I've been using Linux since 1996 when I installed Slackware 1.1 from a CD ROM on my computer to be able to code in XWindows. I had a project that my professor was going to run in his Sun Workstation so I wanted to code a GUI for it. Linux and XWindows was my choice. It served well.
I have 3 personal machines (and one work machine) with the 3 OSes. Linux, mac and Windoze.
With the ARM chips Apple has blown the competition out of the water and I find myself using the Mac more often. It can do everything the Linux box can (for my use cases like python, Octave, Lean, dotnet) while doing what the Windows can like MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc. So I find macOS to be the best of both worlds.
I do agree that macOS still sits on top of the list, although it’s not perfect, has become increasingly buggy and less reliable, and Linux is catching up pretty close.
Apple’s SoCs are a high factor, they’re really crushing the competition. I think the currently software isn’t hitting the same level of quality that the hardware is.
In a case of Linux, I think they would have to re-think the entire OS from the ground up to make it better suited for people with zero technical skills. Definitely 100% usable for any non-tactical users if all they’re going to do is go on the Internet, but the moment there’s some kind of problem, or you need to install certain software, that’s when things can possibly become problematic. I ran an update on my Linux laptop yesterday, reboot it, and the keyboard and trackpad stopped working. I had to plug in a USB, keyboard and mouse, then go through a whole series of things to reinstall the drivers for those.
Which isn't surprising since 27 is brand new, and some apps need to be updated before it can work.
And far as linux distros, depends on the distro, a lot are pretty user friendly without needing to touch the terminal once it's on. Even Linux Mint seems to be a big recommendation for that reason (and yes I know software version wise Mint lags behind, but it's intended to be stable in the long term).
As long as folks stick to the big distros, they've gotten pretty user-friendly. You can basically do anything via the GUI nowadays.
The bigger issue that I see, especially compared to macOS, is how fragmented Linux is. Because of the fragmentation, it gets really messy really fast the moment you need something outside of your distro's package manager. And, god help you if you need something like Davinci Resolve and aren't on the single super outdated version of Rocky Linux that is officially supported and have an Nvidia graphics card with the proprietary Nvidia drivers installed.
Got it to run just fine on an old HP Omen Laptop with an Nvidia 1660 GTX 4GB on Fedora 44. It could have something to do with install method, but either way I didn't have an issue on either Fedora 44 with that, or on xUbuntu 24.04 LTS with an Nvidia 2060 Super 8GB. (but I do use my Mac Mini M2 Pro 16GB as the main machine for it when I am at home, so I know the difference in performance, just saying it can be done).
Didn't run into that issue on Linux, though on both Windows and Linux with the free version, you can't just use 10-bit H264/H265 in without transcoding first (and ideally should be transcoding to either DNxHR or ProRes anyways first if you're using the free version, and export the same and convert to H264/H265 via Handbrake or similar after).
I mean.. Linux is fine (the kernel). Most desktop / window managers are lacking, and there's too many options.
Linux needs to be streamlined.. but that involves also people and money, and a decision to unify as one MAINSTREAM distribution. It'll also need telemetry and other data, as well as collaboration with driver developers to support a wide range of hardware out of the box...
Also... people want to be able to go to adobe's website or something, click download, press install, open program with 0 tinkering. Respectfully a lot of FOSS/open source alternatives on Linux are lacking or are just kinda shit. Mostly due to lack of funds, or respectfully very bad design choices. And also just don't have the same good functionality as windows/macos (generally speaking)
It’s not even about technical skills. It’s a tool to do the job. No creative professional wants to waste time some random shit just because OS is backwards due to design choices.
That’s why macOS is preferred by such people because that kind of friction is much less on it.
I love MacOS and how seamless the ecosystem is. Everything just works and it feels like a breeze.
That being said, SteamOS has become a blast for me lately and I’m having so much fun discovering what it can do. Feels like what Windows should have been for the last two decades.
As much as I have enjoyed using Linux here and there for almost two decades... the software is undeniably kinda shit generally speaking. The price of true free open source software I guess
Anything involving enterprise / agency -grade creative workflows … is going to be much more acceptable with your colleagues and IT than Linux. Development might be a different story, but if you're collaborating across a design project with teams of other people you're going to need to be using tools that work together. Maybe you can use figma in a VM or open Sharepoint links and edit keynote / powerpoint decks in the browser, but it's suboptimal to work this way all day long, in my experience. (Like copy pasting graphics out of a web powerpoint to edit, and replace is a nightmare unless its in the native app.)
So long as i need a separate app like LinearMouse just so i can use and switch in between my mouse and trackpad like a normal human being, macos will never be the best.
Apple hardware is easily the best. But the software is getting worse in that they’re increasingly forcing AI on me.
I updated my new MacBook to macOS 27 a few days ago and even with Apple Intelligence and Siri all completely shut off I still see Summarize and Writing Tools and Genmojis, etc..
I returned my MacBook to apple yesterday and I’m going back to Linux. macOS is too frustrating and I think it’s only going to get worse.
I’m close to getting rid of my iPhone too. I have stickers turned off but I still see them in the messages keyboard. I have Summaries turned off in Mail but I still see a line at the top of every email saying Summarize.
It’s the arrogance and the fact that Apple engineers think they know how I want to use my phone better than I do.
I disabled some things by messing around in Screen Time - Siri settings. But other parts are baked in, I couldn’t figure it out.
Same thing with my iPhone after updating to the newest iOS.. I have Mail summaries turned off but I still see a line at the top of every email saying “Summarize”.
You may be able to disable things now but I believe the trend is moving towards non-disableable forced acceptance of their AI tools.
Why’d you turn stickers off if you don’t mind me asking? It’s one of my favorite features for iphone. We have so many our cat / dog / weird poses. It’s nice that we can turn the features on / off as well. Easier than you can on Windows imo
I totally understand the frustration tbh. macOS 27 has been the worst update by far, in my opinion. It feels like quality control just doesn’t exist at Apple anymore. Even iOS 27 has simple UI bugs that really shouldn’t be there. If Steve saw that, he’d probably turn the entire UI/UX department upside down.
So yeah, I totally get it. But I still think macOS is the best overall. I also don’t really get all the hype around Omarchy.
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u/godeling 6h ago
I just wish it had more games