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Switching from macOS: The Basics

blog.elementary.io

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Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#321

Post by matzipan »

hayleox wrote: post #309
Void_ wrote: post #39

I'm really hoping this is just a phase. Hoping that Apple will reduce prices of new laptops and we'll be back to normal. Right now everybody is using Macs. Walk into the Bay Area coffee shop, you see Macs everywhere. I love that. I build desktop software for Macs (focuslist.co). My apps are prettier than any others. They are easier and faster to use. This is the reason why people pay me $5 while they can get the job…

I don't really see any issue with Electron apps -- Slack and Atom, both Electron-based, are some really good looking apps that really get the job done. For me, even as a Mac user, I avoid Mac-only apps as much as I possibly can because I want the freedom to switch platforms in the future. I will happily have all my apps be slightly less pretty if it means they work on any OS.

Slack is electron done right - it even has a background process which delivers notifications. But they generally integrate really badly into the UI.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#322

Post by reitanqild »

equalarrow wrote: post #305
aroman wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just described elementary (fwiw, it is a for-profit LLC). I think you're massively underestimating the magnitude and difficulty of what you're seeking. elementary has been at this for 5 years and made an immense amount of progress, though. But it's definitely still not at the level of Apple, which has had decades and billions of dollars poured into this. It's not a "paid OS" in that it doesn't force you to pay a…

I think this is one big problem with the OSS community: there is no concept of 'value'. People complain about iOS' race to the bottom, but in the OSS community, I frel like this has been there for a long time. "You want to _charge me for it_ ?! Pffft!" We may complain about macOS now with Sierra but for thr most part, macOS has been stable for a long time. I haven't seen a kernel panic in probably a decade. Not sayin…

Current solution is close to perfect:

Allows students, poor etc, still manages to weed out the most entitled ones it seems ;-)

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#323

Post by pjmlp »

aroman wrote: post #269
fizzbatter wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish someone would start a paid OS based on Linux and OSS tools. I'd happily pay $100/y (year being, new versions/etc) for a stable and awesome UI/UX. As it is, my Macbook Pro Retina has been crashing a lot and doing weird things frequently since i upgraded to Sierra. Between that and the latest Macbook Pro notebooks, i just don't like Apple anymore. I'm pretty set on buying a highend laptop _(similar build…

You just described elementary (fwiw, it is a for-profit LLC). I think you're massively underestimating the magnitude and difficulty of what you're seeking. elementary has been at this for 5 years and made an immense amount of progress, though. But it's definitely still not at the level of Apple, which has had decades and billions of dollars poured into this. It's not a "paid OS" in that it doesn't force you to pay a…

Which is why, sadly, there is no money to be made on desktop GNU/Linux.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#324

Post by Jtsummers »

What's the gain of Elementary over other Linux distros? Is it really that much better than the start of the art anywhere else?

Do the apps integrate, in some meaningful way, more easily with each other than with, say, a stock Gnome install on top of Red Hat?

Is it as novel as Etoile? Or is it just a skin + conforming apps?

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#325

Post by jjuel »

I am sticking with Mac because it just works. I have had quite a few non-Mac laptops previously. They rarely stay in good working condition for more than a couple of years. I currently have the late 2012 13" retina Pro and it has shown no signs of stopping. The only other one that has the sort of quality I see in a MacBook is Dell's XPS. The developer edition has me intrigued, but I really think this new MacBook with a Touchbar is going to be the future. The lack of ESC or function keys has no bearing on my development so that isn't an issue for me either.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#326

Post by Brakenshire »

nicolas_t wrote: post #180
criddell wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think over the past 15 years, lots of Linux users migrated to macOS because it was a pretty, usable Unix. Those users might not be terribly loyal to Apple and will move to back to Linux if it's better for them. If you use macOS because you need to run Mac software, then you probably aren't going anywhere.

That's exactly my case, I went from Gentoo to Mac about 10 years ago. I loved Gentoo when I was a student but getting it to work perfectly on a laptop was a hassle and while I loved customizing fvwm, macOS had great UI right out of the box.

I think this is the sort of person that elementary are trying to capture. i.e. those who don't want the hassle of customizing the UI, who want a well thought out UI out of the box. And combine that with the underlying flexibility of Linux. They're not quite there yet, but the vision is right.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#327

Post by throw2016 »

I regularly use Windows, OSX and Linux and I think Ubuntu Unity in 16.04 is by far the most polished Linux desktop and for people switching to Linux that would be the best first experience.

In many ways I even prefer Unity. OSX is becoming a bit stagnant and bloated of late. The Unity UI is fast, the effects are polished and not gimmicky, the launcher and search across apps and file is near instantaneous, driver detection and configuration is streamlined and everything looks well put together.

Most Linux users have put up with some pretty awful apps, UIs and configs over the evolution of Linux and I am glad how far Ubuntu has come.

Elementary is decent but at the moment both Gnome and Unity have moved ahead and offer a more consistent and professional user experience for first timers.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#328

Post by john61 »

Grishnakh wrote: post #296
fizzbatter wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish someone would start a paid OS based on Linux and OSS tools. I'd happily pay $100/y (year being, new versions/etc) for a stable and awesome UI/UX. As it is, my Macbook Pro Retina has been crashing a lot and doing weird things frequently since i upgraded to Sierra. Between that and the latest Macbook Pro notebooks, i just don't like Apple anymore. I'm pretty set on buying a highend laptop _(similar build…

>I'd happily pay $100/y (year being, new versions/etc) for a stable and awesome UI/UX. Good luck with that. The problem is that no one will make a UI/UX that's both awesome and stable. It's not like the resources aren't there: there's a ton of DEs for Linux, and they've been working on them for 20 years now. But the problem is they can't ever agree on anything, and they can't ever just leave well enough alone: every…

XFCE is pretty stable, solid and fast.

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#329

Post by pmlnr »

deadbunny wrote: post #173
pjmlp wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because most people using linux on the desktop (thus the development target) value functionality over aesthetics. I know that is what drove me away. Most just want a window manager for xterms. Designers get bashed because they don't know what people want. Performance on GUIs gets bashed, because what matters is doing xterms over remote X connections.

> Most just want a window manager for xterms. Glances at 2nd and 3rd monitors Well I can't argue there.

To hell with it, we need a shell which can handle multiple displays and scale tmux on them! :)

Re: Switching from macOS: The Basics

#330

Post by equalarrow »

reitanqild wrote: post #250
ajford wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that not what Red Hat is? I thought that's what the Red Hat license provided?

>> ... and awesome UI/UX. > Is that not what Red Hat is? I thought that's what the Red Hat license provided? I won't say anything bad about Red Hat, but calling the UX awesome isn't something I would do based on my experience. Then again, they might have changed but I haven't heard anybody mentioning it. (This used to be Canonicals niche before they picked up the assumption that Mac-like == Good ; )

Fedora is ahead of RedHat server, kernel and package-wise. That's the point: pish the edge with the desktop, keep the server conservative and very stable.

RedHat makes their money on support licensing for the server. Employees are paid to work on Fedora, but it is not the RedHat product.

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