[StreamBright]

As a heavy Linux user for two decades I disagree. You can't even talk about Linux vs MacOS because the actual distribution you use matters a lot more than the kernel when you talk about productivity.

Using Mint, Elementary or whichever GUI distribution you would like to use with the Linux kernel has completely different tradeoffs in terms of GUI, which implies different productivity levels.

There is more. Even with the best case scenario you need to customise the GUI much more than you need to customise MacOS, for example energy management is a bit a of problem for most Linux based distros.

This simply happens because Apple owns the whole vertical from HW to GUI and they focus on the user. They have done this for decades. There is no such entity in the non-Apple world and this means there is more work for the user when trying to create a working environment.

[FollowingTheDao]

And Linux keeps failing because of companies like System76 which cannot seem to build, or partner with a company, to be this competition.

Lenovo would crush Apple if it partnered with the Linux Community and made a cheap (in price!) everyday laptop for the consumer and focused on privacy and no lock in.

[kkielhofner]

“Lenovo would crush Apple if it partnered with the Linux Community”

No it wouldn’t.

Users (the 99%) don’t care about privacy, tech, etc. They happily give their data up to TikTok (the CCP), Meta, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc. The Snowden revelations were met with a shrug or “I have nothing to hide”. This is well beyond established at this point (these platforms have billions of users).

They also don’t care about lock in - they just want stuff that works and adds as much as it can to their lives in as little effort as possible. The Apple ecosystem is incredibly successful because it does this exceedingly well. They view lock in as a positive - “All my stuff just works together - here’s more money Apple”.

The average person cares as much and is as involved in all of this as I am in understanding how my light switch is related to the function and operation of a nuclear reactor. The amount of care, time, thought, and energy I put into that is the cumulative total of the three seconds I spend interacting with light switches everyday.

I’m not disparaging users. I use the nuclear reactor analogy because I don’t care, I don’t need to care, and I shouldn’t have to care. I, (like most people) have only so much bandwidth for time, energy, and passion. I leave worrying and caring about all of that up to everyone from the people who mine uranium to the electrician that wires up the switches.

On HN we're the uranium miners, nuclear physicists, power companies, linemen, and electricians. We're the few people who do know and care about any of this "tech stuff".

[FollowingTheDao]

"They also don’t care about lock in - they just want stuff that works and adds as much as it can to their lives in as little effort as possible. The Apple ecosystem is incredibly successful because it does this exceedingly well. They view lock in as a positive - “All my stuff just works together - here’s more money Apple”."

Probably the biggest myth about Apple these days, that it just works. Can I tell you the countless hours I have spent helping friends with their Apple and iPhone issues?

And besides, as technicians, our job is to GET PEOPLE to care about this stuff and lead by example. What good is trying to convince someone to not use Apple products if you are buying the latest Apple product?

And in my opinion, Google products "just work" much better and are more open to multiple routes of access to your data. At that, they are way better than Apple.

[kkielhofner]

For another anecdotal datapoint - almost all of the people in my personal and professional circles heavily use Apple products (iMessage is 95% blue).

As the "tech guy" for most non-tech savvy people in my life I can count on fingers the number of times anyone has asked me for help with their Apple products. For the most part I look around and see people easily and happily using their Air Pods, iPhones, iPads, iWatches, and Mac Books.

Yes there are occasional minor issues and bugs but everyone knows to do a little dance of "turn it off, turn it back on", disconnect and reconnect, etc. Just like when I get in my car occasionally, I turn it on, and the infotainment display is wonky. I shut the car off, open the door, turn it back on, and say "Hmm, that was weird". Then I move on with my day. I simply won't accept that these kinds of occasional minor issues don't exist in the Google/Android ecosystem.

In the rare occasion something more significant has come up with Apple products and it's not a five minute or less fix I point them to the Apple Store and let them deal with it. Where's the equivalent for Google, Android, etc? I don't want to get into yet another tired Apple v Android "debate" here on HN but (for me) that's reason enough for me to recommend Apple products for most people.

As far as access to data, again, they don't care. How many GDPR or other requests do you think Facebook has gotten for dumps of people's data? I'm sure it's 1% or less of their user base. Again, as long as people can sign-in to their iCloud account that counts as "access to their data" to them.

It's perfectly fine if you see part of our role is evangelizing these things. For me I don't want to be "that guy" who's a half-step from the cryptobro cousin at Thanksgiving trying to get everyone to buy bitcoin. I'll occasionally drop things like "Oh Tiktok, say hi to China for me" or "If the service is free it's because you're the product" but I avoid harping and evangelizing. To use my power analogy I wouldn't walk into someone's house and start talking about how they should really be using Cree bulbs or Leviton switches. If someone has interest and wants to get into getting big tech out of their life, Linux, or XYZ light bulbs and power switches more power to them but I'm not going to push.

I don't think any amount of education or preaching I'd do is going to get someone to switch from Android to Apple (or vice-versa), Windows/Mac to Linux, pull Alexa out of their house, cancel their social media accounts, etc. Plus, just like crypto, if they do follow my advice I'll get to hear all about it in the event anything negative happens. No thanks but again - if you want to try to fight the good fight I support it.

[jonnycomputer]

I've been finding that the Budgie desktop is pretty great. Very Mac-like.

[StreamBright]

I wasn't aware. Thanks for recommending it.