hckrnews.com lets you browse the list of submitted stories more easily than news.ycombinator.com.
You can't really be blamed for not knowing that something was on news.ycombinator.com since looking at the list there is slow and painful. To find yesterday's story, I had to scroll down the page and click "More" about 6 or 7 times and on each listing, I had to hit F3 (find) to search for Uber.
This site doesn't even have a proper search function.
So, don't even worry about it because how can anybody expect you to know?
> Microsoft posts a low-quality video attempting to get Hackernews to boot Windows on their Macs so they can have bad implementations of modern Linux tools instead of the bad implementations of outdated Linux tools that ship with MacO's.
Satire is funnier when it's accurate. "bad implementations of modern Linux tools" is incorrect here because the tools are the same binaries that come with Ubuntu.
Wow, so is this the official beginning of the age of decentralized cable-companies?
As a cable cutter, one thing I am really looking forward to is the day that I can flip channels again very easily, without having to think about what I am doing.
It's hard to convince us because it's not true. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true - hardware certainly doesn't "just work" in Apple's ecosystem and it does just work with Windows.
I use Mac and Windows every day at work. Rarely, if ever, do I have any issues with my Windows hardware but my Mac hardware constantly causes me problems. Just last week I had to take steps to "zap the PRAM" on my 2012 Mac Pro since every USB port died for no reason.
I also have multiple wireless USB mice that work fine on my Macs until I go to the Updates tab of the App Store...at which point they simply stop working. Another problem I have with my Macs is that there is no built-in way to disable an external monitor without unplugging it or powering it down.
Honestly, I've been using Macs since the 90's, I've always had hardware problems with them and when I look around I see others having the same problems - so I know it's not just me. If you search the web you can see millions of others having Mac hardware issues - so I'm not really sure where Apple fans are getting the idea that Mac hardware "just works" because it quite obviously does not.
It's not "Mac works" and "Windows doesn't work" or vice versa. They both have issues, regularly, and often trade places being worse. They BOTH suck.
It's a matter of what issues you feel comfortable dealing with. There is no computer utopia, unless you're only surfing and writing documents, and need nothing more complex than a Chromebook. ;)
I use Mac and Windows every day and I'm certainly comfortable with both of them. Many of my Mac hardware issues have no fix at all though.
The one I mentioned about certain USB mice dying has never been fixed. Another thing that will never ever be fixed is the lack of choice video cards that I can put into the PCIe slot on my Mac Pro. Other problems with PRAM or SMC/sleep have a "fix" but somehow they keep popping up and you have to keep applying the fix. I can tell you honestly that I never have recurring problems on the Windows because things get fixed quite rapidly since Microsoft obviously still cares about Windows.
Anyway, I don't care about Chromebooks or other walled garden devices really. Even if I just wanted something to browse with I would prefer a Windows tablet so I could have some freedom ;)
I had a Surface Book. It was my first foray back into Windows territory. The device itself is amazing. Blows the doors off an iPad, in terms of productivity. (remember: long time Apple user)
Unfortunately, I ragequit it and sold it after dealing with the "sleep of death" issue enough times. Well-documented issue, and supposedly fixed with updates. (that was not my experience).
The Surface Book got fixed for good with a firmware update though.
Meanwhile, all of the Mac problems I mentioned are still not fixed and Apple is still quite obviously, ignoring their desktop OS. They've also always hated power users where-as Microsoft caters to them on hand and foot.
The problem with this response is that it is anecdotal and not statistically significant. Which makes it useless, unfortunately.
I never claimed Macs didn't have hardware issues. I claimed that it is nearly impossible to convince a die-hard Windows user that perhaps they might be happier overall on a Mac.
same, I had to zap the pram, or whatever, bc it wouldnt boot. also have problems connecting external monitors through miniDP, sometimes the monitor doesn't work.
C# is certainly better than JavaScript in many ways. That's why tons of JavaScript developers and popular projects have now switched to TypeScript, the C# of the web.
Well, I don't know where you get the idea that C#/TypeScript/Java/etc are only used in bullshit enterprise projects but you couldn't be more wrong about that. There are plenty of games, mobile apps, hobby projects and other fun things written with these. Take a look around. Twitch.tv has a number of Windows/C#/TypeScript devs that work on games.
Anyway, have you heard of VSCode at all? That's written in TypeScript. So is Ionic 2 and Ionic Native. Those along with Angular 2/4 are all complete platforms written in TypeScript...
So, what have you got besides Reagent/Om? Because those aren't even half as large, popular or even alive as the ones I've mentioned (and React isn't built with Clojure either).
Are you asking me or are you telling me? I feel like no matter what I say, you are just going to shoot it down anyway because it seems like this particular avenue of thought is completely closed off to you. What do you think I'm going to say? That I don't use them? Not sure what kind of response you are expecting here.
I'm asking. If you say that you don't use the tools, I'll not give your previous opinion too much credit. If you say that you use, and that the recent updates of angular2/4/X didn't messed with your apps, I'd ask more about what have you done. Angular is completely imature, with a huge bad tasty for conventions (If someone says that RxJS is also good software, I'll first ask if they really have used it).
I see no problem in this way of arguing, do you? You have to back up your strong words in favor of something that I, as a user, have a lot of bad things to say about.
You're not answering any of my questions; you completely ignored them which was kind of rude in my opinion. Where are these great Clojurescript projects?
Anyhow, I use Ionic 2 (which is built on Angular 2) with TypeScript build mobile apps and they are absolutely fantastic to work with. What exactly are you going to ask me about this that is going to change your opinion? You've obviously made up your mind. So, what's the point of talking to you? You're not going to argue, you are just going to keep giving out your opinion which, so far, seems highly caustic and ill-informed.
Sorry that next to nobody is using your favorite language. It's not my problem. TypeScript and Angular definitely have a future and no amount of whining is going to stop it.
I also think that is useless to argue as you also have already made your mind. A lot of people would said the same about angular1 and here we are, stuck with an angular2 that breaks your app every release, the last one was angular cli.
I don't update for every single release like you do I guess. So maybe I have not had any problems that you've had. Ionic does not update right away when angular changes either.
My opinion doesn't really matter though. I use what is popular so that I have plenty of help getting my work done. The only opinion that I've given you of Clojurescript so far is that I don't think it's as popular. Other than that, nobody has told me what is so great about it in this thread or anywhere. So I really don't think that you have any basis to say that my mind is made up about how great that is. You're not selling it at all and you didn't even answer my question about it.
You misunderstood my point since the beginning. I never said clojurescript is currently the best option to software development, but it do fixes the architectural problems of JavaScript. As it is javascript, it improves the platform/ecossystem as a whole.
Riiiiight. That's why you made the argument about React/Reagent/Om when I pressed you about that point. Nice try though!
Anyway, I think I pointed out how wrong you are on just about every other point you made in this thread. Anybody who reads this will certainly see that. So, my work is done here :)
Windows is beautiful compared to the Mac OS where the software all looks like it was inspired by a 1970's era stereo unit.
The ugly UI isn't even the worst part about the Mac OS though. The worst part is that it just doesn't even come close to offering the same sort of freedom that you get on Windows where Microsoft leaves hooks in to let developers actually do what they want.
Most of the problems with the Mac OS are by design too. I think it's hilarious that Apple folks think it's a really good idea to hide the label on most buttons. I guess you have to "just know what it is" before clicking it or hover over it and hope for a tooltip to popup tell you what the thing will do. Real efficient.
There's really no wonder in my mind why most people don't use Apple anything.
I have to agree despite your downvotes. From 8.1 onwards, mobile and desktop, Windows has been the most beautiful OS. Using my iPhone 7 feels like stepping back in time in terms of the visuals.
I feel like I'm in prison or an insane asylum when I have to use my Mac or iOS devices after enjoying the freedom that I have using Windows all day.
I could go very far into detail here and list all of the extremely annoying limitations that I run into, but instead I'll respond to your vague complaints with my own. Apple quite obviously wants absolute control over their device and their software whereas Microsoft lets me to do whatever I want with my computers and my software.
I have to have a Mac to make iOS apps, but as soon as those are no longer a thing I'll toss all my Mac stuff straight into the garbage.
I've had the opposite experience. OSX is just weird bsd with a great window manager and ui framework. You can easily sidestep gatekeeper, if that is your complaint.
The hardware fit and finish is also second to none, and runs windows just fine if that's your thing.
The alternative on windows is a machine that spies on me, has horrible ui bugs and inconsistencies I run into constantly, and decides to auto update and reset all my privacy settings in the middle of the night while I am using the machine.
Not to mention it is often used with some awful trackpad. I haven't tried them all but I have never seen a non-mac trackpad I could go back to.
> The alternative on windows is a machine that spies on me, has horrible ui bugs and inconsistencies I run into constantly, and decides to auto update and reset all my privacy settings in the middle of the night while I am using the machine.
This exactly. I'm still baffled by claims that Windows 10 has a good desktop UI when I see its iconography [1], huge click (touch) targets [2], and wildly inconsistent use of whitespace [3]. That's not even mentioning the forced updates and always-on telemetry. I'm not sure how one can say macOS is more of a walled garden than Windows at this point, at least macOS's security features will get out of your way if you ask nicely.
> I'm still baffled by claims that Windows 10 has a good desktop UI when I see its iconography [1], huge click (touch) targets [2], and wildly inconsistent use of whitespace [3].
This almost reads as sarcasm. Some people really don't care about those things, and using them as examples of why you're baffled just highlights that disconnect between you and them. I don't use any bundled windows apps, and I'm rarely in the settings (and I just search for what setting I want), so iconography and whitespace design decisions in windows apps don't even factor into it for me.
Neither OS X nor Windows feel as comfortable as my customized FVWM config did, but windows gets a lot closer nowadays. I had to use OS X at work for a few years and it always grated.
> That's not even mentioning the forced updates
It's possible to disable them, you just have to put some effort into it (it requires regedit). I think this is the right decision. If you want to disable updates and you don't know how to change a registry setting, then for the good of us all, the answer is no.
I want automatic updates. I think this is a good thing. Chrome automatically updates whenever I restart it. This is great.
I don't want updates when I am in the middle of something full screen like a game, forcing a restart of the machine on me. This is madness.
I don't want ads for office 365, Cortana or edge on my desktop. I don't want to learn how to block them. I don't want to use an OS that feels like it is being milked for all it's worth in its dying breaths.
It always asks me, and I can delay it. You've actually had it force an update right then while playing a game, and without having told it "no, delay it" multiple consecutive times (I believe it will only let you delay it 2-3 times)?
Edit: Also, have you set your active hours? Windows allows you to define the times you use your system so it won't attempt to update during those times. Additionally, you can set a specific custom restart time for when it will restart.
I tried to. I play games for a few hours either at night or early am -- say 6pm-1am or 5am-9am are my possible slots. Unfortunately, windows update will not accommodate this -- you are only allowed to set one window with an 8 (maybe 12) hour max, and it must be consecutive. I had to dig around to find this, and it still is not sufficient. I ultimately solved my problem by using the regex editor to convince windows I was on a metered internet connection. Unfortunately, this broke update all together. I turned it back and now its still broken -- apparently the magic auto-updater is the only way get updates -- there's no button I can click to just download the latest update and install it? (at this point I gave up)
What about setting the specific update time to something like 3 AM?
I was just in the windows update settings and there was a way at the top to check for updates right then. I didn't use it so I'm not sure if there's some other gotchas involved with that.
I'll have to check that out, thank you for the tip. What I would really like is a a shutdown button that actually "Check for updates, install if found, then turn off". I'd click that every time I was done using it.
The window inconsistently interrupts my game. Some games it is able to rip me out of it mid session to tell me to restart, other times it silently times out in the background despite my computer running at full blast.
I have set active hours but for some reason my windows partition - and not my ubunutu partition, so it isn't a hardware issue - does not reliably remember my time zone. It is often reset without rhyme or reason to this random default (I think NYC). I don't always notice and change the time one when it boots up because I have steam launch in big picture mode.
Also, why does it even need to ask for active hours by default? I am using the machine at full-throttle. That is a really easy metric for "maybe wait until later". It's already logging everything I do and sending it to Microsoft, it would be nice to see some usuabiltiy features come out of all that data
Inconsistently working is a commmon theme of my experiences with windows. I am routinely baffled that I paid $100 for this experience and wish that there was better Linux game support for AAA titles. I know I throw my money that way whenever possible.
> why does it even need to ask for active hours by default? I am using the machine at full-throttle.
Some people run things all day long. My brother sometimes keeps the video game 7 days to die running all day at home while he's at work. Not updating when activity is detected is a good way to have it never update, and a good way to allow a virus to trigger a condition that may prevent automatic patches to holes it likes to use.
> I have set active hours but for some reason my windows partition - and not my ubunutu partition, so it isn't a hardware issue - does not reliably remember my time zone.
That's odd. Is it actually changing your time zone, or is it just off by a few hours? If it's just off by a few hours, my bet would be that it's a difference in how linux and windows set the system clock (one may prefer to keep the clock in UTC time, the other in the set time zone). If it's the actual time zone that's changing... I dunno, maybe some location service helper and a poorly mapped IP address? I haven't heard of that, but it does sound annoying.
I'm not arguing that there aren't cases where postponing restarting until there is lower load doesn't miss out on some people, I'm arguing that this shows a less respect for the user and is a poor experience. It does not feel like my machine, contrary to great-great grandparent. No other system I own forces restarts, and they all seem much more secure.
Its definitely the time zone not persisting. I've navigated through seas of menus to change it to no avail.
I agree its a good feature to ship enabled by default. Grandma who leaves her computer on for years at a time needs to have her security updates up to date.
I wouldn't call myself an unexperienced user at all but even after months of trying to disable the auto updates in W10 through all sort of settings and tweaks I gave up on it. Whatever I did it never lasted for long. When I'm not in control of my own machine what's the point? I have switched to a Linux distro and haven't regretted it.
I have a 2015 MPB and used it for 1 year before switching it to Windows because I got fed up of the apple dev environment.
It doesn't just run windows fine, it runs Windows with amazing speed compared to macOS. Everything feels (and is) snappier. I'm still left with a very expensive and under-powered machine.
PS. Installing Little Snitch, one becomes immediately aware that macOS does talk to base....a lot!
Sorry but that's just blatant lying. Apple takes great care of optimizing its OS and apps for its hardware, to the point where it's possible to use Final Cut Pro on the anemic MacBook 12 somewhat comfortably(!)
Yes, apple does optimize. I'm not disputing that; neither starting a silly "apple vs" debate. I am no fan boy of either mac or PC - I just use whatever is best.
The point is, that "equivalent software" runs faster. I would wager that if Final Cut Pro was for Windows, and you run it on the very same MacBook12, it would run faster on Windows. Despite this, using Final Cut Pro an example is a bad one, because it was developed by Apple itself (and therefore assumed to be highly optimized to the OS) and it is not available for windows.
It is more useful to compare an equivalent 3rd party (neither made by apple or microsoft) application. I'm a developer, so I use a lot more software than just "apps" so maybe if you try to use a wider set of software, the difference in platforms will become apparent.
Admittingly, I don't have numbers. But I don't need numbers, because you can feel the difference as a user. Install it and see for yourself!
Microsoft takes great care for optimizing its OS and apps for any hardware, to the point where it's possible to run Windows 10 on 10 year old hardware somewhat comfortably. To the point where the Windows 10 Kernel and a lot of the Windows 10 Core (OneCore) runs on mobile and IoT hardware...
To me, MacOS just seems like the best desktop UI and UX out there. I'm talking about stuff like font rendering, gestures, multiple desktops, etc. All of these things on the Mac have clearly had a huge amount of thought put into them. And since these things mediate your entire interaction with the computer, it's a big factor for me.
Windows seems to be a combination of 90's era throwbacks and 2edgy4you Metro design. If they've managed to improve this stuff recently I would be interested in switching, since there's a huge tax on hardware specs with Apple computers.
How recent is recently? Windows 7 was the first windows version I didn't dread using for years, Windows 8 was a small refinement on that, and Windows 10 is a vast improvement on that.
Windows 10 feels like it just wants to get out of my way, which is really nice, since for me the gold standard is a customized FVWM config I refined over a decade to be minimalist and extremely usable for work.
If you haven't used Windows 10, it's probably worth at least a look (as long as you don't mind or have ways to mitigate the privacy concerns).
I'm reading all of your comments here (not just yours) and I'm wondering. Do you spend that much time in OS alone?
I use MacOS, Windows, and Linux each and every day interchangeably. What I do is I start my productivity application(s) and spend time in that. I see OS when I'm copying files or when I'm in shell doing shit. Even when in shell, with baboon on Windows it's more or less the same experience across.
Only thing I want in all of OS' that is only in MacOS is preview. That thing is damn awesome. Everything else is invisible to me.
> whereas Microsoft lets me to do whatever I want with my computers and my software.
Not in my experience. My Windows 10 automation/unscrew-up script alone is like 5 kloc. And I bet 70% of that script could be replaced if I had real control of the system, like dropping a .config file in some folder instead of having to find hidden settings with nonsensical names deep down the regedit hole. Another example, you have to use some stupid hacks to make sure there are no Flash DLLs in your pc. No matter what you do they always come back in some security update.
> And I bet 70% of that script could be replaced if I had real control of the system, like dropping a .config file in some folder instead of having to find hidden settings with nonsensical names deep down the regedit hole.
You should see my ansible playbooks for our Windows Server systems, I don't mind PowerShell per-se but it takes a lot more effort to get anything done compared to my CentOS systems where I can template a config file and be done with it.
I really hope our vendors start supporting .Net Core soon, the SDK for our ECM software is the only reason we're still stuck on the full framework and having to manage a bunch of Windows VM's for our integration software...
It's based on several scripts from Github. A lot of lines are just regex and lists (apps, services, tasks) of things to disable or remove.
I recommend you do your own script by choosing what you want from each type of script. I would release my script if I was sure it wouldn't break random people's computers, because IT WILL. I'm also running Windows 10 enterprise because I want as little telemetry and things shoved up my ass as possible.
Some Windows updates can change registry keys or disable certain policies. I monitor the commit log of other repos to know what I need to update, but they don't always cover everything. Feels like a lot of work but it's actually not.
Here's how I structured it:
- admin.ps1
--- admin-config.ps1 (policies, tweaks)
--- disable-services.ps1
--- remove-flash.ps1
--- ...
- user.ps1 calls
--- user-config.ps1
--- disable-gamedrv.ps1
--- disable-services.ps1
--- ...
Because if you're using a regular user account (like you should) you need to run 3 things:
- admin.ps1 as admin
- user.ps1 as admin
- user.ps1 as your regular user
I gave up on using runAs or any of the things recommended on stackoverflow, something always go wrong so it's easier to do it this way.
For a fresh install, I recommend that the first thing you do is update everything and let Windows install the 200 apps you don't want. Run the 3 things like I mentioned, reboot, run it again, reboot.
My installation is months old and it runs like new even after heavy usage, hardware changes, tons of apps and games installed/uninstalled (this kills Windows 7). Just be careful what you remove, don't ever install ccleaner or any shit. All you need is sysinternals tools.
I'm too lazy to proof-read/make this shorter, hope it helps somebody.
Even assuming that issue was overblown, I distinctly remember that Catbert-style perma-nag message appearing on each login asking me to upgrade. Microsoft doesn't even deem its users worthy of a simple "Don't bother me again" close window.
Let us conservatively say about 10% of the 300 million people who supposedly got the Windows 10 update didn't actually want it. That's about 30 million folks who would disagree with this notion that Microsoft "lets me do whatever I want with my computers and my software".
The best thing Microsoft and Dell have going for them in the laptop space... the 2016 MacBook Pro w/Touch Bar. It was a dud. The GPU issues were the final straw for me.
I thought that switching back to Windows would be a HUGE hassle. The Windows Subsystem for Linux took the pain out of it. That, and I no longer have to fight the we-don't-have-a-macOS-version of $APP issues.
If Apple doesn't care about their computers, why should their users? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
> ...declared Apple as the platform for discerning power users.
Incorrect. There are plenty of discerning power users who prefer the power of a good UI over a good CLI. What you meant to say is "for power users who happen to use UNIX".
Even at peak reality distortion Apple had a whole 6% share of the desktop market. Just enough to be annoying to the rest of the world. They definitely never had a monopoly on these so-called "discerning power users".
You can't really be blamed for not knowing that something was on news.ycombinator.com since looking at the list there is slow and painful. To find yesterday's story, I had to scroll down the page and click "More" about 6 or 7 times and on each listing, I had to hit F3 (find) to search for Uber.
This site doesn't even have a proper search function.
So, don't even worry about it because how can anybody expect you to know?