Thread

1. fedeb95 · 1790088079 · focus · HN ↗

   I have been a long time Android fan because of the tinkering you could do more easily than Apple. Then I started appreciating some of the design decisions behind especially iPhone, and it's been almost 7 years of iPhone usage.

   Recently I am starting to question some of the design decisions. Most native apps are bloated with functionalities, most of the time useless. Ads pop up everywhere, even before persistence; iCloud and backups are clearly designed to make you pay, the free space is useless.

   I am not that sure my next phone will be an iPhone.

   I have tried a recent Mac, and the system isn't intuitive at all. The first time I used GNOME, it was a breeze. Not the same with the MacBook system.

   1. ndiddy · 1790089838 · focus · HN ↗

      > I have tried a recent Mac, and the system isn't intuitive at all. The first time I used GNOME, it was a breeze. Not the same with the MacBook system.

      I guess it depends on what you're used to? The last time I tried using GNOME, I found it very unintuitive. I ran into stuff like:

      - Why don't windows have maximize and minimize buttons?

      - Why do I have to go to a separate screen to un-minimize a window?

      - Why does launching software require going through the GNOME equivalent of the Windows 8 start screen?

      - Why can't I make the trackpad scroll speed slower?

      - Why don't I have any system tray icons?

      - Why do the extensions I installed to work around some of the above problems (some of which have millions of downloads yet haven't been added as settings) break after every GNOME update?

      1. fedeb95 · 1790091374 · focus · HN ↗

         this is a fair point. I am referring to more "objective" things, if anything can be, in design. Let's take as an example the alt+tab behaviour with multiple virtual desktops. In GNOME, as it is in Windows too by the way, alt+tab cycles inside the virtual desktop you're in, allowing for efficient matrix-like navigation, and allowing to split tasks between desktops. On Mac OS, alt+tab cycles on all your open programs, making you jump between desktops. To me, this is rather unintuitive. It could be habit, but there is a clear difference in result regardless of habits, and I think the most productive choice is the GNOME-Windows one, and the more "intuitive" one in the sense of what a user might expect out of a virtual desktop, that is, creating a new desktop with its own apps. Of course this is my impression and I am well free not to buy a Mac :)

         1. 2b3a51 · 1790107786 · focus · HN ↗

            Debian Trixie Gnome 48 or so. In Settings | Multitasking right down the bottom there is App Switching with two options: 'Include Apps from all workspaces' and 'Include Apps from the current workspace only'. Debian has the all workspaces option set by default. Gnome Tweaks is installed, and the extensions to have minimise and maximise buttons on the right of windows are switched on by default.

            (I think that this situation is worth pointing out because there is potential for talking past one another as a result of the default choices made by different Linux distributions).

            1. fedeb95 · 1790147709 · focus · HN ↗

               afaik Mac OS doesn't have the option. If so, I still am questioning the default choiche ;)

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