Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#651

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 8:33 AM UTC

vram22 wrote: post #201

jmcdiesel wrote: post #17

I used to be hardcore windows guy... Then 10 years ago I got a mac. I never went back.. But what am I saving money for right now? To build a nice PC again. Mostly because of the exact reasons in the article. I have a fondness for apple... but they have definitely lost their way. First, they were a computer company driven by a man who loved computers ("first" here is the Jobs return era) ... then they became a Compute…

>First, they were a computer company driven by a man who loved computers ("first" here is the Jobs return era) ... then they became a Computer company who also made a phone. Then they became a computer company who also made a phone and a tablet. Then they became a phone company who also made computers and tablets. >Now they are a phone company who presides over the death throws of an amazing operating system that is…

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Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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Post by Mikhail_Edoshin » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 8:37 AM UTC

I loved Macs when it wasn't mainstream (think Mac OS Classic, up to v9), but now primarily use PC. Anyway, I remember reading a book written by Felix Dennis, "How to Get Rich" (the trick here is that Felix actually got rich) and there was a lengthy passage about Apple, Steve Jobs, and why Apple will fail the second time (the book was published in 2006, after iPod, but before iPhone, but I doubt iPhone would change the reasoning). The main idea was that Apple believe they have a great idea and do not need to cooperate with the rest of the world:

"But an idea is not enough. It is never enough. And even its successful execution as a piece of technology is not enough if the company refuses to join with the rest of the world and its own customers in cooperative exploitation."

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#653

Post by rusk » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 8:44 AM UTC

ntsplnkv3 wrote: post #301

rusk wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on a similar timeline as well. Thought I'd never go back, but have you checked out Windows 10? The gap has closed a lot.

I think the gap has increased even more with Windows 10.

I didn't necessarily mean that the gap has closed just due to improvements at Microsoft ...

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#654

Post by antfarm » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 8:55 AM UTC

DannyBee wrote: post #5

owenwil wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, like creating a full blown new programming language (Swift)? Byproduct of Apple's work on mobile. > Or a full new filesystem (AFS)? Byproduct of Apple's work on mobile. > Siri on the desktop? Byproduct of mobile again! (By the way, ask Siri on Mac to set an alarm or interact with homekit!) But, I take your point. I tried to mostly detail Apple's lack of attention for developers, but perhaps missed the emphasis o…

"Byproduct of mobile." If you need evidence: Swift appeared in IOS first and still is not great on the desktop at all. APFS (not AFS) is the default in IOS, and still in feature preview and pretty unusable in 10.12. It's "expected" it will be released for desktop in 2017 Siri on the desktop is mostly useless, as said here.

In what sense is Swift not great on the desktop at all?

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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Post by rimantas » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 8:56 AM UTC

rusk wrote: post #293

rimantas wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what fans (the real ones) do? They try to know more about the thing they are fans of, and to understand it. Your comment shows nothing of the kind.

Sorry but who wants to be some lame "fan"? We want the best tool for the job, too get that job done and we're willing to pay for it. The tools are no longer up to scratch or functioning as expected and we are voicing our concern.

People declaring they are fans? Did you even read the comment I was replying to?

  > The tools are no longer up to scratch or functioning as
  > expected and we are voicing our concern.

That's bullshit and you know it.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 9:00 AM UTC

pfranz wrote: post #600

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try to keep MagSafe 2 connected in any circumstances other than flat and stable. Sitting on the couch or laying in bed no way, it constantly disconnects. Good riddance.

I never had a magsafe2 laptop. I love magsafe1. I have no idea why they went through with changing it.

Probably something to do with shaving a billion of a millimetre off the thickness of the MacBooks

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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Post by JdeBP » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 9:01 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #395

optimiz3 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Linux/Windows developer, Swift remains a toy language as it cannot be used to do develop useful applications for Linux and Windows, where I make all of my money.

> As a Linux/Windows developer As a Linux/Windows developer you are not the target audience (which I already addressed). Besides, just because you can't use it, it doesn't make it a toy language, just a language that doesn't have support (or full support) for Linux. A toy language has a specific meaning, it's not a generic work for "language I can't use professionally on my platform/industry". I can't use Forth to ma…

Yes, it's wrong to be dismissive like that. But no, "toy language" does not have a specific meaning. It is a slang insult, not a proper technical term.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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Post by chongli » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 9:10 AM UTC

tajen wrote: post #211

toodlebunions wrote: post #11

I have increasingly little hope that apple will make pro focused hardware ever again. The company does not seem to care about the mac anymore at all.

I really wonder what's happening inside the company, because Apple's lawyers make the company so secretive that we don't know much about it. Do employees read HN? Do they collect reports about what the consumers are asking for and send it up the management chain? Do they knowingly choose to ignore it? or do they actually believe the Emoticon Macbook is the future? or do employees feel dismayed that their management p…

I really wonder what's happening inside the company

If I had to take a wild guess, they've been going stir crazy waiting for the new HQ to be built. From what I know, they've got a lot of employees crammed in lots of temporary offices. They may also have temporarily slowed hiring.

All of that could add up to multiple problems all over the company. Like a skeleton crew struggling to get the ship back to port for refitting.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#659

Post by antfarm » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 9:33 AM UTC

I have been using OS X for software development for the last 15 years. Before that I was on Linux for 4 years and Mac OS 7 before that. I have never owned a Windows computer.

One of the things I like most about OS X/macOS is how its development has been a gradual evolution, from the time Apple bought NeXT and OpenStep in 1997 and started working on Rhapsody, until macOS Sierra. It may have a lot to do with my using it every day and having gotten so used to the OS after more than a decade, but my Mac in 2017 totally gets out of the way and lets me concentrate on my development work. The familiar UNIX underpinnings and developments like e.g. Homebrew help a lot with that. Also, printers, multiple external screens etc. just work.

When I look at Windows, what I really cannot understand is how an operating system that is used by the majority of people and businesses gets away with having each major version looking and behaving totally different from its predecessor, as if there was a constant need to fix the UI design errors that have been made in the previous version. And still (or thus?) it's not getting to the point where it feels natural to use.

Re: Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

#660

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 06, 2017, 9:38 AM UTC

akio wrote: post #315

freehunter wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot to not like about Windows's UI, but Explorer is worlds better than Finder, there's absolutely no comparison. Every day I still struggle to remember how to go up a level. Option+Up? Nope that selects the next folder up. Control+Up? No, that made all of my windows do something weird that I don't know what that is. Ah, it's Command+Up. As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. I can't cli…

> As far as I can tell, there's no non-keyboard way to do it. I can't click a button and go up to the parent folder, all I can do is go back, which is confusing if I forget what the previous folder was. Right-click on the toolbar and select "Customize Toolbar...", then drag the "Path" button into the toolbar.

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