Years ago, we abandoned Macs in our datacenter when Apple neutered OS X Server and gave us no alternative. Windows is now king there.
Now we are seriously considering abandoning Mac for, of all things, our Prepress department. Why? Because for the last three years, macOS has been become almost unusable with network shares with a large number of files (anything more than a few thousand). Think minutes, at times, to open an f-ing folder. It is a known bug. It has been around since 10.9. Apple has not even acknowledged the problem. What takes milliseconds on Windows can take anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes on a Mac. The problem exists regardless of share type. SMB and AFP are equally bad.
We are as core a user as it gets. Prepress. Graphic arts. And Apple is unable to make a Mac work efficiently on something so obscure as a file share. They have made it quite clear that they do not care about power users like us, and they are never going to care again.
We have work to do. Browsing a network file system is a basic service. It should not be difficult. It should not, as it currently is for us (and an untold number of others), cut our productivity by half because our users spend so much time just trying to open a file.
Samba has serious problems with large filesystems due to the disconnect between case sensitive and case insensitive filesystems. It incurs massive overhead when you have thousands of files in a folder.
Netatalk has serious problems with large filesystems due to the inefficiency of its CNID database. Perhaps they finally solved this, but we have moved on and aren't going back.
What so you can lock up your co-workers with Citrix and Cisco tools made to track and neuter freedoms? So you can pay consultants silly amounts of money to hire other consultants to set up AD policies to satisfy your executives who "Talked to "BigCorp's" CTO and they use Citrix for VPN because it's "secure" so we should too". Or so you can shoehorn solutions like Lync(Skype4B) down peoples throats because theoretically it "Checks all the right boxes to keep management happy and get us that ISO certificate."
I'm not saying this is your fault, or trying to be facetious, I'm actually trying to empathise with you but talking/writing/thinking about the clusterbork that is Enterprise windows deployments is sickening.
I used Mac as a software dev for three years and went from enthusiastic to "never again".
Macs aren't for everyone and while I move back and forth between Linux and Windows I still defend Mac users, even wish there where more of them to really stokke the fire under Microsofts desktop division : )
What I can totally live without though is the "Mac is objectively best" attitude. It is NOT. At least not for everyone.
So: can we please stop? I'll defend you paying for your tools and you guys stop acting like our operating systems of choice aren't as good as yours?
Please?
I've seen no evidence or numbers of this mass exodus from mac->linux that people claim except a few loud/popular blog posts by individuals who have done it. That distorts what is actually happening.
I actually agree with a lot of what is said in the article, but I dispute how many people are actually moving to Linux. I looked into moving to Linux this past month because I needed a new machine, but went with a 2016 MBP instead. I really wanted to go Linux, I love Linux, but I just don't think it's there yet if you want a portable. There needs to be better collaboration between a hardware manufacturer and the distribution, which is really what MacOS continues to excel at. And for all the hate the new MBP received on this website, I like just about everything about it.
I have a lot of gripes with MacOS and where Apple has been taking it, but I still think it's a better experience than Linux on a laptop. Yes, that is a personal opinion, but this is coming from someone that has been waiting and waiting to switch to Linux if the right machine came along. Still waiting. I do not want to be fidgeting with drivers whatsoever. I need it to just work, so I can get to work.
It's all around you but people are failing to see it right now. Apple is pushing the common denominator off of laptops and desktops and onto Tablets and Phones. There is a 33% drop since just start of 2016.
"According to web analytics vendor Net Applications, Apple’s desktop and notebook operating system—formerly OS X, now macOS—powered just 6.1 percent of all personal computers last month, down from 7 percent a year ago and a peak of 9.6 percent as recently as April 2016"
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3155128/macs/macs-share-fal...
Just look at these numbers Linux has continued to climb while Apple's MacOS OSX numbers get smaller and smaller. https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...
I would say the ONLY thing that keeps 50% of the people is building iOS requiers MacOS OS X equipment. It certainly isn't the Apple Experience.
> The only one's claiming something is objectively better, are the ones saying they moved onto Linux.
So, in other words linux will never compete even if Mac OSX isn't objectively better?
Apple should bring back Scott Forstall as CEO, leaving Cook to do what he does best, i.e. supply chain management.
Did you ask anything? I read over the thread and only saw statements.
other than anecdotally saying A is better than B, just because.
This could have been a reply to your posts actually.
sjtgraham (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13383982) and several of his or her peers find that it does have what they need, while obviously you don't. I doubt that there's an objective, correct answer to "does Linux compete with macOS?", but, if there is, I also doubt that we're going to find it by this sort of anecdote-slinging.
xCode is walled garden specific. If you're developing for Apple products it might make sense to use Apple products that will be designed to make developing for Apple products easier. I don't see how this is a "plus" to any developer who isn't developing for Apple products. There are plenty of devs who don't work on code related to Apple products at all!
Similarly, iOS integration is moot. What if they use Android? Don't need awesome iOS integration if you don't wall yourself off into Apple's garden.
I like polishing my own interface because I absolutely detest the design of Mac. That's a flavor and is not "factually" better. Many of the design decisions from Apple make me scratch my head in confusion.
That's awesome you enjoy that, but I'm not one to waste my time polishing, and modifying the OS I'm using. That's just insane to me.
One little side mention, the font rendering on Mac is so much more enjoyable to look at, that it impacts me immensely. Especially when dealing with web sites. Looking at them on Windows or Linux is horrific.
People are buying things like Dell XPS laptops instead of macbooks - you get far faster hardware, and a better development environment.
I moved at the end of last year. I sometimes have to hop back on my macbook and it pains me when I do so - minutes of watching a rainbow spinner. Compiling things takes forever. The magsafe adapter is awful (Been through so many magsafe adapters, they all fail in exactly the same way).
The macbook was the ultimate developers laptop for a good few years there. Now it's just - I don't know - something for hipsters who think removing things makes it better? It's underpowered, overpriced, and the OS seems slower and more clunky than ever.
There's plenty of actual things to blame apple for without inventing new ones. The issue with the new mbp is not performance.
To be fair, it's dead simple to install Linux if you don't like Windows.
Once you get into solid state disk I/O, PC laptops have some catching up to do.
Surely at least in part it is, when one of the major issues is the memory cap?
The memory cap issue is a non-issue. 99% of the people who complained wouldn't pay extra to get 32 gb.
For the same money as a mbp, you're getting more memory, faster CPU, better battery life, etc etc
In Linux and Windows, it's always possible to compile for any platform, at the worst using a VM
Essentially Apple is exploiting its developer community by decreeing that you must use a Mac to develop for iOS giving it guaranteed sales.
It's a reflection on history, decades-long, using Apple as the protagonist.
I am a very long time Apple fan, having used everything they released. And I am not 'frustrated' by recent releases. I am a technologist, I like technology, and I will use whatever is the best for now and the future. Which is why I chose Apple years ago. And which is why I am no longer enthusiastic by its future roadmap.