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Desktop Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, macOS

Owned by Nathan Wailes
Last updated: Aug 27, 2024
4 min read

Chromebooks

Chromebook Pixel LS

FreeBSD

This was the OS that Jan Koum used for the WhatsApp servers.

macOS

Articles / Videos

Criticisms

John

  • My hatred for it is based on the little things, and it might not even be fair

    • Like the dock. What does pc have? The tray? No, the task bar?
      I like for it to be the bottom of my screen: the start at the bottom left corner; my pinned apps; then the open windows; then all the clock, battery, sound info in the bottom right. On a Mac, the “dock” is centered; and the clock, sound, WiFi info is in the top bar
      So it wastes screen space and spreads out info

  • And then the keyboard: I want ctrl, Windows, alt. But noooooo, it has to be ctrl, option, command

    • NW: He goes on to explain that he needs to swap the use of his thumb and his pinky. For Alt-Tab he needs to use his pinky on macOS (thumb on Windows), and for Select All he needs to use his thumb on macOS (pinky on Windows). This seems like a minor problem to me.

  • And there’s no delete. They call backspace delete, and there’s no delete. Like can I erase in both directions please?

    • NW: it looks like you can do a forward delete by doing Fn + delete. I can understand them doing this to reduce the number of keys on the keyboard and thereby make the remaining keys easier to identify / find.

  • And when installing apps, you don’t get an app. You get a disc image, and it unpacks itself or whatever it does. Like damn, can I just get an exe?

    • NW: Meh, this doesn't seem annoying to me.

  • Besides that they’re the same thing. You run apps and save files

  • I can’t tell if my hate for those small differences is genuine, or if it’s just a deep seated preference based on repetition

What I've learned from my experience owning a MacBook

  • Background:

    • I didn't like Macs for a long time because I hated them when I was young because they couldn't run Rainbow 6, Counter-Strike, and other games, and then the Macs we had in high school were worse (IMO) than the Windows PCs, and also couldn't run games.

    • I ended up getting a MacBook because I had heard very good things about them, and Pieter had been praising them for years.

  • What I've noticed / learned:

    • Hardware:

      • The most important thing is to have a very fast computer (lots of CPU and RAM). I would say I actually feel marginally more productive on my powerful gaming PC than on the MacBook and my gaming PC runs Windows. But it’s not portable. If you can get a lightning-fast Windows laptop with good battery life, you should be fine, and the value of a MacBook above it will be very marginal (IMO).

      • A nice thing about the M-series laptops is the battery life. I can get 8hrs on a full charge, which makes it just that little bit easier to show up at any restaurant and be able to work without having to think about where I can find an outlet. Also, where I am restaurant employees and managers don't understand how to estimate the cost of electricity of a particular appliance and often think charging my laptop is costing them a significant amount of money, so it's nice to not have to worry as much about them hassling me about that.

    • Software:

      • I'm using the same key software whether I'm on macOS or Windows: Chrome, Jetbrains IDEs, Slack, Postman, Upwork / Toggl. So it's not like a PlayStation vs. X-Box situation where a particular crucial game/app is only available on one OS.

      • Games: I think it's actually nice to have a machine 100% dedicated to work, with no gaming stuff whatsoever on it. My ThinkPad had Steam on it, and even if I rarely opened it, the thought of it being there can be distracting.

    • The trackpad

      • The trackpad seems marginally nicer than the one on my ThinkPad; it feels marginally smoother to slide my finger across / less sticky.

      • For a long time I never understood the appeal of using a trackpad instead of a mouse since the mouse is more precise. What I've now understood is that while it's absolutely true that the trackpad makes certain actions slower, like clicking on a particular point of the screen, it makes other actions faster, like switching between destops and windows. And while doing dev work you may be more often switching between windows / desktops than you are clicking on particular points of the screen. So it's just not accurate to use a PC gamer's mindset of mouse vs. trackpad when the kinds of interactions you're typically doing are very different.

      • Another nice thing about using the trackpad vs a mouse is that it’s just that tiny bit easier to start working: I don’t have to drag out my mouse and mousepad.

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