[allerratio]

I too switched to OS X after 10 years of linux, and I have to say although there are some nice things I can't stand it anymore. For everything that sucks in Linux there's something in OS X that sucks.

- I needed to install Octave for university (No I won't get the 89$ student version for one course). For this I needed macports or home-brew. I chose macports. To get macports to run I needed some developer tools. Direct links for the developer tools required an apple developer account but I also could get XCode. For XCode I needed an apple account. I don't have a credit card, so I needed the help of google for creating an account without one. Macports now installed several additional versions of llvm and gcc. Under Linux this is just a <package-manager> octave

- I wanted to use Inkscape and Gimp (No I won't buy photoshop for the extreme few occasions that I need to edit pictures). Inkscape doesn't find X11 when starting and Gimp has the problem that the compress dialog for pngs spawns under the main window.

- Old versions of Software. No python3 ssh-copy-id or java7 by default.

- Package management is really broken when something isn't in the app store. You can't uninstall X11. You need to keep the virtualbox installer .dmg to be able to uninstall it. Virtualbox in macports didn't work by the way.

- I have to use the command line to mount a disk with ntfs-3g, because writing to ntfs doesn't work out of the box.

- Everybody wants my to pay for basic things that were solved decades ago. I don't want to pay for your reinvention of the wheel.

The difference between Linux and OS X is that if I want can use something different, write patches myself or talk with the developer directly. At apple everything goes to /dev/ignore. With Linux on a macbook I have best of both worlds as linux support for apple devices is actually quite good.

[Karunamon]

To be fair, a couple of those problems have nothing to do with the OS. Virtualbox, for instance, there is zero good reason they couldn't leave an uninstall .mpkg laying around somewhere convenient instead of requiring you to keep the original installer around (stupid stupid stupid).

The other issues are spot on.. I'll never understand what it is with everybody and their dog on the mac ecosystem wanting money - it doesn't happen anywhere near as much on any other platform's appstore.

[stcredzero]

The norm of getting paid is one of the best things about the ecosystem.

[Karunamon]

I've gotta disagree with you there. There are plenty of good, free software packages on windows and linux to do whatever you want.

Meanwhile, it costs money over on Mac OS. It certainly does nothing to help the perception of the mac ecosystem as one that's overpriced.

[stcredzero]

> I've gotta disagree with you there.

I was talking from the POV of the developer.

In many cases, you get what you pay for. I've used many examples of open source software. There are times and places where it's the best thing. There are areas where there is too little incentive for commercial companies. There are also times when you want ultimate freedom to do what you want. There are also times when you want to pay for a level of polish and know things just work. There are also times when you want to be the one doing the polishing and get paid for your work.

> Meanwhile, it costs money over on Mac OS. It certainly does nothing to help the perception of the mac ecosystem as one that's overpriced.

I don't see the logic in having a price above free being "overpriced." Free as in beer is not a right, nor is it some sort of ultimate good. Sometimes, it's also a sign of a broken market.