The auto-launching of itunes when I get off a call using my Bluetooth headset is super annoying! If it weren't for the CLI Mac would be worthless for development. The only reason I have one is for work, and only because I'm not allowed to use my own hardware (which would be a laptop with debian).

You can get rid of iTunes launching by renaming it. If I recall correctly, there are a bunch of possible workarounds but that's the one that definitely works if you don't care about iTunes. But it required getting IT approval for upgraded permissions and then a whole reboot into safe mode and change the name procedure using some setting or shell command (something like that). I think it was like two or three reboots to change the name of the iTunes application, but I don't recall the exact procedure.

My CLI do you mean the Unix-like underlying system (like through Terminal, zsh, bash, etc.)? I enjoy WSL on Windows more because it's actually Linux and usually just works. The only trouble I have there sometimes is network related activities, as is usual for VM-like setups.

I found software called notunes that will disable iTunes, but now my Amazon music player fires up whenever I stop a Bluetooth call instead.

And yes, I mean the unix like environment. WSL isn't an option for me on my work computer since our giant corporate IT department has the windows machines on an older build (and locked down to the point of productivity sacrifice) that has poor WSL support. I've used it on my home PC and it works surprisingly well and gets better with each update.

Wow, you basically defeated your own argument (the first sentence) with the rest of your post.

You've merely succeeded in demonstrating many examples of "one mans lackluster features is another mans streamlined interface". All of your examples are things that many people won't run into. External monitor? Non-Apple bluetooth? I don't use either of those so, yes indeed, I find it to be a streamlined interface.

iTunes doesn't even exist anymore on macOS.

> Try to rename iTunes, because that's the only way to keep it from opening every time you connect your non-Apple Bluetooth headphones (there's a convoluted procedure to do so)

Never happened once with any of my non-Apple Bluetooth headphones. What the ** are you talking about? Do you constantly hit the play button on the headphones when you connect them? That's the only time Apple Music or iTunes would launch without the user starting the app explicitly.

> due to poor resolution and text handling on macOS

Yeah. Apple has basically told everyone without a Retina display to go ** themselves. While Windows does handle those in-between resolutions much better.

>I don't know why Apple doesn't get the same hate as Windows, because my Macbook Pro constantly installs stuff all on its own

You can turn off auto-updates on the Mac. You do know that right?

> Macbook Pro with a discrete video card struggles to drive the monitor.

My guess is that you're using a 2016-2019 MBP. If so, try plugging in the dock/monitor to the right side Thunderbolt ports. For some ungodly reason MBPs tend to throttle if a dock is plugged in on the left side.

If by Retina display you mean an Apple display and not resolution, then yes. Because my monitor is 5k and should be able to be handled. And I already use the Thunderbolt port on the right side, having researched this a bit. Auto-updates can be turned off on Windows as well. I still get updates I didn't expect on macOS, often when I've told it explicitly not to do so (like when you get the notification requesting it). And sometimes, like for work computers, auto-update is not able to be disabled (I no longer use Macs for my personal use), and so macOS doing the update whenever it wants is problematic.

Regarding the headphones, it's a common issue. In our case, it was done when the Bluetooth headphones (a model sold in Apple stores!) simply connected, as another commenter mentioned. There's all sorts of forum posts about this with a litany of solutions. The only solution that worked for us was to rename iTunes (the name at the time).

> If by Retina display you mean an Apple display and not resolution, then yes. Because my monitor is 5k and should be able to be handled.

Really? You have a 5120x2880 monitor that macOS is messing up? I've never heard that before. Talk to LG, there's got to be something wrong with it.

>Auto-updates can be turned off on Windows as well. I still get updates I didn't expect on macOS, often when I've told it explicitly not to do so (like when you get the notification requesting it).

Not Apple's fault that you don't know what you're doing. I've turned off auto-updates and nothing updates unless I tell it to. There are some apps that auto-update on their own, like Chrome and Firefox. But they do that on Windows too.

> Regarding the headphones, it's a common issue. In our case, it was done when the Bluetooth headphones (a model sold in Apple stores!) simply connected, as another commenter mentioned.

Basically the headphones that do that send a play command when they connect. Apple will auto-start iTunes/Apple Music when nothing is loaded and play is hit. Yeah, that's annoying. I wish Apple didn't program iTunes that way, but that is entirely the fault of the headphones. That's why bluetooth headphones today don't do that.

> > If by Retina display you mean an Apple display and not resolution, then yes. Because my monitor is 5k and should be able to be handled. Really? You have a 5120x2880 monitor that macOS is messing up? I've never heard that before. Talk to LG, there's got to be something wrong with it.

I can also confirm that OSX doesn’t have a good case with external monitors, but I am no longer sure that it is possible at all. Frankly, all OSes suck at it so hard that one should just try to avoid the situation. Strangely enough the new Wayland on Linux may be the most adequate at it, though it is still far from perfect.