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Impressions from a first-time Mac user

loganmarchione.com

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Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#281

Post by kevingadd »

xisthesqrtof9 wrote: post #44

3 of the 4 items that the author mentioned can be solved with using NixOS inside a VM on your mac :) Inspired by Mitchell Hashimoto's VMWare setup[0]. I setup my own computer in such a way, I now have the best of both worlds. Developing on a linux machine, where I can control everything if I wanted (down to the OS) and the ease of Notes/iMessages whenever I need it. Window management is a pita because of internal API…

If corporate IT isn't okay with you installing third party window management tools, I can't imagine they'd be thrilled to discover you're running some oddball OS inside a VM on your corporate machine in order to hide unvetted third-party software.

Likewise, I doubt the OP or people like them would get away with disabling System Integrity Protection or loading untrusted kernel modules.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#282

Post by JoeJonathan »

urbandw311er wrote: post #152
olyjohn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't get used to the fact that I can't alt-tab to a minimized window. Nor can I figure out how to switch to any particular minimized window. You have literally no way of knowing that a minimized window exists other than right-clicking the dock icon, or going to the "Window" menu after you switched to the application. The dock was fine 20 years ago when they released OSX, but they've literally done nothing to make…

Ok, so you can actually do this but the keyboard sequence is a bit bonkers. * Hold down Command and press Tab until the application icon representing the minimised window is highlighted. * Release Tab but DONT let go of Command. * Now press Option too so you are holding down Command + Option * Now release Command so you are just holding down Option * Finally release Option Amazingly this will then maximise the window…

Thanks for this! I had no idea. That said, it doesn't seem to work if you have 2+ instances of an app window, with one minimized and the other not.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#283

Post by skunkworker »

gnachman wrote: post #280
CSMastermind wrote: post #257

There's a lot of people in comments defending macOS saying that the difference in switching between operating systems will lead to a bad experience no matter what and people just need to power through and learn the new system. I'll say that I've used Windows and macOS both personally and professionally for two decades now (longer for Windows). I'd consider myself a power user in both OSes, I know the keyboard shortcu…

I have five monitors. When it works, it's great. The other 5% of the time it's a giant pain in the butt. I don't know why this part of macOS is so incredibly buggy. It often forgets the arrangement, the HDR setting, and the refresh rate. I wrote a little program to detect when it breaks and set it back, but they don't have APIs for refresh rate and HDR so it's only a partial fix. I've half a mind to take a job there,…

I'm running 3 external monitors off of a laptop and for me macOS is much more consistent about putting the windows in the right place, I don't even have to plug them in the same order. When I try to do the same on my desktop with nvidia surround, all of the monitors need to be plugged in on boot in order for it to "remember" the configuration.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#284

Post by nomel »

CSMastermind wrote: post #257

There's a lot of people in comments defending macOS saying that the difference in switching between operating systems will lead to a bad experience no matter what and people just need to power through and learn the new system. I'll say that I've used Windows and macOS both personally and professionally for two decades now (longer for Windows). I'd consider myself a power user in both OSes, I know the keyboard shortcu…

> I've burned hours fighting with external monitors on macOS. Is it even possible to have 4 external monitors?

> but this 1997 game

In the grand scheme of things, you appear to be in an extreme minority.

> It still bothers me that I can't cut and paste folders by default.

I think, if you were to start from 0, drag and drop to achieve movement is easier to "get" than cut/paste to/from some invisible aether.

But, I still agree with you. I don't really understand who the target audience of macOS is. It seems to have a better starting point for someone starting at 0, but there's an increasingly steep curve up from there. Ffs, just look at the keyboard shortcuts, and the fact that app expose is disabled by default ("where did my window go!?"). Then, as you said, you're quickly in the terminal, where that learning curve goes vertical for a bit.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#285

Post by zmmmmm »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #270
zmmmmm wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most annoying for me is there is no simple way to simply search for files matching a name in a folder. Attempting to search using Finder insists on bringing up a giant system wide search that indexes content of files, emails, every stupid thing that contains anything like the phrase I looked for. So imagine I am sharing my screen and I try to just find a simple file and it's spewing the contents of my private emails…

Well, if Finder is in the folder, and you enter a search, then I see three options reading to just search in the folder. It pops up between the command bar and the folder contents.

yeah ... I guess I don't think that is simple when I have to click extra options to get to it. But also, it still insists on searching within files. I ONLY want it to filter on the file name.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#286

Post by loganmarchione »

nine_k wrote: post #164
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #2

Despite the warning, I didn't find it nearly as "ranty" as the author cautioned, and instead seemed like a fairly comprehensive and fair take on his experience. Having gone through the same thing myself several years ago, the UI aspect of it is something that I'd be curious to see how it develops for the author. I think it is not uncommon for Windows folk to find the windowing experience on macs rather painful, at le…

I can't shake off the impression that Apple does not offer options for better window management to make your screen more cluttered and thus sell you more displays. When using macOS, I badly miss window management options available on Linux. (And don't get me started regarding font rendering.)

> I can't shake off the impression that Apple does not offer options for better window management to make your screen more cluttered and thus sell you more displays.

OP here. This is a conspiracy theory I can get behind!

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#289

Post by __d »

spicyusername wrote: post #28

> Package management This always floors me when I have to use a non-Linux computer. The difference between package management on Linux and other OSes is shocking. Dnf, Yum, Pacman are all so convenient and straightforward. I can't understand why Windows and MacOS don't have anything official that fills this gap.

Errr ... because they're commercial operating systems, with the expectation that software is not just universally available for no cost?

The respective stores for macOS and Windows are changing this, but there's a 30-ish year history of needing to register and pay for your software, so having it all just _there_ still isn't really a thing.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#290

Post by kevincox »

Aardwolf wrote: post #216
rwc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's right or wrong, but the behavior dates back to the very first implementations of Mac OS and Windows. Mac OS has always been an application switching interface, and Windows has been a window switching interface. Takes getting used to the paradigm shift.

I'm not a mac user (but a linux user who chooses desktops with the windowing paradigms of like windows 2000 or so plus multiple desktops) so have no idea how it's like in practice, but: These days it's very common for more than half your work to take place in a browser, with many browser windows, each having many tabs Every window of the browser almost is like its own application for the user, yet they're all from th…

I agree. While I admit that I have only lightly used macOS but for my last job I find it hard to get used to this multidimensional switching. I think it might have made sense where you had a few documents and a few emails and a few folders. But now I have 3 browser windows and 3 terminals and my brain can't get used to the fact that a video call window is in the same group as my reference docs but my text editor is in a different group with my build output. Maybe I should use a different terminal emulator for my editor but that just seems like fighting the window system.

Or maybe after a couple more years of macOS and I would get used to it.

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