update it to El Capitan through the app store. The laptop went to reboot... and didn't come back up. I thought it was completely bricked because pressing the power button did nothing: no LED light, no startup chime. Apple support guides said to hold down the power button for ten seconds and then re-press it, which at least made the laptop turn on and chime, but nothing happened beyond that. Booting into recovery mode didn't work, but luckily booting into internet recovery mode did. I had to reinstall Yosemite over the internet, create a USB image of El Capitan, then install from the USB.

Even after that, things never went smoothly. There was some sort of bug where I couldn't enter my Apple ID security answers in the OS dialog box. Like you, I had problems with external displays, especially with waking up a display when the laptop itself woke up. The very first time I tried to restore from a Time Machine backup I got errors. Problems with iTunes and Photos sync. Not to mention more or less subjective issues I had.

I had more problems with this laptop than I've had with any Windows machine.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#103

Post by JBReefer »

troygoode wrote: post #62
dpark wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think they're going to ditch lightning after everyone buys a bunch of accessories? They could, but I doubt it. What would switching to USB C do for Apple?

"They could, but I doubt it." – you mean exactly like they did with the switch to Lightning already?

If you're going to piss people off by removing the headphone jack, you don't do it again by changing ports next year. You tear the bandage off in one go.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#104

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #84
blinkingled wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well to be fair HiDPI issues are application issues as opposed to core Windows issues.

Microsoft took ages to fix first-party applications that shipped with the OS: https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/83964/microsoft-... . Microsoft's inability to execute is mind-boggling.

[deleted]

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#105

Post by kristopolous »

whyenot wrote: post #98
kristopolous wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always found it offensive that they used long deceased, mostly anti materialist socialists to peddle consumer electronics (as if mother Teresa would be using an ipad with her name etched in the back). They should have tried using a living legend without permission like Ralph Nader or Noam Chomsky and see how that went...

You seem to be mis-remembering the facts a little. The Think Different campaign was nearly 20 years ago (1997). If you look at the list of celebrities[1], almost all are/were not "anti materialist socialists." 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_different

The socialist leanings of the people used is incidental to what I was saying. I may not have stated myself well. For a productive conversation here, are you unclear on the position or do you fundamentally dispute it?

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#106

Post by makecheck »

nathas wrote: post #46
bradleybuda wrote: post #43

I'll keep buying Apple hardware (even if the latest rev isn't great) since macOS is the only usable operating system. Windows is (still/increasingly?) a tire fire that's only useful if you're a gamer, and Linux is for programmer-masochists.

Why do you think Windows is a tire fire and OSX is usable? I used my first OSX machine ever earlier this year. I wanted to add some extra keyboard commands, so I had to download a 3rd party program that had to unlock accessibility controls and essentially take full control of the machine. That's absurd to me. I also hit tons of external display problems. Things wouldn't connect or sync right, desktops not correctly m…

You can customize a almost everything using the Keyboard panel of System Preferences. Yes, 3rd party tools like Karabiner are needed for control of absolutely everything but that is pretty rare.

Also note that accessibility must be “unlocked” because it fundamentally adds a security risk: processes that can inspect inputs in arbitrary unknown applications have a lot of power. What macOS does is actually a feature and it prevents one of the “tire fires” in Windows.

Beach balls in my experience are usually produced by problems in drivers, or programs that are unnecessarily complex (like the ones that are 400 MB installs with entire virtualization layers instead of being all native code). The OS can only do so much.

External displays: yes, definitely buggy on Macs these days, and with some obscure settings. Something to try: with at least 3 desktops/Spaces defined (need to use "+" in Mission Control), you can right-click on the Dock icon of an application to specify the default space to use for windows in that app. These menu commands are not available with less than 3 Spaces created.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#107

Post by jrockway »

rayiner wrote: post #74
cmelbye wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Cortana was launched on Windows, I went to a Microsoft Store to try it out. I found a Surface and tapped the Cortana button, and it opened a "Microphone Calibration Setup Wizard" that looks like it was from Windows XP. So yeah, taste is one thing, but execution is a different ball game.

Windows 10 still has two different control panels. Last year, a Microsoft PM tweeted he hadn't had to use the old control panel "in months": https://twitter.com/brandonleblanc/status/650519136196366338... . Microsoft had been shipping two control panels for three years at that point. People would be apoplectic if Apple did something like that.

This is kind of what I like about Windows 10; it can be a dumbed-down experience for people that don't care, but if you want, there are gradually escalating levels of configurability. Settings -> Control Panel -> fuck it, I'll edit the registry directly.

I would definitely not want to maintain this codebase, but as an end user, I'm happy.

Re: The bizarre role reversal of Apple and Microsoft

#109

Post by serge2k »

twblalock wrote: post #86
gigatexal wrote: post #35

Thursday's reveal of new MacBooks was so lackluster I am rethinking my loyalty to Apple. The Apple platform has always been the most productive platform for me. But other firms seem to be innovating and iterating on things quicker than Apple has: rumor has it that Apple will more or less copy the edge-to-edge display of Chinese handsets or the rounded edges of the S7 Edge, wtf, what happened to doing really bold thin…

> I guess we might have just hit peak-phone handset. This is what happens in mature product segments. The first iPhone was released 9 years ago, and that was the last real revolution -- a smartphone whose front was pretty much all screen. Everything Apple and everyone else has done since then has been incremental -- better screens, larger screens, better cameras, faster processors, thinner chassis -- but definitely t…

Things like touchId were amazing features in their own right though.

Now the best they can do is a second lens for kinda bokeh and adding a touch bar instead of physical keys on the macbook.

While dumping the headphone jack and magsafe (and HDMI and SD).

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