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A Linux User's OS X Experience

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Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#41

Post by jacquesm »

jfb wrote: post #16
542458 wrote: post #3

I'm not quite sure what the point of this article is. He's quite clearly not the target market, and is shocked and enraged by this. This is clear right from the get-go: >Be customisable. I want to be able to replace any part of the system I would like So you're going to use a closed-source OS that's notorious for enforcing homogeneity wherever possible? >Be transparent in its workings Again, so you're going to use a…

Also, how is OS X not transparent in its workings? Underdocumented, yes. But Linux's man pages aren't exactly a model of consistency and clarity, either.

Assuming your program of choice even has a manpage at all.

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#42

Post by _pmf_ »

> Everyone goes on for hours about how OS X is a "better user experience".

The expectation gap after reading fanboy blogs for years is pretty huge. OS X is a pretty luke warm experience.

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#43

Post by trymas »

davexunit wrote: post #11

I used at OS X at work for 2 years and hated it. It's a nightmare for doing real software development on. Now I have a GNU/Linux workstation and things are much better. Cue the OS X apologists.

Couldn't you use VM, or double boot?

It's clear that OP, just like you, are not in the market for OS X (I am not even talking about windows, or probably ant proprietary OS).

For me, OS X is the best option, I do not need to deal with Linux intricate setup, but I can develop software I want to develop. OS X, in my case, is developer friendly, just enough so I can do what I want, and casually friendly enough so I do not need to worry about some (broken) things, I do not want to be in my way (FileVault, Time Machine, printing[1] and any other nice feature for everyday normal guy[2] (mail/picture/pdf annotation, continuity, Photo/Video editors)).

I want to stress, that I know that many equivalent software and features exist in Linux world, though usually it is much more troublesome to use. Not everyone is (or want to be) Linux guru, rockstar hacker or simply willing to solve bugs or errors for and at uncertain time.

Simply, Linux vs OS X is a flame war without any point. Everyone has a subjective opinion and discussion must end there.

[1] http://askubuntu.com/questions/270328/cannot-print-pdf-pages... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PsnxDQvQpw

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#44

Post by mattkrea »

pdpi wrote: post #24
mattkrea wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, he seems to completely miss the idea that Macs are meant for the everyday person.. particularly with that can't modify system files bit.

He also misses the part where Macs are perfectly fine for a wide range of developers (I almost said 'most' but there's plenty of people out there writing code in environments I'm no authority on). If you're a kernel hacker, then yes. I imagine it's shit. But writing Go works fine, despite his protestations to the contrary. I'm also happily running GCC in parallel with Clang. And a ton of other programming environment…

Hah, this is exactly the first comment I was going to write.

I work in Node, Go, and occasionally Python or other things and it works great.

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#45

Post by [deleted] »

Intermernet wrote: post #30
zongitsrinzler wrote: post #8

For me OSX gives one very clear advantage over Linux. Time. Running Linux I found myself constantly wasting time on fixing WiFi card drivers, etc after every update. I don't have time for that shit. A Macbook may be more expensive out of the box but the extra time I can spend on stuff that is important (and fun) is worth it.

I see this argument a lot, yet I have not spent one second customizing a linux driver for anything in the last 8 years. Maybe, if I'm running games or 3d software, I'll update to the proprietary drivers, but I've not touched anything else (wifi or otherwise) in a very long time. What hardware are you having problems with?

[deleted]

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#46

Post by sillygeese »

This silly zealot never intended to be objective to begin with.

> I care about feeling the power of a modern operating system

I'd say OS X has this one covered. It could even be said to be the most "modern" OS out there. But of course, however he'd define "modern", it wouldn't be favorable for OS X.

> and being able to build any software I want. I cannot do either with OS X

What can't he build on OS X? I have no idea.

But can he really not live without whatever esoteric thing might not compile on OS X? Especially considering OS X does look nicer, and things do just tend to work..

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#47

Post by bluetomcat »

pdpi wrote: post #24
mattkrea wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, he seems to completely miss the idea that Macs are meant for the everyday person.. particularly with that can't modify system files bit.

He also misses the part where Macs are perfectly fine for a wide range of developers (I almost said 'most' but there's plenty of people out there writing code in environments I'm no authority on). If you're a kernel hacker, then yes. I imagine it's shit. But writing Go works fine, despite his protestations to the contrary. I'm also happily running GCC in parallel with Clang. And a ton of other programming environment…

OS X is arguably more Unix-y in its low-level programming interface than Linux, being fully POSIX-compliant and certified.

Any Linux userland tool which doesn't rely on specific kernel features and Linux-specific libraries can be built under OS X with rarely any issues.

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#48

Post by JustSomeNobody »

Here's a counter point.

I have been using Linux since the mid 90's. I love it. I too am a developer. Pretty good one too.

I also love my rMBP.

(Also, using loads of curse words is a cop out for trying to find a more expressive way of saying what you wish to say. Just saying.)

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#49

Post by drewlander »

Former 9 year linux only user here, recently switched to using OS X (mostly) for development. I live in a terminal, always have, and unless I need something specific to linux that will not work on a VM, apart from the mac fancy button crap, I hardly notice a difference. To each his own I guess and at least he stuck with it for a week. Also while most of OS X is closed source, they do use some open source tools: https://www.apple.com/opensource/ but if you want a 100% open system, obviously OS X is not for you.

Re: A Linux User's OS X Experience

#50

Post by [deleted] »

542458 wrote: post #3

I'm not quite sure what the point of this article is. He's quite clearly not the target market, and is shocked and enraged by this. This is clear right from the get-go: >Be customisable. I want to be able to replace any part of the system I would like So you're going to use a closed-source OS that's notorious for enforcing homogeneity wherever possible? >Be transparent in its workings Again, so you're going to use a…

[deleted]
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