LINUX is BETTER than macOS in these 5 areas!

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#linux #macos #linuxvsmac

00:00 Intro
00:43 Sponsor: Stream applications or entire desktops to your browser
01:32 Window management: a lot less flexibility
04:40 Software installation: less secure, less centralized
07:58 Hardware choices: you can have it in any color...
10:35 Security and privacy: no contest here
12:22 Customization: have you met KDE?
13:47 macOS is still a good desktop
15:10 Sponsor: get a device that runs Linux perfectly with Tuxedo
16:23 Support the channel

macOS lacks some very basic features in window management, you can't just drag a window to the edge of the screen and hope to see it resize neatly. Instead, you'll have to long press the green button in the window controls, and select a screen half.

Other window management issues include the inability to click a minimized window in the dock to restore it, or the lack of thumbnails of windows in the actual alt tab switcher.

MacOS will introduce stage manager in its newer version, Ventura, as an optional feature, and it does look interesting.

Second aspect where Linux is better than macOS is software installation.

First, while experienced users will have no trouble understanding that you need to download a DMG image, then open it, then drag the app bundle into your Applications folder, i've seen a LOT of new mac users never picking up on that.

The app store, while it looks nice, is just not fully stocked. Due to Apple's guidelines and limitations, a lot of apps can't be distributed through it.

And the security certificates will annoy you with popups not letting you run applications unless you voluntarily go into the settings to disable that feature either one time, or always.

And linux might have multiple packaging formats, but they all end up inside a graphical app store where you can see who they're from, and download them easily in one click, and if you still prefer the macOS model of single file apps, you have Appimages.

Next point is hardware choices. Sure, these new macs are probably the best value in terms of design, performance, and battery life for laptops. But if their lineup doesn't have what you're looking for, or if you don't have 1000 dollars and more to spend, you're out of Luck.

Linux hardware support might not be 100% perfect, with some wifi and bluetooth cards not fully supported, or power management not being perfect on some devices, but generally, it will run on any device.

Next point is security and privacy. macOS has more market share than Linux desktops, and as such, is more exposed to threats, and targeted more often.

Linux servers are targeted a lot, but generally through vulnerabilities that affect server related libraries, which you won't have on your desktop or laptop.

Linux is a smaller target, and it's also more of a moving target, with distros using wildly different systems and libraries, which means your trojan, ransomware, or virus, won't affect every distro, when writing something for a version of macOS will definitely hurt all users of that version.

And another point is customization. macOS is to be taken as-is. You can change an accent color, the position of the dock, and a few third party utilities might let you tweak some minor elements but that's it.

Linux, on the other hand, is completely open to this. You can pick any underlying system and change it, you can change the layout of your desktop, the colors, the theme, the workflow, the window manager, the apps, the packaging system, anything you want.

Whether that's through the use of a specific distro, or through your own ricing skills, your Linux desktop can be exactly how you like it, where a mac will only suit you if you like how macOS works.

[examancer]

I'm 100% committed linux user, both in my day job and in my free time. But, you probably should have given mention to homebrew in the software installation section. I've worked on mac and work with many devs who use mac. Every single one uses homebrew for installing tools and for software library management and would not consider working on mac without it.

[saad_ghannam]

You forgot Linux's most crucial advantage: you don't fund Apple's scummy business practices by using it.

[WolfieNamira]

I think you really should have mentioned gaming; Steam has so few titles support for MacOS, however Steam's Proton has made every single game in my library easily playable with no issues.

[timmis]

What I really love about Linux is you can still have a good experience on a 20 year computeror even a Pi Zero. I'd like to see MacOS do that

[ltnicekiwi]

You're totally right about the full-screen split screen, i feel like they added that for ultra niche work flows in video editing suites on massive screens 😅 it feels totally useless for day to day work where you're not in ultra focus mode.

[pialdas]

I'm not ready to ditch my Lenovo Yoga yet since it's still going strong but once I am, I'm seriously considering getting a laptop from one of your sponsors. Linux has come a long way where I can ditch Windows 99% of the time (other times it's because doing online exams and such require Windows/MacOS from my uni). For now, I daily drive my Linux gaming desktop 99% of the time for everything from gaming to schoolwork. The laptop is there for being on the go and I just remote into my desktop (either RDP or SSH). Thanks for being part of our wonderful community and helping Linux move forward!

[technerd]

12:47 That hurt! 😢 Windows XP is such an integral part of my childhood. I’m 20 now, I was 9 when I first started using computers. And windows XP was my first computing experience. I think it looks unique and that’s part of what makes it special for me.

[DFGdanger]

The window management on MacOS - particularly making fullscreen the default mode on the green button - is infuriating. If you didn't know, you can hold the Alt/Option key down for more (non-fullscreen) options with the green button.

I recently found out there is an open source app "rectangle" to give the snap feature.

[LeafpoolTheMedCat]

I have both an M1 MacBook Air and a gaming laptop running Linux instead of Windows. I use them both for coding. I really like the Mac because the M1 chip is just so powerful and the battery life is amazing. I also like the sync with my iPhone which is primary reason why I'm not installing Asahi on it. I feel like the macOS workflow is good enough for me even though it isn't perfect (and I'd argue no default workflow is 100% perfect for anyone, there will always be something that you don't like abou it).

[lodgin]

After switching from macOS to Linux a few months ago, I can say the only continuing edge macOS has over Linux is its _conherence_ of experience. I have never, not once, had a drag and drop issue with macOS, whereas I experience them daily on Linux where sometimes an application doesn't support a drag from the desktop but it does from Nautilus. Or having to copy paste a file from an external drive into my Documents folder so I can copy paste it again into an application like Discord. Linux has an inherent patchworky experience because almost nothing is standardised; nothing is coherent across the entire experience.

[marvinmokua]

One of the devs at my workplace was forced to use a MacBook after 8 straight years of running Linux on his PC, he is not happy, at all

[bbombardier]

The link between all the Mac devices and macOS is amazing. I’d prefer the Linux experience but it is just so easy to stay in their ecosystem.

[mcdonkeylips]

A big one is filesystem support. Given the correct fuse modules are installed

[Robscartoons]

One thing I’ve seen only in Apples finder view is when you list a finder window you can set it to show file sizes AND folder sizes. It’s important to me and the users I support in marketing

[tfld]

Windows XP isn't the worst-looking OS ever designed in the entire history of all OSs, that crown goes to Linux as well. It's called Hannah Montana Linux.

[miguelagueda]

I would like to note that if you press the option button before clicking the window resize button, you can actually place a window in the right or left half of the screen without switching into fullscreen mode. I personally still find it much less intuitive and usefull than linux window management

[ericjohnson]

Don’t forget about the Homebrew and Nix package managers which can be installed. Much better than dmg files.

[ReDesignEverything]

I can confirm that dragging the dmg into the applications folder was confusing to me when I first learned to use MacOS. One problem with assuming simplicity of any UX method is that these "simple" actions are often learned instead of intuitively understood, and different conventions might make as much or even more sense than your interaction method (e.g. why drag a dmg into an applications folder if I could instead double-click and it auto-installs?) such that a user may not even understand the "simple" interaction in your UX design.

[Vindix]

Even on Hackintosh world, Mac OS has limitations.
You can't use modern NVidia graphics cards. Only some AMD graphics cards (not all them).

[ialrakis]

Excited about Stage Manager but that's only because I have an ultrawide, on other screens it might become problematic.
As a sidenote. since things have become a matter of tweaking what's good, this means that at some point all OSes will reach a point where window handling is fine :-)