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by nikolay·1y ago·view on hn ↗
It's not true, because it's subjective.

For many years, Windows has had WSL and now it's the second generation WSL2 and you can run graphical Linux even without a VM. It has a decent package manager out of the box, a great open-source terminal. Containers and VMs are also available out of the box. Windows also has a developers' hub, which allows you to install toolchains easily, including IDEs such as VS Code.

Meanwhile, macOS comes with its own version of CLI tools such as find, which have quite different parameters than Linux, it doesn't have a package manager, when I install an app on my iPhone, it somehow decides that I want to install it on my macOS, too, etc. And I won't even mention how poor the menubar is! I have at least 10 apps I need to install to make macOS usable - PopClip, Moom, Bartender, etc., while the Windows equivalent for things like Dock and menubar are working pretty well, including notifications - I've accidentally have clicked so many times on notification banners, covering my scroll bar or window controls. Not to mention that so many times I'm typing something in window, which has my input focus, then another window pops up, steals my input focus, and I end up trying parts of my password in the wrong window due to that!

There are so many things wrong with macOS, Apple doesn't really care to improve it, and the System Settings is growing out of control! Windows' settings are much better organized!

And, yes, macOS freezes and crashes not less frequently than Windows. In fact, I haven't had any such issues with a heavily constrained Windows 11, running in VMware Fusion!

Also, Windows now has a free equivalent of the paid CleanMyMac app, and it works pretty well. Not to mention the free security software. But even with CleanMyMac, uninstalling software leads to tons of junk all over the place.

2 comments
I installed windows 11 in a VM on my Linux machine for some testing recently. You still have to agree to allow MS to sell your information about 5 times during setup, and you're rewarded with Candy Crush and Xbox apps in your startup menu. I don't know how people put up with it, honestly.
Professionals don't use the "designed to be cheap for OEMs to license" Windows versions.

A lot of comments are either using home or edu or whatever, or are running in restrictive environments like on a corporate network where your IT department controls everything.

I like Linux. I use mostly Gentoo. I also like BSD but I can never think of anything to use it for. It's so good it's boring, which is great for production, not my favorite to mess around on.

I never really liked Mac OS X. I liked OS7-9, though, even though there was no real multitasking no multi-user.

But my main desktop is Windows on the metal. I ran Windows in a GPU accelerated VM for four years or so, and that was fine too.

One can get Windows Pro licenses for peanuts on eBay. I've never understood those running Home! I've always been using Windows Insider, and it is way more stable than macOS beta releases, which are notoriously broken!
windows pro legitimate licenses (as opposed to leaked volume licensing keys like you get on ebay or the facebook ads) are $120-$180 in my experience, and realistically, if you don't want to be "the product" that's a fair price.

But even with all that being said, there's other ways to get Pro versions, if the home user experience is that frustrating. and it is, i know!

if you ever do buy a license key on ebay, do a web search for the key you get. If it comes back with any results, immediately email the seller and say "it didn't work, says it's in use" or whatever. Keep doing this till they give you one that doesn't come up on a search. Usually they'll just refund your money after 2 keys, sometimes with a nasty message. What they're doing is unethical, IMO; so if all you want is a potentially valid key, you might get it for free.

anyone remember FCKGW?

Those are legit volume licenses from reputable sellers. You don't get media; you don't get anything but a license code. Plus, I only use those at home, of course - I would never use such licenses for business!
I mean.. at least system settings are in one place on OSX instead of scattered between the control panel, new system settings thing, and a few other spots.