Why Every Software Engineer Uses MacBook..

[gene]

If you told me this 10 years ago, I’d say you’re crazy. But, I’ve seen my previous company (I’ve been there for 18 years), slowly move from hating macs to preferring macs for software engineering.

[fearlessfishman]

I've been in software development for 35 years and come across very few developers using Macs. Maybe it's a US thing but not true in the UK. I've mainly seen Windows and Unix based developers. People tend to have Macs only if they are developing applications for them and need to publish to App Store.

[simbarashemaunga]

For those of you feeling pressured to cross over to MacOS, just remember, the tool doesnt actaully make the engineer.

[bLaffix]

I've been a programmer for 15 years. Like 90% of the programmers I know use Linux or Windows. The only programmers that I know that use Macs are doing so out of necessity - they are doing development for iOS.

[good-tnsr]

“3x more windows laptops breaking than mac machines” There’s like 8x more windows laptops being used

[troyc]

As a long time Software Engineer I've never used a Mac for anything. I prefer Linux but Windows works as long as you have access to a Linux command line. For that you can use WSL2 or a VHost with a Linux version installed. Some programmers began using Mac back when Mac OS X was released because it was based on the Unix architecture and had what every other programmer had always been using - a unix or unix like command line.

[thecastiel]

Look like you've become the "software engineer" just 2 days ago.

btw, I use arch

[AntsyBoi]

Why I have a major problem with this video with point by point views on it with timestamps, from a Linux user's perspective:

1:05 you can change the fonts in CMD and PowerShell, you use Windows 98 screenshots for examples of the Windows terminal, you can change the terminal emulator you use, and also have you seen the new Windows terminal, it looks great.

1:35 windows is also designed for non-technical users, you are insanely biased to Mac.

1:43 What does Internet Explorer updates have to do with Windows 10 not being a good choice for developers? Internet Explorer isn't even around anymore.

1:49 You can buy incredibly cheap Windows PCs versus macs, and also only one company makes macOS Systems and so you're losing out on so much choice and improvement in hardware just because Apple is the only company making Mac pcs

2:01 just because devs love the command line doesn't mean they love macOS. When I used to have to dev on Windows I had no issue with using the command line on there and I love it just as much as I do any terminal such as bash, fish, zsh (my personal choice and the choice of apple too)

2:04 Just because UNIX is massive for servers doesn't mean that just because mac is based off of a recreation of UNIX (BSD) that it is as good as UNIX. And also with this you try to make it seem like macOS is the thing running all the servers, which it isn't. It's most likely some form of Linux due to its high flexibility and the fact that it's open source. And also, just because it's built off UNIX doesn't mean it's “developer friendly” I could theoretically make a distro of a *NIX system that makes it as hard as possible to develop on.

2:46 apple themselves admitted that macOS isn't nearly as safe as they claim because they've been focusing on iOS security mainly and so macOS is really vulnerable and insecure because of it

2:59 you can do that on any system, not just macOS

3:10 what? If you're talking about using UNIX and GNU tools and programs you can do that on Linux and BSD systems as well, but also the point of any command line is to be useful, so this applies to windows as well.

3:17 do you mean VMs? Cause if so, apple didn't invent VM's, not by a long shot. You can, again, do this on any windows, Linux, or BSD system. And macOS isn't even the best desktop OS to do virtual machines on, that would have to be GNU with the Linux Kernel.

3:33 you basically just said that you can do all of that because mac can virtualize Linux, saying that without Linux you couldn't do a lot of the stuff you talk about in this segment

3:38 no they don't


3:54 again, no they aren't, they aren't always these perfect little systems crafted by what you seem to think are the gods

4:01 Linux does a better job of this with how a lot of apps can be run from the terminal and their debug info can be viewed from it because of that

4:13 just look at a review of a laptop before buying it, you don't have to be a giga-genius to figure that out and also just don't buy laptops from bad companies with untrustworthy reputations.

4:31 again, no, because there isn't just one such “Windows machine” that exists as you seem to think as you're always saying how the mac is “vastly superior” to the fictional “Windows machines”

4:37 just because a tool is on Mac doesn't mean that it has a better quality than its windows or Linux versions solely just because it's on Mac. I think this is where your bias comes into play a bit.

Edit September 14, 2022:
0:00 according to the 2022 stack overflow developer survey, Linux overtakes Mac as the second-biggest developer choice OS

[UltimaNrd]

Why Every S̶o̶f̶t̶w̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶E̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶e̶r̶ Web Developer Uses MacBook..

[stevensmith]

I’ve been developing since 1974. I’ve been on mainframes, minis, pcs and mobile devices. I also was at Microsoft for a while and develop daily in Windows. But I’ve been using MacBooks, iMacs and Mac mini’s since 2012. We go thru new pcs for our team every 2 years but my Mac’s last 4-5 years and even run windows faster then our dells or hps with Parallels or boot camp. Fun stuff!

[WalkinChristum]

In my country if you use a MacBook you're considered a hipster or most likely you're a (frond-end developer lol), 90% of devs are using windows here

[philsnewaddress]

I've been a software engineer for nearly 30 years in the UK with years spent visiting and remotng into the US and around the world (mostly big pharma) working with hundreds of software engineers over the years. I've never met a software engineer in an industrial setting who uses a Mac for their job.

[gasun]

everything you described works on linux except the battery life part. on linux, everything is under your control, this includes all the data being sent by each application to different parts of the system and especially what it sends out to the internet. to be able to use linux to its fullest potential is to be humble enough to be able to learn, and to invest enough time to learn. that can be applied to a lot of other things in life.

[CupoChinoMusic]

I'd say Linux would probably fit more for my use case.

As a backend dev, I find myself testing code on Linux, which is what most infrastructure uses anyway, so testing will take less time and you can make sure your code will properly work on the backend machine.

Anyway, frontend devs who only design web apps will use macOS, if you're designing native apps you'll be using Windows.

When you're developing backend code you'll be using Linux, and only Windows if you're working on legacy code or specific platforms (ex. .NET)

For me personally, I use Fedora Linux. It comes with the latest and greatest the open-source community has to offer, while maintaining stability unlike Arch.

[marcl]

The reason I use MacOS is because I love the Linux terminal, but don't exactly want to fix Linux's problems 24/7 as I use the same laptop for school.

[jeekakrishna]

for programming linux
for gaming windows
for just browsing making music and feeling good about myself ...MAC

[xavhow]

I used all three, each has strength and weaknesses according to what you develop. No one shop fits all. If I have to pick an OS as primary, I would pick Linux. Hardware wise, M1 Mac is very good, etc...

[burritocodes]

Funny, I've been a developer for about 14 years, and am also a music producer. I used Macs for a long time. I still own an Intel Macbook Pro (the last one they produced, I believe.) I switched back to Windows a year ago and have been perfectly happy.

Why would I switch to Windows from a Mac after using Macs for years? Simple: the M1. When Apple decided to go with their own silicone, I chuckled. I'm old enough to remember PowerPC and how Apple ended up killing it simply to keep up with Intel. When they announced the M1s, I thought to my self "well, here we go again." Out of pure curiosity, I picked up an M1 Mac Mini just to see what all the fuss was about.

That was a mistake. None of the software I need worked. If you could get the software to load via Rosetta 2, there were constant issues. See, software like Ableton is not written in Swift. It's written at the bare metal level because it needs to be. You can't rely on Apple not changing their implementation of their audio chain and killing performance, or worse. All of that software, not to mention the VSTs, need to be re-written to use the M1 chip (running audio software through Rosetta is a terrible solution due to induced latency.) There is where the big issue comes in. Companies now need to maintain multiple versions of their software. They need to have M1/M2 versions, as well as Intel versions. That pulls development time away from improving the software. Sure, if you live in the entire Apple ecosystem, including their Logic software (which will never enter my studio) you are fine. If you don't live in their ecosystem... good luck.

This doesn't just impact things like Ableton, though. Docker had issues, there are libraries we use for development that cannot run properly on M1s. What Apple has done is fragment not only the software market, but the open source community, as well. That's when I moved away from Mac and back to Windows. It's more a protest of this fragmentation then anything else, but, hey, vote with your wallet. Between WSL 2 and Docker, I've been more than happy with my decision. I can write in any language I choose, and still use the other tools I need. Bonus: I can upgrade my hardware, or replace an SSD without running to Apple to do it.

[julianperry]

As a software engineer, the thing I value is a long battery life and stability. There is nothing more important than the machine turning on and working exactly as I expect. Windows is too unpredictable with random updates, compatibility issues, and more. MacBook turns on and boom I'm in.

[CllinsWrth.]

As a software engineer, I use both and enjoy both. I don't particularly think one is better than the other in any meaningful way. I've had both projects that took longer on windows to set up, and projects that took longer on Mac to set up.