from Hacker News

macOS Is Hot Garbage

by kenrose on 1/10/22, 10:32 PM with 21 comments

• by sombremesa on 1/10/22, 11:11 PM

  > First used a mac in 2021.

  And there it is.

  Nobody likes change. If you hate it so much, go back.

  Sure, it has its issues, but people who've been using it for a while are VASTLY more qualified to comment on that. If I'm used to skateboarding and I hate my first experience driving a car, should Toyota make a gap in the floor so I can push along with my foot?

  At least MacOS is big enough that people don't launch gigantic misguided attempts at a replacement and derail their lives, like that guy who tried to make a "distraction-free" Slack alternative.

• by mikestew on 1/10/22, 11:32 PM

  What's the OS equivalent of a tourist hating on the country they're visiting because they do it so much better back home? Because that's what someone who's used macOS a whole year before writing this article reminds me of. Or maybe something something Chesterton's Fence would be more apt.

• by Octabrain on 1/11/22, 10:37 PM

  I think the author, as some comments mentioned already, is just complaining due to the lack of experience and knowledge on how to tune the system.

  My story with MacOS is this: After almost 20 years of using Linux on the desktop and for work, I had to change two years ago to MacOS due to requirements of my employer (not really, I just got sick of having to use Linux “illegally” in a partition on the shitty Dell Laptop with Windows that the company provided me initially with and then my manager suggested me to get a Macbook pro).

  It was odd at the beginning but once I got the habit and understanding on how doing things, I have to say that is so far the most reliable desktop os I have used ever. It behaves always as I expect. No ugly surprises, no desktop crashes etc.

  The only pain points I can complain are: - Inconsistent behaviour on maximizing/minimizing windows.

  - Cannot change at once the wallpapers of all virtual desktops.

  - Lack of keyboard shortcuts for certain things.

  - Missing GNU cli tools (despite this is something that can be addresses via brew for a big part of them)

  - The fact that you have to stick with what Apple wants you to stick with (This means, no deep customisations of the system)

  - I personally don’t like to have the windows menu on the top bar, I prefer the per-windows approach.

  Despite the mentioned points, I still thinking that its good things overpasses the bad.

  (I actually ended up buying a Macbook pro for myself)

• by tsujp on 1/11/22, 3:17 AM

  Most of this blog (rant) is complaining about default behaviour which is trivially changeable, or comparison to other operating system shortcuts. For example, the author states as objective fact that Finder’s “enter” to rename and “command + down” to move into a folder is awkward, but I find Windows’ ALT + F2 to rename awkward and I don’t run around making subjective opinion appear as objective fact.

  I think this blog speaks more to the authors inability to read a manual, or explore the settings pane with attention given how many of these problems are solveable with a Preferences change either via the GUI or command line.

• by robaye on 1/10/22, 11:16 PM

  Is there a way to actually send Apple feedback on these “issues” somewhere. Also, I’m sure you could make a post similar this for Windows, Linux, and everything in between.

• by aliswe on 1/11/22, 12:17 AM

  Yes, loads of annoyances in Mac OS from a UX standpoint once you get past using the "launch bar", ie. intermediate to semi advanced usage.

• by timsneath on 1/11/22, 1:26 AM

  It's odd that (at the time of writing) HN commenters are so defensive about an article like this ("if you hate it so much, go back"). Perhaps it's because of the provocative title?

  The fact that there are rough edges on other platforms is irrelevant, as is that "the user doesn't understand how macOS works". That the author hit these issues, was frustrated by them, and wasn't able to quickly identify a workaround, suggests that there is an opportunity for improvement, whether it's a functional or usability bug. Perhaps macOS isn't "hot garbage", but it's also got flaws that may be worthy of discussion by a community of hackers and product folk.

• by thenewuser1 on 1/10/22, 11:43 PM

  > Just wait until you try Windows...

  It is really funny to see comments like this from Apple fans here. As if pointing to a much worse OS(in their view) excuses all the drawback in MacOS.

  There is so much things that break, corner cases, basic features missing, unintuitive user interface in MacOS. It probably was good long back, but I don't think that is the case at present.

• by AtomicOrbital on 1/11/22, 2:11 PM

  any information worker should at least try linux and cut over to only using linux asap ... sure I have tried all the various releases of Windows and OSX however linux just works especially if you are a developer who values ease of use and unlimited flexibility ... get a junker laptop which noone uses and teach yourself how to burn a linux OS onto a memory stick then boot from this to try out then install linux onto that box ... the first several days/weeks will be challenging however once you cut over and master the basics and become fluent this effort will be time well spent ... many linux distros are available though Ubuntu is a good onramp if not an excellent dailydriver ... and yes OSX is hot garbage

• by test001only on 1/10/22, 11:36 PM

  I have felt the same thing. The MacBook is an awesome piece of hardware, with a bad OS on top of it.

• by awue on 1/10/22, 11:48 PM

  Most of these "issues" are because the user doesn't understand how MacOS works and is too used to how another operating system works. So let's call it "hot garbage".

  I could have argued most of the authors points, had Medium let me sign in :shakes_fists:

• by armchairhacker on 1/10/22, 11:33 PM

  Just wait until you try Windows...

• by zarmin on 1/11/22, 12:12 AM

  cringe article