Everything hurts about mac

[SnowCrocodile]

You are suffering from a common problem. You are so used to doing things the hard way that the easy way seems unnatural.

This is a hilariously fanboyish statement.

I love many aspects of Mac, but a lot of things are a lot less "easy" than they are on Windows or Linux. Working with files or window management is one of them. Some of it can be alleviated via 3rd party apps, but not fully and not all.

 

[za9ra22]

This is a hilariously fanboyish statement.

I love many aspects of Mac, but a lot of things are a lot less "easy" than they are on Windows or Linux. Working with files or window management is one of them. Some of it can be alleviated via 3rd party apps, but not fully and not all.

Sad to say I have to agree with this. It wasn't always that way, but certainly some of the paradigms Apple have adopted and favored have been less than ideal.

There is an element of adjustment over time, as there always is to difference and both intellectual and muscle memory, but that isn't at all the only part of it.

 

[theorist9]

I love many aspects of Mac, but a lot of things are a lot less "easy" than they are on Windows or Linux. Working with files or window management is one of them. Some of it can be alleviated via 3rd party apps, but not fully and not all.

I would modify that statement to say window management on a Mac is less easy for you. I find it far easier than what Windows offers*, for my own personal workflow.

E.g., suppose I have an avg. of 10 windows open in each of 10 different programs, and I want to go to that window. In MacOS, I click on the program to make it active, explode all windows for that program using a Mission Control (formely Expose) shortcut**, and click on the desired window.

And for window tiling, I use Rectangle.

*At least the last time I checked -- maybe they've improved things. But it doesn't look like they have:

Expose for Windows

www.petefreitag.com

**On my Mac, I can activate this both with the upper right Hot Corner, and a programmed button on my mouse; see:

Everything hurts about mac

It's understandable to feel pain when switching to a new OS. While I prefer MacOS to Linux and Windows, I don't like using it by itself. It only becomes slickly usable for me when I combine it with a few essential 3rd-party programs. For me, those are: CopyLess for clipboard management...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I am not talking about switching between windows, I am talking about window tiling. Windows does it better. Linux does it even better. Rectangle does it ok but it can’t jump over Mac’s inherent limitations like the minimum allowed window size in some apps, or the fact that you have to exit the maximized window before resizing it.

And then there’s the issue of deliberate limits designed to push people towards the higher end devices. I can take a midrange or even entry level Windows or Linux laptop and connect it to two monitors using cheap adapters. I have to use MacBook Pro for the same thing on Mac. And, to add insult to injury, the output on the same regular non-high PPI monitor looks decidedly sharper on both Windows and Linux than on Mac - and I am pretty sure that’s by design. I don’t expect the Mac projected to an external display to look as great as it does on its native high resolution screen, but at the same token there’s no good reason why it should look less sharp than Windows or Linux on the same freaking monitor connected with the same cable via the same adapter. Other than trying to upsell me on their monitor at 10x the cost.

To be fair, I could write a similar rant about Windows or Linux. Just different annoyances.

 

[rin67630]

... but certainly some of the paradigms Apple have adopted and favored have been less than ideal.

The single menu being one of the most annoying one.
Whereas it was really convenient on real estate limited notebooks 20 years ago, it is just ridiculous on current 27" 5k screens to operate an app located at the right bottom of your desktop from the left top of it.

 

[za9ra22]

The single menu being one of the most annoying one.
Whereas it was really convenient on real estate limited notebooks 20 years ago, it is just ridiculous on current 27" 5k screens to operate an app located at the right bottom of your desktop from the left top of it.

I go back and forth on this, despite the fact that I switch between Macs and Windows systems with large screens quite routinely. It's actually not something I generally notice much. When I do, the convenience of a menu-per-window seems good until I get the certainty of muscle memory for a menu in a fixed and absolute location.

Neither seems inherently better.

That said, the horrifying mess Apple has made out of system settings, compared to the mild confusion of Windows settings would be one example. The idiocy of some Finder behaviors, the fact that you can't remove or control much of the bloat, and that certain things you do remove or change settings for are reinstalled or reset to default after updates.... Others too, and though it's not a big list, each is a significant irritant.

 

[ignatius345]

I have this very flat mouse

The stock mouse is (IMO) absolutely horrible to work with. The first thing I'd do is replace it if you're able.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I go back and forth on this, despite the fact that I switch between Macs and Windows systems with large screens quite routinely. It's actually not something I generally notice much. When I do, the convenience of a menu-per-window seems good until I get the certainty of muscle memory for a menu in a fixed and absolute location.

Neither seems inherently better.

That said, the horrifying mess Apple has made out of system settings, compared to the mild confusion of Windows settings would be one example. The idiocy of some Finder behaviors, the fact that you can't remove or control much of the bloat, and that certain things you do remove or change settings for are reinstalled or reset to default after updates.... Others too, and though it's not a big list, each is a significant irritant.

Like the tiny, barely readable fonts in some core OS apps that still can’t be changed without giving up resolution.

Or the propensity to just randomly disconnect external drives that are not in Apple Journaled format, and then on reconnect force a silent drive check with no message and no way to stop it so the drive appears frozen for the 20-30 minutes it takes the system to check it.

Also in my experience, a misbehaving Mac process is more likely to cause an overall system slowdown that can only be fixed via a cold reboot, vs Windows or Linux.

 

[rin67630]

Or the propensity to just randomly disconnect external drives that are not in Apple Journaled format, and then on reconnect force a silent drive check with no message and no way to stop it so the drive appears frozen for the 20-30 minutes it takes the system to check it.

I never had so much crooked SD cards than since I was using macOS.
Now, back to Windows, I never have any trouble.

 

[SnowCrocodile]

I never had so much crooked SD cards than since I was using macOS.
Now, back to Windows, I never have any trouble.

Windows is in many ways superior to MacOS.

This of course goes both ways.

My biggest problem with Windows for personal computing is that I dislike the available hardware choices. I want a laptop that is great to use AND light AND has a long battery life AND is very reliable. It seems that everything in the Windows world is a total crapshoot and while it's absolutely possible to get a great device, it's just equally possible to get a POS. I use a top of the line Surface Pro at work, and this thing has been super buggy from day one, battery never lasted more than 3 hours of email and meetings, periodically overheats and slows to a crawl, it really soured me up on buying an expensive Windows laptop with my own money. I've had somewhat good luck with midrange laptops, but then I'd give up a lot of niceties that I want (display quality, keyboard feel etc.) I just don't want to spend north of $1,500 and end up with a dud.

I am perfectly fine with Windows as an OS. It's very easy to de-bloat it and set it up as a secure private OS, especially if you pay a little for a Professional license (a completely legit license can be had from Stack Social for a song). I would have to switch to an Android phone to get most out of it, but I would be OK with that, I am not married to an iPhone, there are pros and cons with both ecosystems. But the hardware is giving me a headache just thinking about it...

 

[rin67630]

My biggest problem with Windows for personal computing is that I dislike the available hardware choices.

Used Intel Macs are part of the hardware choice and good hardware enough.
My choice for Windows: they are on the top of it economical + environmentally savvy.

 

[GianL]

If you have a wheel mouse, pc scrolling direction makes sense.
If you use a trackpad, the macOS default makes sense.

MacOS user for less than 1.5 years here and I had to install an open source app (in github) to "adjust" wheel scrolling on regular mice: UnnaturalScrollWheels.

Another pet peeve of mine: in Windows I could select a single word in a text with a double left-click, the whole paragraph with a triple left-click of the mouse. I can't do this in Mac or this is not consistent among apps: any advise? cheers

 

[forzagaribaldi]

MacOS user for less than 1.5 years here and I had to install an open source app (in github) to "adjust" wheel scrolling on regular mice: UnnaturalScrollWheels.

Another pet peeve of mine: in Windows I could select a single word in a text with a double left-click, the whole paragraph with a triple left-click of the mouse. I can't do this in Mac or this is not consistent among apps: any advise? cheers

Those double/triple clicks work exactly as you describe for me on the Mac (tested on your post in Safari). Just checked on my MBA but I know it also works for me using my mouse when docked.