Most apps that I know people use in MacOS are really not native-controls based - Ableton Live, Max/MSP, VDMX, Resolume, Mathematica, JetBrains IDEs, VSCode, Sublime Text...
I'm pretty sure the parent was talking about macOS exclusive apps. The ones I recognize there are all multi-platform, which have always had the problem of keeping their own conventions between platform or adopting the platforms--most chose to keep their app consistent platform-to-platform.
I also think "professional" apps are a special case (which is a totally subjective classification). Even Apple and Microsoft have done their own thing for professional apps since forever. If I'm going to use that app for 8hrs every day, I'm more accepting of learning something new. I'm still more likely going to pick up an app if it follows existing conventions...I already chose my OS because I've learned and like those conventions.
There are a couple that are cross platform and still native, such as Microsoft Office and the Affinity suite.
Microsoft Office has gotten way better over the years. They used to design the UX around the idea of "Office Users", not "Mac Users"
This is very frustrating when supporting a mixed team of Mac and PC users on office. I would prefer it to be the same everywhere.
And that's the problem. I imagine those Mac users chose it because they like the OS' conventions. Photoshop seems to have gone the other way from using OS conventions to doing their own thing the same on each platform. iTunes, which didn't always follow macOS conventions, did port everything to Windows.
Re:Electron 7.0
by DonHopkins on Thursday October 24, 2019 @08:20PM
(#21350526)
You might have a point there, if at any time in their sordid history Apple actually followed any of their own UX/UI conventions in their flagship apps.
That example was 20 years ago, and Apple specifically discarded the skeuomorphic focus which that resulted from around six years ago (partly in concert with retina displays).
Do you have a more modern example?
My mac's primary purpose is to run bash, firefox, intellij, and docker. they've all got their own UI, and I don't feel wanting for power.
They really don’t. Have you taken a look at the thriving ecosystem of native, powerful macOS apps that follow platform conventions?