There's some irony in this for me personally. My most recent major "I quit Apple" rage moment was trying to get Flameshot (which I use routinely on Linux) working on my Macbook, so I could more easily take screenshots, just to share something with a friend, because the built-in screenshot functionality in MacOS is so clunky. Between Gatekeeper and the XCode upgrade train, Mac OS's dogged insistence on not letting me run the software I wanted it to run worked me into a rage and I swear I'll never buy another Mac for casual daily computing again. They've really ruined the OS.
I’m curious: what is so clunky about the built in screenshot app? I don’t doubt you, I’ve just never had that experience, and I’m curious what I’m missing.
This is going to be an unpopular opinion. But I really like the old Hardware solution to the WebCam. In order for the Webcam to be activated, it must pass through the LED and showing a green dot. Switching it to software actually make me feel less protected knowing how fragile our software are.
First it was the orange/green dot in the corner of the screen for microphone/webcam (even in full-screen, much to the annoyance of anyone putting something on a projector). Then it was a full menu bar icon, with an added purple one for anytime something was doing screen recording (very annoying if you use software that regularly needs to do this, like Bartender[0] needed to for Bartender Bar and Show for Updates). I seriously hope this can be disabled, or at least is just one pop-up per week that covers all the applications, as otherwise it's going to be very annoying.
[0]: I have since moved to Ice, which has been less buggy.
> I think it shows just how much care and thoughtfulness went into turning up the dial on these nags that the button label incorrectly capitalizes the “to” in “Continue To Allow”. You can say, well, that’s a little thing. But that’s exactly the sort of little thing that almost never shipped from Apple, even in beta, until the last few years.
> Having to click through these confirmation nags every week, for every such utility you use, is not a little thing at all. It’s the sort of thing companies do when decisions like this are made by people looking to cover their asses, not make insanely great products.
I share Gruber's same sentiment. It makes me sad, as a longtime Mac fan, to witness the slow degradation of the platform. The polish, care, and thoughtfulness of earlier versions of OS X was, from my outside perspective, downstream of cultural and leadership conditions that no longer exist at Apple.
I fully expect macOS to continue sliding in quality unless and until some cultural reset happens... which is to say, I'm not holding my breath.
The bar is low, but somehow mac is even worse than windows. I had this screen to set new password. The tooltips that detailed the password requirements were shown off the edge of the screen, unable to read them. White text on white background. No default windows (heh) management. You have to enable right click in settings (what?!!). Their own silly mouse can not stay connected on bt to their own laptop. A cheap mouse worked better. And on and on...
> The tooltips that detailed the password requirements were shown off the edge of the screen, unable to read them. White text on white background.
This might be a legit UI bug, have never encountered it though.
> No default windows (heh) management.
If you're referring to window snapping to halves or corners of the screen, this has indeed been a weak spot in terms of a built-in option compared to Windows, but seems to finally be coming. Not really a bug but definitely a missing feature.
> You have to enable right click in settings
Completely forgot about this, I must have enabled it a decade ago and haven't needed to mess with it since. Not sure what the rationale is, but is a relic from another time, like all of Windows ;). You can also use ctrl+left click which is what I learned in school. Thought it was just different.
> Their own silly mouse can not stay connected on bt to their own laptop.
Seems like a hardware defect, their mice are comically bad.
- The overt contempt for the user's work: your computer reboots NOW to install updates, your work be damned. In comparison, macOS allows you to put off installing updates indefinitely. It never gets in your way. It doesn't consider itself more important than what you're doing on your computer.
- The overt contempt for the user's choices and preferences: oh no we sometimes accidentally reset your default web browser to Edge, it also sometimes accidentally opens itself after a reboot and requires the task manager to get rid of, and some links sometimes accidentally open in Edge. You know, computers are so unpredictable.
- Ads everywhere.
- MS Store sometimes accidentally installs "recommended" apps and games, or is it shortcuts to their listings, I don't remember.
- There are two UI stacks: win32 (the good one) and UWP/WinUI (the awkward tablet-like one with huge flat controls). Everything is wildly inconsistent. Some UIs haven't been updated since XP. I mean, if you're going to redesign your OS because you made the mistake of hiring designers full-time and now they need something to do, at least do it consistently. Like Apple does.
- Related to the last one, all new UIs are clearly built with touchscreens in mind first and foremost, while the vast majority of users use them with a keyboard and mouse.
That's not double much, but mostly a comparably list of issues
You can block updates on Windows as well, and of course Mac updates get in your way with that "update" badge you can't get rid off.
Mac changed the whole preferences layout that you can't even resize, so much for user respect in the good consistent UI stack. Inconsistent is better if the consistency is bad. The one benefit Mac has is it looks nicer
Also, when was the last time the great UI of a text file for default shortcuts updated on a Mac? Or where is that XP-style "registry" editor that's bad, but better than nothing?
Edge: Mac has a much more important app forced on you more forcefully - that dumb file manager. Or
forcing some file provider nonsense on your Dropbox obscuring your precious files.
Ads: that's just a common hyperbole, outside of the new install garbage you clean once, where is it "everywhere"?
Store: it doesn't install, shortcut isn't it, but also, on Windows it's easier to completely remove the pre-installed system apps compared to the newer macos where it's part of the locked blessed "never touch" partition
The "update" badge is a minor, ignorable inconvenience. It's nothing in comparison to the in-your-face modal that blocks your entire desktop.
There are various alternative file manager apps for macOS the same way there are for Windows. They don't replace Finder the same way Total Commander on Windows doesn't replace explorer.exe. Or what do you mean?
Ads in Windows sometimes come as notifications. Sometimes they appear as banners in the explorer. Sometimes, after you install a system update, they block your access to the desktop with a dark pattern to get you to subscribe to Office 360 or something.
Oh and by the way: Microsoft is also very insistent that you use a Microsoft account to log into your OS. Like, "have to use a secret key combo to open a command prompt during OOBE and run a secret command to bypass it" insistent. Apple doesn't do that. Yes you can log into an Apple account if you want to, but you can use macOS without one perfectly fine if you don't need their online services.
To be clear, I'm not saying that macOS is an ideal OS. It clearly isn't one and it clearly is going downhill. But compared to Windows 10 and 11, it could as well be ideal.
> The "update" badge is a minor, ignorable inconvenience
This badge is something I can not remove. And I can't ignore it, it interferes with notification about regular app updates. I can block updates on Windows, so there is NO "in-your-face modal that blocks your entire desktop". So it's not minor vs major (it's correct, forced restarts are a major awfulness), but minor vs nothing
> There are various alternative file manager apps for macOS the same way there are for Windows
Yes, but some operations require Finder to be running (don't remember the list, some permission settings breaks without Finder, and trash can undo delete?). On Windows I never have file explorer opened and don't suffer for it.
Just like Edge is getting more integrated, so it's hard to completely remove (by the way, hello, Safari!), Finder is also way too integrated
> sometimes ... Sometimes ...Sometimes
is a far cry from "ads everywhere"
> Apple doesn't do that.
Apple requires online connection for (re)install, maybe there is some complicated step to avoid that like on Windows, but this is similar user hostile stuff
> can use macOS without one perfectly fine if you don't need their online services.
Like that service called App Store you can be just fine without?
> not saying that macOS is an ideal .. But compared to Windows 10 and 11, it could as well be ideal.
Understand that, but it clearly can't, it has way too many bad design decisions on its own to be anywhere close to ideal even on a comparable basis.
I mean, I'll take the ability to find any file on my computer instantly with real time updates (that I use many times a day) over some garbage XP style control settings panel interface (which I rarely use) any given Sunday
Sure, that's no thanks to the OS, it's an external app, but Apple's new shiny APFS doesn't provide me with that awesome benefit
Indexing-based file search just sucks. Apple's Spotlight is no better.
On macOS, I use this app: https://findanyfile.app, it does an old-school recursive file system traversal and works wonderfully. I'm sure there's plenty of similar ones for Windows.
I generally agree that this is annoying but look at the flip side of this:
From a security perspective the average user is probably getting scammed by a whole lot of apps that ask for screen recording permissions once and abuse it.
There’s no way in hell your user interface-blind retired mom or dad is noticing the little screen recording icon.
There are a lot of users who legitimately need to have this reminder because they install all kinds of privacy invading software.
I’m sure that in the future the nag will be adjusted to strike the right balance.
Perhaps it'd be better if these were just weekly, non-intrusive notifications ¹ (instead of prompt dialogs) that said something like "hey, this app can still record your screen, head to Settings to revoke that permission."
¹ Insert your own definition of non-intrusive notification.
I have a feeling this might be a rhetorical question, but in case it isn't: the answer is no. Apple apps get special permissions, as per usual in the Apple ecosystem. Apple apps are automatically granted screen recording permission and can bypass the screen recording indicator entirely.
Your feeling was right, but thanks for the answer. Had a feeling that Apple wouldn't let their competitors/complements compete on a fair playing field with their own apps.
I wonder what my personal breaking point is with macOS. Apple already sells chronically underpowered hardware compared to the competition and you have to just be content with the fact that it's attractive hardware, silent, and sips power instead of chugging it like the others.
But Ubuntu is becoming more attractive as time goes on.
Underpowered? Other than the lack of upgradability/repairability, the Apple Si machines seem pretty powerful, it's just the steady slide of macOS towards being a locked-down toy with a tablet UI that makes me edge towards the Linux world.
I try Ubuntu on a new laptop every couple of years, and I still keep going back to a Mac.
There's one thing I can count on with Macs that I haven't yet experienced on any Ubuntu laptop: I can pull it out of a backpack the day after I charged it and work an 8 hour day on battery, using a trackpad, without sacrificing productivity or my hand getting sore. Apple just has too many advantages in hardware driver performance due to vertical integration.
> Having to click through these confirmation nags every week, for every such utility you use, is not a little thing at all. It’s the sort of thing companies do when decisions like this are made by people looking to cover their asses, not make insanely great products.
... or alternatively, when agreeing to using such an app is such a huge privacy nightmare that it might just be safer (for the user) to ask the user to opt-in every week, especially if the company which runs the OS is known for promoting a privacy-friendly brand.
Maybe the best thing here is to not run software that you don't trust. Why would you run sketchy software on your computer in the first place?
It's like having a bully picking on you, and then instead of getting help or fighting back, you negotiate a deal to just start giving him free punches to your face and access to your bank account.
It appears you’ve never needed to take screenshots or screen recordings, and cannot comprehend those who want access to such functionality being anything but idiots.
If I choose to use software I do trust, why does the OS have to ask me “Are you sure?” every single week for the rest of my life?
> Why would you run sketchy software on your computer in the first place?
Most people don't run sketchy software on their computer intentionally. Typically they are fooled or are otherwise unaware. The vast majority of people who use computers do not have the ability to accurately determine whether or not software is "sketchy" all by themselves. They need the help of others. This is that.
I mean, sure, if you want BigTechCo to be your nanny, and not just let you use your computer, I guess that makes sense.
I prefer for my computer to give me sensible warnings and then let me make a decision, rather than refuse to allow my decision to stand.
Perhaps if the shoe were on the other foot, and Apple asked you every week if you were sure you wanted to backup to iCloud unencrypted, given that it is at least as much of a security and privacy nightmare, you’d be singing a different tune.
