Re:Your Computer Isn't Yours
by christophilus on Friday November 13, 2020 @08:17AM
(#25081824)
Probably 90% of developers I've worked with in the past 5 years used a Mac, and really wanted to do so. I know a handful that left Linux to do it, and have told me they can't imagine going back. I'm not sure that your'e right about developers.
I do know that my next machine will be Linux. I'm probably going to put together a desktop for my office, and I'll buy a System76 laptop or whatever for those times when I want to work from the porch.
Re:Your Computer Isn't Yours
by davidwparker on Friday November 13, 2020 @10:45AM
(#25083420)
Anecodote- I was on OSX for ~9 years +/-1 or 2 years. Came from Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows for ~10 years before. I made a switch a year ago back to the same (Windows + Linux) and I've been nothing but happy. I know people tend to complain about Linux on the desktop, but I had great experiences a decade ago, and I do again.
I always have complaints about my Linux system, until I realize that my Windows colleagues do the same. It shit here, shit there, shit anywhere I imagine. I personally had good luck so far, each of my machines worked well with Linux out of the box, and I have to realize that I had around the same amount of issues as I did in my Windows days.
Estimated 1-3% developers of developers I worked with run MacOS. Maybe it is a local or SV thing, but most I know prefer the freedom. In the industry I work there aren't many tools for Apple ecosystems available.
edit: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/
It is quite high and to correct myself: Some developers have a Mac for iOS development. Most people I know hate it.
IBM has nearly all of it's developers on Mac at this point. I came from using exclusively linux for 10+ years and have decided to switch my personal machine to a Mac and my phone to an iPhone because it's been so good.
Mac has everything I liked about Linux but with zero cognitive overhead. With brew and a window manager (amethyst) I'm not missing any features I enjoyed in Linux.
There is money in creating apps for Apple systems, but you are giving up a lot in exchange.
Some developers use it for convenience but I would not say it is widespread and most are fundamentally opposed to use a mac.
Our advertising department is the only one with macs. Sadly, we still support Apple because every sales rep gets the whole suite. iPhones and iPad Pros (because the others are too small and you cannot work with them... what a new revelation...), that is a few thousand bucks for every employee that Apple gets. They even get the ridiculously priced pen (120$?) and keyboard (300$+). And our sales people still complain about not have notebooks, because they are superior devices. There is just the presentation argument.