Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac • Hacker News Board

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#271

Post by somecallitblues » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 9:58 AM UTC

lobster_johnson wrote: post #141

enjo wrote: post #17

The latest rev pushed me to a PC for the first time in like 15 years. It's partly because I didn't love the new Macbook Pro, but also cause hey..change is fun sometimes. I'm very happy with my new Surface Book. I never thought I'd like the touchscreen as much as I do. I LOVE being able to go to tablet mode for calls and stuff where I sort of want to just wander around. The pen has completely changed how I do flow-cha…

I'm also considering a switch, but Windows drives me up the wall whenever I touch it. macOS has been getting uglier and more awkward to use the last few years, but Windows is still the king of ugly. So I've been considering Linux as my first option. I fired up a few VMs and dipped my toes in various Linux desktop environments: Elementary, Fedora 25, and Ubuntu (Unity) so far. These are all GNOME 3 variants. And... oh…

I tried Ubuntu and couldn't get over the ugly font and not being able copy paste from anything to anything else. Plus there's no good power management on laptops and no PC ever came out with a quality trackpad that can match macbook.

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#272

Post by josteink » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:01 AM UTC

somecallitblues wrote: post #271

lobster_johnson wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also considering a switch, but Windows drives me up the wall whenever I touch it. macOS has been getting uglier and more awkward to use the last few years, but Windows is still the king of ugly. So I've been considering Linux as my first option. I fired up a few VMs and dipped my toes in various Linux desktop environments: Elementary, Fedora 25, and Ubuntu (Unity) so far. These are all GNOME 3 variants. And... oh…

I tried Ubuntu and couldn't get over the ugly font and not being able copy paste from anything to anything else. Plus there's no good power management on laptops and no PC ever came out with a quality trackpad that can match macbook.

> I tried Ubuntu and couldn't get over the ugly font and not being able copy paste from anything to anything else

Please elaborate. I mean... Universal copy paste has just been working the last 20 years... Unless I'm missing something basic?

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#273

Post by somecallitblues » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:03 AM UTC

setq wrote: post #208

nextos wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try something without any design at all, like Linux with a tiling window manager and some minimal applications.

This is what I use Windows for. It's an SSH terminal that has a web browser and plays music (via groove which is actually quite good)

Is Putty still a thing on Win or does it have something native?

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#274

Post by 72deluxe » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:05 AM UTC

enjo wrote: post #17

The latest rev pushed me to a PC for the first time in like 15 years. It's partly because I didn't love the new Macbook Pro, but also cause hey..change is fun sometimes. I'm very happy with my new Surface Book. I never thought I'd like the touchscreen as much as I do. I LOVE being able to go to tablet mode for calls and stuff where I sort of want to just wander around. The pen has completely changed how I do flow-cha…

I would love to use Windows all the time at home but as my Windows 10 installation believes it is up to date (but is clearly an old build number, irritatingly/stupidly only visible in the settings app and not my computer > Properties), it really is not up to date and I have no idea when Microsoft will decide that it is.

It's rubbish. And the lack of consistency throughout the OS (icons different everywhere, duplication of settings app despite same underlying COM snap-ins, settings app titlebar isn't really a titlebar, 3 different right-click menus - one for the Start menu, one for Edge, one for everywhere else) it is driving me insane. You have to learn all of these edge cases on how to interact with core OS windows.

That shouldn't be the case!!

Windows 3.11 came with a manual (I have it) that informed you how to interact with the desktop and windows. Just imagine the mess they'd have to write for Windows 10 - "drag the blue bar at the top, unless it is the settings app, where there is no blue bar and you can't tell where the titlebar ends and the toolbar begins"; "single click on buttons, unless you are presented with the 'open with which app?' dialog where you will be able to double-click on the button that has the name of the application you wish to use" etc etc etc

EDIT: And I say all this where I use my PC all day at work as a C++ Windows dev and Windows at home when I need to cross-compile. Don't get me started on the lack of future for the MFC codebase we have at work.

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#275

Post by B1FF_PSUVM » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:06 AM UTC

dev_256 wrote: post #214

enjo wrote: post #17

The latest rev pushed me to a PC for the first time in like 15 years. It's partly because I didn't love the new Macbook Pro, but also cause hey..change is fun sometimes. I'm very happy with my new Surface Book. I never thought I'd like the touchscreen as much as I do. I LOVE being able to go to tablet mode for calls and stuff where I sort of want to just wander around. The pen has completely changed how I do flow-cha…

Sometimes I wounder how much of HN comments is content advertisement.

Unauthorized, not much, I think we're well ... hmm ... supervised ...

(Authorized, not much either, it impedes unicorn hunting. Incidentally that's why jwz hates this place - slept under his desk for the delicious unicorn meat, has strong feelings about campers.)

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#276

Post by 72deluxe » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:07 AM UTC

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #228

jkahn wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few months ago I made a similar transition - to a Surface Pro 4. I'd been on Mac since 2009. Before that, Windows and Linux. I think you sum it up well - there are some rough edges in the Windows world, but there also are in the Mac world. I find I hardly use my iPad now.

Oddly enough I find the track pad on the Surface Pro 4 keyboard to be the absolute BEST track pad I've ever used on a PC (even better than the one I played with on the Surface Book) which is...just absurd and odd. But hey I thought it was interesting just how much I liked it compared to everything else.

I found that the gestures were odd, coming from a MacBook. I also notice that my MacBook's touchpad (whilst great in macOS) being absurdly dumb when I reboot to Windows on the same hardware.

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#277

Post by insertnickname » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:10 AM UTC

ctack wrote: post #219

bsg75 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I always return to XFCE. It may not be rapidly evolving, but if I'm running a Linux desktop, I want simple.

I never understood why XFCE is not the default for Ubuntu desktop. It was(is?) part of Xubuntu, the lightweight Ubuntu distro, years ago. I had the most basic entry level laptop, but I managed to connect 2 external monitors to it while the tiling would remember the locations of all programs in all three monitors and it was FAST. Nothing I have tried since has touched it. It set me up for a lot of disappointment! I no…

Xubuntu still exists.

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#278

Post by dagw » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:16 AM UTC

somecallitblues wrote: post #273

setq wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I use Windows for. It's an SSH terminal that has a web browser and plays music (via groove which is actually quite good)

Is Putty still a thing on Win or does it have something native?

Putty (or Kitty or MobaTerm) is still a thing, but there are other options. The Linux subsystem will give you a *nix shell and ssh that works exactly like you expect it to. There is also msys which will give you an ssh client you can run directly from cmd.exe or power shell. Microsoft have been working on a proper native port of OpenSSH, but while it apparently works pretty well, it's still not feature complete or ready to be shipped as a standard part of Windows (hopefully early next year).

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#279

Post by aroch » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:20 AM UTC

aamederen wrote: post #210

lobster_johnson wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also considering a switch, but Windows drives me up the wall whenever I touch it. macOS has been getting uglier and more awkward to use the last few years, but Windows is still the king of ugly. So I've been considering Linux as my first option. I fired up a few VMs and dipped my toes in various Linux desktop environments: Elementary, Fedora 25, and Ubuntu (Unity) so far. These are all GNOME 3 variants. And... oh…

I am experiencing the same thing, but on the reverse side. At my home, I have a Ubuntu desktop which works perfectly. I use Eclipse, Android Studio and Atom editor. On work, I use MBP and pretty much the same environment. I know it is not a common opinion but no matter what I do, I still like Ubuntu more than macos. I agree that macos looks more polished, engineered and complete but somehow, I prefer Ubuntu's plastic…

Eclipse is just super janky under macOS, and the GUI doesn't even work the same as its Windows counterpart -- which makes teaching classes with Eclipse a study in pain

Re: Tim Cook assures employees that Apple is committed to the Mac

#280

Post by yoz-y » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 10:21 AM UTC

72deluxe wrote: post #274

enjo wrote: post #17

The latest rev pushed me to a PC for the first time in like 15 years. It's partly because I didn't love the new Macbook Pro, but also cause hey..change is fun sometimes. I'm very happy with my new Surface Book. I never thought I'd like the touchscreen as much as I do. I LOVE being able to go to tablet mode for calls and stuff where I sort of want to just wander around. The pen has completely changed how I do flow-cha…

I would love to use Windows all the time at home but as my Windows 10 installation believes it is up to date (but is clearly an old build number, irritatingly/stupidly only visible in the settings app and not my computer > Properties), it really is not up to date and I have no idea when Microsoft will decide that it is. It's rubbish. And the lack of consistency throughout the OS (icons different everywhere, duplicati…

Just to chime in that my windows 10 also still does not want to go to the Anniversary version. I have tried the auto update and the manual installer to no avail. Reinstalling the whole system did nothing as well. I have a standard 2014 mbp so the configuration is all but banal. Everybody is raving about the Linux subsystem but as far as I am concerned it does not exist.