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The Mac Pro Lives

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Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#761
post #178

Am I the only one that sees OS X as the biggest reason to switch to Mac? I mean Windows is good, but nowhere good as OS X. And please, don't tell me Ubuntu or other linux flavors. They look good (and are good if you are programming on them) but the UX is still lacking a lot. (Never mind the confusion of the different flavors, packaging systems, and configurations). Also god forbid you have a problem (especially a har…

I would say no to a native package manager. I do not want to make Mac OS Linux. I would like to keep Mac OS as Mac OS. It's like recommending putting Quartz on Linux.

The built-in apps aren't cluttering I don't think. If you don't use them, what's cluttering about them? I'd rather have them than not.

Things Mac OS is missing compared to Windows: - COM - Stealthy updates There may be more.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#762
post #318
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Window management in OSX is horrible. Finder is even more horrible. It reminds me of the Windows 95 Explorer. A network drive hangs? Good luck with Finder..., the whole system halts.

My number one complaint about OSX is also window management. I've never found anything comparable to the way Windows 7 let you use the left/right arrows to line up windows on half the screen. That is the only thing I miss about Windows, but it's a pretty big one. Also, when dis/connecting monitors on OSX, windows often get lost. ps- if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

Try ShiftIt or the clone. I use this at home as I missed the Windows+cursor movement of windows.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drag the icon in the top center of the window onto your text editor or terminal, it will paste the full path from the Finder window. Admittedly it's annoying that this feature is hidden and requires dragging with the mouse, but it is possible.

You can also drag any folder or file from the finder into an open or save dialog and it will take you to that folder / select that file

This is great and I miss it every day at work on Windows. I end up Alt-D , Ctrl-C, alt-tab, Ctrl-V to work out where anything is.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#764
post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Window management in OSX is horrible. What is so horrible about it ? I have the exact same reaction every time I have to use Microsoft Windows. Window management is one of the strongpoints of MacOS. > A network drive hangs? Good luck with Finder..., the whole system halts. I've never encountered this problem on both AFP and SMB shares.

command-tabbing between apps instead of windows is just wrong imo. You constantly have to keep in mind if the window you're switching to is part of the same app or a different app.

Cmd-` lets you switch windows within an application though, as I recall (can't confirm as I'm on Windows at work)

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#765
post #560
post #178

Am I the only one that sees OS X as the biggest reason to switch to Mac? I mean Windows is good, but nowhere good as OS X. And please, don't tell me Ubuntu or other linux flavors. They look good (and are good if you are programming on them) but the UX is still lacking a lot. (Never mind the confusion of the different flavors, packaging systems, and configurations). Also god forbid you have a problem (especially a har…

I was a MacOS user from System 7 through to Yosemite. I now use Ubuntu 99% of the time (I still have a Mac that I casually use). IMO Ubuntu is now superior to OSX in almost every way. For me, Ubuntu really does "just work", and gives me a vastly better package manager, and the ability to use the i3 window manager, which has fundamentally changed how I use my computer. I am specifically saying "Ubuntu" and not "Linux"…

What about stable APIs for development? I only ask coming from a C++ background. I see much fragmentation in Linuxland, with encouragement for Vala, every other GUI tool written by RedHat being written in Python etc. so it doesn't encourage me back. This might be a bit harsh as I recall using Qt with joy on Linux but the big push appears to be for other languages.

Your experience may be different but I'd be interested in hearing it.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#766

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't have 5-8k to drop. The main problem with your specs is thinner/lighter is diametrically opposed to longer battery life and more RAM which consumes more energy. In 2015 the macbook pro had a 99.5 watt-hour battery (100 watts is the limit to take on airplanes). Now it has 76 watt hours. So you could get approximately 30% more battery life had they not prioritized thin and light. Source: https://www.cn…

Everyone benefits from thinner and lighter. We only benefit from more battery life if you reach the end of your capacity. For phones, it's an easy product decision, thinner/lighter is always better. You give the most benefit to the most users, and those who really need more battery life can get a battery case and pay the weight/thickness costs alone. For a Macbook, it's a closer decision, but I think in this case the…

I thought battery life on my MacBook was great particularly after AppNap was introduced and the aggressive shaming of power-hungry apps via the battery menu.

Then I build some C++ under Xcode and battery life is not so good...

Probably great for web browsing and casual use as used by 98% of users though.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#767

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free software offers a spectrum of quality and innovation; and you've picked the worst of it. I use a desktop (i3), package manager (nix), editor (Emacs), programming language (GHC Haskell), file system (ZFS), bidirectional sync (unison) and security​ (gnupg) that are collectively far more innovative, powerful and stable than anything Apple have ever produced. Of course, if you are specifically looking for consumer t…

>Of course, if you are specifically looking for consumer tech, ease of use and support, then open source probably isn't for you. If you can look past your smugness a bit, why? Why is it that if I want "ease of use", open source isn't for me? Do you not see the problem here? I can't see how you can argue your favorite projects are more "innovative & stable than anything Apple have ever produced", but in the same breat…

I used to enjoy tinkering with computers and spending all my time on Linux trying to get things working. I didn't edit any code, just spent days getting ndiswrapper working, reconfiguring my desktop after an upgrade, refinding my partitions after LLVM upgrade decided to forget them, adjust myself to the steady removal of configurability in GNOME, adjust to the deprecation of things I used every day (Konqueror has gone! Use Dolphin! It didn't do half of what Konqueror did), faff around with bust graphics and failed sleep/resume, adjust to the "new" way of window management that decided that 30+ years of windowing paradigm was "distracting" and stopped the use-case tests of someone's mum who had never used a computer before finding it easier to use etc. etc. etc.

I eventually got fed up of all of this and went to OSX with Windows alongside after 15 years of Linux use, and that's from RedHat 5.0 and 6.2 days. No not RHEL, RedHat.

The "ease of use" argument is sad, and precisely what some forget when developing software - it's there to be easily used, else nobody will use it. The computer is there to work for YOU, not YOU work for it (ie, spend hours fighting with it).

You only have to look at Windows 8 to see that "ease of use" was abandoned on the Start menu and see what a mess that was.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#768
post #246
post #178

Am I the only one that sees OS X as the biggest reason to switch to Mac? I mean Windows is good, but nowhere good as OS X. And please, don't tell me Ubuntu or other linux flavors. They look good (and are good if you are programming on them) but the UX is still lacking a lot. (Never mind the confusion of the different flavors, packaging systems, and configurations). Also god forbid you have a problem (especially a har…

Personally, rather than thinner/lighter I'd pay for it to be a bit bigger but capable of letting me open it up and replace RAM and the SSD as was possible up to the 2013 ones.

I'll be holding onto my MBP-Non retina from 2012 for as long as I can!

Best look for a cheese-grater Mac as a workhouse. Xeons may be old but not to be sniffed at.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#769

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically: * HiDPI support in all apps, whethere they are aware of it or not. * Built-in PDF editing and creation from all printable content. * POSIX scripting and CLI. * Very clean and consistent configuration system (defaults). Reset an app to factory? Delete one plist file and potentially an app support folder. Got a new Mac? You could even boot it up from the old harddisk. Good luck doing that with windows reg…

* Touchpad support. I think most people who haven't used an Apple laptop extensively are not aware that the touchpad actually works, and you do not need to carry an external mouse to use the device comfortably.

This is very true. When I reboot my MacBook into Windows the touchpad becomes dumb.

Re: The Mac Pro Lives

#770
post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically: * HiDPI support in all apps, whethere they are aware of it or not. * Built-in PDF editing and creation from all printable content. * POSIX scripting and CLI. * Very clean and consistent configuration system (defaults). Reset an app to factory? Delete one plist file and potentially an app support folder. Got a new Mac? You could even boot it up from the old harddisk. Good luck doing that with windows reg…

Big items for me on MacOS * Drag-and-drop automation, scripting and workflow tools. I love folder actions. * Built-in screen recording in QuickTime Player, which also works with attached iOS devices * Time Machine backups. So easy to use and has saved my bacon over and over * iMovie and Photos. I don't use the rest of the bundled apps, both those two are essentials for me.

TimeMachine is really great. Does anyone have experience with the Windows 10 backups? I know the Windows 7 one was dire.
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