[youngnh]

I'm a developer, I've run various OS's over the years, Windows first, Mac OS X after that, and after my iBook's hard drive failed, I now run Linux on a refurbed ThinkPad. Windows was the only environment that I had to get out of. The amount of friction Windows created in my everyday development was enough that I felt it necessary to switch to maintain productivity.

The difference, though, to me, between working on OS X or Linux, though, is negligible. I suspect that most conference goers with glowing Apple laptop lids can be just as productive in Linux as they can in OS X. (I'm not a Mac developer, I imagine that crowd would disagree)

I use a text editor and a browser to get my work done, Macs don't offer me any software advantages in that department.

[KirinDave]

> The difference, though, to me, between working on OS X or Linux, though, is negligible. I suspect that most conference goers with glowing Apple laptop lids can be just as productive in Linux as they can in OS X. (I'm not a Mac developer, I imagine that crowd would disagree)

Since most of the tools are the same, the only real difference is in the GUI and underlying software toolkits. If you aren't targeting a HLL like Python or Ruby, Apple's NeXT-descendent API really shines. There is just nothing like it in the Linux world, although Qt has tried to copy it. So you can definitely start noticing that.

I used to be a Linux user too, and I still develop software for Linux. To me, I vastly prefer the OS X user environment because a lot of niggling detail work involving clipboards, image viewing, indexed-content search etc are all done, and done such that they generally work, and lots of not-necessary-but-pleasant-things like mixed-channel sound work without even considering them.

Yes, I could get most of these things working in Linux. I know the software, I know how to install it and configure it... but I just can't bring myself to do all that to get what, at best, will be an equivalent experience.

[aaronblohowiak]

Misinformation: "There is just nothing like it in the Linux world"

http://www.gnustep.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNUstep

[aaronblohowiak]

Why was this voted down? He said "Apple's NeXT-descendent API really shines. There is just nothing like it in the Linux world" when GNUstep is very much like it.

[KirinDave]

I didn't vote it down, but I imagine it was voted down for laughable incorrectness. GNUStep, while a noble effort, is largely a copy of the pre-OSX-era NeXTSTEP API (although I guess technically it's trying to rebuild Openstep, but it seems the history of these projects is so confusing that NeXTSTEP is used interchangeably because it's so iconic), which is literally a decade behind.

GNUStep is not seem to be, nor does it seem to want to be, an effort like Mono to create an open Mac OS X platform (at least last time I looked at it, which was late. It also can't use some of the finest decisions that Apple and NeXT made (e.g., ".bundle", ".app" and ".framework" paradigms) because the underlying linux platform is hostile to them.

Comparing modern OS X to gnustep as anything more than a historical curiosity shows a degree of ignorance and dismissiveness that borders on flagrant. Even assuming the best in people, most mac developers I know would have a frown forced out of them at such a comparison.

[aaronblohowiak]

I meant very much like it in terms of compared to other frameworks, not in the mono->.Net kind of way, more like the java and c++ being very much alike because they support object oriented programming with built-in features.

You're totally right, though and I would like to recant my previous posts. Oh well, it is too late. My apologies.

[nailer]

Most of the tools aren't the same - as has been discussed here, the Mac repositories are far smaller than their Debian and Ubuntu equivs, which means you're less likely to find what you want. In my experience they're less tested too.

Personally I prefer the Linux middle-click paste (especially compared to the key Macs use instead of Windows for Ctrl, which messes with my muscle memory by being over to the left), and viewing images, content indexing, and mixed channel sound have worked out of the box for years.