Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

wozniak.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 531 posts

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#261

Post by robert_tweed »

geerlingguy wrote: post #24

FYI this was not posted by 'the Woz', but rather by the unrelated Geoff Wozniak. I imagine many others may have clicked through owing to the domain.

Someone else is being downvoted into oblivion for using the term "link bait" so I'll tread carefully here, but this is the second time I've ended up on Geoff Wozniak's blog as a result of a headline that, on its own, is just as uninteresting as "some guy decides he doesn't like latest version of OS X", yet coming from Steve Wozniak it would definitely be worth reading.

It's not link-baity in the sense that there's really anything wrong with using your own name for your blog (although try telling that to Mike Rowe), but it's link-baity in the context of HN where the domain shows up with equal importance to the headline and where the name "Wozniak" is very clearly associated with one and only one person.

I think the "flag" link is unfit for purpose and should be moved & changed. Firstly, it should appear on the comments page as well as the listing pages. Secondly, there should be multiple reasons for flagging (or a free-text, one-line reason field), so that it's at least possible to flag a misleading headline for alteration, without the possibility that the entire submission could be flag-killed.

I even agree with the poster about certain issues with OS X. It's particularly annoying as someone that recently switched away from Windows, after finally losing patience with Microsoft's similarly erosive programme of needless tinkering and randomly breaking stuff in lieu of tangible improvements. However, I don't come to HN to read opinions that agree with my existing world-view and pat myself on the back for being right (or at least, that's not my main reason).

I am however interested in opinions that are not just from "some guy" but which represent the defection of a key figure, such as "DHH: why I've finally given up on Ruby" or "RMS: why closed-source is better after all". I would definitely read those and would be equally disappointed if the author turned out to be an unrelated namesake.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#262

Post by citruspi »

ape4 wrote: post #203

Apple is probably glad to be rid of nerd/hardcore users.

> Apple is probably glad to be rid of nerd/hardcore users.

Well, they aren't "rid of nerd/hardcore users." There's plenty of "hardcore users" who use Macs, and more and more try it out or completely switch over every year.

Also, why would a company who develops an operating system targeted towards creative users and developers be "glad to be rid of" such an important demographic?

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#264

Post by TD-Linux »

crag wrote: post #233
brianstorms wrote: post #101

I haven't quit it, but the problems, annoyances, surprises, seeming ineptitude, and creeping iOSification of OS X that the author describes sure do resonate. Every new major release of OS X is a day or week spent disabling things, shutting down Spotlight again, trying to restore things back to the way they were instead of the way some Designer with a capital D thinks they should be, for no other reason than, "Beauty.…

I agree completely. And believe it or not, I went back to Windows. Sort of. I'm testing the waters. My big issue is iTunes. Yeah I drank the kool-aid and now have an iTunes library of about 100GB. Despite how much I hate what iTunes has become at least is runs on Windows. Also, it's easier to "turn features off" in Windows than OSX these days. I'm sad about it though. But after 14 years on Mac I'm done. It was the up…

Why can't you migrate your music collection away from iTunes? I thought the DRM was killed long ago.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#265

Post by yuhong »

morganvachon wrote: post #202
prapam2 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Desktop Linux is mostly install an work. I have not done any tinkering for a long time. But the Yosemite upgrade on laptop brought back my memories of initial Ubuntu distributions. I had disable few setting to get some performance. I had to change few UI setting to get a decent look. It looks a transition phase OS.But ubuntu on that m/c had few touch pad issues otherwise it would have been the default OS for me on th…

> Desktop Linux is mostly install an work. It is...until it isn't. Nine out of ten Ubuntu or Mint installs will go off without a hitch, with no weird issues or regressions, and a warm, friendly, comfortable development environment welcomes you. Then there's that one time you install it on your laptop so you have a to-go environment that matches your workstation, and BOOM! your wifi isn't recognized (what year is it a…

But ever since Lion was released, I would rather use Windows Vista on a Core Solo machine than OS X on any Mac

Huh? And I am not saying that they don't have problems.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#266

Post by morganvachon »

narrator wrote: post #30
ggreer wrote: post #11

It's important to notice that he's switching to a desktop running linux. Running linux on laptops is still a gamble. Sometimes things work great. Sometimes you spend months trying to fix basic stuff like screen brightness[1][2] on hardware certified by Ubuntu.[3] I think there's a market for a linux distro that targets a limited set of premium hardware. I'd gladly pay money for an OS that worked out of the box on any…

There's the Dell Sputnik series.[1] They are pricey but specifically designed to run Ubuntu. 1. http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-13-linux/pd.aspx

I like that it comes with 12.04 instead of 14.04. The former is, in my experience, much more stable for daily use. The latter has a much improved Unity experience, but there are stability issues compared to 12.04.

It is a bit out of my range, but it's nice to know Dell is offering a quality non-Windows machine.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#267

Post by citruspi »

jackmaney wrote: post #256

I came into the OS X game very late, starting at 10.8 (which was at a start up last summer). It took some adjusting, but in the end, it beats the hell out of Windows for a coding environment. One thing that I loathed, though, was Messages. I find myself unable to make it work. Contacts? Nope, can't find 'em. Oh, wait there's one--nope, it's gone. Oh, wait, it's there again. Oh, did you send a message? Nope, it didn't…

Have you taken the time to check if it's properly configured or tried contacting Apple Support?

For what it's worth, I've had a couple friends who had issues with Messages and it was primarily iCloud related.

Aside from a few initial issues when running the beta's, I haven't had an issue with Messages for the last four or five months.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#268

Post by x0054 »

I must agree with the author on the issue of software quality coming out of Apple. Perhaps slowing down and concentrating on quality is something Apple should really consider. We do NOT need a new release of the OSX every single year. Further, I think they should really decouple the OS from the other included Applications, like Mail or Face Time. Basically I would love to see OSX ship with Finder and Preview, and the rest of the usually included apps be an optional download.

I don't understand why the Copy of OSX I am running should dictate which copy of Mail, Safari, FaceTime, or iTunes I use. Also, I would really love to see Apple package at least 2 release worth of API libraries in each release, so that apps that have yet to be updated to the latest OSX could still run without issues.

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#269

Post by graycat »

My term for OP's agony is mud wrestling.

I feel the pain:

YMMV

#1 Problem in Computing: Poorly written documentation to explain the system, tool, program, whatever. The OP had this problem.

#2 Problem in Computing: System management as in hard/software selection, installation, configuration, monitoring, updating. The OP had this problem, too.

#2.1 Special Problem: System security. The source of my most recent case of mud wrestling.

#3 Problem in Computing: Hard/software design that results in tools that are efficient and effective to use. Yup, OP had this problem.

#4 Problem in Computing: Everything else. Maybe OP didn't have any of these problems!

YMMV

Re: Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak

#270

Post by rubyn00bie »

I want to quit OS X but can't until I get (as almost everyone else in the world has said):

1.) Laptop hardware/construction that rivals Apples. I hate plastic. I hate it.

2.) A usable trackpad. Apple has by far the most usable trackpad and it works well. Windows/Linux laptops force me to bring a mouse because the trackpads/drivers are essentially crap by comparison.

3.) Hassle-free wireless and graphics card drivers. Linux I'm staring you in the eye poking you in the kidney. This isn't always a crapshoot, but boy howdy can it be.

4.) An supported upgrade path. Too many "PC" manufacturers put their hardware out to pasture the day it's released. No updates. No support.

Windows is largely unusable for me for development work[1]. Babun or cygwin make things better but I hate having this fucked off environments disconnected from the core of the operating system. It's like working/developing in a vagrant box without wanting to...

Linux is damn close but without a good hardware vendor it's a no go. I could buy a Mac and install Linux on it, but what's the point? Might as well just use OS X... and here we are.

[1] I want to emphasize the "for me" part. I'm not trying to say you can't enjoy it, or that it's across the board "shitty" by any means. I gladly recognize for some folks-- it's wonderful.

Post reply on HN