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Why I left Mac for Windows: Apple has given up

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

#681
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…

> Microsoft is really trying with developers and it's readily apparent. Which has been their approach for a very long time - let's not forget that Ballmer speech. From what I have heard, Apple puts minimal effort into XCode; the iPhone lead dev here was throwing around all forms of cuss words trying to get CI set up.

XCode is a sometimes excellent, sometimes shaky experience, still far ahead of Android Studio until the past 6 months or so. The API design of iOS is also still second to none, and part of the reason I continue to develop for Apple platforms. I use XCode Server for CI without issue, another team uses Jenkins happily. Apple's hardware can be fairly neglected, but the experience of being a developer in their ecosystem is still very pleasant overall.

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

#682
post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No.

Come to think of it, that's actually an interesting monetization scheme. "You can use our software for free, but when your computer idles, we use x% of its computing power for mining cryptocurrency" (or whatever profitable endeavor). It's of course disastrous from an environmental perspective, but still interesting.

And if it doesn't idle enough, we'll make it.

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

#683
post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is a still computer company, because Phones ARE computers. For the majority of the population in developed countries, and almost all of the population of developing countries, smartphones are the only computer people have or need. I agree that Apple have shifted focus away from "making tools for people to create things and solve problems" towards consumption-oriented mobile devices. But those devices are still…

You're correct that phones are computers, however: Solidworks, AutoCAD, etc. don't run on phones Photoshop/Lightroom/Illustrator don't run on phones SPICE, VHDL, Verilog don't run on phones InDesign and other DTP programs don't run on phones Emacs/Vi don't run on phones There are a host of actually-useful programs that are completely unsuitable for run on phone-computers, that do run well on laptop-computers and desk…

SPICE, VHDL and Verilog typically run on some 56 core machine in a server room. At least once you are working on a sufficiently complex design.

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

#684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same for memory compression (which only exists on the Mac IIRC) and continuity (which would be useful even if it only worked from Mac to Mac). Windows 10 has memory compression.

And Linux too since Dec 2012.

Huh? Is that enabled automatically, or do I need to flip a switch?

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

#685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People complain that Apple uses proprietary ports. They ditched MagSafe for USB-C and people still complained.

Good point, and it's because of the status quo bias. When an alternative is proposed, people look at what they lose, and since we don't like loss, we say, "No, I don't want that". Thought experiment: say Macs had USB-C for 10 years, and the latest Macbooks switched to MagSafe. There'd be a lot of complaints about Apple locking us in to their walled garden, and how we have to buy a proprietary overpriced charger now,…

> Thought experiment: say Macs had USB-C for 10 years, and the latest Macbooks switched to MagSafe.

Then you would presumably still be able to use the remaining USB-C ports to charge it, with the MagSafe merely an option. That would not get many complaints. If they violated that they would deserve the complaints.

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

#686
post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, Windows 10 on my Dell laptop will heat up, spin the fan noticably and something called "Service Host: Local System" will consistently use 48 - 52% of CPU when the laptop is sitting doing nothing at all, with no applications open. I really can't understand what it's doing but have a hard time taking it seriously as an operating system.

Svchost.exe is a bonkers bit of design that goes against the simple, basic separation of concerns that OS-level processes provide by running multiple "services" as DLLs loaded into one process. This makes it extremely hard to pinpoint which service is faulty. Apparently the magic runes are sc config wuauserv type= own

Just go into Task Manager, Details tab, right click on the columns and add "Command Line". Now you can see what each svchost does.

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

#687

Oh please. Not this again. I recently had the pleasure of checking in on Windows for the second time in 7 years. I had been a PC user since the DOS days, starting on a 286, and going all the way to Windows 8 when I switched to Macs around 2010. I've only ever needed Windows for games since then, and decided to install Boot Camp on the 15" 2016 MacBook Pro that I just got (which happens to be a pretty good machine [1]…

Escher would turn in his grave being compared to that.

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

#688
post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your point about having to give an honest shot at Windows - I bought a Win10 license some months ago. It's fine. Until I wanted Emacs. Until I wanted to uninstall software. Until I wanted to setup a VM in VirtualBox (set up a Win2k12 Server VM tonight, and it simply failed to boot 3 consecutive times, then booted up in a "repair" mode, and then failed to boot again, just to boot up again after the 5-6th…

The only actual _windows_ problem of those you listed is that uninstalling software is a hassle. That said, it isn't a walk in the park on Mac either. Can't use Emacs on Windows? Use any other editor. Can't setup VM in VirtualBox? A VirtualBox (maybe) problem If you go on Windows expecting the same environment as OSX or whatever OS you're on, you're going to have a bad time. Booting up a fresh Debian install feels be…

> Can't use Emacs on Windows? Use any other editor.

But... to Emacs users, there is no "any other" editor :)

// That being said, it's possible to run a native Windows build of Emacs, I remember doing that at some point. It wasn't overly nice though, and you have to delve into the whole msys/mingw/cygwin thing.

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

#689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can still format the rest of the hard disk on another fs to dual boot, and you can still share drives with other systems in NTFS, xFAT, etc. Until that other OS has support for the new proprietary filesystem, it won't be able to read it. Since Apple and Microsoft categorically refuse to implement any of the many featureful existing filesystems, one is stuck with archaic NTFS (with no file permissions) or FAT (w…

> Since Apple and Microsoft categorically refuse to implement any of the many featureful existing filesystems, one is stuck with archaic NTFS (with no file permissions) or FAT (with less than 4gb files) to keep data. xFAT which I already mentioned is supported and doesn't have a 4GB limitation. You can have up to 128 pebibytes (which should be enough for everybody: that's ~144 petabytes).

> which should be enough for everybody

I've heard these words so often that they've lost any meaning to me. :)

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

#690
post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 8 was worse than Windows 10 which is worse than 7. I should have specified-to me Windows 8 and 10 are both poor, both much worse than 7. To be honest, I had an EASIER time with Windows 8 (company provided laptop) than Windows 10. Windows 7 was the pinnacle windows experience for me and it has gotten worse ever since.

What about windows 7 was so great? The start menu? Windows 10 has a 5 second boot up time, most all annoyances anyone has online can be configured away, and it is insanely stable (haven't had it once crash on me yet).

With configured away you surely mean install third party tools full of adware until one nearly does what you want.
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