Live data from Hacker News

KDE beats macOS

old.reddit.com

181–190 of 308 posts

Re: KDE beats macOS

#181
post #171

The article seems ignorant of native tools built right into macOS. For example, it claims macOS is missing: > Missing native Alt+Tab and individual window switching (only does app switching) This is simply false, and the whole list is by someone who just hasn't made an effort to learn how to use a new OS they are not familiar with. For example, I just use Command-tilda, two keys right next to each other, to switch be…

What keyboard combination do you use to switch between all windows of all apps in one single UI?

(Note: that keyboard combination should also make sense on ISO keyboards and be available without third-party apps)

Re: KDE beats macOS

#182
I tried using Linux for my laptop at Google but it was a torment due mainly to the wonkiness of the trackpad driver. I've been happily using Macs ever since. Linux is for servers.

Re: KDE beats macOS

#183
post #180
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first switched to osx many years ago, this was a pretty jarring change. I was used to alt+tab switching between all windows, and had muscle memory tied to that. Today, however, I couldn't imagine going back. Having separate toggles for switching apps vs. switching app windows is so much faster and useful - once you get used to it. But it does take retraining muscle memory.

What I don't understand is the author of this article making statements like this that reveal they have not put in any effort to learn a whole new OS. Imagine if I switched to KDE and soon wrote an article bashing KDE because I just couldn't figure out how to do basic things. Some effort is necessary to see what an OS offers, and this author clearly hasn't done it.

macOS has no customizability, claiming that this makes it more "intuitive" and you don't need "effort to learn" it.

If you need to spend "effort to learn" anyway, you might as well just go with something like KDE, where on top of having learnt the environment, you can now also customize it.

Re: KDE beats macOS

#185

Several of the things listed are false (like the lack of ability to open files with your keyboard, which you can do with cmd-⬇) and app window switching (cmd+~)

If you say the author's issue is invalid, then please explain:

How can you configure macOS to have a keyboard shortcut that also makes sense on ISO keyboards to switch between all windows of all apps in a single UI?

Re: KDE beats macOS

#186
post #49
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't really agree. The really interesting part of intuitiveness is how it scales once you became familiar with the basic set of UX primitives. Is intuitiveness the right word? I make the same arguments about Vim, that it's one of the most logically consistent editors once you learn the basic set of primitives (not perfect of course). But I don't think anyone would call it intuitive. > Take, for example copying.…

>I have no idea what you mean, but you can drag lots of stuff in windows to different places and stuff happens. On macOS, there's a concept called "Proxy Icons". These are little icons that are shown in a title bar of a document-based applications (e.g. "[ICON] My File.txt"). You can interact with these icons as if they are an actual file on the disk. For example, you have "My File.txt" open in TextEdit, and you want…

Drag n drop being something you can actually use and that usually does the thing you'd expect, rather than something you train yourself never to do outside things like moving files around in Explorer or whatever, because it usually breaks things, is one of the things that makes it hard to switch away from macOS once you're used to it. Last time I tried KDE a couple years ago I crashed an app in the first five minutes by trying to drag n drop, and was like "oh yeah, that's why I didn't used to ever try to drag and drop things".

Re: KDE beats macOS

#187
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being usable out of the box? With KDE I don't need to go find a 3rd party app for decent window snapping, I don't need a 3rd party app to put files on my Android phone over USB, I don't need a 3rd party app to have the trackpad and scroll wheel mouse directions be "natural" and "unnatural" at the same time, I don't need a 3rd party app to be able to use the volume buttons to change the volume level of a sound device…

> Being usable out of the box? It's interesting that you bring up this point in defense of KDE, because that's exactly my problem with it, especially when contrasted with macOS. Every issue I have with KDE boils down to: "there are too many options, and none of them make the system feel right". > decent window snapping In my opinion, no window manager gets it right. I've made a shot at it with my Hammerspoon config[1…

> I think integration within the Apple ecosystem is what really outshines all competition

That may be, but a good OS should offer the same level of integration with devices of all kinds. Like the good old "Mac vs PC" ads suggested back in the day.

KDE has KDE Connect for shared clipboard, sending files between devices, and such functionality. Which even supports Windows on PC, and allows syncing between multiple mobile and desktop devices, so you can have a shared clipboard across all your devices from all manufacturers.

Re: KDE beats macOS

#188

I had to stop the job interview when suddenly they said that I must use Mac. They ship MacBook to you and you have no choice of using Linux or anything else. Corporate policy. It's literally unusable for me after 15+ years on Linux with KDE (mostly). Tried Mac for 4 months at one of the previous jobs but escaped to a comfort zone. Sometimes habits are too strong, and alternative is not appealing enough.

I find some of these "use a mac at work" companies do it because boring companies are trying to be "hip and cool". One place i know uses Java exclusively, but the devs all have macbooks because they are cool? How/why does a macbook improve java app development vs the standard issue Lenovo's? It is like these old and boring companies think that by using macs they are suddenly "trendy and hip" and the millennials will…

I think in this case it was more about prejudice about security and standardization (yeah, in full-remote international env). Like, what if an evil virus steals the client's data from my PC, and the chances of this happening somehow higher on Linux than on Mac

Re: KDE beats macOS

#189
post #161

How does this particular list of very minor gripes get so many upvotes? And it's not just minor gripes, half of them are wrong. Some of them have been addressed by others, but: * Taking screenshots requires to click the preview in order to copy to clipboard, which also causes to save it to Desktop. No, it doesn't. * Surprising lack of apps in the store Says someone defending KDE? But hey, strangely enough I'm typing…

>Cmd-shift-G or Go > Go to folder isn't easy enough? What's KDE's super brilliant solution?

Not sure about KDE, but every OS (admittedly not many), other than Apple's macOS and previous iteraitions I've used, have had an address bar with the file path. Both of the options you mentioned weren't obvious to me and I only found out about them from your comment.

This isn't only an issue of familiarity but also an issue of features being discoverable.

Re: KDE beats macOS

#190
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lion was a bit of a stinker in that regard, prior to that there was no “full screen” applications in that more traditional sense, only borderless full screen for video and games - anything else used “smart maximise” where the window size would increase to fit the content (again a bit of a poor choice, but that’s my personal opinion)

That makes sense in context - but I think it reinforces the parent's point; if you don't arrive with that context it's just plain weird!

Older mac applications used to have the running state of an application utterly divorced from the windows the application presents.

This has fallen away with time now, which saddens me.

Post reply on HN