Tell HN: macOS 26 is making me have regrets for the first time in 12yrs

[trumbitta2]

Sorry, I'm basically venting, but I'm sincerely curious to know what you think of this.

In 1998 (97?) I installed Debian 2.0 for the first time, and I had been a Linux user, both at work and for personal purposes, up until 2013. I was so fed up (because I was older) with the hardware issues (external monitors, graphics, drivers) that I switched to Mac and never looked back.

Up until now. I dislike the UI, and I'm frustrated by having to wait 15 seconds every time I want to unlock the system after a break. It's starting to feel like old-time Linux all over again.

[codemusings]

I saw beta screenshots of what used to be the toolbar (e.g. in Finder) and immediately disabled auto-update on my Mac. Seeing how many bugs have also been introduced (not just visual glitches) pretty much reaffirmed me in my decision.

However the downside is I can't try some new app releases like Daft Music[1] because it has become to burdensome to maintain two different designs. Especially in SwiftUI.

[1] https://daftmusic.app

[qsort]

It's not a great release and there are indeed a few bugs, but it's kind of okay. There's a lot of good stuff like container support!

I don't know, but it seems to me like people are overreacting? Do y'all really care that much about how the desktop looks? It doesn't seem that different to me if I'm being honest. That's probably why they don't let me do frontend...

[worldsavior]

I think if anyone cares about desktop looks should go to Windows, where you can customize your desktop in many ways (not necessarily officially).

[jjice]

If that's what someone is looking for in particular, I'd lean Linux. I've found linux desktop customization is so much more flexible than Windows.

That said, I don't have much experience in that area on Linux or Windows anymore

[worldsavior]

There isn't really "it just works" in Linux. Linux is of course more flexible.

[sporedro]

If you’re trying to customize windows, there’s really nothing that “just works” there either. I’ve found default Ubuntu installs to “just work” better than default windows 11 as well.

[schappim]

> indeed a few bugs

This is a perfect use of understatement.

[longgamma]

Debian 13 has way better hardware support than Windows and Mac out of the box. Also I prefer Gnome to macos and whatever design they did after Big Sur. The only real advantage mac has is the superior build quality and awesome speakers for a laptop

[dc396]

Never experienced the 15 second wait for an unlock myself -- sounds like something has to time out for you before unlocking, e.g., some network thing.

As for the UI, meh -- I suppose it's personal taste. I could take it or leave it, but I wish they'd focus on substance over form, i.e., addressing bugs and fixing functionality (e.g., Mail's search remains useless, particularly compared to something like infoclick) instead of gratuitous appearance changes that no one asks for.

But form over substance seems the norm in our industry (see e.g., Windows 11)

[al_borland]

Big changes have always been a little rocky. Over time I expect they will refine it and work out the bugs. We’ve been through this before, and every OS goes through things like this from time to time.

[NeuroCoder]

I've noticed some things running slower too, but I wasn't sure if my computer was getting older. As for the interface/asthetic, it's pretty terrible in every regard.

[bfkwlfkjf]

Those who exchange freedom for convenience deserve neither.

[worldsavior]

Macbooks have great hardware. Most people that buy Macbooks buy them because of the hardware.

[carlosjobim]

Watching people who switch from PC to Mac, they are amazed by how good the software is. Sure, they love the hardware also. But just opening the lid to instantly start your laptop is like magic. That feature alone constitutes more than 50% of the computer user experience for most people.

[bfkwlfkjf]

Those who exchange freedom for hardware deserve neither.

[scaredreally]

Thanks for the warning. I held off on the update for fear that it would break development tooling, but had considered upgrading.

[chatmasta]

I always assumed any 15 seconds unlock was decrypting the filesystem... is that not the case?

[trumbitta2]

It could be. But nothing on my end changed from before the update.

[nik736]

The most annoying thing for me currently is that when connecting to local smb shares with Finder and adding favorites (directories on shares), after a reboot they are still there under favorites, but it won't connect to them when clicking on them. So I have to manually reconnect to the server every time. This wasn't happening before.

Other than that, of course some things got slower, but overall it's an OK release. For example he new system settings were bad before, now they got a bit worse, but macOS 26 didn't introduce those changes.

[selectnull]

As someone who hasn't upgraded yet, what is causing the 15s wait after a locked system? That sounds terrible.

[trumbitta2]

I wish I knew!

[trumbitta2]

Guys, the cause is the new OS. It wasn't happening 1hr before it started happening with the new OS, it never happened before.

[runjake]

The cause is probably related to the new OS, but I don't have that same wait on my multiple Tahoe systems, so it's not just because: Tahoe.

If you're a Linux user, or were a Linux user, check the logs, close programs, uncheck login items 1 by 1, run "launchctl list", etc to identify the specific cause.

[boars_tiffs]

not ideal but: try a clean install

[Someone]

Way before that:

- check the logs. There may be an obvious hint there as to the cause

- quit all programs, menu bar items, launchd scripts, etc, and check whether the problem persists

- create a new user and see if that user has the problem, too