Re:Ask HN: How do Linux/Ubuntu compare to macOS in terms of ...
by codemusings on Tuesday May 05, 2020 @04:49AM
(#23077886)
> For a Linux distro to achieve this macOS-like consistency, they must have some sort of unified SDK for GUI development or a standard desktop stack for developers to work against. The difficulty here is that the nature of the Linux ecosystem is that the users are free to swap-in/out alternative system components.
That's a very superficial and uninformed view. I can write a Qt app for macOS and it doesn't have the same consistency as an AppKit app. It's also just a framework. I would also argue that lumping Linux distros together makes no sense because it's Apples and Oranges. OP basically needs to compare Desktop Environments to have a sense of what it's like.
Personally I think Gnome and the underlying GTK framework is pretty close these days in look and feel compared to macOS. With the 3.36 release it has also gained a noticeable smoothness. They also have a HIG and generally strive for a consistent experience with a design group guiding the development.
Fedora provides a very nice out of the box experience for Gnome. So does Debian or Ubuntu.
When you put it in terms of those requirements between macOS and any other Linux distro, there is no such comparison because of the level of UI/UX consistency that macOS has over any Linux distro is not even close.
For a Linux distro to achieve this macOS-like consistency, they must have some sort of unified SDK for GUI development or a standard desktop stack for developers to work against. The difficulty here is that the nature of the Linux ecosystem is that the users are free to swap-in/out alternative system components. That's a blessing of freedom for its power-users and a curse for some developers. To some extent, macOS does both but limits which parts of its system can be swapped.
This consistency even goes further into the hardware for MacBook users but that would be even more unfair as a comparison.