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by BoorishBears 3493 days ago
>Apple's reality distortion field

I always hear talk like this implying Apple's products are only acceptable if they live up to the legend of their hardware and software "just working"

Honestly, for me they could put a 100% tax on your average off-the-shelf, not-promising-good-build-quality, already-made-in-the-same-factory-as-a-macbook consumer laptop just to provide OS X with official support and I (and a lot of people I know) would be just fine with it.

Of course it doesn't help their bottom line or strategy to tightly couple the OS and their hardware so they'd never do it, but can we stop pretending that all there is to Apple hardware is branding? OS X is a pretty big deal. I'll take average hardware with OS X over average hardware any day.
2 comments
falcolas 3493 days ago
> their hardware and software "just working"

Yes, how dare we expect that something we spend multiple thousands of dollars on, and have to work with 8+ hours a day, to "just work."

> OS X is a pretty big deal

With Linux subsystem for Windows, Ubuntu, and other such systems, OSX isn't the big deal it once was. I have to restart it weekly to fix issues with software just not working right. I have to buy five to ten extra utilities just to ensure that my extra mouse buttons, windowing system, and keyboard shortcuts work as expected.

Sure, it could be worse, and I'm glad you have good luck with it; but it could be a hell of a lot better too. And it's not wrong to expect more when we spend so much money on our tools.

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Nullabillity 3493 days ago
> but can we stop pretending that all there is to Apple hardware is branding?

Sure. All there is to Apple hardware and software is branding.

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BoorishBears 3493 days ago
The day I see a Linux distro put together as coherent an experience as OS X is the day I'll agree to that.

Even in it's supposed decline, OS X still manages to put together a more compelling UX story than every Linux distro I've ever tried.

I get that some people don't really care about the UX their OS provides as long as there's a terminal and deem GUIs as unproductive for those who "really know what they're doing" (I often hear something about moving from their keyboard to their mouse taking too long?) but to me it's paramount.

I spend a lot of my life using a computer and I need my desktop environment and the tools I use in it (GUI ones included) to feel like a joy to use, not something I'm trying to duck out of the way of to drop in to a terminal.

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