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The End of OS X

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Re: The End of OS X

#171

Post by alharith »

hckr_news wrote: post #58
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #53

What I think a lot of us programmers miss is the experience of the end-users who are likely to buy a Mac. The fact of the matter is, 99.9% of people who buy a Mac are not going to know what subpixel hinting is. Or care too much that they can't delete Chess.app. To them, the Mac is nicer looking and easier to use than ever. Will iOS devs care? Not at all - developing for the Mac has become easier with Catalyst. It's e…

Overheating is still a concern for me.

I recently purchased a new 13" pro, upgraded to the top processor. I installed Bootcamp and played hours of The Witcher 3 (on low settings, of course, but still). There were no overheating issues. Fan was going full blast the whole time, but it kept up just fine. Hopefully my little anecdote instills a little confidence. The new 13" is as close to a perfect machine to me as I have ever owned. It's compact, portable, light but a completely full powered functional 100% dev workhorse (with a great keyboard AND a physical escape key to boot). I couldn't be happier. Kudos to Apple for this one.

Re: The End of OS X

#172

Post by fsflover »

oneplane wrote: post #162
fsflover wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Changing the hardware or software yourself is not the point. The point is the monopoly of the manufacturer to repair and modify with huge negative consequences. The lack of right to modify the software leads to unjust power over users [0,1], while the lack of ability to repair hardware leads to unreasonable repair prices, monopoly and environmental damage [2]. [0] https://www.defectivebydesign.org/ [1] https://www.gn…

No, that isn't the point either. The point is happy users, and there will always be some unhappy users because they wanted to do something that isn't supported or actively barred. Throwing in words like 'right' and 'unjust' helps in movements and call to action etc, but in this context it's about someone turning on their device, doing some work, and turning it off again.

What you are saying is the same thing. “Unhappy users” are unhappy because of lack of the freedoms I mentioned. One has to fight for them.

Re: The End of OS X

#173

Post by sudosysgen »

pjmlp wrote: post #161
mhaberl wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that (most) Linux users see "free" as the main reason for using Linux. Personally if Linux had a price tag, and Windows were free I would still be a Linux user.

Sure they do, otherwise selling desktop software to Linux users would actually be profitable.

Selling desktop software to Linux users is only unprofitable because it often sucks and when it doesn't the market share isn't there. Have you ever seen anyone actually pay for Windows or Mac OS? No? right.

Re: The End of OS X

#174

Post by sailingparrot »

crystaln wrote: post #123
lordleft wrote: post #64

I've looked at the trajectory of Apple these past few years with mounting bitter-sweetness. At its best, MacOS really felt like the best of Unix combined with the consumer focus alluded to in the article. I still adore the craftsmanship of the latest Macbooks, but my 2015 Macbook felt like the apex of Mac's design. It was the kind of device that was such a pleasure to develop on. You could leverage the power of Unix…

I am a developer and power user. I am incredibly happy with every update from Apple. Unix with good design is exactly what I want from my OS. Sure I can't disassemble my laptop and change the hardware. I have no desire at all to do that. I literally can think of no reason I personally would want to do this, although I imagine there are a tiny fraction of users who would and you may be among them.

> I literally can think of no reason I personally would want to do this

If you personnaly care a little bit about the environment there is a pretty evident reason why being able to swap a single piece of hardware is better than replacing the whole unit because everything is soldered together.

Right to repair would also mean that once your device goes out of guarantee you would have more options to get your device repaired for cheaper.

Re: The End of OS X

#175

Post by nfoz »

crazygringo wrote: post #71

First OS X was big cats, then it was mountains. Very surprised they didn't switch to a new naming theme! I guess an architecture change was as good a reason as any to revert back to a normal, sane versioning system where the first number increments like most programs. But it's just weird how "unannounced" or unacknowledged it is.

Big Cats was way better IMO. I was surprised they switched to landmarks, and I'm more surprised that they haven't changed to something else entirely yet.

Re: The End of OS X

#176

Post by duskwuff »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #42
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But once again, the only "iOS-ing" that has happened so far is the theme. Yes, the theme looks more iOS-like, but that's about it. There are almost no technical differences whatsoever underneath since Catalina and almost no security changes.

I know Apple fairly well. They have...control issues. They want as much control as they can get, over every aspect of the experience. It can get stifling, but I actually support it, and it's one of the reasons that I have always had faith in the company. The HIG (Human Interface Group) used to be nicknamed "The Blue Meanies" in the 1980s.

IIRC, the Blue Meanies were simply the System 7 core developers, not a HIG-specific group.

Re: The End of OS X

#178

Post by oneplane »

sudosysgen wrote: post #150
crystaln wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a developer and power user. I am incredibly happy with every update from Apple. Unix with good design is exactly what I want from my OS. Sure I can't disassemble my laptop and change the hardware. I have no desire at all to do that. I literally can think of no reason I personally would want to do this, although I imagine there are a tiny fraction of users who would and you may be among them.

Easy. A new application you have needs more RAM. Your battery is not holding up very well and you want to replace it. Your SSD will fail soon and you want to replace it. I had every single one of those issues on a laptop, and fixing them cost me from 25$ to 100$, about a fifth of what the Apple Store or OEM was quoting me. Instead of being without my laptop for a week or two, I got all of them over in an hour and a h…

Your scenario definitely exists, but it also doesn't hit the likes of the user you respond to as much as you might expect.

SSD's don't fail the way they used to, RAM requirements don't change as much as it used to and while batteries do die, at this time I've seen more people switch machines before any of that happens.

The last time I wanted or needed to replace memory or storage in a laptop must have been 7 years ago, and I don't see anyone else doing that either. Even desktop upgrades are somewhat dead at this point, except for a GPU upgrade if someone is a gamer, or storage upgrade if people still use direct attached storage and didn't get enough when they initially got the machine.

Just because a scenario that hits a small percentage of DIY users is getting hard doesn't mean it's bad for everyone else as well.

Re: The End of OS X

#179

Post by zitterbewegung »

nvarsj wrote: post #165
zitterbewegung wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always used Apple products because they just work. UNIX compatibility has been great and I've run docker, run virtual machines, given presentations and I love the hardware. Most of the restrictions are tradeoffs for security and the real problem is that I have tried having workflows on other systems and tried to switch off of it (I had linux on my MacBook Pro 2017. Below are my most frustrating situations 1. My…

Interesting you mention Emacs. The Mac port of Emacs runs noticeably slower than Linux depending on operation (magit especially is very slow). This is due to the much slower fork call on OS X I believe. I found Emacs so painfully slow on a MBP 16” I gave up on OS X completely. It might just be you are used to it and it’s good enough. For me OS X feels like a laggy mess.

I have experienced Linux being more responsive than macOS when I run it on my gaming / deep learning computer or when I loaded it on my MacBook Pro 2017 . The problem was the rest of the OS didn't work or was a nightmare. On a MacBook Pro Linux would never suspend correctly. On my Gaming / Deep learning computer Ubuntu keeps on updating the kernel and ruining my work installing linux to the point I gave up multiple times. And by the time that Dell Developer Editions started being competitive I would be SSHing into AWS or doing something completely different.

My workloads are getting to the point that a Colab Pro Notebook sounds like a good idea or setting up my Gaming / Deep learning computer to use RDP into it using Windows 10. But by now I would probably even want to install Windows Server 2019 due to the fact that the NVIDIA drivers would support the card and when I run video games I don't have to manually kill background services that subtract 30 FPS from my video games making them unplayable on a Titan RTX.

Re: The End of OS X

#180

Post by drunkpotato »

eyerony wrote: post #55
drunkpotato wrote: post #5

I know this is about the coming MacOS 11.0, but Catalina was the end of OS X for me, and the end of Macs in general for me. I will not be migrating from Mojave to Catalina, and will use my current generation of Macs until they are obsolete, while finally making the transition to Linux. Mac and I had a good run, but I'm clearly no longer the target demographic and their corporate goals aren't aligned with mine as a cu…

> I will not be migrating from Mojave to Catalina, and will use my current generation of Macs until they are obsolete, while finally making the transition to Linux I've recently been doing this, after some time (ahem, a decade) away from "serious" desktop Linux. Some observations/pointers: - Running ultralight window managers with minimal services still feels the most "right" and predictable/stable way to have a Linu…

Thanks for the great tips! I’m not super thrilled at the idea of running Linux on Windows, though that may be the best option. It would be nice to have more games available, but I find using Windows a grating experience with its constant popups and annoyances. It’s a thousand little things that annoy the heck out of me when using it. I had a Windows work box for 3.5 years and the only nice things I have to say for it we’re Outlook, Excel, and SSMS, which are fine products.
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