[baq]

I don’t need polished and superior, I need to get work done. I want the OS to get out of the way, not slow me down with animations, stage managers and pretty docks. I don’t even need customization, I just need it to stop trying to outdo itself and fall over.

I’d run kde or even gnome on my work MacBook if it let me without a second thought.

PS just installed ios 26 and what is this? If this low contrast blobby window thing makes its way to the laptop I’ll be very, very not impressed.

[mrheosuper]

if you are power user, why bother with GUI at all ?

[baq]

TUI is GUI with a focus on keyboard control. All the TUI apps people regularly use could be at least as good with a GUI, ssh and DX are the only good reasons for TUIs and ssh does X forwarding, too.

[zer00eyz]

> If this low contrast blobby window thing makes its way to the laptop I’ll be very, very not impressed.

You have quite a bit of control over all of these features. Dark mode, contrast controls...

There is a lot there you can tweak to have it look how you want and it stays that way through pretty much all upgrades.

> animations, stage managers and pretty docks.

You can turn all this off for the most part.

Spend as much time and effort customizing your Mac as you do customizing your Linux desktop and a lot of your laments will go away.

I use both often enough to know that linux on the desktop is a much steeper investment if you want it to work for you.

[echelon]

Finder can't be replaced.

Finder the least flexible file explorer of any OS. There's no location bar. You can't have a dynamically resizing grid of icons, so if you resize your windows, the icons are constantly outside of the horizontal scroll blinds. The view modalities make it difficult to sort and find files. Major system paths (eg. Applications) are locked down and hidden.

The window manager can't be replaced.

Window manager placement hacks exist, but they are not first class. You'll never have first class tiling windows in Mac.

Many of the window manager quirks are forced upon you. You can't change how to cycle and alternate windows. Exposé is flakey...

[leakycap]

> There's no location bar.

Option 1: View > Show Location Bar (you can right-click or double-click on any folder to interact) Option 2: Option-click the folder name in the Finder Window's title bar to immediately jump to other folders Option 3: If you want to type a location and go there, press Command-Shift-G for Go > Go to Location

> You can't have a dynamically resizing grid of icons, so if you resize your windows, the icons are constantly outside of the horizontal scroll blinds.

Of course you can. Select View > Clean Up By > and choose the option you like best.

> The view modalities make it difficult to sort and find files.

Name a built-in file explorer with semi-spatial (Sidebar off), browser icon mode, hierarchical list mode, gallery, and column view. Bonus points if they have anything remotely like QuickLook.

> The view modalities make it difficult to sort and find files.

What is difficult about Command-1, Command-2, Command-3, Command-4 to switch views? What is hard about Command-J for granular settings?

> Major system paths (eg. Applications) are locked down and hidden.

Applications is visible at the system-wide and user level. Applications folder is listed in the "Go" menu, present in every Finder menubar. Applications is, by default, on the left sidebar of every Finder window. If you want to type, Command-Space brings up any Application at a whim.

Can't find an Application or want to see EVERY app on the system and connected drives? Hold Option while going to Apple > System Information and click the "Applications" listing on the left sidebar.

> Window manager placement hacks exist, but they are not first class.

Moom wants a chat. BetterTouchTool wonders if you've heard of it. Heck, DockDoor is free and excellent, too! They're only second-class in the sense they won't bring down your system when they act up.

> You can't change how to cycle and alternate windows. Exposé is flakey...

This is either a configuration error or not being familiar with how to use it. Exposé works better than any similar system on any other platform I've tried - what do you think is a better example of a systemwide Exposé alternative on another platform? Wait, I don't need one because Mission Control & Exposé are bulletproof.

[zer00eyz]

> Finder the least flexible file explorer of any OS.

Tell me how you getting around your system on linux?

Search is and remains a first class citizen on Mac, and is for the most part on Linux. Spotlight still edges out linux choices. Windows has all the "power tools" to root through folders cause its search is such hot garbage.

> You'll never have first class tiling windows in Mac.

No you have ones that work.

Because the moment that you plug in mismatched or non standard monitors into a modern linux distro all bets are off. To make that work your going to end up with some pretty intense setup where your forced into window management rather than a traditional desktop.

Can you do it... You sure can... But I run an out of the box IDE on a basic Mac with a few tweaks for a reason: because playing games with my tools isnt getting work done. I have an arch, ubuntu and windows desktop and I have a Mac laptop. Is the linux box fun. It sure is. Does running it involve doing a lot of chores, you bet it does.

[heavyset_go]

> Because the moment that you plug in mismatched or non standard monitors into a modern linux distro all bets are off.

I do this daily with different displays and have no problems whatsoever. I've probably used over 30 different displays over USB-C and HDMI on Linux and have had no problems.

They were all different sizes, DPIs, panel types, brands, etc.

Meanwhile, I can't even do fractional scaling when using macOS lol

[imiric]

> I run an out of the box IDE on a basic Mac with a few tweaks for a reason: because playing games with my tools isnt getting work done.

I hear this sentiment often, but I think it's missing the main reason why most people prefer Linux, whether that's for work or leisure.

What you call "playing games" to me is actually configuring our tools and environment to function optimally according to our needs and preferences. Yes, we spend an inordinate amount of time doing this, but it ultimately leads to a more comfortable and enjoyable experience, which is well worth it considering we spend most of our day using our machines.

This is not unlike a carpenter who has very specific preferences about their tools, and how they might spend a lot of time organizing and honing them. Sure they can use a pre-built workbench from IKEA, but chances are that they prefer using one they've customized or partly built themselves over the years.

Dealing with jank and the occasional frustration is unavoidable in Linux, but no operating system and machine are perfect. There are always trade-offs. We just prefer the freedom and flexibility over a corporation forcing us to use our computers the way they think we should.

We all have different priorities and preferences, and I'm not saying yours are in any way inferior, but I wanted to clarify the other perspective.