"Ghost" Windows is a thing of the past, and most modern installations in China are legit. Bing is also an approved search engine, even if not used by a majority of people. I'm sure their revenue is significantly higher than a decade ago.
Not from China but in the same region. Most new machines here now have a legit OEM copy of Windows. It's getting much more affordable, even in third-world countries now that it's not worth it to risk going for a pirated copy. Still happen, but much less common than it was.
OEM licenses for windows 11/10 are dirt cheap even here in the U.S. You can get a single use (can only activate once) for around $10-15. Most of those online sellers are based in China or HK. So yeah, those are legit OEM licenses. Since MS doesn't seem to have issues activating them. (I've bought them for VM use before)
i am unfamiliar with windows activation, does it activate once only, meaning that if you tried to reinstall on the same machine, you can't reuse the same license?
Correct. If you need to do a fresh install on the same or new drive, then you'll need a new key. I only use these cheap OEM keys for VMs and use more expensive retail keys that persist with MS login on physical hardware. Although I know plenty of people that build own gaming machines with OEM keys.
My feeling is this logic only holds if your product is being pirated because it’s the best. Windows was certainly better than Linux, but ultimately when a consumer can afford it they’d rather buy a Mac.
I switched from a PC to a Mac at work.
Macbook Pro M2 Pro, 32GB RAM.
The performance and battery life are absolutely lovely.
Compile tasks run great.
MacOS on the other hand not really.
It is better/acceptable after I installed some Plugins.
But I still wish Linux was fully supported (and my company would allow it).
Even Windows would be an upgrade currently for me.
Probably the biggest one for me is alt-tab switching between windows, without regard for whether its the same app or not. This matters, because keeping track of whether the documentation I'm referring to are currently in a gvim window vs a vim terminal vs a browser, and whether the work I'm currently doing _with_ the documentation is in a gvim window, a terminal, or a browser, is enraging.
The key to bring back the last window I looked at should not change depending on whether the app name happens to be different.
> The key to bring back the last window I looked at should not change depending on whether the app name happens to be different.
This is a great formulation of an annoyance that I've had for 10 years but hadn't put into words.
If you happen to use virtual desktops / "spaces" or whatever macos calls them these days, it's annoying that the default cmd-tab switcher will switch to apps that have no windows on the current workspace. I know, that's part of Mac's app model and it is self-consistent (especially since even if you don't use virtual desktops, you can still have an app running with no open windows, switch to it and usually cmd-N to get a new window) and that it's at odds with Windows's model (where usually closing the last window of a program closes the program).
A sibling comment suggested Witch to get app-agnostic window-switching, I haven't tried Witch but you can do almost all things with Hammerspoon, including window-switching. I cribbed from a bunch of other peoples' configs and made a simple switcher: https://gist.github.com/philsnow/ef8532c3fa3304336ffb0198163... . I think it's worth investing in learning Hammerspoon because of the sheer amount of things that you can integrate.
You're just re-describing the behaviour I already described as irritating; did you perchance reply to the wrong comment?
Scenario: I'm in a terminal doing something, and I have a second window I'm switching back and forth between that contains the man page for a command. In isolation, I haven't given you enough information to tell whether I should be pressing opt-tab or cmd-tilde to swap windows: maybe the man page is in a browser, or maybe it's in a second terminal.
Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between an editor and some reference document in another window; you can't tell which key I should press to swap without knowing if I'm looking at the document in another editor instance or a browser window.
Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between a terminal and some reference document from a cloud provider. You can't determine which key to press to swap without knowing if I'm ssh'd in a terminal or using a web-based cloud terminal.
Scenario: I'm switching back and forth between an image editor and a client's low-resolution logo they emailed me. You can't determine which key to press to swap without knowing if I'm looking at the reference image in another image editor window or a browser.
There are some apps that change that behavior if you want. [0]
I didn’t reply to the wrong comment, I was just trying to be helpful.
This OS behavior has seemed second nature to me ever since browsers implemented tabs. Like in each of your described scenarios I usually forget which browser tab is in the foreground when I switch, I will have to Ctrl+tab until I find the relevant one. It will stay on top once I do though.
That is what MacOS does; the window of an app you had in focus last will stay on top of the stack. It makes intuitive sense to me personally but I agree it does make finding stuff a little onerous.
In your scenarios, you know which applications you have your relevant documents opened in so once you have them on top switching is easy. But again, I understand that a decade of muscle memory and using a different paradigm will make this behavior infuriating.
^ b/c of this, I actually like how MacOS separated app and window switching. It's a bit more fine grained, and I can use either of the two depending on the specific intention.
that doesn't actually solve the OP's problem as it still requires you to be aware of all your windows and which ones are in current app vs which ones are in different apps.
Well, if you weren’t asking for assistance, then why use something that ultimately comes down to personal preference as an example of an OS feature not working the way it objectively “should”?
I mean, I’d argue that the way Windows does it is illogical and confusing, and if I used Windows regularly I’d want a plugin to make window switching work the way it does on MacOS, which I find far more convenient. But that doesn’t make the way Windows does it objectively wrong, and it wouldn’t justify my irritation at the OS not working the way I would prefer it to.
All of the issues you’ve described are limited to your particular use case, and as has been pointed out by myself and others, are easily solvable with a relatively inexpensive program. So your entire argument really boils down to “I don’t like the way MacOS does something by default, but fortunately it’s an easy and cheap fix so it’s not really a huge deal”.
> So your entire argument really boils down to “I don’t like the way MacOS does something by default, but fortunately it’s an easy and cheap fix so it’s not really a huge deal”.
…yes, and?
Somebody was asking for an example of the sort of plugin someone might want to install, I provided an example. There was no argument being had, no claims that OSX is objectively wrong for doing things that way, just a pile-on of people not reading the context.
So, what, you’re just complaining about an easily solvable problem that ultimately comes down to not everybody agreeing with your personal preference? Don’t you have, like, a cloud you should be yelling at?
You could have just said, “I don’t like the way MacOS does X, and here’s the plugin to use to change it so it does Y.” Instead, you went on a long-winded screed about why your view was obviously the correct one, while providing no solution to the problem (and implying that there was no obvious solution, because you “run into this problem constantly”) and strongly implicating that anyone who dared to suggest otherwise was clearly wrong.
And then you wonder why people thought you were being argumentative.
I'm going to chime in here with another solution to the alt+tab problem, since I have the same gripe about macOS. I've been using the FOSS AltTab.app and have been really happy with it so far. It's a really simple yet superbly useful piece of software.
I have a lot of windows open, sometimes from the same app (IntelliJ x 5, Android Studio x 4, Firefox x 5 for example).
# AltTab brings back the ability to switch to specific windows.
MacOS is still annoying here because it brings -all- instances of the program in foreground (overlapping a Firefox instance in wanted to look something up for example).
Feels like MacOS is designed mainly for one screen.
I have about 4x that size on my ultrawide.
Still this Plugin helps a lot.
# Commander one is a better file manager for me
# Shottr makes taking screenshots easy and actually works with ultra widescreens
# UnnaturalScrollWheels makes the scroll function of my mouse nice again. Personal preference oc but MacOS has no option to invert the scroll behavior.
In general I encountered quite some bugs in MacOS.
I was disappointed tbh because I came back after many years of Windows and Linux.
Macs and MacOS are build in the same house and should "fit together".
A selection:
- System settings search broken. Does not navigate to item
- Finder sometimes does not find programs (which are found 2 min later without a problem)
- Crash of MacOS after sleep. The automatic recovery is good however.
- Selecting to only share a window (in Teams for example) shares sometimes more than that window. This can reveal sensitive information
I don't think it's that simple. Plenty of people won't buy a Mac because it's "different", which of them is 'better' never factors into it.
While I don't use Photoshop I'd assume that logic holds even stronger - if you know how to use Photoshop you're going to ask for that rather than a tool you don't know how to use.
I grew up on pirated windows, and never had the opportunity or means to pirate Mac software. I now cannot stand the mac software - alt tab is broken (for me), as are copy / paste. I think piracy had a huge involvement in my preferred software.
I think they were likely referring to the behavior and not the choice of shortcut keys. On Windows, alt+tab switches between all open windows across a apps, whereas in macOS, you have separate shortcuts for switching between apps vs windows within the same app.
Personally, I find the macOS behavior really irritating and unintuitive, but thankfully there are plenty of apps out there that solve this issue so it's not really a problem.
10 year old me didn’t know this. I’m comfortable enough with windows (and anything other than mac) that there is zero chance I’ll switch to the OS or their key layout, which I will concur is superior.
If people were pirating Photoshop only because it was easy to pirate, my guess is when it came to professional work or another occasion where they had the funds to pay for image editing software, they would overcome whatever friction necessary to buy the best. That definitely happens in other cases like video editing where easy to access software is different than what studios pay for.
As a thought experiment: if Photoshop was means tested and free to anyone who couldn’t afford it, would that actually convert users when they had money?
When a consumer can afford to means they have the opportunity to, not that they will. If you told me that I could buy widget A for $10 or widget B for $30, where both widget A and widget B will satisfy my needs, I am going to buy widget A. It doesn't really matter if widget B tries to justify that premium by doing a bunch of stuff that doesn't reflect my needs.
But widget A is objectively worse. My MacBook M2 Air last two workdays before needing a charge, it’s light and silent. An x86 Windows PC has none of those attributes.
I can actually use a MacBook Air on my lap without endangering my ability to have little scarface_74’s
You could choose a collection of metrics that would make either widget look better. In the end, the individual metrics may be objective yet the selection of metrics will be subjective. For example: those who prefer widget A may cite things like software availability, repairability, and upgradability.
To many people these days, computers are synonymous with laptops. They have limited need for portability or, if they need portability, a couple of hundred grams does not mean much to them. As for battery life, it is possible to get PCs that will run for a full day without charging. Yeah, that is not as good as two days. On the other hand, it's not necessarily meaningful. People who travel a lot or do a lot of field work may need it, but it won't be a primary concern for most.
I'm still trying to figure out the reproductive organ bit. It sounds like an issue for people who use their computer in awfully unergonomic postures, particularly since most computers radiate heat towards the back rather than the front.
Not as much anymore. But I use to travel a lot as a consultant and I still travel with my wife quite frequently - I work remotely.
Seriously honest question as someone not too deep in the x86 ecosystem anymore. Which of these that are listed as having the best battery life would be comparable in performance to the latest MacBook Airs?
So instead of being able to upgrade to a 8TB in a few years when the prices come down, I can just throw out my 3K Mac and buy a new one. Only 5k for the 8TB Mac.
I make music and I'm getting into photography and film making. I prefer more space over being having to carry around an external SSD with me
I also enjoy gaming, which is still much better on Windows. If I want to play some COD or Tony Hawk HD, that's very well supported.
Not really going to work on a Mac.
Macs do have a much more premium feel to them, but I've had great experiences with cheap laptops. Even if I drop it, shucks, I'm out 750$, not 3k.
> Macs do have a much more premium feel to them, but I've had great experiences with cheap laptops. Even if I drop it, shucks, I'm out 750$, not 3k.
Not to mention that feeling premium doesn't mean that it is more durable. I used to joke that those cheap plastic bodies found on cheap products did a much better job of protecting a device from the shock of a fall than the glass and metal bodies of premium feeling products.
And while my experience with Macs is dated, I had an optical drive in one that refused to accept disks because there was a minor bend in the case. That machine never suffered from a fall, though it was likely a result of how I stuffed the machine into my book bag.
> instead of being able to upgrade to a 8TB in a few years when the prices come down, I can just throw out my 3K Mac and buy a new one
Mac buyers fall into two groups: those who don't need that upgrade (most consumers) and those who can afford to spec it up at the beginning, cost be damned. That's what OP meant by "when the consumer can afford to."
> also enjoy gaming, which is still much better on Windows
100%. I don't think Apple has meaningfully contested this space.
I submit a third camp: some of us use a NAS or other networked storage solution because no laptop sanely provides the amount of storage we want or need, or don’t want all our data local.
Or something cloudy, though not necessarily iCloud Drive.
> I make music and I'm getting into photography and film making. I prefer more space over being having to carry around an external SSD with me
The rest of your points are all valid, but for photography storage purposes you can just use SD cards. They take up virtually no space, and MBPs (since at least M1 gen) have an SD card slot built-in.
Exactly. This is now 15 years out of date, but in 2009, Macs had 91% marketshare in the >$1,000 computer market per some industry estimate. My guess is they're still doing great in that segment. https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-has-91-share-of-premiu...
Compatibility for many programs people care about is a lot better on Windows than on Mac (or Linux). That has improved a lot in recent years, of course. Especially for games.
Linux has great compatibility for lots of hardware, but Windows is still better supported. Mac has almost non-existent compatibility for hardware: you need to buy an Apple branded device to run Apple's operating system. For peripherals Windows has probably the best compatibility list, but Linux can often be better for very old stuff. Mac's record is spotty at best.
> Mac has almost non-existent compatibility for hardware: you need to buy an Apple branded device to run Apple's operating system.
Not only an Apple device but a recent Apple device. I have a 2014 RMBP that works flawlessly. I haven’t been able to install MacOS on it for a couple of years now.
Definitely not true for me. I had a windows pc and mac laptop for years (as well as Linux home and work servers), but when it came time to replace the laptop I switched to windows, mostly because it's more configurable. Also integrates better with my Android phone, which I prefer to iOS for similar reasons.
Perhaps more to the point, you can also use the filesystem view and edit the config files manually rather than by GUI magic if you prefer (or if you need to diagnose a problem in a solution resulting from different projects having people do different magic GUI things, because comparing files side by side is much easier.)
As a german trust me, the regulations are a good thing. When I drive at night, there are so many cars in oncoming traffic that dazzle you with their led headlights
What's worse is that I can't seem to find a way to let Google know where I actually live (as opposed to where I am temporarily traveling, what country my currently inserted SIM card is from etc). And apparently there is no way to do this at all without owning an Android device!
Apple at least lets me change this by moving my iTunes/App Store account, which is its own ordeal and far from ideal, but at least there's a defined process: Tell us where you think you live, provide a form of payment from that place, maybe we'll believe you.
Yeah Google aggressively uses geolocation throughout their services, regardless of your language settings. The flipside of that is that it's really easy to access the latest Gemini or whatever by just using a VPN.
Wait, does that mean if I subscribe to Gemini Pro in country A where it's available (e.g. the US) but travel to Europe, I can't use it?
I'm really frustrated by Google's attitude of "we know better where you are than you do". People travel sometimes and that's not the same thing as moving!
I really, really hate all of these geo heuristics. Sure, don't advertise services to people outside of your market, I get that. Do ask for a payment method from that country too to provide your market-specific pricing if you must.
But once I'm a paying customer, I want to use the thing I'm paying for from where I am without jumping through ridiculous hoops!
The worst variant of this I've seen is when you can neither use nor cancel the subscription from outside a supported market.
To be clear, I didn't pay for any of them. I just signed up for early access to every product that uses some form of ML that can remotely be called "AI"...
Once I got accepted, some of them work outside of the US and some don't
