I have uses the newer OS’s of Mac but never the classic series that were numbered.
For those who have used apple computing back in the day, what was it like using it? Was it a lot more snappier and better user interface intuitiveness?
I say this because it always seemed to me that the macintosh operating systems seemed to be more… “smooth sailing” than Bill’s 50/50 BSOD contraptions (Windows ME anyone?)
Obviously things have changed a lot more with newer macos being more fisher priced down in looks but I’d really like to know what you guys thought about OS 8 or 9!
Thank you!
I recently decided to learn modern macOS after avoiding it my whole life.
The UI isn’t horrible, but I found that I needed to buy about 20 different apps to regain basic OS functionality. Naturally some of these apps will charge me if I want to use them on the next version of macOS as well - honestly their whole app ecosystem feels like a scam.
I bought more apps than I would recommend to anyone just for the sake of testing and learning them. That being said, assuming someone doesn’t know their way around zsh/bash, can’t figure out homebrew, or doesn’t know how to use GitHub, they are probably going to have a bad time (although weirdly my tech illiterate friends like vanilla… am I crazy, or is window snapping extremely efficient?).
What type of OS functionality did you have to buy apps for? I bought a MacBook in 2019, first time using macOS on my own device in my life, and I haven’t ran into anything I’ve needed that I couldn’t get for free from brew, direct git clone then build, or installing from the installer on the vendor’s website instead of the App Store version.
In fact the only app I’m currently subscribed to is Infuse, and that’s because I wanted to turn off my Dell R710 for good and moved Plex to my NAS, but also have a shit ton of both encoded and remux 4K content, and I can almost hear my NAS laughing at me if I’m not direct playing. And that’s more for the Apple TV than the laptop anyway.
To your point about needing to be comfortable with zsh, git, building from source, all that cli stuff in general, I don’t think that’s an accurate assessment. One of the things I like most about macOS is that having that knowledge isn’t a requirement to use and enjoy it, but it’s there if you want it. There’s a reason you get both power users and non-technical people in love with macOS. The crossover appeal is much more weighted to the power user side for Linux. I don’t know anyone who “loves” Windows, they’ve either used it exclusively their entire life because it’s what they were exposed to in school, at the library, at work, or wherever they used a computer, or they have to use it to play games, although that’s thankfully getting better now.
And yeah the snapping is atrocious, when compared to Win11 or pre-11 with power toys. Idk why, I guess I’d just chalk it up to a fundamental difference in how Apple and MS saw their window managers being used during design. At this point it’s kind of crazy Apple hasn’t put work into improving it though.
Sound and battery management come to mind. Things like swish, Alfred, and better touch tool also makes things much nicer.
I wouldn’t say that anything is necessary at all, but my goal was to see how usable I could make macOS (as I had been told it was too easy and non-customizable by people who haven’t used it). Non-mac people generally hate apple for their ridiculous money grabbing techniques (myself included), but they also probably don’t realize how good the M series chips are. Even after realizing I like them though, I will still never buy a first hand apple device… their pricing is absurd.
I’m sure there are free alternatives to most software at this point. However, some of the paid versions are definitely better. Also, if you’re new to macOS it’s easy to assume the app store is “the” place to get apps, without realizing you can buy them directly from sites - I did this myself once.
Overall I probably enjoy using Mac more than windows as it feels closer to Linux to me. But it definitely still has issues (constant iCloud popups are my main complaint). Also the RAM situation is a joke, I can absolutely crash my M1 air by processing too hard. Also it’s definitely NOT good for any sort of gaming, as the video output is choppy (can barely handle factorio).
Allegedly window snapping is coming in the next version of macOS.
Edit: love being downvoted by fanboys (mac fanboys? Linux fanboys? Who knows at this point 😂)