Totally off-piste, but...

Posted by MadaboutDana
Apr 23, 2021 at 01:50 PM

And this, of course, is the other aspect of the Apple aesthetic. The software is just so nice. Couple your favourite Mac apps with good-looking computers (okay, okay, Barbie-coloured good-looking computers) and you just don’t want to go near a Windows environment ever again. I do (have to) work in Windows, as it happens, mainly to run certain translation-related software that isn’t available for Mac. And the contrast hits me every time – despite all the progress Windows 10 has made, it just isn’t much fun to work in.

Also, nothing compares with the seamless transfer of data from Mac to iPad to iPhone (even to iWatch, although ironically I wouldn’t touch an Apple Watch with a bargepole – a complex, expensive wrist accessory you have to charge every day? No thank you very much! My cheap AmazFit device lasts 30 days before it needs recharging, and no, it doesn’t play music. My iPhone does, though.) That seamless environment is hugely attractive, and not easy to replicate in the Microsoft universe – I’ve tried, got so far and then given up in disgust.

Yes, I confess I do own an Android phone, mainly because I can’t run French Freebox apps on my UK-registered iPhone (they’re not available in the UK App Store), so that’s one down for Apple. Oh, and because it only cost EUR 80, but still has a 6.5-inch screen and a microSD card slot. So that’s two down for Apple. But hey.

Amontillado wrote:

>
>Lothar Scholz wrote:
>It’s ugly, it’s unfunctional, it’s unergonomic, it’s overpriced and it
>>technically was a huge disappointment.
>>
> >All valid concerns, although I get a lot of functionality out of my
>Apple gizmos. The iMac would be better if the monitor stand were
>detachable and adjustable.
> >I lived in Linux for a decade or more, then got lured to the dark side
>(Windows) by not being able to sync Linux with a Blackberry (there are
>ways, they just didn’t work for me). Then, I discovered Scrivener, which
>was at that time Mac-only, and got a Macbook Air as a writing machine.
> >Then, I discovered Devonthink. With that as my “binder” I moved to Nisus
>Writer, which I like a lot better than Word. By “a lot better” I mean
>hamburgers in a boisterous sports bar with good friends is a lot better
>than raw vermin, shivering in a cave. But I also recognize there are
>people whose voice is found in Word, and I respect that. One person’s
>rat is another’s gourmet dining. :-)
> >At some point I got an iMac.
> >Recently I’ve started migrating my word processing to Mellel.
> >Curio and MindNode are great for planning. I prefer Apple Numbers to
>Excel, not because it’s an Apple product, but being able to do layouts
>with multiple tables, images, etc, on a single canvas is pretty neat. I
>also recognize I could create the same reports with a combination of
>Excel and something else. Excel plus Powerpoint, maybe, or my recent
>favorite, Affinity Publisher.
> >In other words, I got hooked on Apple-centric applications. If I had
>this desktop experience under Linux, that’s where I’d be.
> >Use what works. For me, performance is heavily weighted toward what I
>can do, not what the machine can do. That’s why I like Linux. I can
>provision heavy iron for datacenters, one of my day job roles, and I can
>interface motor controls to a Raspberry Pi in a box the size of a
>paperback book. Linux is my katana.
> >Macs can be workhorses, too, but in a quite different way.