[HN Gopher] Leaving the Apple ecosystem behind
___________________________________________________________________
Leaving the Apple ecosystem behind
Author : recvonline
Score : 295 points
Date : 2021-09-22 13:41 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (h2x.sh)
(TXT) w3m dump (h2x.sh)
| gentle wrote:
| I went through this process a few years ago when Apple removed
| the iPhone headphone jack and I'll probably never go back.
|
| The thing that cemented that for me recently was how Apple now
| insists on notarization for all applications, even command line
| applications. My current company uses old versions of lots of
| open source applications, and MacOS constantly freaks out about
| them.
|
| Time to move to Linux full time.
| black_13 wrote:
| Its impossible to do gnu toolchain devel on ios. I got tired of
| trying to sign the gdb debugger.
| gigel82 wrote:
| Can't we all just get along !? :)
|
| FWIW, I've used iPhones for 11 years, I've had a bunch of iPads
| for media use on-the-go and kids, and I even have a macbook pro
| that my employer provided (a very nice $3,000 monitor riser)
|
| But most of my home machines are Windows 10. I've lived in the MS
| ecosystem since the DOS 3 era and that's where I feel most at
| home. Using macOS is a frustrating experience for me, it feels
| like a toy environment (though I'm sure some folks feel the same
| about Windows if they've grown up in the mac world).
|
| That said, I've been toying with Linux every now and then; I've
| got a couple of Raspberry Pis in the house that I self-manage
| (for things like pi-hole, nas, vpn tunnel, etc.), I've been using
| WSL2 and Docker on my PCs and even have an older laptop running
| Arch that I sometimes poke at. I regret not getting more serious
| into Linux before; it's difficult to switch now, but I don't like
| where MS is taking Windows (funneling everyone into their Bing /
| ADs with Edge being pushed aggressively and search / news being
| shoved more and more deeply into the OS) so I'll have to
| _begrudgingly_ leave my place of comfort in search of lost
| freedom.
| theandrewbailey wrote:
| > Which is fine, because 50% of the time I am als an everyday
| user. pacman -S hunspell
| codazoda wrote:
| I'm the weird dude that uses a Mac and a Pixel phone. I'm a dev
| so I wanted the flexibility of being able to code for my phone
| without spending $99 a year. That's why I switched from iPhone to
| Android half a dozen years ago. It turns out that I just write
| web apps for my phone anyway. So, I'm thinking about switching
| back to iPhone. Maybe I just need a change every few years.
| emptyparadise wrote:
| I always look at blog posts like this and I always end up a bit
| disappointed when people go completely in the other direction
| with i3 and the like. What if I want customization _and_ pretty
| animations with sane defaults? Surely there has to be some middle
| ground between "here's your empty screen and a keyboard shortcut
| to open the terminal, good luck" and "this minor release will
| redesign the entire interface and break all your custom themes
| and scripts, good luck" when it comes to open source desktops?
|
| Still, I'm glad people are getting out of closed ecosystems.
| npteljes wrote:
| >customization and pretty animations with sane defaults
|
| I got my fix of this with KDE, namely with Kubuntu 20.04.
| ByteJockey wrote:
| It sounds like you want XFCE.
|
| It's the boring option, but there's a lot of customization
| options and they've never broken anything I use.
| jcfrei wrote:
| I'm currently in the process of moving from Linux back to
| Windows running VMWare. For software development, I use a
| virtual xubuntu distribution. For browsing the web, listening
| to music, etc. it's all Windows. I just can't be bothered to
| fix broken drivers or wonky settings on Linux for stuff that
| should work out of the box. At the same time I still don't see
| an alternative for Linux as a development environment - so I
| hope with this new setup I get the best of both worlds.
| genghizkhan wrote:
| Why not try out WSL? I'm not a dev myself, but for the bit of
| coding and scripting I do from time to time WSL is pretty
| good.
| The_Colonel wrote:
| WSL2 is pretty bad in my experience. Networking is dark
| magic, filesystem access is fast only when working natively
| but GUI doesn't work on the linux side (without using X
| server which has glitches), there's no systemd, docker for
| windows does not work identically as native linux version
| ...
|
| In the end I just resigned and I'm using Linux in
| VirtualBox. Far from ideal but also much better than WSL2.
| emptyparadise wrote:
| I've actually had good luck with Linux when it comes to
| drivers, but I just can't pull off a good desktop setup.
|
| Looking at those rock-solid Debian servers just wishing I
| could have the desktop experience of a 15 year old PowerBook
| to go with them...
| xioxox wrote:
| KDE works pretty well for me. The defaults are not bad, but it
| has lots of customization options. I mostly leave it on
| defaults, except for switching on focus follows mouse. You
| don't need to manually edit config files. It also has some nice
| (optional) animations. It's like a nicer Windows, with more
| customization and a more uniform UI (no mixture of historical
| UI elements).
| neilalexander wrote:
| Good grief, I wish I could agree. My experiences with KDE
| have been utterly horrible. Display scaling is flawed, the
| login screen keeps overlaying itself with a giant touch
| keyboard (I don't even have a touch device), my trash folder
| seems to end up read-only with alarming regularity, the
| application menu is twitchy and buggy, Konsole doesn't
| respect settings like unlimited scrollback properly, the
| System Settings is horribly laid out and crashes often
| (particularly when making network changes) and the people who
| designed KDE clearly have no concept whatsoever of whitespace
| (some menus are incredibly dense, other things like the
| application menu are huge with lots of wasted space). It
| feels like it was designed by programmers who know nothing
| about user experience.
|
| The Pantheon desktop from elementary, on the other hand, is
| far closer to "sane defaults" in my mind and seems to be much
| less buggy.
| axiosgunnar wrote:
| > doesn't do video editing
|
| > doesn't do photoshop
|
| > doesn't create music
|
| > doesn't use specialized domain specific software such as CAD
| etc
|
| > doesn't play modern games
|
| > doesn't need to interact with people using ms office files
|
| ok sure, you can entirely rely on linux if you want to code in
| the terminal, play some mp3s and store some jpgs.
|
| but the presented use cases exclude vast groups of people
| artfulhippo wrote:
| I love macOS and Linux. Even Windows is acceptable, especially
| now with WSL. IMO, if it runs emacs, who cares what the OS is?
|
| When it comes to hardware, Apple is a few years ahead, however.
| Battery life and screen technology are quality-of-life factors,
| especially for people who often work away from home and without
| an external monitor.
|
| That, and the accessories. Going from AirPods Pro to wired
| headphones would be a major inconvenience as I have an active
| lifestyle -- even my linux box supports bluetooth headphones, and
| it's nice to be able to get up from the computer without taking
| them off.
| dreamcompiler wrote:
| There's no reason a computer or phone can't have both Bluetooth
| and a headphone jack. Mine do, and I use both.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _would be a major inconvenience as I have an active
| lifestyle_
|
| Give it a decade or so...
| hef19898 wrote:
| One of my biggest issues with modern day phone sis the lack of
| a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Wired headphones mean total device
| compatibility (true plug and play), no battery issues and less
| risk of loosing them somewhere. Also, they are cheaper at
| comparable audio quality (and that is all I care about with
| headphones).
| abawany wrote:
| They seem to be making a comeback, at least on the mid-range:
| the Pixel 3a/4a/5a I think had headphone jacks as does the
| Gigaset GS4.
| gigatexal wrote:
| If you ever wanted to know if being in the Apple ecosystem is
| sometimes like being part of a religion, just watch at how far
| people will go to tell you they have left the ecosystem...
| advael wrote:
| Some things never change. Talk about switching OSes and the
| entire comment thread becomes about dancing around calling people
| wrong about their aesthetic UX preferences
|
| I think if anything, this post illustrates that no matter how
| many people you pay to do it, there's no "objectively better"
| workflow for everyone, and preferences will always be individual
|
| When I try to convince people to use *nix OSes or FOSS tools
| generally, my one and only argument is the value of having
| control, or, perhaps more saliently, not being controlled by the
| company that makes your tools. If that doesn't persuade you, then
| just use whatever you like best. Your preferences are your own,
| and no amount of supposed expertise or practiced snobbishness can
| make your preferences override mine, or vice versa.
| whartung wrote:
| That's all well and good and noble. But I don't feel controlled
| by Apple. I have Macs, iPhones, iPads, iPods, Apple TV. The
| whole kit. I am "invested".
|
| That said, I've never turned iCloud on, all my photos are on my
| phone or my computer, all my iTunes music is downloaded to my
| machine, free to take with me. (I also still buy physical CDs.)
| I don't sync anything.
|
| The only place this isn't true is the Apple TV videos I've
| bought. Don't know where they are, but I don't really care to
| be honest. If Apple didn't know about my rental habits,
| Blockbuster would. What difference does it make.
|
| I have enough dusty DVDs in my drawer that I don't think I'd
| miss if they suddenly vanished, I'm not that tied to the
| content I've purchased on Apple either. I know what I'm getting
| in to when I do it, and it's OK with me.
|
| The other aspect would be the apps I've got from the App Store.
| If I were move off of iOS those wouldn't be coming with me
| anyway, so...no drama there.
|
| And why do I not use iCloud? Not because of any big brother
| eyeball on me. I don't use it the same reason I don't use a
| Smart TV, or a "smart home", or anything else. It's just one
| more thing designed to make my life easier that simply won't.
| As soon as it messes up (and it WILL mess up, catastrophically,
| and at the worst time. Everyone has stories), whatever value
| its added will be washed away.
|
| As I like to say, I love programming, but I hate computers. I
| hate messing with them, configuring them, tweaking them,
| googling for arcane stuff. I never want to hear the word
| "driver" ever again if I can avoid it.
|
| My Macs and Apple stuff, that I use, pretty much "just works".
| I keep my profile as thin and light as possible. The printer
| works, on all my machines and devices! Hallelujah! Air Drop
| works! I can serve videos from my Mac to the my Apple TV. +1!
|
| So, whatever control Apple has over me, I think the boot on my
| neck might instead just be a flip flop, and I can get up
| whenever I want.
| amelius wrote:
| > That said, I've never turned iCloud on
|
| Until Apple decides to use some dark-patterns to make you
| activate iCloud in a moment of inattentiveness. At that
| point, your own CDs and other data might be wiped from your
| computer, as has already happened to people.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/48830
| irrational wrote:
| Wow, I had to check the username to make sure I didn't write
| this. I kept nodding all the way through. The only area of
| divergence is I don't have any Apple TV videos. Otherwise, we
| could be twins.
| lrvick wrote:
| Can you switch easily? Cheaply? Would you not need to sell
| all that hardware and fundamentally overhaul your technical
| life to switch away from Apple?
|
| If Apple wants to deploy a new update that scans all your
| files for anything they deem undesirable, or bundles ads, or
| add backdoors... they can, knowing the cost of most users to
| switch is too high so they will tolerate it. Don't think they
| won't aid spying if the USG asks them extra nice.
|
| Apple has totally sold control of their hardware in China to
| the Chinese government with full knowledge it will be used to
| help with genocide, all to maintain doing business there.
|
| They will do whatever is the most profitable regardless of if
| it is aligned with your interests or not.
|
| I only rely on open source software and best effort open
| hardware/firmware because freedom to me means no lock-in. No
| one can force me to take a software, firmware, or hardware
| update I don't want. My reliance on tech is highly flexible.
|
| In my quest to become a more capable engineer it was worth
| the extra effort to learn how computers work well enough to
| make them do exactly what I want with whatever software,
| firmware, or hardware I want for both my personal and work
| life.
|
| I built a career on those skills.
| tshaddox wrote:
| > Would you not need to sell all that hardware and
| fundamentally overhaul your technical life to switch away
| from Apple?
|
| Wouldn't need to purchase new hardware and "fundamentally
| overhaul your technical life" to the exact same extent in
| order to switch _to_ the Apple system?
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| I don't disagree with you, I use Apple gear (plus one nice
| Chromebook and 2 Linux laptops) but I use iCloud, Google
| Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. For sensitive backups, I ZIP +
| password protect my financial records, consulting client work
| materials when they ask me to keep copies for future support,
| etc.
|
| I love messing around with my Linux laptops (and Chromebook
| with Linux container support), but for my main digital life,
| the integrations of Apple Watch + iPhone + iPad + MacBook Pro
| are the best option for me.
|
| I would like to see a wider ecosystem and I keep hoping that
| Microsoft keeps improving the Windows experience and Linux
| distress keep improving.
|
| EDIT: I am also a fan of Google, with some restrictions: I
| turn off all data collection settings except for music and
| YouTube for 30 days, and GCP for forever. PRIVACY IS POWER:
| you put yourself in a better position vs. corporations (and
| governments) if you take sensible privacy precautions.
| lnxg33k1 wrote:
| You can't even install apps outside of the app store and
| don't feel controlled, i mean everyone is different and have
| different opinions but there needs to be a limit to the
| amount of ham on the eyes, what should they do more, handcuff
| you and put you in a genius bar decorated jail?
| simonh wrote:
| If I use an Android libre distribution how many more apps
| do I have the ability to install that I couldn't on the
| iPhone?
|
| Next, how many iPhone Apps would I lose access to, and
| never be able to run on my new phone?
|
| The fact is for most people there are many, many more apps
| they actually want to run in the App Store than there are
| available for the libre platforms. Unless you're a
| developer and write all your own software, the fact is
| you're controlled by the people who are programmers,
| whether they work for Apple or any platform. They decide
| what your choices are.
|
| What matters to customers is the range of options they
| actually have, and Apple gives them a lot more choice, more
| of which are relevant to them, by a huge margin.
| advael wrote:
| Again, use whatever you like most, but you're mistaking a
| lack of conflict with Apple for a lack of control. You like
| the way Apple's products work for you. Great. You can own
| media you've produced, and don't particularly care about the
| distribution model of media you consume. Awesome. These are
| all great reasons for you to want to use Apple's stuff
|
| Personally, I like to save media I consume, and increasingly
| this is contrary to the business models of media companies.
| It's good that Apple lets you take your photos elsewhere, but
| I don't want them to have access to what's on my device, and
| the reality of Apple's ecosystem is that they have root on
| and internet-connected access to your devices, at least the
| smartphones.
|
| Personally, I like using tools that I can rely on staying the
| same. If software I use to make things I want to make
| changes, I can go back and get a previous version. I can go
| fork it and change it if I desire. With proprietary tools,
| you take the risk that a change will be made and you won't
| like it. You take the risk that they'll decide to move to a
| subscription model and deny you use of a tool you've already
| bought unless you start paying the company on a schedule, as
| Adobe users have experienced recently. If these possibilities
| have never affected you and don't bother you, by all means,
| use the tools and services you like
| pdimitar wrote:
| Good points. Personally I'm looking into moving to Linux
| for most of my personal and work computing for these
| reasons:
|
| - Scanning each binary on macOS just makes working on the
| terminal -- and just being a dev in general! -- have much
| more friction that it needs to. I don't care if it's about
| my security. While my iMac Pro is "sleeping" the logs show
| it's actually waking up each 2 to 5 minutes; surely they
| can passively scan some binaries then and leave me alone
| after that! The whole process just becomes sluggish. I've
| lately worked on a Linux laptop with a Ryzen 5500U CPU
| which is nowhere near the power of my iMac Pro's CPU and it
| was still _times faster_ for most of my development
| workflow. (Obviously you can 't magically make Rust
| compilation faster on a mobile CPU but literally everything
| else was faster.)
|
| - Control over photos and music. Yeah, Apple got a bit too
| creepy for me there. I have a ton of photos, memes, erotic
| photography, nature walpapers etc. and the Photos app can
| be _much_ better. But alas, it isn 't. At one point I'll
| just install PhotoSync and start backing up all my iCloud
| photos to my NAS. And then install a better gallery on my
| phone and laptop and just be done with it. Same for music.
| The whole thing is just tailored towards the copyright
| industry. One day I'll not be able to play whatever music I
| actually pay sub for and that's when I'll leave, in the
| meantime I am backing up any and all photos and music I
| have.
|
| - I'll agree with OP that with time most of Apple's
| software became less featureful though but still,
| alternatives to a lot of software do exist. One thing I
| gradually got tired of is having to pony up cash for
| literally everything. Even good music players cost money.
| lostgame wrote:
| My preferences are irrelevant when I can't natively run the
| commercial software I require to do my job(s) on the OS you
| suggest.
|
| If Linux can work for you - especially in your office - you are
| a privileged minority.
|
| With MacOS, I get the underlying UNIX subsystem - _and_ the
| ability to use commercial software, to boot.
|
| Even Windows has WSL nowadays.
|
| And you can downvote me - you can disagree with me - but deep
| down; you know nothing you can say is going to change the fact
| that - for example - I rely on Apple's Logic Pro X; and have a
| decade and a half of Logic files.
|
| It would take an _immeasurable_ amount of effort to somehow
| extract the MIDI and audio data from those files, and somehow
| convert them into Ardour files.
|
| I would lose EQ and compressor settings - and - even then, the
| plugins I use - iZotope and Native Instruments software, in
| particular - wouldn't work.
|
| That's just one simple example - and there's one of those for
| almost anyone.
|
| The larger one is the corporate/enterprise situation, where
| proprietary applications are often hanging on by a thread with
| the office ecosystem as-is, and - no - they will not convert
| these applications over to Linux.
|
| They won't update those applications to _start_.
|
| Linux is great, it's awesome that it exists, and it can work
| for a very small minority of people.
| advael wrote:
| I agree that enterprise-level collusion has locked you and
| many others into proprietary platforms. Again, I advocate
| using whatever tools work best for you, if your priority is
| not control over your tools. Every year the FOSS ecosystems
| get more usable for more purposes, but if your job tells you
| you have to use a particular tool, then you don't really have
| much of a choice, as you say.
| [deleted]
| asciimov wrote:
| Most of these bullet points could still be done on a Mac.
|
| You don't need special permission, or a hacked computer, to do
| the things the non-apple way.
|
| I moved to Linux 7 years ago from MacOS (and windows before
| that). As I get older, my patience wanes for dealing with the,
| half-baked house-of-cards teetering on collapse, Linux ecosystem.
| I just want something that works better, and took a different
| direction than the modern versions of Windows or MacOS.
| vinceguidry wrote:
| > The last step...
|
| Cute idea.
| abc_lisper wrote:
| The article is light on criticism about Apple. Usually what
| happens to these people is they go out all guns blazing, spend a
| lot of time, figure how to do stuff the hard way, feel
| temporarily in control and then face death by a thousand cuts or
| decreased productivity. It is the case with 90% of the users. For
| most people, computer is a means to an end, which Apple
| understands spectacularly well. It gives you 5-star hotel like
| experience with its products. Is everything perfect? No. Does it
| make mistakes? Yes. There is no progress without mistakes, unless
| you allow many many years for ideation. Apple strikes this
| balance spectacularly well, they are mostly at the forefront of
| tech, meanwhile giving users a fantastic experience. It is Ritz
| Carlton of computers, you stay there, do your business, expect
| mostly everything to work like a well oiled machine, and you go
| home without sweat after finishing your work. To write 3 or 4
| subjective opinions about Apple and dismissing it tells more
| about the author than Apple IMO.
| bengale wrote:
| This generally my take on this too. When I see posts like this
| I'm never sure if I'm envious of the free time to faff about
| like this, or have pity that they have nothing better to do.
| dvdkon wrote:
| Except there have been too many mistakes and missteps for a
| while now, it's three stars at best. I can respect a system
| that does what I need it to do in one opinionated way, but when
| that system doesn't do what I need or does too many things
| poorly, why would I stay? If I need to fix the system anyway,
| I'll use one that makes it easiest.
| izacus wrote:
| Or you know, most people just click on the "Chrome" icon on
| Windows, see it looks the same as on macOS and happily carry
| on.
|
| The "everything is a web/Electron app" trend has pretty much
| ensured that your "productivity" effect is pretty much only in
| your head now.
| foxpurple wrote:
| macOS still offers benefits. If you have an iPhone,
| everything is synced up for you so your reminders set on your
| Mac will ping you on your phone. You get the anti loss/theft
| features of find my, the insanely efficient M1 chip and a
| load of other things.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| Haha, I think that's a great analogy.
|
| I would never stay at a Ritz Carlton and pay $1000 a night when
| I could stay at the motel down the road for $100.
|
| I'm not waited on hand and foot, I have to do everything
| myself, but its done the way I like it, and I've saved myslef
| $900 as well.
| foxpurple wrote:
| That's fine and valid, but many people make enough money
| where slumming it for some small savings no longer makes
| sense.
| [deleted]
| bhaak wrote:
| Arch is not something for people that want to just use their
| devices. It's something for people who love to tinker.
|
| Updates break something so often that I wonder if it somehow is
| sponsored by other OS developers to make them look good.
| horsawlarway wrote:
| I mostly agree with you that Arch is for folks who love to
| tinker.
|
| But you must have some strange workflows going - I've been on
| arch fulltime for 3 years now, and my one breakage was that
| dash-to-dock didn't play nicely with a new version of gnome.
|
| Frankly - it's a far better experience than the 16inch macbook
| pro my work issued me - that has problems with fans, problems
| with lag during zoom calls, problems with accelerated rendering
| in chrome, issues with wifi and bluetooth connections. I
| literally call it my crapbook it's so bad.
| worble wrote:
| Been running it for a few years now, I can only remember two or
| three times which have required manual intervention (and even
| then it was a one liner described on the arch news page).
|
| Compared to the hell that was upgrading Ubuntu versions every
| couple of years, I'll take Arch's way any day.
| i_use_arch_btw wrote:
| I've been daily-driving Arch for two years now, and I've only
| seen it break a handful of times. And since I set it up using
| the command line tools, I knew which ones to use to fix it.
|
| Arch lets me engage with the open-source community directly and
| get fixes to issues faster than more curated OSes like Ubuntu.
| I have access to more diagnostic information and tools that
| what Windows provides. And privacy and freedom isn't
| compromised like on MacOS.
|
| Also, it's gotten really good for games. It plays pretty much
| everything I've wanted to play, from Stellaris, Cyberpunk 2077,
| and Humankind.
|
| So, sometimes opinions need updates.
| entropea wrote:
| >Arch is not something for people that want to just use their
| devices. It's something for people who love to tinker.
|
| I've been running Arch (Endeavor w/KDE now) as a desktop for
| probably 7 years and I just use my device. I get updates that
| break small things in KDE, or give me major screen tearing in
| Firefox once in awhile, but nothing that "breaks so often".
| It's pretty good and solid in 2021...
| wayneftw wrote:
| Manjaro is and that's based on Arch. They curate the updates
| for you to prevent breakages and the need to tinker endlessly.
|
| I've been running it for 3 years on 4 machines and I've had far
| less breakage from updates than with my Windows or Mac
| machines.
| entropea wrote:
| Manjaro is one of the only distro's I've used that has nuked
| itself during updates. I moved to Endeavor because I was sick
| of the Manjaro maintained repos.
| rusticpenn wrote:
| That's part of the arch experience.
| Grollicus wrote:
| I'm running Arch on my home laptop and my server. Had one
| breakage in ~5 years where sshd wouldn't start anymore because
| they deprecated and then removed a config option. What do you
| do that regularly breaks?
| ericwooley wrote:
| Been running it almost a year now, without anything breaking
| except some gnome extensions.
| qudat wrote:
| - OS: Arch Linux - Window Manager: Sway - Backups:
| rsync.net - Mail: migadu.com - Coding sr.ht -
| Private servers: kimsufi.com - Music: bandcamp.com -
| Headphones: Grado SR325 X - Camera: Fujuifilm X-T4
|
| Ah the drew devault starter kit
| alberth wrote:
| For mail, I would really consider Fastmail (over Migadu).
|
| Fastmail has contributed a huge amount to the open source
| community, also include Calendar support (Migadu does not) and
| has a fantastic web interface (where Migadu is extremely
| lacking).
| post_break wrote:
| Fastmail is in australia though? Didn't they just get
| completely backdoored?
| 28617056 wrote:
| Email is insecure by default. The best you can do is go
| with a provider that doesn't sell your behavior to
| advertisers like Google does.
| worble wrote:
| Even though I have no expectation that my emails are 100%
| private, I'm still incredibly hesitent to trust any company
| operating out of Australia with their horrible stance towards
| encryption and backdoors (which is not Fastmails fault of
| course, it's a pretty horrible situation for them).
|
| I'm fairly sure that Migadu also supports caldav, although I
| don't think there's any UI for it on the web. I think there's
| pretty much an expectation that most people using Migadu are
| bringing their own clients rather than using the web one
| anyways.
| npteljes wrote:
| Posteo is also good. Endorsed by the FSF even. Not sure about
| the web interface hehe, it's just RoundCube.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Posteo's web UI is very barebones, a little clunky but ok.
| I rarely use it though, because why would I when I can just
| use IMAP and choose my client?
|
| If I really wanted a different web UI I could still just
| run my own and sync using IMAP.
|
| Their service is excellent and cheap. I highly recommend
| them.
| haaserd wrote:
| +1
|
| I've been using Posteo for years, and I have also been
| very happy with their service.
| falcolas wrote:
| I wonder why there's always such a focus on streaming music,
| and not the old fashioned "play what you own". You're just
| putting yourself at the mercy of a slightly different service
| provider.
| basisword wrote:
| Bandamp allows you to purchase music directly from the
| artist, in high quality, and download and own it permanently.
| They also let you stream it from them after purchasing it
| which is a useful bonus but the main thing is you own the
| music.
| falcolas wrote:
| TIL. Thanks for the info! That does seem like a nice
| alternative to Spotify/Apple Music.
| abawany wrote:
| I discovered Bandcamp while trying to buy music by Hatari a
| few years ago and have loved it since. They have definitely
| done things right and the ability to discover interesting
| artists there is just an additional perk.
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| As someone with 60+ gigs of mp3s all organized into folders
| and properly tagged, I'll take Apple Music all day long. What
| "mercy" am I subjecting myself to? A friend says: check out
| this band, and within seconds I am playing it. Compared to
| spending a huge % of my income on records and CDs and then a
| huge % of my time dealing with mp3s, this is living the
| dream! How am I being abused? Because I don't own the music I
| am renting? My annual sub would buy a paltry number of CDs.
| falcolas wrote:
| You're attributing a lot of malice to my message that I did
| not put there.
|
| And yes, the convenience is great, until 1) you stop
| paying, 2) they go out of business, or 3) you are
| interested in music they don't have licenses to.
|
| As contentous as the relationships are between spotify-
| alike services and the music rightsholders, I don't believe
| that they are a very good long term investment. I almost
| expect to see the music space to move towards where the TV
| space is now - each publisher running their own streaming
| service.
| dotancohen wrote:
| That is a great list. And a reminder to backup.
| nobleach wrote:
| I toy with the idea every once in awhile. I own a M1 Mac and I
| actually hate it for various reasons. I've been a mac fanboi (I'm
| probably an even bigger Linux fanboi) for many years as I feel
| like I gave me so many of the things I love about Linux/BSD...
| and it's flat out beautiful. But as many have stated. Over the
| years, it's ceased to match my workflow. I've always kept plenty
| of Linux machines around me, so for the past few years, I've been
| full time on Linux. I do miss getting my text messages on my
| laptop. I do miss transferring music with ease - but I have to be
| honest. Using iTunes/Music to transfer music to my iPhone has
| actually been pretty painful the past few years. When I try to
| drag and drop, for some odd reason, it just says, "nope".
|
| My issue is, the alternatives are just not as high quality. I
| looked at ditching my iPhone 12 for a Pixel 4 or a Samsung, and
| maybe getting the Samsung watch (which I hear can do blood
| pressure now?). But I've read so many bad reviews. Sadly, one of
| the biggest things that keeps me on Apple right now is iMessage.
| We have plenty of Apple products in the household, so I'd never
| ditch them totally.
| bachmeier wrote:
| > I do miss getting my text messages on my laptop.
|
| I used to send and receive text messages all the time on Linux.
| I use email, but it works fine.
| smoldesu wrote:
| I'm probably going to pick up a PinePhone once they're back in
| stock, if KDE connect works with it then I might be able to
| finally have the PC/Pager combo I've always dreamed of...
| jclardy wrote:
| iMessage is the ultimate lock-in. Both sides of my family use
| iMessage, so anyone switching off iPhone becomes the black
| sheep by splitting off the family thread. And it sucks because
| it is wholly a political decision by Apple not to add android
| support.
|
| But besides that, I bought a Pixel 5a for testing of android
| apps. While the experience is majorly improved over my last
| android experience...it just feels wrong. Animations are not
| consistent across apps. Swipe actions sometimes follow your
| finger, sometimes they don't. I thought widgets would be
| better...but wow are they ugly out of the box. Yes I am aware
| you can customize everything, but I really don't want to spend
| hours figuring all that out when I can just have sane defaults.
| I feel like looking at screenshots you can say that android and
| iOS are very similar, but that leaves out the most important
| part of a touch only device - the interactions with content on
| screen.
| nobleach wrote:
| I used to work in mobile web development. Playing with
| Android devices always felt sub-par. Not to mention, having
| to support Samsung's web browser was just terrible. I realize
| Samsung has gone to great lengths to try and make a beautiful
| experience. And truly, the whole fold-able (while not really
| my thing) is an advance in an interesting direction.
|
| I did use an Android phone around 2010 (Nexus One) and it was
| "just okay". This was pre-iMessage. Now it really is annoying
| to have someone make the chat "go green". "So and so liked
| your message". I've seen people set up iMessage gateways just
| to get around this... but it's just not ideal.
| hbn wrote:
| > I thought widgets would be better...but wow are they ugly
| out of the box
|
| Widgets were a big selling point in the earlier days of the
| Android vs iOS debate, but Google has really left them to rot
| over the years. Now that iOS has them, it seems like Google
| might be finally giving them attention again? At the very
| least, they're getting redesigns, but I don't know if I've
| heard anything about them addressing the more technical
| reasons of why they feel so outdated compared to the rest of
| the platform.
| shapefrog wrote:
| > becomes the black sheep by splitting off the family thread
|
| Worth having a shitter phone just to have the feature of not
| being on the family thread.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| Not everyone has a shitty family.
| shapefrog wrote:
| Not everyone has an amazing family.
| c54 wrote:
| I respect this but the X1 Carbon's keyboard is bad, and so is its
| trackpad. Until something like this[0] project takes off, this is
| just a non-starter for me. Windows at least has OK trackpad
| support, and now with WSL and whatnot, the surface pro laptops
| are maybe a feasible option, but Windows ironically has the
| absolute worst window management of the 3.
|
| And of course Apple is still a moving target. I'm not going back
| to a x86 toaster of a laptop with 5 hrs of battery life, when i
| can have one which stays cool for 11. Signs point to them
| ditching the touchbar too.
|
| [0] https://bill.harding.blog/2020/04/26/linux-touchpad-like-
| a-m...
|
| [1] Disclosures / context:
|
| - I have an X1 carbon for work
|
| - I vastly prefer my M1 Macbook Pro
|
| - I miss i3wm, i used to run it on laptop and desktop in college,
| on Arch.
| pdimitar wrote:
| I lately bought a refurbished HP 15s with Ryzen 5500U (and AMD
| graphics). This thing runs way cooler than any Intel laptop I
| ever used in the past, even under load. The track pad is
| surprisingly good for a non-MacBook; still not as good but it's
| IMO fairly close.
|
| I admit I don't care much about total time on battery though.
| I'm a dev and I need the full performance so never tinkered
| with power profiles and such. To me it's "100% the CPU power at
| all times or get out".
|
| Just an anecdote.
| royal_ts wrote:
| In which world is MacOS window management good? It's comically
| bad. The splittscreen feature alone is a bad joke
| tzamora wrote:
| I use Hyperdock https://bahoom.com/hyperdock for macOS
| windows splitscreen and other features that makes the
| experience very very good and more similiar to windowsOS
| wy35 wrote:
| Agree, stock MacOS window management is really annoying. I've
| been using Rectangle to do split screen and maximizing
| windows, and I never had a problem since.
| pixelgeek wrote:
| It is odd when you agree with half an article.
|
| I think that anything to do with music and transferring files to
| your iPad or iPhone is an utter mess on the Mac. The entire
| iTunes project was an utter mess and breaking that up and fixing
| it is going to take a long time.
|
| I was also taken back by some of the new restrictions on the
| Application directory with Big Sur but it appears that they
| aren't as bad as I initially thought and mostly seem to apply to
| apps that the OS installs.
|
| I think it is great that the author outgrew his machine. They
| started out as a new developer and now they have brought their
| skills up to the point that they require a new OS to allow them
| to maximise their potential. That is an awesome story.
|
| Apple has had to ride a fine line between being a lifestyle
| device and a computer and I think that there are times when they
| totally mess it up and lock out things they don't need to. Other
| times they seem to get it right.
|
| Like a lot of people here I really wish Apple would stop trying
| to organize my music but I also realise that a large number of
| people younger than me don't even own music any more.
|
| The number of use cases for these devices is huge and it is
| natural that the hardware can't be everything to everyone. It
| used to be the case but so many more people use computers and use
| them for a wide variety of things that those days are far behind
| us.
| bwanab wrote:
| I don't think it's just people "younger than" you who don't own
| any music anymore. Statistically, I'm pretty sure I'm older and
| I gave away my entire CD collection (as I had previously done
| with my LPs). I ripped the very few that I couldn't find on
| Spotify. It just doesn't make sense for me to keep all those
| plastic discs around when I can carry my entire collection and
| anything else I want to listen to around all the time. As for
| quality of sound, at my age I'm happy to hear at all.
| ajsharp wrote:
| One of the biggest opportunities in technology right now is to
| re-run the Next/Apple playbook and create a new hardware/software
| technology company focused on developers. Good quality hardware
| married with a great OS / window manager. Most of the software we
| use to create software are electron apps, a thin layer of native
| code to run a bunch of javascript. The main notable exception is
| XCode, but the ecosystem of non-ios/apple developers is far
| larger. Wish someone would do this. I'd pre-order tomorrow.
| Closi wrote:
| If by "biggest opportunity" you mean "biggest opportunity to
| lose all your money and chase a pipe-dream" then I agree :)
|
| 'Next/Apple' isn't a quick playbook - it's an over 30 year R&D
| effort to create a hugely complex software and hardware
| business, and it spent about $100 billion in R&D to get its
| products where they are today (at the absolute cutting edge of
| technology). Writing your own modern OS and
| building/manufacturing good hardware to compete with this is
| difficult enough, and then you have the even bigger challenge
| of getting all the major software vendors to support your new
| platform.
| ajsharp wrote:
| Didn't say it would be quick. Sure, it was a long cycle for
| them, but the ecosystem is much further along now. I think
| it's to bring to market in the hundreds of millions.
| rsync wrote:
| "'Next/Apple' isn't a quick playbook - it's an over 30 year
| R&D effort to create a hugely complex software and hardware
| business, and it spent about $100 billion in R&D to get its
| products where they are today ..."
|
| But isn't this much, much easier if you just piggyback on the
| Apple hardware ?
|
| I always expected this to happen.
|
| Circa 2008 or 2009 I thought that _any day now_ there would
| be a linux distribution built specifically foe one single
| Apple laptop. No hardware issues, no gremlins, no moving
| targets - you would have a (very) fixed hardware target and
| optimize just for that. Then I, as a user, could just go to
| the Apple store and buy a nice shiny device and install
| MBAlinux on it and call it a day.
|
| I really don't understand why this never happened. Further,
| in many ways it seems that the opposite of this happened -
| installing linux/FreeBSD is weirdly painful on Apple laptops
| which is unexpected since _we all know what is inside of
| them_ and the installed base is huge.
|
| So I would suggest that you could, indeed, build a
| hardware/software ecosystem - just let Apple build the
| hardware part ...
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| Steam Deck (For Games)
|
| I only ever need a laptop when traveling, I have a big
| desktop setup at home. I plan to take my Steam Deck
| traveling with a portable monitor and keyboard.
| Closi wrote:
| > But isn't this much, much easier if you just piggyback on
| the Apple hardware ?
|
| Sure, it's easier, but then I'm not sure what the point is
| or what makes it one of the biggest opportunities of our
| time.
|
| I also understand why it never happened - there is already
| a unix-based OS which is designed with perfect
| compatibility with the Apple Hardware called OSX! I'm not
| sure what the advantage to a consumer would be for
| replacing OSX with linux - other than the fact that it
| gives consumers choice - but of course providing a distro
| that only operates on a specific Mac is then limiting
| hardware choice so it doesn't really solve that in some
| respects.
|
| And if it's just for developers, then wouldn't developers
| want some choice of hardware, good support for tooling, the
| ability to test native apps without virtualisation e.t.c.
|
| IMO I suspect the Venn-diagram of developers who:
|
| * want a Mac but don't want OSX
|
| * don't mind that they can't upgrade their hardware
|
| * are willing to run some totally-new operating system
|
| * Accept that it will initially lack the support of the
| runtimes they use, and some software, and won't be able to
| develop certain types of software because of this.
|
| * Accept that if they wish to continue using the OS for
| their next laptop they will be fully locked-in to a single
| hardware model.
|
| is pretty vanishingly small.
| nebula8804 wrote:
| Linux is a complete mess that may likely never get fixed.
| The problem is people. It is a representation of democracy:
| a messy combination of half-arsed solutions that forms a
| workable cohesive. This is not a valid competitor to the
| Mac. It is a compromise.
|
| Lets take Ubuntu as an example. Today you can get Ubuntu
| laptops that will work out of the box. Is that true
| tomorrow? Absolutely not. The next distro version will
| break something in the hardware. I have been burned by this
| twice now. At then end of the day the Apple premium is not
| really a premium. It ensures that they continue to support
| their legacy hardware for years. The people who bash the
| premium as some sort of "idiot tax" are actually valuing
| the software that runs on the machine at 0$. There are too
| many people in this world that don't understand how much
| effort it takes to create and maintain good reliable
| software. You see it on the app store where people can't
| fathom spending 99 cents and you see it in the bashing of
| Apple devices.
|
| Lets assume that your hardware works beautifully with the
| current version. Then you actually look at the apps shipped
| with the distro. They are poorly made and do not form a
| cohesive OS. You are forced to hunt for other open source
| equivalents to basic stuff like "paint". Have you tried
| using the calculator or notepad equivalents? They suck
| compared the simple and easy to use Windows and Mac
| equivalents. This is something even Windows gets right. It
| comes from the fact that Canonical does not have the
| resources to build each app around a unified design and UX
| principle so they farm it out to the "open source
| community".
|
| Finally, why do each distro version seem to break something
| on the same hardware year after year? There seems to be a
| serious lack of regression testing on these distros. For
| 10+ years I have witnessed how one version of Ubuntu breaks
| some stuff, fixes others and then the next version fixes
| some stuff but breaks previous working items. Then it gets
| worse, the subsequent version breaks previously fixed stuff
| again! I am forced to QA the entire OS every time a new
| release comes out and hope I don't miss something(which I
| always do)!
| zibzab wrote:
| You know what is a compromise? Running Docker at 1/4 of
| its native speed inside a VM.
| bengale wrote:
| My solution for this is a headless Linux box under my
| desk and remote vscode and ssh from my MacBook. Best of
| both worlds so far for me.
|
| I did try and use Linux full time but the UI drove me up
| the wall so I'm back comfortable in macOS but my dev work
| flies on that Linux box.
| canadaduane wrote:
| I like the idea, but I worry that Apple's m.o. is to allow
| something like this in the margins and then cut it off at
| the knees if it becomes too successful. Whether by altering
| their hardware, using security lock-out (a la iPhone), or
| replicating it without acknowledging where it came from.
| linguae wrote:
| Have you looked into Purism (https://puri.sm)? Purism makes its
| own hardware such as the Librem line of smartphones and
| laptops, and maintains its own Linux distribution called
| PureOS. Purism also funds the development of apps
| (https://puri.sm/fund-your-app/).
| elliekelly wrote:
| > The Librem 5 is a phone built on PureOS, a fully free,
| ethical and open-source operating system that is not based on
| Android or iOS.
|
| _And_ physical hardware kill switches? This almost seems too
| good to be true.
| ThatGeoGuy wrote:
| The physical kill switches work as described, but yes, the
| phone is "too good to be true."
|
| It will not (yet) replace your iPhone, although you can get
| pretty far on your own if you don't mind SSHing into such a
| device and messing with stuff on your own.
| foxpurple wrote:
| The catch is it costs more then an iPhone, gets about 2
| hours battery even if the screen is off, and has a cpu
| slower than a $50 android.
| ajsharp wrote:
| Had not seen this. Thanks for sharing.
| runako wrote:
| > focused on developers
|
| The problem with this is _which_ developers? People who write
| embedded systems? Web developers? People who write custom
| Windows applications?
|
| Any given developer subset is likely to find this hypothetical
| new developer computer to be either too complex to use or not
| differentiated enough from Windows or MacOs (or ChromeOS).
|
| > Most of the software we use to create software are electron
| apps
|
| This is not true for most people whose primary employment is
| writing software, or working on software teams. Most people who
| get paid to write code work primarily in either the Java or
| .NET ecosystems and use something like Eclipse, IntelliJ, or
| Visual Studio. (Many more are using niche-specific tools in a
| captive platform like Oracle, SalesForce, SAP, etc.) If the new
| platform doesn't have 100.0% binary compatibility with legacy
| tools written for Windows and/or MacOS, its addressable market
| shrinks substantially.
| ajsharp wrote:
| Agree to disagree. Java is inherently cross platform.
| Jetbrains stuff runs on any linux platform, as does vscode
| and any of the modern development workflow stuff. The
| development stack is steadily moving away from native apps.
| Vscode is essentially a webapp, and indeed it can run be run
| as one.
| runako wrote:
| Fair enough about Jetbrains!
|
| VSCode is not the entire stack needed to build Windows
| desktop applications. There are tens or hundreds of
| thousands of developers who build applications for the
| Windows desktop. I'm not (for the most part) a .NET dev,
| but my current understanding is that only Visual Studio
| running on Windows is a first-class citizen with the
| ability to access all parts of the dev stack. The Windows
| dev stack doesn't need to move away from native Windows
| applications any more than does Xcode need to move away
| from MacOS.
| kitsunesoba wrote:
| I would also argue that focusing on developers too much is
| actually a loss for users. Developer productivity above all
| is how we've ended up with resource hogs like Chrome and
| Electron as well as never-ending erosion of customizability
| in software as well as the user's level of control and
| privacy.
|
| It's critical to have a great developer story yes, but to
| make a stellar platform that needs to be balanced with a
| great user story, and that means developers might not always
| get everything they want down to the letter.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _One of the biggest opportunities in technology right now is
| to re-run the Next /Apple playbook and create a new
| hardware/software technology company focused on developers._
|
| Why would that be an opportunity though?
|
| It would be a low margin niche, with a small market segment, of
| which most would stick with Apple/Lenovo/Dell.
| ajsharp wrote:
| Software developers are a large and massively growing market
| segment. That's not niche.
| coldtea wrote:
| There a tiny slither of the global population, which in no
| ways constitutes "One of the biggest opportunities in
| technology right now".
| ajsharp wrote:
| Lol. Ok. You're right. Congratulations! How's it feel?
| foxpurple wrote:
| And only a tiny fraction of them would care. I'm quite
| happy with my iPhone and don't want a random HN freedom
| phone. I don't ever even intend to develop something for my
| phone and if I did, I would want to target android and iOS.
| jrsj wrote:
| Fuchsia is really the only new OS under development that I'm
| aware of. And it's not even clear if Google intends to ship it
| outside of niche embedded use cases like Nest products etc
| rapsey wrote:
| Insurpassable barrier to entry. Not a chance.
| ajsharp wrote:
| What about the barrier to entry is insurpassable? Apple
| hardware in about a decade went from being something every
| developer I know raved about and loved to being something
| everyone complains about and is generally unhappy about.
| Apple went from being a computer company to a consumer
| electronics company. The more they expand into other consumer
| verticals (tablets, headphones, CARS), the more the computer
| products suffer.
| rapsey wrote:
| Yet their computers are still massively popular with
| developers.
|
| As for the barrier, it is in the software and app
| ecosystem.
| ajsharp wrote:
| I'd argue they're popular because no better alternative
| has been created (yet).
|
| My point with the software is that most software people
| use to create software/apps is increasingly created with
| web technologies / electron apps, so the native app
| ecosystem on a desktop machine is increasingly weakening
| as a moat.
| qsort wrote:
| I'd say the #1 reason is that most developers (myself
| included) want the intersection of:
|
| - Unix-like, developing on Windows is pure torture
|
| - Don't waste my time with configurations, drivers and
| other crap, I want a machine that I can be productive
| with out of the box. Take my money if you have to, but I
| don't want to edit Xorg.conf ever again.
|
| You can talk about polish all day, but no machine that
| doesn't satisfy both is even close to appealing for a
| majority of developers in my experience.
|
| You are right about the native app ecosystem being less
| of a blocker, but that's in line with my point.
| Jyaif wrote:
| What are you talking about? Any large tech company could pull
| that off. The problem is those large companies are not
| interested in catering to a million developers, they are
| interested in catering to a billion people.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _Any large tech company could pull that off._
|
| The prerequisite of being a "large tech company" to pull it
| off is already a huge barrier to entry.
| rapsey wrote:
| Remember windows phone?
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I do. I remember Microsoft stores too. They went 20% of
| the way and stopped, and decided that extracting rent
| from Office and Azure was all the work they wanted to do,
| rather than continue investing in hardware and in person
| support. Same with Google and their devices, except they
| did not even bother with in person support.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _They went 20% of the way and stopped_
|
| For how much more would you siphon money into basically
| empty stores, to see it as having gone "100%" of the way?
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Depends if I wanted to compete with Apple or not. I would
| have spent whatever it took. The board members at these
| companies obviously decided that cash now was more
| important than competing with Apple.
| coldtea wrote:
| Maybe because they understand the sunk cost fallacy :-)
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| A sunk cost fallacy is only applicable if the assumption
| is the venture would result in failure.
|
| Which is even more damning of Microsoft / Google
| management.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _A sunk cost fallacy is only applicable if the
| assumption is the venture would result in failure._
|
| The sunk cost fallacy is not really about what the
| venture would actually do. One could be said to have
| fallen prey to it even if they double down and the
| venture eventually succeeds.
|
| What's important is that at the time of the decision (a)
| the path doesn't seem to be working, and (b) they think
| "but I've spend too much to quit now".
|
| This is more likely when one assumes it can still has a
| chance to succeed, than if they assume it will inevitably
| result in failure. Nobody that assumes inevitable failure
| would decide to continue.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I did not feel it needed to be specified since it is a
| trivial fact that nothing in life is certain. But Apple's
| product offering is a top to bottom customer experience
| involving in person help at stores around the country.
| Microsoft must have acknowledged that, since they went as
| far as opening stores and coming out with that line of
| non malware Windows products (as a side note, it is
| ridiculous that Microsoft even let their ecosystem get to
| that point). Which, yes, they might have had empty
| stores, but that is because they failed to continue
| investing in their mobile products, or even non mobile
| products. They would have had empty stores for 10+ years
| while they slowly build it all up, just like Apple had
| to.
|
| All I know is at this point Microsoft had two options:
| continue investing into creating an alternative to Apple,
| or cancel their plans and sit back and let the
| Office/Azure revenue flow in.
|
| Maybe it was a long shot, maybe they decided the size of
| Apple's customer base divided by two was not enough to
| satiate them, but whatever the case, they signaled that
| they do not have the talent/gumption/appetite for risk to
| pull it off. But if any company did have the opportunity
| to go for it, I would think Microsoft (and Google) with
| their income stream would have been in position to do it.
|
| Both companies seem to dip their toes, but never follow
| through.
| WesleyJohnson wrote:
| I loved the UI and the phone offerings from Nokia. I wish
| they would resurrect it - and I'm a dedicated MacOS/iOS
| user.
| pixelgeek wrote:
| As a Mac guy I thought that the Windows Phone wasn't a
| bad device. My buddy had one and it had all sorts of
| great features but they all worked within the
| Windows/x-Box universe he was in.
|
| I would have liked to see it succeed if only for there to
| be more competition.
|
| It also had a great 'copy and paste' feature
| rapsey wrote:
| Yep the phones were actually in terms of OS and hardware
| equal or better than iOS/Android. However even back then,
| the app ecosystem hurdle was already insurmountable.
| foxpurple wrote:
| This just proves it's even harder. Even if by some insane
| luck you manage to build something that is very good, the
| general public still doesn't want it.
| Jyaif wrote:
| Yeah. No apps = no success. A developer-focused computer
| would obviously run Linux, so you'd have a large
| ecosystem right from the start.
| rapsey wrote:
| Yet linux desktop is still where it has always been. A
| place for nerds who like to tinker.
| realusername wrote:
| I'm pretty sure it could have worked, their phones were
| getting traction in Europe, if they did not do the big
| framework screwup which destroyed their developer base,
| it would have worked.
| Nextgrid wrote:
| It could've succeeded if they didn't reset the app
| ecosystem twice (they already didn't have many apps, but
| the resets definitely didn't help).
| sneak wrote:
| Developers unhappy with Windows, Mac, and Linux is not a very
| big market.
|
| Most developers I know are happy with their mac or windows
| spyware, or their rough edges linux rig.
| dotancohen wrote:
| Put Kubuntu on any modern Dell desktop or Thinkpad laptop. In
| 95% of the cases enjoy total hardware compatibility right out
| of the box, and a UI that will pass for "The next Windows" for
| most people whose needs do not exceed browsing the internet and
| Facebook properties.
|
| If they need a photo manager, in my experience the most common
| application need after a web browser, then Digikam really
| cannot be beat.
| nobleach wrote:
| While hardware may work, there are so many niceties people
| will have to learn to deal with. Plugging in an external
| monitor may or may not work. Audio may or may not switch like
| folks are used to. (Try telling someone to launch alsa mixer)
| Want to use bluetooth? It might work. If it doesn't, you're
| going to be messing with things deeper than a
| "Facebook/Internet user" wants to deal with.
|
| I am a full time Linux user. And I'll probably support anyone
| who wants to try it until the day I die. I absolutely love
| it. But we still can't enjoy some of the simplest use cases
| without screwing around with configs and in some cases,
| writing scripts that listen to DBus or udev.... So every time
| I hear someone say, "just use Linux" I think... nah, just buy
| a Chromebook (and - yeah, use Linux). If your needs are any
| more than that, Linux might not be for you.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| This is all true in Apple and Windows land as well.
| Especially if you are not "all in" on Apple and have non
| Apple things you are trying to connect.
| dmitriid wrote:
| > Plugging in an external monitor may or may not work
|
| Sadly, this is now true for Macs as well. Were by "not
| work" I mean: not finding/not supporting the proper
| resolution and/or refresh rate for the display.
| hundchenkatze wrote:
| Agreed, patching/generating custom edid configs is not my
| idea of it just works...
| rpdillon wrote:
| I had a similar experience related to this in the past
| couple of months. My company issued me a Macbook, and
| forced an upgrade to Big Sur recently. I'd been working
| through the pandemic by plugging the laptop into a HDMI
| monitor using a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter from Anker
| (purchased on Amazon:
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07THJGZ9Z/). After updating to
| Big Sur, MacOS refused to recognize the Anker adapter
| with a notification "USB Accessories Disabled", and a
| note that it was using too much power. I did a few hours
| of research trying to figure out what the power draw
| actually was (with no monitor plugged in) and scoured
| specifications for other adapters in the hope that I
| could identify one before purchasing that might work, but
| found scant information published on the power draw of
| various adapters.
|
| I never succeeded. I just use the Macbook with only the
| built-in display now.
| ajsharp wrote:
| 100%. That's what Apple got right then and one of the
| reasons why Linux has never been able to really penetrate
| the desktop or professional desktop market. Otherwise
| you're constantly debugging things that should Just Work
| like external displays, random device drivers, etc.
| runako wrote:
| +1. I used to run Linux on my primary laptop. I'm a fairly
| competent Linux admin. I just got really tired of being
| forced to be a fairly competent admin so much of the time
| when I was trying to just get something done.
|
| > writing scripts that listen to DBus or udev
|
| Exactly. Not to mention the preceding step of spending 30
| minutes in forums to find someone else who has had this
| problem on a system with exactly the same motherboard so
| you don't try the things that didn't work for them.
|
| I'm still 100% Linux on the server, headless Linux doesn't
| have nearly the warts as GUI Linux.
| mojzu wrote:
| Reasons like these are why I switched to using virtualised
| Linux for most of my development, trying to run it natively
| on hardware works great 95%+ of the time, but that last 5%
| is usually tricky to fix without delving into years old
| mailing lists. And even if you can get things working,
| there's still often serious quality of life problems like
| the bluetooth stack randomly failing 5+ times a day
| SquishyPanda23 wrote:
| That is all true.
|
| In the context of the original comment, though, this does
| narrow down the market that can be addressed by a company
| running the Next/Apple playbook.
|
| It seems vastly cheaper to solve these issues than to start
| a new company to produce its own hardware and OS.
|
| If you did start such a company and prove there was a
| market, then you're making a bet that Canonical (or KDE
| devs) won't put you out of business.
| fsflover wrote:
| > Plugging in an external monitor may or may not work.
| Audio may or may not switch like folks are used to.
|
| > Want to use bluetooth? It might work.
|
| Sounds like the problem of installing Linux on a hardware
| designed for Windows. All those things work flawlessly on
| my Purism Librem 15, which came with _preinstalled_ Linux.
| (Ok, I did not try Bluetooth, but saw reports that it
| works.)
| zimpenfish wrote:
| A single Gladwell of anecdata: I've got a thermal printer
| which talks Bluetooth - works flawlessly when sending
| data from my Macbook; outputs garbage when sending the
| exact same data from a Raspberry Pi 3+ (which is
| _definitely_ Linux on hardware designed for Linux.)
| [deleted]
| bachmeier wrote:
| What you're describing certainly doesn't describe my
| experience of the last ten years or so with Linux. Sure,
| there are some things that won't work with Linux by choice
| of the manufacturer/developer, but external monitors,
| audio, and Bluetooth generally just work with a Dell
| laptop. I've been using Dell laptops in a variety of
| scenarios for years and that sort of stuff doesn't even
| cross my mind any longer.
| raoa wrote:
| I'm on a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu right now. People some times
| give examples of things like external monitors not working
| for them on Linux.
|
| Here is one. Randomly, based on no relevant input from me or
| changes in the laptop's state, my network connection dropped
| and the Network Manager UI was telling me no network adaptor
| could be detected.
|
| Some fumbling around in the Terminal (including various
| reboots not solving the issue), and managed to enable the
| wireless adaptor which apparently could be detected and
| connect to my network, though at the same time the UI was
| telling me in no uncertain terms that no wireless adaptor was
| connected to my laptop.
|
| Then later, again randomly, based on no relevant input from
| me or changes in the laptop's state, the UI agrees there is a
| wireless adaptor connected after all. This is on a machine
| currently in near-factory state with certified compatible
| Ubuntu preinstalled.
|
| I share this example because one can at least comprehend why
| random monitors or graphics cards or what not do not
| cooperate without fiddling, can comprehend certain apps
| failing and crashing, can comprehend other unusual bugs. The
| UI thinking and acting like there is not a network card for
| no reason whatsoever, on the other hand, is completely
| illegible to even competent users.
|
| Someone needs to just commercialise a proprietary and at
| least initially closed version of Linux (so as to to turn a
| profit) with good design principles in mind and deal with
| lawsuits and license issues later. There is plenty of money
| in it.
| burlesona wrote:
| Software ecosystems have a major chicken and egg problem.
|
| If you wanted to create a new platform, your best option would
| be to go the other way and make an OS that was "just electron"
| and ran all the electron apps in the world faster and better
| than anything else. Unsurprisingly Google has tried this with
| Chromebooks, but their track record on consumer product
| development is so poor that perhaps they just didn't execute
| well and someone else could pull it off.
|
| Another challenge is that if you did that you gain wide
| software compatibility but you lose any obvious differentiator.
| The likely way to win would be if you could make a laptop that
| was "just as good at running web apps as your Mac, with just as
| much battery life and just as nice hardware" but somehow cost
| under $400 or so.
|
| I actually wouldn't be surprised if we see that coming out of
| Chinese OEMs in the next decade.
| ur-whale wrote:
| > Most of the software we use to create software are electron
| apps, a thin layer of native code to run a bunch of javascript.
|
| I'd be interested to know what "we" means in this sentence.
|
| Do you mean your team?
|
| Or developers in general?
|
| If the latter, I am not sure what industry you work in, but I
| very much doubt the majority of developers operate in the
| environment you describe.
| markstos wrote:
| Sway user here. Agree that tiling and customization have helped
| my productivity.
| droopyEyelids wrote:
| If anyone is sticking with mac and wants a tiling window
| manager, https://ianyh.com/amethyst/ is pretty decent
| philwelch wrote:
| I actually gave it a chance for a while, but in my experience
| it doesn't match up to i3, particularly on an ultrawide
| display. So I replaced it with VMWare Fusion running Regolith
| Linux.
|
| This actually turns out to be a decent setup. My Mac handles
| Zoom and a handful of other things that are fickle with
| hardware, and my VM is where my work happens.
| Borlands wrote:
| Very personal opinion here: Apple innovated as hell, pure lab of
| goodness and years and years ahead of any other OS. Sad reality
| is that they are now a 100 billion mega megacorp, user is second
| in the money dance. I don't see them as innovative, freedom (not
| as in free beer) means a lot and they don't contribute to it at
| all, if anything even more closed ecossystem - long gone the days
| of OpenDarwin. Most people I know switched back to Windows for
| better drivers support. UX is still second to none in Apple, but
| at what cost? In the end, you want to press a button to turn on
| the system and get things done. I think there's more than just
| Apple nowadays - but unique strengths in different contexts for
| sure
| firecall wrote:
| "I basically went back 5 or 10 years and replaced every "modern"
| technology solution. I pay now way more than I did with iCloud,
| but I am back in control. I am more productive."
|
| But how are you are more productive?
|
| In what ways did the revised toolset improve productive output?
|
| What are you producing and how do these tools compare to each
| other?
|
| To me, the 'more productive' argument is a bit of strawman.
|
| Totally cool to change toolsets and all though :-)
| bonaldi wrote:
| Apple Photos is no Aperture, but the lack of an alternative
| listed for Linux is glaring. What's he managing all these RAWs
| he's shooting with?
| basisword wrote:
| Darktable? It gets posted on HN frequently and seems like a
| lightroom competitor.
| serverholic wrote:
| How come we always see articles like this about Apple and not
| Google? Why do nerds seem to have a hate boner against Apple but
| not the advertising company that is trying to invade every aspect
| of your private life and sell your info to the highest bidder?
|
| The android users at my day job are extremely vocal about hating
| Apple, yet the people using Apple devices mostly mind their own
| business.
|
| Perhaps it's an ego thing? Like maybe they can't afford Apple
| devices for their whole family so they buy Android and hate on
| Apple instead.
| monkeyfacebag wrote:
| I'm actually joining the Apple ecosystem from Android/Windows for
| similar reasons. In particular, I wanted to use Logic instead of
| paying huge sums for new versions of Ableton; I wanted to use
| Pixelmator Pro instead of paying for Adobe subscription (although
| Affinity Photo is also available on windows); I wanted to use
| Time Machine instead of Google Drive; I especially wanted my
| passwords stored on my computer instead of locked behind my
| Google account at passwords.google.com (I was locked out of my
| Google account for a week once and it was temporarily life-
| ruining); and finally, I was so tired of trying to keep up with
| endless UI changes in Windows and Android. I'm not saying these
| were good reasons, but they were my reasons. One person's trash
| is another person's treasure I guess.
| eikenberry wrote:
| Not really the same. They switched from a proprietary platform
| to a free platform. That is a much larger jump than simply
| switching proprietary platforms with much larger costs and
| gains. They wanted control and switched to get it, whereas you
| just swapped out landlords.
| monkeyfacebag wrote:
| So first of all, I don't think it's true that the article
| describes a switch to 100% free software. For example, the
| author bought a mirrorless camera, which is going to run
| proprietary software. Second, and more importantly, I think
| your comment implies that the only lever of control is
| switching between free and non free software and I don't
| agree with this. For example, I am now protected against
| Google terminating or otherwise locking me out of my account
| whereas I was not previously protected. Even though I
| disagree with your comment, I appreciate that free software
| has some advantages over proprietary software and I would not
| dispute the claim in general.
| tomc1985 wrote:
| Google's ecosystem != Windows ecosystem.
|
| There's FLStudio (or Bitwig, or Reaper) to match Apple's Logic,
| 1Password (or Bitlocker from what I hear) to match Google's
| passwords.google.com, and Backblaze+others to match Time
| Machine
|
| Sure 'switching to apple' is a choice, but only one of many.
| Personally I am tired of using tech designed for and by
| managers and SWE's gunning for promotion and not personal
| empowerment or passion for personal computing
|
| Besides, everyone needs to ditch Chrome. Firefox could use the
| love
| dep_b wrote:
| > There's FLStudio (or Bitwig, or Reaper) to match Apple's
| Logic
|
| Plenty arguments against Logic, but these three are not in
| the same league.
| PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
| For some workflows, Logic simply cannot do what Live or
| Bitwig or FLStudio do.
|
| For other workflows, Reaper and Logic can do things that
| are essentially impossible in Live/Bitwig/FL Studio.
|
| There's no best DAW for everyone, only best-DAW-for-the-
| workflow-you're-using-today. Sometimes that's Logic,
| sometimes it's not.
| runjake wrote:
| +1. File History is the Time Machine equivalent for Windows.
| It works great.
|
| It should be used in concert with an offsite backup service
| like Backblaze.
| slownews45 wrote:
| Awesome! When I've moved windows computers it's not easy
| getting to back the way my old machine was.
|
| Can you link to a step by step on this - I think this would
| help a lot of folks.
| stuartd wrote:
| Does that allow you to set up a new PC as an exact copy of
| the old one? Because Time Machine does just that, and I'd
| really like to find the Windows equivalent.
| beezischillin wrote:
| My personal preference for a DAW is Studio One, it's lovely.
| I like the efficient UI and it has all the features I ever
| wanted.
|
| One of the sad ironies of my life is that once I switched to
| macOS and could've avoided all the annoyances and
| instabilities I've had with audio on Windows, I just never
| felt like making music again. Life is like that sometimes. :)
| phire wrote:
| There is no windows for phones (anymore). If you aren't using
| an apple phone, you are pretty much forced to use google's
| android (or one of the various linux phones with little
| financial backing)
|
| Windows/Android can be considered a natural pair, Microsoft
| seem to think so. Personally use Linux/Android pair, and I've
| been vaguely considering switching to an iphone to avoid
| Google.
| tomc1985 wrote:
| Windows/iPhone isn't a bad pair either, provided you're not
| drinking the cloud services koolaid
| [deleted]
| schraeds wrote:
| How do they integrate at all? Windows has ability to link
| to a android phone to view texts, place calls etc, but no
| such link exists for iPhones and Windows.
| phire wrote:
| Or if you want to do any form of app development.
| tomc1985 wrote:
| If I ever wanted to get into iOS development I'd probably
| purchase a cheap Macbook Air for the bare minimum of
| stuff and use one of the multiplatform SDKs that can
| produce iOS builds alongside every other platform
| stuartd wrote:
| Backblaze is great, but it's not a replacement for time
| machine (and I use both).
|
| Being able to buy a new Mac and make it into an exact copy of
| the old Mac by using time machine is amazing - I've done it a
| few times over the years, and it still impresses me every
| time. Plus I have time machine backups from 2011 which I
| occasionally browse to see what my kids were up to then.
| jonpurdy wrote:
| I found out the hard way that Backblaze, despite their
| claims of "...automatically back up all your files
| including documents, photos, music, movies, and more. It's
| that easy.", do not back up .dmg files (among others) by
| default. Which seems to be a huge omission considering the
| numerous use cases outside of just application installers.
| ehutch79 wrote:
| I'm going ot go out on a limb and say that for the
| majority of users, any dmg they have is a software
| installer they could easily redownload. so a waste to
| backup
| tomc1985 wrote:
| That is very disappointing. Do they block ISO files too?
| simonh wrote:
| I don't think it's a matter of blocking, they're just
| filtered by default. You can edit the filter list though
| so those files are backed up, and that's what I do.
| jonpurdy wrote:
| If I had known about their filter list, I would've done
| exactly that. But their implication that everything was
| backed up from the beginning by default is what got me.
|
| ISO files are included in that filter list, among other
| files like VMs and such. Seems like a massive exclusion
| net to cast when claiming everything is backed up.
| jonpurdy wrote:
| No need to go on a limb, .dmg files are usually software
| installers. But if I'm paying for a backup service that
| claims to back everything up, I want them to do exactly
| that, regardless of whether it can be re-downloaded or
| not (which takes additional time, not to mention figuring
| out what was missing from the supposed "everything"
| backup in the first place).
| brink wrote:
| I'm surprised that backblaze doesn't checksum the files
| on the user's computer to see if they already have it on
| their servers to avoid duplicate uploads.
| macintux wrote:
| The first time that backfires, though...
| novok wrote:
| Time machine isn't that great as a backup system and has
| issues. Carbon copy cloner is a better system to create
| snapshots to restore to as a local back up system IMO.
| [deleted]
| dundercoder wrote:
| +1 for Reaper. Fast and fantastic piece of software. I
| switched from ProTools and have never looked back.
| monkeyfacebag wrote:
| Of course I agree with your point that there are many options
| when it comes to switching. I tried, but clearly failed, to
| imply this very point. For me, after consideration of my
| requirements and tolerances, Apple seemed like the best fit,
| but I wouldn't suggest that it has any kind of broader
| implication for the state of various software ecosystems.
|
| Suffice to say I think all of the software in your list is
| pretty great and I chose what I chose for reasons that are
| wholly mine!
| pdimitar wrote:
| This article could have sparked sympathy in me since I am
| gradually and slowly making my way to a full Linux dev workflow
| on a laptop with 2TB NVMe SSD, 32GB and a pretty good CPU (Ryzen
| 5500U) but... the kinda sorta ideological language the author
| used in the article is really unfortunate.
|
| (And believe me, it's a huge cognitive dissonance to convince
| yourself out of using the iMac Pro as much as you can...)
|
| Look, if it doesn't work for you anymore, alright. Move to Linux.
| Most of us the devs will eventually move to it anyway I think,
| since Apple just doesn't care about dev ergonomics -- especially
| with scanning each binary you run; try working under Linux for a
| week and you'll say to yourself "gosh, computers can be FAST!" --
| but truthfully, many employers don't care about our ergonomics as
| well and they are OK with the lost productivity of waiting for
| tools to just... run, you know.
|
| I agree Apple Music is a train wreck though, that's a fact.
|
| In any case, I wish people learned to just make two small lists
| with pros and cons and be done with it. Using language like the
| quote in the start:
|
| > _I realised that my life while using Apple products is
| controlled by Product Managers /Owners who want to get a raise,
| rather than by technology people who share the same passion as
| me. And I wanted to change that._
|
| ...is true to an extent but it gives you exactly zero things that
| are _actually and visibly wrong_. (Obviously this is an
| exaggeration, e.g. they mention subscription model vs. paying for
| stuff once which is valid, but my overall point is about things
| that are technical, not business-level.)
|
| So, good for him I suppose but the article could have been
| written in a much more compelling and factual manner.
| cepher wrote:
| I use linux+i3 at work, but personally have a mac. The main thing
| stopping me from ditching the mac is how convenient it is to swap
| files/photos between the iphone and mac, whether it's through
| icloud or airdrop. Perhaps a nice solution exists for
| transferring files between iphone and linux, but I haven't found
| one.
| Terretta wrote:
| I'm confused. From his success list:
|
| _I basically went back 5 or 10 years and replaced every "modern"
| technology solution. I pay now way more than I did with iCloud,
| but I am back in control. I am more productive._
|
| _- Listening to Music takes 3 clicks and just a few seconds
| Wired headphones never run out of battery and have superior audio
| quality_
|
| _- I can take real photos wiht high quality instead of relying
| on ever newer iPhone models for thousands of dollars which will
| always have lesser quality than a mirrorless camera for the same
| price_
|
| _- I have fun again discovering bands and artists on Bandcamp
| instead of mind numbing listening to Apple Music playlists_
|
| _- Coding via neovim on a terminal and just being on my keyboard
| navigating not only tmux and co, but also my OS is way more
| productive and faster_
|
| Which of these can I not do on a Mac?
| defaultname wrote:
| The post can be distilled down to "I had a Mac and thought it
| made me special, but now I don't feel special so I use
| something else and think that makes me special".
|
| Which...I guess? Millions (billions) of people use all sorts of
| stuff. Good for them.
|
| The "I'm leaving [some platform]" posts are _always_ extremely
| low value pablum for a subset.
| tshaddox wrote:
| Some people don't care about their computers making them
| feeling special and instead just have a set of goals and
| choose the computer hardware and software which best
| accomplishes those goals.
| NoPicklez wrote:
| But those people I'd say wouldn't then go and write an
| article about it.
| shapefrog wrote:
| Can you imagine how many, very boring articles, there
| would be if everyone did write that article.
|
| 'I needed windows for some work stuff, so I went onto
| dell and bought the thing in the middle of the price
| range.'
| foobarian wrote:
| It reminds me of the early MUDs and some MMO guild bulletin
| boards where you'd periodically get these super melodramatic
| "I quit and this is why" posts, which would more often than
| not be followed by the person returning to the game not long
| after.
| BeFlatXIII wrote:
| The longer and more impassioned the goodbye6ever post, the
| sooner you know the author will return.
| ziml77 wrote:
| If it's really long, it means they love the game but
| burned themselves out and don't want to admit it.
| shapefrog wrote:
| A long enought post and they will be back before they get
| to the end of their goodbye.
| ziml77 wrote:
| This still happens frequently. Even before the lawsuit
| against Blizzard, their WoW forums would basically have
| daily posts from people who felt the need to cry about
| things they didn't like about the game and tell everyone
| they're quitting.
| hef19898 wrote:
| As somoeone who did the same thing recently, just to MS and
| Google (I still have a hard time abandoning YoutUbe and
| Youtube Music along with my years-long build playlist and
| preferences), I can relate. Because what the OP described is
| basically the recognition that
|
| - dedicated hardware does a better job than general purpose
| one (cameras vs. smartphones)
|
| - the smartphone ecosystem (regardless of brand) is becoming
| more closed, and monitored, every year
|
| - there are enough alternatives out there, even if those mean
| to give up some "conveniences" we thought we won over the
| last years (IMHO, most of the perceived "inconveniences" that
| come from these alternatives are more due to lock-in and
| dark-patterns from FANG/MS and phone OEMs)
| defaultname wrote:
| There are many reasons why someone might choose some
| hardware or platforms over other hardware or platforms. The
| paradox, though, is that if someone believes it's all or
| nothing -- that they have to tie their ego with a platform
| -- their judgment is likely suspect to begin with. When
| people do the "I'm leaving x" type declarations, it almost
| always comes from an unhealthy place.
|
| Somehow I've managed to own an SLR alongside every system
| I've used for the past decade+ (though it sits unused to a
| much greater degree given how vastly improved modern
| smartphones are...). I have a Lenovo Windows laptop, a
| Windows 10 gaming PC, an Intel MBP, an M1 Mac Mini, an
| iPhone, an iPad, though I've owned a number of Android
| tablets and smartphones (including every Nexus device)
| before. Every server system I've deployed in the past
| decade has been to Linux.
|
| No Apple stormtroopers ever busted down my doors and
| demanded compliance. Never did I feel the need to wave a
| flag or _commit_ to a tribe, because why would I? The
| notion is self-sabotaging.
| shapefrog wrote:
| > dedicated hardware does a better job than general purpose
| one (cameras vs. smartphones)
|
| Hardly headline news - a $1,700 camera with >$1,000 lenses
| is better than a $1,000 phone with a camera attached. If
| anything the gap is closer than it has ever been.
| Irrespective, there is litterally nothing stopping someone
| from having an iPhone and a dedicated camera, or if there
| is, then I (and practically everyone I know) are breaking
| some sort of rule somewhere dictated by the overlords at
| Apple HQ that thy shall not use a camera.
| tylerhou wrote:
| Also, as any photographer knows, the best camera is the
| one you have on you.
| 65 wrote:
| Yeah, this is just the nerd equivalent of being a hipster.
| It's not even as though any of the changes are any better,
| they're just different. Which of course means you can then
| write a blog post in a cool monospace font with your cool
| domain name proclaiming your nerd coolness to the masses.
| mholm wrote:
| The measurement of success in this case doesn't seem to be that
| he's gained new abilities, but rather the poster figured out
| how to gain them without Apple.
|
| Most of these seem like pyrric victories to me, as the Apple
| versions rose to success with all of these as competition by
| providing a better experience. I certainly wouldn't want to
| carry a mirrorless camera everywhere, nor deal with Bandcamp.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| Bandcamp is great, and there is something really wrong with
| Apple music in Firefox on windows. Its very slow and its
| seems to do authentication _after_ loading the rest of the
| page and often fails.
| fleaaaa wrote:
| Glad it wasn't just me. How is it that slow with gigabit
| connection?
|
| In fact, I really like their catalog and match algorithm
| but I always thought apple music being outside of its own
| fence feels gross.
| indymike wrote:
| > the Apple versions rose to success with all of these as
| competition by providing a better experience
|
| At one time, Apple clearly was a better experience.
|
| Now, with features removed and new "privacy and security"
| features added, I'm not sure they are a great experience. For
| example, my Macbook reminds me of Windows Vista, except for
| worse, every time there's a system update and I have to
| reboot to permission the camera for a web conference.
|
| I've learned to dread OSX updates because instead of adding
| new useful stuff, it seems like we just move things around,
| change out the icons and add some more intrusive "touch the
| fingerprint reader" authentications... plus I have to re-
| permission half of the apps and hardware just to do my job.
| Then there's the whole reboot, unlock, install, reboot, re-
| lock cycle. It's seriously worse than Windows Vista. Anyone
| remember the I'm a Mac/I'm a PC commercials?
| torstenvl wrote:
| Sounds like something is wrong with your TCC.db file. When
| did you last check permissions?
|
| Also, in case this helps:
|
| https://cipherlog.blogspot.com/2020/12/macos-
| microphonecamer...
| indymike wrote:
| Thanks, but those instructions did not solve the problem
| for me at all.
| _jal wrote:
| > I've learned to dread OSX updates because instead of
| adding new useful stuff, it seems like we just move things
| around
|
| To be fair, that also describes Windows. As best I can
| tell, every release since 7 has primarily focused on
| renaming and adding indirection to the ways you get to the
| same old control panels.
|
| And I haven't ever had to reboot to allow a camera. I have
| several, ranging from a microscope to an SLR that also is
| my webcam.
| jrsj wrote:
| I have never needed to reboot because of permissions,
| basically just had to click "allow" a few times, so this
| stuff doesn't really bother me. It's a very slight
| inconvenience.
|
| Big Sur performance on older hardware has been a disaster
| though. Even on a $2500 MBP 15" from 2017. On M1 though
| it's excellent.
| katbyte wrote:
| Every update I need two reboot twice to get the google
| drive system extension to load, but that's the only issue
| I've had like that.
|
| However big sur runs alright on my 2015 MacBook!
| Klonoar wrote:
| Having written system extensions (both kext and
| DriverKit), that seems more like an issue with the
| extension itself.
| eikenberry wrote:
| > nor deal with Bandcamp.
|
| Curious what's wrong with dealing with Bandcamp? They seem
| just about the best place to buy music online. Majority of
| the money goes to the actual artist and you have a good
| choice of formats.
| ukyrgf wrote:
| And, for the past 18 months, they've had a day where they
| waive all fees so bands that can't play live anymore can
| stand a chance of making some money.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| > _Majority of the money goes to the actual artist and you
| have a good choice of formats._
|
| Agreed. Bandcamp does this right by offering V0 compressed
| MP3s, 320kbps MP3s, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC and I think even Ogg
| Vorbis.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| > _I certainly wouldn 't want to carry a mirrorless camera
| everywhere, nor deal with Bandcamp._
|
| Bandcamp recommendations and artist/album similarity ratings
| are top notch, and there are many clients for the platform.
|
| I personally can't use Spotify or Apple Music after taking
| advantage of Bandcamp.
|
| Bandcamp also only takes a 10% - 15% fee for digital
| purchases, and 10% of purchases for physical items, which is
| an incredible deal for artists compared to what they make
| from streaming services like Apple Music or Spotify.
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| I have to travel a ways to specialty shops to buy reasonably
| good headphones with wires. It makes me mad every time I need
| to buy some new headphones for my computer.
| tarsinge wrote:
| For Bandcamp maybe regarding playing and library, but not
| regarding discovery.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Depends on the mirrorless camera, doesn't it? The smaller
| ones are hardly bigger than larger smartphone, and they do
| offer _way_ better picture quality.
| SigmundA wrote:
| The best camera is the one you have with you.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Couldn't agree more!
| dham wrote:
| Not really. I have so many shitty Razr and smartphone
| videos that I wish I had just enjoyed the moment instead
| of wasting time capturing something that has the quality
| of a gameboy camera.
|
| Now I am thankful my dad endured the pain and captured a
| lot of stuff on the JVC shoulder camera. At least the
| quality is pretty good even for 80's/90's.
|
| We don't capture events like we used to anyway. No one
| holds there camera up for more than a minute. So we're
| left with all these short videos. I like watching the
| really long stuff my dad shot.
| jclardy wrote:
| Not really (on size), what mirrorless can you fit into your
| pocket? The smallest ones still are 3-4" thick because of
| the lens.
| The_Colonel wrote:
| Fuji X-E4 + 27mm f/2.8 at 2" thick is quite pocketable.
| petepete wrote:
| http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/gr-3/
| lgreiv wrote:
| While not opting out of most of the convenience the Apple
| ecosystem gives me, I did buy a GRIII and carry it along
| everywhere I go - together with an otherwise capable
| iPhone. The difference in optics and sensor really does
| show in print or when cropping.
| hef19898 wrote:
| Your trousers? No. Your coat? Definitely. Unless you go
| for full-format ones with bigger lenses. In which case
| your priorities most likely aren't carrying your camera
| gear in your pocket.
| yunohn wrote:
| I'm not wearing a coat all year long, and almost never on
| vacation. The latter situation is the most important one
| where I need a less bulky solution.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| They're still much bigger than an iPhone. Sure, if you walk
| around with some 13" tablet that doubles as a phone, the
| point may be moot, but a "regular" iPhone is much smaller
| than even compact cameras.
|
| I can stick my iPhone 7 in my jeans pocket. My Olympus
| Pen-F (one of the "smaller" mirrorless cameras) with a
| small prime lens needs a pretty big pocket only some of my
| larger coats have. Plus it's heavy enough to pull on said
| coat and make it uncomfortable.
|
| Yeah, image quality is pretty bad on the iPhone compared to
| the Olympus. But when I go out and about and don't want to
| have a bulky thing hanging around my neck / forearm or
| carry an extra bag, the Olympus' image quality is exactly
| 0. The iPhone beats that hands down, even at night.
|
| Now don't get me wrong, I love my pen-f, and it's an
| incredible improvement over the DSLR I used to haul around
| before. But iPhones are getting pretty good for my needs
| now.
| cultofmetatron wrote:
| I carried a google pixel 3 which took excellent pictures.
|
| That said, I now carry a mirrorless camera everywhere. The
| pictures are WAY higher quality and I have more control over
| the experience and the final output. Don't get a mirrorless
| if thats not important to you.
|
| when I want to just take a quick selfie, I still have my
| phone. The iPhone is great at taking pictures but its never
| going to be a match for a mirrorless wihch has a enormous
| sized sensor compared to anything you'll get on a phone.
| shapefrog wrote:
| > I now carry a mirrorless camera everywhere.
|
| I do not believe you. There is no way you carry a
| mirrorless camera _everywhere_ or anywhere near a
| comparable amount of times / places as a person carries
| their phone.
| onion2k wrote:
| _Which of these can I not do on a Mac?_
|
| You can do all of them when you use a Mac, but Apple will do a
| lot to try to persuade you not to. That means you'll spend a
| lot of mental energy fighting with Apple's _very effective_
| psychology marketing department, and often you won 't win.
| That's fine. You don't really lose anything, but every so often
| you'll think to yourself "I listen to the same bands all the
| time" or "I wish this phone had a bigger camera sensor." and
| you'll regret putting so much of your life, and money, in
| Apple's pockets.
| halo37253 wrote:
| Honestly this is by far the biggest problem I currently have
| with newer versions of MacOSX.
|
| I would have hopped by now that integration with dropbox,
| Sharepoint/Onedrive, Google Drive would have gotten better.
| But they are mostly barebones.
|
| Granted Google Drive is barebones on nearly every platform.
|
| I'm a big 365 user, and that is by far the best experience so
| far in terms of fluid use between devices and apps.
| Especially on windows, where even sharing a file doesn't
| require a Web browser popup. But oh man the admin side of 365
| is overly complex, and easy to see why people use gsuite.
|
| iCloud Sucks and has always sucked. Unless that is you are
| 100% apple ecosystem. Integration into my onsite server is
| easy with 365, google, and dropbox. Icloud is super clunky
| and really thinking about moving the Wife to something other
| than iCloud.
| robertoandred wrote:
| What sorts of integration are Dropbox, Onedrive, etc unable
| to do?
| rsync wrote:
| "Listening to Music takes 3 clicks and just a few seconds Wired
| headphones never run out of battery and have superior audio
| quality ..."
|
| This item is the reason I am leaving the iphone and trying an
| unlocked/stock android device.
|
| My music collection is a directory tree that I have curated and
| organized _since 1996_.
|
| The correct way to deal with this is to move this directory
| tree onto my phone (either via network transfer or attaching a
| USB filesystem) and then browse _those files_ with a music
| player app.
|
| Anyone familiar with iDevices knows that every piece of the
| simple, standard workflow I just described is _totally
| impossible_.
|
| Instead, you have to manually build playlists inside of itunes
| while "importing" your music (and storing two copies of it) and
| then transfer those playlists (one by one) to the idevice and
| ... it's just _insane_.
|
| It is a workflow built for people that impulse buy a track here
| and there ...
| nicce wrote:
| > Anyone familiar with iDevices knows that every piece of the
| simple, standard workflow I just described is totally
| impossible.
|
| No, it is not impossible. It is very easy at least as Linux
| user.
|
| There is a project for that, called as iFuse
| https://github.com/libimobiledevice/ifuse
|
| It basically allows you to mount the Media chroot filesystem
| and the app specific sandboxed filesystems without a
| jailbreak.
| handrous wrote:
| Uh, did something change? As recently as a year ago I just
| dragged files into iTunes (or Music or whatever they call it
| now, but this was definitely after the split) then selected
| which artists I wanted to sync, and I only had to do that
| step because I didn't want them all on there. I didn't have
| to do anything with playlists.
|
| But then, my metadata's in pretty good shape, so it barely
| even matters how my music files are stored. One big flat
| directory, carefully named folders, not that important.
|
| To be fair, I guess I did have to convert the Flac to m4a.
| Drag to converter program, convert a ton in one go, drag
| those into iTunes. So that's one more step.
| Terretta wrote:
| > _The correct way to deal with this is to move this
| directory tree onto my phone (either via network transfer or
| attaching a USB filesystem) and then browse those files with
| a music player app. Anyone familiar with iDevices knows that
| every piece of the simple, standard workflow I just described
| is totally impossible._
|
| On the contrary, any number of apps support precisely this.
|
| - https://readdle.com/documents (not just music)
|
| - https://www.everappz.com/evermusic
|
| - https://brushedtype.co/doppler/
|
| - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sony-music-center/id724406878
| (if you use Sony headphones)
|
| - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html
|
| - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mrmc-touch/id1062986407
|
| There's no point in listing all of them.
|
| Having ripped some 20,000 CD tracks a couple decades ago, I
| use several such apps.
|
| As a user of such apps, I'd argue with "correct" though,
| given Apple Match with iCloud One combo and last year's
| update supporting high resolution / lossless.
|
| Over time, I have come to use those apps less than Apple
| Match, which mirrors my rips using tracks from Apple's
| library where they have them, or uploads mine where they
| don't, giving me more seamless access across all devices,
| spoken access from Siri on HomePods, etc. Match was a debacle
| at launch, is now almost never wrong on even the most obscure
| tracks.
| jrm4 wrote:
| From this Linux (formerly Windows from a looong time ago)
| guy this looks dreadfully silly and annoying. Files and
| folders, y'all.
| brewdad wrote:
| I've had good luck with flacbox
| https://www.everappz.com/flacbox
|
| It supports FLAC obviously but also Opus. For my phone,
| I've ripped my FLAC files to Opus and can carry my entire
| music collection wherever I go. I used their import tool to
| build the same folder structure that I have on my NAS. I
| have iTunes installed on my Windows machine (no Macs at
| home) but I try to avoid it if at all possible.
| sneak wrote:
| This app uploads your identifiers and activity to the
| developer without consent.
|
| There's a growing trend these days of making every single
| player app into spyware, and it's sad. I won't use reader
| apps or player apps that read or play local files that
| are going to transmit my activity off device for no
| reason that benefits me.
| zimpenfish wrote:
| > Anyone familiar with iDevices knows that every piece of the
| simple, standard workflow I just described is totally
| impossible.
|
| I believe VOX Music Player allows you to upload your music
| without using iTunes - although it is using their cloud sync
| instead. Flacbox also seems to let you download and play
| local files from Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, SMB servers, DLNA
| servers, ...
|
| It doesn't seem "totally impossible"?
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| > Instead, you have to manually build playlists inside of
| itunes while "importing" your music (and storing two copies
| of it) and then transfer those playlists (one by one) to the
| idevice and ... it's just insane.
|
| This is not completely true. You can store your iTunes
| collection wherever you like, organized however you like. You
| don't have to duplicate anything, although it's true that the
| default is for it to "import" it.
|
| You can also create an "all my music" playlist which you can
| sync with the iDevice.
|
| I used to have this setup with my music collection on Google
| Drive (because it didn't fit on my MBP's internal drive) and
| synced some of it to my iPhone. It worked well enough. The
| issue was more that all the music couldn't fit on the phone,
| so I had to pick and choose anyway.
|
| The real gotcha is that iTunes didn't support flac, so I had
| to convert everything to m4a.
| rsync wrote:
| "You can also create an "all my music" playlist which you
| can sync with the iDevice."
|
| Yes, but then how do you deal with that enormous "all my
| music" playlist once it is in the iDevice ?
|
| You can't browse by directory. You can't organize or
| display based on filename. So I _guess_ I could parse all
| of the collection and transpose the artist /title/album out
| of the filename into mp3 metadata and then I would have a
| ... 30,000 track playlist ?
|
| Again, all of this makes perfect sense if you're impulse
| buying a track here and a track there and if there is some
| way to move that "collection" to a new device every 2-3
| years.
|
| It's just not for me.
| criddell wrote:
| Did you try any third party music apps?
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| Well, I don't know how you organize your music "by
| directory", so maybe you can't reproduce what you do.
|
| In my case, I organize it by artist / album / track
| number - track title; or by compilations. I then search
| for the album or the artist. I never have just random
| single tracks, so a directory is an album, which I have
| in Apple Music.
|
| But I guess that you can't have any kind of organization
| you want, which is something that folders could give you.
|
| > So I guess I could parse all of the collection and
| transpose the artist/title/album out of the filename into
| mp3 metadata and then I would have a ... 30,000 track
| playlist ?
|
| Well, in the case of a meticulously managed collection,
| I'd expect the files to have correct metadata. Again, if
| this isn't the case, and you rely on file name /
| location, yeah, you're gonna have a bad time.
|
| Just for the record, I've never bought any track off
| iTunes. All my music is ripped from CDs.
| rsync wrote:
| "Well, in the case of a meticulously managed collection,
| I'd expect the files to have correct metadata."
|
| WAV files don't have metadata like mp3 files (typically)
| do.
|
| I'm not saying I copy the uncompressed wav collection to
| my phone (~700 GB) but I _am_ saying that my original
| metadata schema has all of the metadata _in the filename_
| :
|
| Last, First - AlbumName - 01 - SongName - 3m25s.mp3
|
| ... and _yes I could_ parse and reencode all of these
| populating their mp3 tags with these fields but, man ...
| what a load of work just because iTunes can sort by 50
| different attributes _just not filename_ :
|
| https://www.tech-recipes.com/wp-
| content/uploads/2012/11/itun...
|
| ... just look at all of those fine grained, fancy ways to
| sort by ... but the most basic attribute of all _the
| filename_ is missing.
| EricE wrote:
| Using a file system as a metadata storage system is pretty
| dumb - especially when music files have ID3 tags built into
| their formats. There are tools that will help you fill out
| the metadata in the tags based on your file system layout.
| Once you do that you can use the tags to slice/dice. Smart
| Playlists are very powerful.
|
| Or you can use one of the many other apps others linked to if
| you really want to stick to the whole filesystem thing.
|
| I quickly got away from trying to organize stuff in the file
| system when I got my Personal Jukebox 100 (PJB100) -
| literally the first hard drive based MP3 player out there in
| the mid 90's. It heavily relied on MP3 tags so I developed
| tag discipline early on - and never looked back. Tags are WAY
| more flexible than folder structures. I couldn't care less
| how files are stored in the file system.
|
| This conversation always amuses me - we don't complain the
| computer tracks all the parts of our files in a directory
| while we have no control over the layout of the files on disk
| - mainly because that's a level of minutiae better left to
| automation. For me it's a similar things with my music files.
| As long as my tag information is accurate (and since it's the
| first thing I do when I add something to my collection, it
| is) I can manage my music collection however I want
| irrespective of where the file is.
| minimaul wrote:
| The old iTunes Media Library .xml format isn't too
| complicated - I wrote a few small tools to generate m3u8
| playlists, and another to convert .m3u8 playlists into itunes
| library xml. Then I just import that straight into the music
| app.
|
| Shouldn't take more than an afternoon of a reasonably
| proficient developer's time. I agree that it's not great that
| you should need to do this kind of thing, but it's less
| effort than switching to android ;)
| jxdxbx wrote:
| I think that manually organizing your own files is not really
| compatible with a large music library (I have around 2 TB of
| music) and, from my experience, was too much of a barrier for
| most people anyway. I currently use Swinsian to organize
| files (and various metadata-fixing tools) and Plex + Plexamp
| to listen to them. Mac mini server, iPhone. Works great. This
| is just to say that one person's "correct" is another
| person's cumbersome and unintuitive.
| pixelgeek wrote:
| > Anyone familiar with iDevices knows that every piece of the
| simple, standard workflow I just described is totally
| impossible.
|
| It is so bad that it makes me wonder who at Apple thought any
| of it was a good idea. Its not even 'bad from a certain
| perspective' bad but totally FUBAR.
|
| I simply stopped trying to use my phone for playing music and
| it is the #1 reason why my partner wants to move away from
| iOS
| webmobdev wrote:
| > _I 'm confused ... Which of these can I not do on a Mac?_
|
| You apparently didn't read the article properly. The author's
| major grouse is how he recognized slowly that Apple is very
| controlling about the user experience on its devices and how
| this is a huge limitation to do anything else "outside" of
| Apple's "thinking" of how a software or hardware should be
| used. And how Apple's product manager's have lost sight of what
| really adds value to the user experience, and their software
| and hardware choices of new Apple devices are now more dictated
| by their own greed / ambitions.
|
| From the very examples you cited, the author's emphasis thus
| was on:
|
| > ... _but I am back in control. I am more productive._
|
| > _Wired headphones never run out of battery and have superior
| audio quality_ ...
|
| > _I can take real photos wiht high quality_ ...
|
| > _I have fun again discovering bands and artists_ on Bandcamp
| instead of mind numbing listening to Apple Music playlists
|
| > ... _but also my OS is way more productive and faster_
|
| So it's not just about what you can or cannot do on a Mac, but
| how the author has found a better way to do all this outside of
| Apple's _limiting_ ecosystem, keeping in line with his new
| beliefs that Apple no longer cares about users like him. And I
| fully agree with him and share the exact feeling (I feel Apple
| says a "F*k you" to me everytime I want to maximise a Finder
| or Safari window because the "Apple way" is that you are only
| supposed to make them fullscreen or vertically maximise ...)
| halo37253 wrote:
| Bootcamp on a MAC is real hit or miss when it comes to Linux.
| Honestly never seen a modern Macbook Pro run linux natively
| without major compromise. Hell the window's drivers are bad
| enough, Apple doesn't really want users doing anything other
| than OSX.
|
| I will say they have no problem booting up a VM, and everything
| he is doing can be done in a VM with hardware accelerated
| graphics. So Full screened feels just like the real thing, as
| long as you are not playing modern games. Boot into windows for
| that.
|
| That being said there are Windows Laptops that will give a
| Macbook Pro a run for the money, but when it comes to the $1k
| price range the Macbook Air is hard to beat. I like the ARM
| chips for basic users, but for a Power user the ARM chips are a
| step backwards. Unless you want to run ARM based Linux. With my
| many years of raspberry pi use, ARM has gone a long way on the
| Linux front. But not sure if i'd want to rock that as my main.
|
| At the same time you can do all these things on Windows as
| well.... Really more of a personal preference. I have limited
| experience with Linux for Windows Subsystem 2, but it worked
| damn well when I used it.
| hirvi74 wrote:
| I hope things have gotten better with Linux and drivers. I'll
| admit I've been out of the game for about 5 years now.
|
| > Honestly never seen a modern Macbook Pro run linux natively
| without major compromise.
|
| When I was using Linux as my main OS, I was having this
| problem with all laptops. Desktops usually had many less
| issues, but were occasionally less than perfect.
|
| For example, Lenovo, at the time, was hailed to be great for
| Linux compatibility. Well, for some reason, regardless of the
| distro I was using, I was more or less given an ultimatum --
| I could have a screen with adjustable brightness or a
| consistent network card driver, but not both. Editing
| whatever file I found on various forms to "fix" the backlight
| issue (was permanently stuck at 100% brightness) would
| inevitably cause some sort issue with where my Internet
| connection speed would drop from around 1gbps to mbps
| eventually to kbps the longer laptop was awake.
|
| It was an issue I never found a solution to, and the oddest
| part was that this was never an issue if I booted the OS of a
| live USB. Only when the OS was installed would the issue
| arise.
|
| Various laptops I owned / used for work had their own issues
| with Linux too. I eventually just settled on using Linux in
| virtual machines / servers and never looked back. So, I
| definitely agree with your point about VMs.
|
| I'd consider going back, but I really cannot/do not want want
| to sacrifice too much time getting distracted with making the
| OS bend to my will when I could use that time to be actually
| getting things done.
| shapefrog wrote:
| > Bootcamp on a MAC is real hit or miss when it comes to
| Linux.
|
| Dual booting on any hardware is nuts if you ask me, pick an
| OS and use VMs. If you really have to have a native OS but
| hate it so much you wont use it the rest of the time stick it
| on a different machine.
| [deleted]
| NoPicklez wrote:
| The third dot point here makes absolutely no sense to me.
|
| Apple music and Bandcamp are essentially the same thing, I
| personally use Spotify and I don't have to listen to "mind
| numbing" music. You can choose to let the applications play
| music for you, or you can choose your own music.
|
| Spotify 10 years ago was exactly how I discovered old/new bands
| and artists that were not mainstream.
|
| I don't see this persons logic in that regard at all.
| recvonline wrote:
| I think it's a "philosophical standpoint"
|
| >I realised that my life while using Apple products is
| controlled by Product Managers/Owners who want to get a raise,
| rather than by technology people who share the same passion as
| me. And I wanted to change that.
| Terretta wrote:
| Many of us probably know senior folks at Apple.
|
| While this is purely anecdotal, I've observed a higher
| proportion of "mission oriented" product and even I.T. leads
| at Apple than at the other brands he adopted in this divorce.
| (He's not using Framework laptop yet.)
| shapefrog wrote:
| Shout out to the unambitous product manager / owner who
| doesnt want a raise at Fujifilm for making such nice cameras.
| There is no chance that they tweaked the XT-2 or XT-3 to
| compete with the also excelent Sony products in order to
| impress the guys back at HQ.
|
| Obviously they are _" technology people who share the same
| passion as me"_ and are browsing throught HN.
| arc-in-space wrote:
| I'm struggling to see your point. Fujifilm does not have
| the same incentives as Apple.
| shapefrog wrote:
| The author agrees with you that they do not have the same
| incentives and have products not directed by Product
| Managers/Owners who want to get a raise and are
| apparently technology people who share the same passion
| as them.
|
| I just see two companies, that want to sell stuff for
| more than it costs them to produce, but what would I
| know.
| nobleach wrote:
| On a mac, with say, 4 workspaces. What key combo can I hit to
| go to workspace 2?
|
| Yes you can hit CTRL + left arrow or right arrow multiple times
| but... once one gets into a workflow that allows them to hit
| Super+2, it actually feels like a pain to do something else.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| Control-2 if you enable it. Or 1, 3, or 4.
| yunohn wrote:
| > I can take real photos with high quality instead of relying on
| ever newer iPhone models
|
| The author could've done this even within the Apple ecosystem.
| The vast majority of photographers use iPhones too, but manage
| their DSLR/mirrorless photos with iPhoto too.
| sequoia wrote:
| I want to leave the apple ecosystem as well, and appreciate this
| post, but there's an inherent limitation to "just switched" posts
| like this. To wit: they don't capture the cost and benefit _over
| time._ Switching to Arch & rsync takes "just a month," but then
| you upgrade something and drivers break, you have an issue on
| your remote machine you're syncing to and have to debug it, your
| backups stop working and you urgently need to address the issue,
| etc etc. Either one of these can be showstopping issues. That
| said, Macs screw up on updates as well at times.
|
| The general point is that "just switched" narratives like this
| paint an incomplete picture because one big benefit of, say,
| iCloud photos is that I pay a monthly fee then I never have to
| think about it. Not so rsync.
| beebeepka wrote:
| Comparing two opposite extremes - Arch to Apple - has its
| merits but it's hardly useful. Justike this blog post
|
| I certainly didn't have to sacrifice much of anything by moving
| from Windows 8 (the best one) to Ubuntu and Manjaro.
|
| I've even moved old people to Ubuntu back in the gnome 2 days.
| Worked great
| dotancohen wrote:
| With Arch you might get breakages. If you're worried about
| that, then go with Kubuntu. Seriously, it has been ages since
| I've seen hardware compatibility issues with Kubuntu, maybe
| eight years or longer across literally dozens of install on my
| own and other peoples' hardware.
| SamuelAdams wrote:
| I've been running Debian on a laptop using rsync to back up
| my files. This has been my setup for at least three years.
| Not sure why OP thinks it breaks all that often.
| christophilus wrote:
| I've been running Fedora for the better part of a year. The
| switching costs for me were negligible. What I like about
| Fedora is that it is really stable while still being pretty
| bleeding edge. Vanilla Fedora (running unmodified Gnome) is
| really an excellent OS. So far, I haven't had any major issues.
|
| The biggest thing I missed was the Macbook trackpad. The Dell
| XPS's trackpad is janky by comparison.
|
| That said, I won't be confident in recommending this setup
| until I've been through another year or so of upgrade cycles.
| canjobear wrote:
| > Around 10 years ago, during my studies, almost all of my CS
| colleagues had Windows laptops. A few installed Linux on it, but
| literally no one had a MacBook.
|
| I recall CS grad school 10 years ago as being a sea of
| Macbooks...
| Jyaif wrote:
| It depends on where you studied. In my CS class 11 years ago in
| France, MacBooks represented approximately 2% of the
| population.
| yoz-y wrote:
| When I studied CS 15-11 years ago in France, nobody had
| laptops in class. All practical work was done in a computer
| lab. I still find it weird to see a picture of a lecture hall
| and a sea of computers. What do people do with them?
|
| This aside, in the dorm Macs were maybe 10-20% with a healthy
| amount of mac hating.
| mzkply wrote:
| California, a sea of Macs, all people switching from laptops
| running Linux
| arnon wrote:
| Regional differences.
|
| This is not true in Europe and Asia.
| ocdtrekkie wrote:
| Seems like largely an improvement... except the choice to get an
| old Android phone as a replacement for the iPhone. From a
| security standpoint, there's really no alternative to the iPhone.
| I _loathe_ the Apple "ecosystem" and stay on the fringes of it
| as much as possible, not really investing in any Apple-specific
| apps or services, but until there's someone else in the market
| that isn't Google, there's really no other choice.
| entropea wrote:
| I have never had a security issue on my Pixel and receive
| monthly security updates.
| achenatx wrote:
| I use a mac because mac os X is much more stable, doesnt have a
| registry, has a *nix shell, doesnt seem to accumulate random
| stuff over time that slows the computer down to a crawl, and time
| machine is amazing. I have used it multiple times to immediately
| get up and running (once after my mac was stolen, once when I
| upgraded, once when my mac lcd died when I dropped it).
|
| Im still using a 2015 macbook pro because I want my hdmi port and
| usb ports. I have a backup in case this one dies. Over time the
| computer has not slowed down at all.
|
| I use android because the iphone system does weird things that I
| cant be bothered to figure out. For example we have icloud turned
| off everywhere, but icloud still manages to fill up and send
| messages. The iphone periodically requires authentication with a
| device I dont have on me (e.g. an ios device that I dont have in
| my possession). Text messages still get echoed to multiple
| devices meaning my kids and wife see each others' texts.
|
| It is also still missing features that I need. The dialer still
| cant use T9. The calendar cant change the default snooze for 2
| minutes before an event. It also wont keep reminding you if you
| dont kill the snooze.
|
| My home desktop uses windows because it runs blue iris which
| manages my security cameras.
| ggpsv wrote:
| I'm also running a 2015 mbp as my personal computer. Curious,
| which macOS version are you running?
| desertraven wrote:
| Not OP. I'm running a 2015 MacBook Pro with Catalina. Going
| strong.
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| Come on, Nobody has raised the biggest most annoying Apple lock
| in. They Keyboard Shortcuts. It has taken me years to retrain my
| muscle memory.
| sbuk wrote:
| You do realise that the keyboard shortcuts existed before
| Windows existed? Microsoft introduced ctrl+c/v/x, basing it on
| cmd-c/v/x in Windows 3.0...
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| I was attempting to humorously point out that after 10 years
| Apple shortcuts, it was very difficult to relearn how to
| type. Not just Copy/Paste, but Home/End and Page Up/Down,
| selecting lines and moving things around. They are all
| different in Windows Linux land.
|
| I should have learnt Vi.
|
| (And for the record, I like Apples better, and tried to
| emulate them on Windows for a while but It was never quite
| right)
| ribit wrote:
| I found this bit very interesting
|
| > I realised that my life while using Apple products is >
| controlled by Product Managers/Owners who want to get a > raise,
| rather than by technology people who share the same > passion as
| me
|
| Mainly because I feel exactly the opposite. I don't find Windows,
| Linux or x86 technologically exiting anymore.Apple makes (IMO of
| course) the most technologically exciting CPUs, their GPUs are a
| breath of fresh air, I love their approach to UI, APIs and OS
| security.
| tombert wrote:
| I mostly agree. For example, I think that Metal doesn't get the
| love it deserves outside of the dedicated macOS engineers. I
| feel like Metal is substantially cleaner than OpenGL and _way_
| easier than Vulkan, and I feel like the Linux folks really
| ignore this at their own peril.
|
| I hate how closed-off a lot of their ecosystem can be, and the
| obvious "I prefer open source" that every engineer says, but I
| do honestly (and sadly) think that macOS is the least-bad
| *desktop OS out there right now.
| babypuncher wrote:
| Metal is irritating because of its exclusivity. Nobody wants
| to make games just for macOS. The supposed ease and speed of
| writing Metal is completely lost since you still have to
| write a Vulkan or OpenGL renderer. It's just more busywork
| for anyone not exclusively targeting Apple platforms.
| tombert wrote:
| That's a fair criticism, though is there any technical
| reason someone couldn't write a Metal->OpenGL or
| Metal->Vulkan or Metal->Direct3d wrapper?
| jay_kyburz wrote:
| I think the reason that Metal is not interesting people is
| that you can't run it outside Apples ecosystem. If you learn
| Vulkan, your code will run everywhere.
| tombert wrote:
| Sure, more or less, I'm just saying that the API for Vulkan
| feels pretty steep and irritating, but the API for Metal is
| somewhat approachable.
|
| I'm not a graphics programmer, but whenever I've gotten the
| itch, I've always gotten huge headaches trying to get
| Vulkan to work, and had basically no issues at all using
| Metal.
| smoldesu wrote:
| Maybe Apple should enter the world-changing business
| instead of presiding over the money-making one, then.
| Invictus0 wrote:
| What kind of ridiculous metric is "technologically exciting"?
| CPU/GPU speed is really just a cat and mouse game--soon enough
| an even crappier suite of Electron apps will make the M1 feel
| slow. Apple's UI approach is just terrible lately [0][1], and
| the OS security comment must be a joke in light of the CSAM
| scanning debacle--are you living under a rock?
|
| [0]: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/22/ios-15-how-to-move-safari-
| ad...
|
| [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27559832
| oreilles wrote:
| Placing the url at the bottom is brilliant UI wise
| considering the height of the average smartphone nowadays.
| And anyway they made this an option for those who wouldn't
| like it. The "mess" that was discussed in your second link
| (the hovering URL bar) was only present in beta version and
| has been removed from the release. Finally, CSAM scanning has
| nothing to do with OS security, but with privacy.
| babypuncher wrote:
| I did not realize how much I needed this change in my
| mobile browser until I installed iOS 15 yesterday.
|
| I already cannot fathom how we dealt with the URL bar at
| the top of these big phones for so long. It's been a long
| time since a major UI change in some popular software
| actually made me happy, let alone this ecstatic. I'm
| usually one to complain about unnecessary change (like
| Firefox's recent UI refresh)
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Sure is - and Firefox has done that (while still allowing
| you to put it at the top if that's what you prefer) for
| several versions now.
| acmdas wrote:
| I love my 2011 MacBook Pro's hardware - the case, the keyboard,
| the hinges. I liked OS-X Lion just fine, and every update since
| then has seemed to be a downgrade...I still need to use the
| 2011 Office I bought then now and then, or I'd have converted
| it to Debian years ago.
| qaq wrote:
| OS Security ? NSO has what looks to be an infinite supply of
| remote arbitrary code execution exploits for the Apple
| ecosystem.
| runjake wrote:
| Not just the Apple ecosystem, pretty much every ecosystem,
| especially Android and Windows.
| nyuszika7h wrote:
| Not sure why you're being downvoted, you're right. HN
| commenters just love to take every opportunity to hate on
| Apple.
|
| Nobody said Apple's security is perfect. People's views are
| simply biased because when Apple's much tighter security is
| breached, of course it will make headlines everywhere.
| Windows and Android have far more malware, but you won't
| see headlines about it every single day.
|
| Either way, unless you're a journalist, politician or some
| other high-value target, you're pretty unlikely to be
| targeted by exploits like the NSO one. But if you don't
| care about jailbreaking, you can still update your device
| to give yourself peace of mind.
| slownews45 wrote:
| For a long time actually there were TONS of android exploits
| - either direct android or based on the installers companies
| put on phones they shipped.
|
| That has changed massively recently, my sense is rough parity
| currently (on a clean android phone).
|
| Payouts are still a lot higher per point marketshare for iOS
| though, so maybe still harder to develop.
| intricatedetail wrote:
| In the past people used to trade their freedom for shiny
| objects. Be careful.
| ribit wrote:
| What is this ,,freedom" you are talking about? Are you
| suggesting that my experience somehow lacks freedom?
| intricatedetail wrote:
| For now you are only being watched and manipulated, but
| Apple is already working on ways shiny device will snitch
| on you. The progress for the shiny object to become a leash
| and a whip is slow and steady. You don't want the frog to
| jump.
| grumpyprole wrote:
| Sure the CPU is great, but the hardware is just too
| unrepairable and disposable. The software is also too much
| about Apple lock-in. For example, Apple Music can't even play
| FLAC files.
| rvz wrote:
| Good. To each to their own. Maybe your use case is different from
| others and the OS you moved from somehow got in your way.
|
| In my case; time wasted is money lost and with no money made
| means affordability becomes a problem.
|
| The best OS platform ecosystem I use is the one that not only
| saves time, but also saves me spending money whilst continuing to
| make me the most money.
| erikbye wrote:
| I think the only good thing about the Apple ecosystem is making
| money off it. Much easier to make a living selling apps on the
| app store than the play store.
| danlugo92 wrote:
| Much easier to go poof as well.
| halo37253 wrote:
| The iOS ecosystem has always been crap. I love the device and how
| the UI keeps becoming more android like, but iCloud stinks.
| Google by far as a better cloud platform for a standard user. But
| for a business Sharepoint/Onedrive has always been the way to go.
|
| I personally never had a problem with Macbooks, and surprised he
| just didn't work in a VM. I do 90% of my daily work in a VM on my
| Macbook, either running Arch or Debian. Everything just works.
| But I can not stand with apple's choice of moving to ARM for a
| power user.
|
| My Next Machine will run windows as the base OS. I'll test out
| their Linux for Windows Subsystem, but most likely just boot up
| the same VMware VM's i've been using for a long time. Between
| Snapshots and backups to both my onsite server and my Personal
| Sharepoint, I never have an issue.
|
| Spotify for music though, it just works and easy to push music
| around my home.
| zepto wrote:
| > but iCloud stinks. Google by far as a better cloud platform
| for a standard user.
|
| In what way?
| dmitriid wrote:
| I can attest this for photos.
|
| Google Photos is a third-party app, and it syncs photos a few
| magnitudes faster than Apple Photos.
|
| I never know in which state Apple Photos are at any given
| moment: is it syncing? is it stuck? why?
| basisword wrote:
| Apple Photos manages syncing based on things like network
| connection and especially battery life. If your battery is
| below a certain level you have to manually resume syncing.
| That might be part of the issue.
| arc-in-space wrote:
| >the UI keeps becoming more android like
|
| Okay, I'll bite, because that's amusing(I find that interacting
| with anything Android is consistently a torture) and I don't
| use Apple devices so I have no idea what you could be thinking
| of. How is iOS stuff becoming more like Android, and how is it
| better than whatever it did before?
| halo37253 wrote:
| Android is more desktop like than any other Mobile OS, that
| goes for Windows and MacOSX.
|
| Android simply does most thing UI better. The pull down menu
| and notifications, the app drawer, the home screens, the
| settings menu layouts, etc. Sure there are some iOS UI
| elements that are done better, such as gestures. But really
| iOS shines more under the hood.
|
| Every year iOS keeps getting more and more Android features.
| App Library, Pull Down menus, more customizable home screens
| with widgets. There are so many things Android was doing
| years before iOS it is crazy. Maybe oneday Apple will fix the
| crappy settings menu and finally make the pulldown window a
| full copy of android with quick settings at the top.
|
| Using iOS is consistently more of a Torture to use than
| Android any day of the week.
| arc-in-space wrote:
| Makes sense, thank you. I suppose some it's good the
| competition had some effect
| neilalexander wrote:
| > Android simply does most thing UI better.
|
| I almost spat out my coffee reading this. Android is
| horribly inconsistent, apps targeting different API levels
| get different default themes and UI elements, many built-in
| UI controls are ugly (which is why not many developers seem
| to stick with them) and the whole thing is made worse by
| manufacturers who can't leave good alone and "skin" their
| own launchers and equivalents to the default built-in apps.
| Scrolling behaviour on Android still sucks, putting
| everything behind "hamburger menus" is not intuitive and
| quite often apps just lack basic gestures. The gestures
| that are implemented don't even provide particularly good
| feedback -- the little bouncy arrow thing when sliding in
| from the left to "go back" is awful and nowhere near as
| good of a visual cue as sliding-over is (like iOS does).
|
| That's not to say that iOS design is perfect -- it isn't by
| any stretch. It's a damn sight more consistent and
| predictable though and much easier to explain to non-
| technical users.
| howinteresting wrote:
| iOS is more consistent, yes, more consistently bad.
| Android is inconsistent but has much higher average
| quality.
|
| The notification system alone is leaps and bounds better.
| The fact that you can use uBlock Origin on Android also
| makes the UI far more pleasant.
| musicale wrote:
| > I realised that my life while using Apple products is
| controlled by Product Managers/Owners who want to get a raise,
| rather than by technology people who share the same passion as
| me. And I wanted to change that.
|
| There is some truth to Apple's engineering being directed by
| product managers who want raises - which (given that Apple is a
| large company) would generally require directing it toward
| Apple's bottom line and promoting Apple's goods and services.
|
| At the same time there are a number of smart people at Apple, in
| both product management and engineering, who work there in order
| to advance good design, ease of use, reliability, privacy, and
| the development of computing technology that benefits and
| empowers its users - and not just the company that sells it.
|
| Moreover, pretty much everyone at Apple knows that you don't
| create transformative products by bean counting and risk
| aversion.
|
| But if you want something built by and for a community of
| technical enthusiasts, hobbyists, researchers, and
| hackers/tinkerers, open source software and disaggregated systems
| may be a superior ecosystem for you, and that's a good thing
| because a vibrant enthusiast and free/open software and hardware
| community provides many benefits to the world.
| djhworld wrote:
| I'm half into the ecosystem, I don't own an iPhone but I've had
| various MacBooks over the years.
|
| Latest one is the M1 air and it's almost perfect. It never gets
| hot, it never gets noisy, performance is superb, battery life
| amazing.
|
| Really hoping a similar ARM based linux machine comes out that
| can beat it, but for the time being I'd find it difficult to
| switch away from my Air!
| officeplant wrote:
| Same except I got an M1 Mini. For all my hate of what apple
| does, I'm an ARM addict and I really love the new Mini. I
| really hope we eventually get full Linux support for Apple
| Silicon at some point just so I can play with it that way as
| well.
|
| I was looking forward to Qualcomm's ARM Dev kit for Windows,
| but it hasn't released yet outside of what seems to be some
| listings on chinese websites for bulk orders of 100+ units.
|
| It really sucks that my Pinebook Pro is still the best I can
| get as far as ARM linux laptops go that are easy to use and try
| different distros on.
| ungamedplayer wrote:
| What are your thoughts on the pinebook. I'm trying to decide
| if I get a pinebook or a framework next.
| officeplant wrote:
| It is totally worth $220. The screen is great, the build
| quality is acceptable for the price. All of this comes at
| the cost of the now ancient Rockchip SoC that struggles in
| a lot of instances. As a device for learning ARM linux on
| and doing tinkering it's great.
|
| It also has a few issues that are unsolvable without some
| redesigning on pine64's part. The main issue being heat
| from the SoC causing the charging circuit to shut off.
| Under a heavy load you can watch the battery go down while
| its plugged in. My battery is starting to die after 8
| months (voltage drops enough to cause a hard shutoff around
| 60%). I'm not sure if the issues are related but I'm simply
| going to pull out the battery and connect the internal
| wiring for running purely from the wall bypassing the
| battery. Some argue that the 3A power inputs just aren't
| enough for the draw the pinebook pro can pull off
| especially if you start overclocking (2ghz on the big,
| 1.8ghz on the little cores is totally possible). Personally
| I left everything stock.
|
| As a daily driver I really can't recommend it unless you
| live in terminal and don't need to do a whole lot of web
| browsing. Video streaming (twitch/youtube) + Fast stream
| chatrooms bring that poor rockchip to its knees even at 480
| to 720p.
|
| The Pinebook Pro gets a lot of love from the community but
| it is a very very niche device for a particular kind of
| enthusiast.
| dmitriid wrote:
| > Really hoping a similar ARM based linux machine comes out
| that can beat it
|
| For that someone should've been outputting consumer devices for
| 12-15 years.
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