Aug 29 2008 at 1:08pm
Moving from Mac to Ubuntu: Why I’m switching
When I started my new job in October the computer that I had to use was a Power Mac G5. This wasn’t my choosing – the guy before me really liked macs and had the whole office switch over several years ago. I was allowed to get a new laptop as well, and chose a Lenovo Thinkpad T61 and installed Ubuntu.
Until now the Mac has been my primary machine – home of email, web browsing, scheduling, and my main design activities. Why? Because that’s the way I set it up at first, before my laptop arrived. I used the laptop mainly for harder development activities, and file transfers (more on that later).
This week I finally decided to move to the Ubuntu machine for my primary activities. Why? Because I just don’t like OSX that much. It hinders my activities in some pretty significant ways.
Why I’m leaving Mac
Crapfile management.The Finder doesn’t work for me. No location bar and no tree strucure side panel makes it difficult to navigate folders and move files around the way I want to.- Insufficient panels & customization. In Ubuntu I can have as many panels I want, can put all kinds of stuff on them, and can arrange them however I want. In OSX You just have the dock, and you can really only put applications or files on them, and you can’t even put in a separator to keep them organized.
- Various other annoyances. Such as:
- program menus are glued to the top of the screen on one monitor only, which detaches them from the window. This is especailly annoying when the program you’re using is on the second monitor.
- the date/time doesn’t open to a navigable calendar. I often use this to check dates in the past or future.
- you can’t see hidden files unless you run a command from the terminal to turn them on. Thus, hidden files are either always on or always off.
Why I’m keeping Mac
I’ll keep the Mac around for some tasks (I have a KVM switch set up so I can easily toggle between the two), including:
Those pesky .docx files. Correction: Open Office is now able to open .docx format. This must be new because when I tried last week it didn’t work.- Dreamweaver – until we get a CMS in place I still need to manage sites built with DW templates.
- Photoshop – because sometimes the Gimp isn’t enough.
Update 02/09: My apologies for the tone of this post. I didn’t mean for it to be inflamatory in any way. I actually had made some edits that were accidentally lost (how, I don’t know!). Sorry about that!
Update 03/09: Comments on this post are now moderated.
yochai August 29th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Technically speaking, it isn’t Ubuntu you like so much but the GNOME desktop environment. Nice to hear you like it, though.
Also, you could run both Word 2007 AND Photoshop in either Wine, Crossover Linux, or in a virtualmachine all on our T61.
junglist August 29th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
what yochaii said. I got DW CS3 running under WINE with 8.04 no problem. Glad to hear about the switch! I have always been annoyed by #1 & #3a as well! All my friends look at me like I am crazy when I say I can’t figure out Finder.
Johan August 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Hello Megan. There is actually a fork (when someone takes a program and makes a new version of it independent of the original project) of OpenOffice called Go-oo (not the best name I know), which offers support for docx files, VB macros, SVG import etc. Don’t really know if anyone has made installable packages for Ubuntu yet, but if not, it will come. I think this could remove at least one reason for a boot into OSX, so keep your eyes open. Have a nice day.
/Johan
Udo August 29th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
IF you have the windows version of PS CS2 and Dreamweaver and use OpenOffice 3.0 ( still beta, but works quite nicely ) you won’t need the Mac anymore.
But buying PS CS2 and Dreamweaver just for Wine is really stupid IMHO.
Andrew August 29th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I can open docx files in OpenOffice on my Ubuntu 8.04 machine without a problem.
Instead of using a KVM switch, you may want to look into Synergy. It’s an open source software solution that allows you to move your mouse from one computer to the other like it was a single dual-display system.
Megan August 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your comments! I just tried opening a docx in OO a few weeks ago and it didn’t work – maybe it’s really new??? I will try that when I’m back at work. Windows licences of DW & PS are probably out of the question for the time being. I might be able to arrange that in the future.
Besides, it is a shame to have that expensive Power Mac sitting there doing nothing
NotReal August 30th, 2008 at 12:31 am
You can also install ubuntu on Mac OSX using vmware – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlJ-yQxSLoc
vajorie August 30th, 2008 at 1:10 am
have a look at http://www.macports.org/
donkeydarko August 30th, 2008 at 3:15 am
you should try kde4.1
Rushi August 30th, 2008 at 4:41 am
To clear up some problems since you’re still keeping the Mac:
For OSX there is a perfect Finder substitute called PathFinder – http://www.cocoatech.com/pf4/ – I use it, its awesome
For Date-Time issues use iStat Menus (http://www.islayer.com/index.php?op=item&id=28) or MagicCal – http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/magical – Both free
For the dock organization: Overflow is best http://macapper.com/2007/09/19/overflow-25-released-with-several-new-features/ – I can’t live without this.
Also more Mac Goodies – http://macapper.com/2008/01/10/mac-os-x-freeware-list/
Have Fun.
Rushi
Rushi August 30th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I submitted a comment before, it may have been flagged as spam because i put a couple of links in there.
Adam Fabian August 30th, 2008 at 9:02 am
It’s a long, dark road to try to beat every annoyance out of your software / operating system. After many years of operating system jumping and pointless struggling, I’ve figured out the obvious: they’ll all be flawed in some manner. It isn’t worth bothering to switch unless something is so broken that it’s a serious hindrance to your work. (This is almost never.) After realizing that things I felt like needed customization were mostly pointless in the grand scheme of things, I started running more vanilla configurations of everything, which saves a lot of hassle. If the Mac is a proverbial straight-jacket, the arms it’s binding were only going to waste time tweaking anyway. “My way or the highway” isn’t such a bad thing when you face a giant sea of absolutely arbitrary decisions. Saving you from having to make those decisions itself is a valuable service.
Rambo Tribble August 30th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Adam,
Before you slide into a sea of UI-tweak-phobic despair, bear in mind that with Linux, if you place your /home folder on a separate partition, your customizations can exhibit a remarkable tendency to survive complete OS replacement, (desktop environment swaps, like Gnome to KDE, not so much). This is because many customization settings are kept in hidden folders/files in the user’s /home folder.
A well-tuned desktop, like any optimized machinery, is more efficient and effective to operate. Get in, adjust the mirrors, the seat, get comfortable.
Josh August 30th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Dreamweaver templates? The amount of php you’d have to learn to do templates is so small. You get 2 sad faces.
ben August 30th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I like this story – but after having 8 months with my gnome desktop, I am starting to see problems with saying things like ‘I use Ubuntu’ or ‘I use Mint’.
Someone I know just started with Mint ‘it’s so much better!’. Actually, I installed the few ‘differences’ he spotted, because they’re simple Debian files and open source, and showed him that only on booting from the disc and freshly installing are they of any importance. What is disturbing is the tendency to selfishly and often rather obsessively argue aggressively that whatever you’re choosing is best. It isn’t, it is simply the lesser of evils and we choose to go with the one that hopefully gives us paths to do what we want and less obstacles.
I agree with certain things – filesystem with bunty Debian is nicer than mac – but iTunes is missing. I think parallels and/or dualbooting would be the way to go. I never stopped using XP – I MUST have ACDSee Pro2 to edit my digicam pics when I come home with 300 photo’s to organise, edit and write to CD. Also I must have my Windows games. Linux cannot, and perhaps never will be able to offer the strengths of the Windows platform (not being the platform, but due to it’s 95% dominance) and Mac to me still offers the best (albeit expensive in comparison) software suite. I’d integrate Mac with Linux, and try not to be devisive – that’s mostly destructive.
Megan August 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am
@Adam – I agree that it isn’t worth bothering to switch unless something is so broken that it’s a serious hindrance. This is what I was finding with Finder in particular. It was too much of a hinderance, and I already had the Ubuntu machine anyway so it was just a matter of moving my email, calendaring, and the relatively few files I keep on the local machine. Customization has always been very important to me though. I always feel like my hands are tied if I can’t change things. This is why I use Opera.
@Josh – the DW templates aren’t my doing. It was instituted years ago across the university where I work. There are reasons why it made sense at the time which I won’t go into now. We are planning to transition to a CMS soon. Send those sad faces to the people who implemented this system 4 years ago
@Ben – I hope I was clear in that this was due to my personal preferences and not a “Ubuntu is just better” sort of mindset. Have you tried Amarok on Linux yet? Or are you missing the itunes store part? What about Digikam for your photos? Just a suggestion
I agree with you about the games. I am still missing my Sim City 3000 
Josh August 30th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Megan, I just saw the link in the upper right to A Padded Cell is wrong. Your site gives me a 404 error. It has an extra http: at the front of the address of that link.
Megan August 30th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Thanks, Josh. I thought I had fixed that before but obviously I didn’t!
garg August 30th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I actually use Photoshop CS2 with Ubuntu and Wine 1+ and it works great for most things. Small things like zoom are still weird though.
Adobe! Please support linuxxxx!
ben August 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I have a few – Digicam doesn’t cut any mustard. I use Songbird, Rhythmbox, Amarok, BMPx is really cool, Exaile, ‘Listen Music Player’, VLC, XMMS2tray. I use Rhythmbox to handle podcasts, Mirc for video podcasts, and find that it’s better to load up BMP to play music whilst Rhythmbox is busy downloading- none of them are too good, but they all have strengths. My point was truly that the name ‘ubuntu’ has NOTHING to do with the above applications. These are simply linux apps, and most work best with gnome – but Amarok does require a lot of KDE libraries to be installed. This is acceptable, because for doing DVD movies, K9copy is best (drag and drop a DVD9 iso on there, and get a DVD5 movie ISO out in about 25 minutes).
Differences breed contempt. I like the name Ubuntu, and I am liking the word Mint less, because of the way it’s thrusted in my face (as if I chose a lesser distro or something). In truth, they’re virtually exactly the same! Since I started just 7 months ago, I have discovered numerous choices beyond Ubuntu that are top quality Linux distributions. Now I prefer to use more GENERIC TERMS, in order to avoid excluding the other distributions – many of them are extremely similar in nature (ubuntu/mint are dressed up – DEBIAN LINUX). People are starting to clump all ideas about linux with ubuntu, the hype is becoming destructive, I feel, as a whole.
I understand your meaning – but what you say is understood differently by anyone unfamiliar who reads it.
Just one note, if you managed to find a XP disc lying around, install innotek virtualbox, set XP and add ‘shared folders’ to include a USB flashdrive, and install Office 2007. With a desktop cube workspace arrangement, I have played around with Vista on one face, and XP on the other face – for Office, you can have MS open along with Open office, seamlessly on the same workspace – it’s fun!
If you worry about whether you should choose Mint/Ubuntu, you can install all the Mint files in Ubuntu (download .deb files and click to install).
I miss iTunes simply because it looks amazing on a mac, and it runs extremely well and very fast – and there isn’t another app to touch it. I dislike that it’s tied to Apple, but that doesn’t make it any the less. Songbird is working to compensate….
I agree about the Finder – and linux makes life easier (set up nice shortcut Super+E to go exploring with nautilus, get nautilus scripts installed to do lots of other jobs, install PC Fileman too, and try Thunar… (gnome-do is an essential ‘after install’ installation to put on your list. STARDICT is great, Tomboy Notes needs to go on the panel, Dreamchess, Frozen bubble, Pingus (remember lemmings?), Google Earth, Frostwire, Limewire, gtk-gnutella, Epiphany browser, OPERA is much better here than it was on Mac, Abiword is very light and opens in 3 seconds opposed to 6 seconds for OO Word (handles like a notepad, works half as well as bloated MS Office), Audacity you know, DVD Decrypter is available through Wine-Doors, gtk-recordMyDesktop, Last.fm, Gmount-iso, Ubuntu Tweak as a mega fresh newbie (though you’ll find easier to set up mouse for ‘scale windows’ in ccsm settings manager).
You can’t use a printer as nicely with linux – Windows or Mac drivers are needed for the full range of options (my pixma works, but with windows it works extremely well…. I need to get it set up in the virtualbox).
Take some time to find themes. OS V is nice, and there are one or two – but generally taste is lacking in the gnome art scene.
Above all, enjoy it – but remember it’s only got ‘ubuntu’ on the front page and it’s important to offer balanced comments. The community needs more integration, and my choice of ubuntu is arbitrary – really I chose Debian linux (as do Mint, Collax, Damn Small Linux, Knoppix, Mepis, Xandros, etc…) and I’m sure that after using any of them for 3 months, I’d end up with identical desktop setups with identical software installed – not resembling very much the initial installations.
Your Ubuntu installation becomes less ‘ubuntu’ and more ‘gnome debian linux’ with every click of your mouse. I didn’t mean to brush you up the wrong way. I talk too much, maybe I think too much. I hate political correctness, but I’m trying to learn not to use language (like ‘ubuntu’) which DOES upset other linux users. It’s good that you can do things more graphically with Ubuntu, but the truth is that the terminal based compilation and installation method does give you a better system if you have the expertise or inclination to learn how to do it…. often it’s just a case of googling and copy/paste or extrapolate answers you find there…
Megan August 30th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hi Ben,
I get your point about Ubuntu vs. Gnome vs. Linux generally. I agree that most of what I wrote had more to do with Gnome and/or Linux generally rather than Ubuntu in particular. That just happens to be the distro I’m using. I also like using Konquerer for file management. The split view is great when I’m transferring files between servers and things like that.
I do have a virtualbox set up with Windows XP. If I’m doing a lot of serious web page testing I’ll put it on the laptop display with Ubuntu on one big monitor and OSX on the other big monitor. It is fun
Paul Chapel August 30th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
You didn’t try out OS X long enough. Half of the stuff you say is untrue. Here’s your criticisms and my counter-points.
“No location bar”
The Finder does have a location bar. Go to the Finder’s Menu and click on “View/Show Path Bar”. You can also get your location by holding down the command key and clicking on the heading at the top of the Finder window.
“No tree structure”
I think you need to take a look at List View. Seriously, have you ever been in the View Menu? OS X has 4 different View modes: Icons, List, Columns and Cover Flow.
“difficult to navigate folders and move files around the way I want to”
WTF? Everything in OS X is drag and drop. What’s complicated about that? You can also Cut, Copy or Paste.
“Insufficient panels & customization. In Ubuntu I can have as many panels I want, can put all kinds of stuff on them, and can arrange them however I want. In OSX You just have the dock, and you can really only put applications or files on them, and you can’t even put in a separator to keep them organized.”
Uh, the dock has a separator on the right side for Folders. You can drag any Folder there and make it open as a List, like in MS Windows or as a Fan, a Grid or Stack. Furthermore, the Finder lets you drag and drop any Folder in the Sidebar. You can drag aliases (short-cut to Windows users) to the Finder’s Title Bar and the “Customize Toolbar” option lets you to drag in Separators or spaces between the apps.
“Program menus are glued to the top of the screen on one monitor only, which detaches them from the window. This is especailly annoying when the program you’re using is on the second monitor.”
This is a valid point, but not enough to make me switch to Linux.
“the date/time doesn’t open to a navigable calendar. I often use this to check dates in the past or future.”
This is just a bold faced lie. OS X’s date and time calendar has freaking arrow keys at the top, which allows you to navigate to future or past months. You can even change the calendar to another year
“you can’t see hidden files unless you run a command from the terminal to turn them on. Thus, hidden files are either always on or always off.”
Another valid point, but a very minor one, unless you’re some kind of Unix hacker.
Christophe August 30th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
.docx will be supported in the next version of OpenOffice which will be included in the upcoming version of Ubuntu in October. See here for a list of changes and new stuff: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=886980
Cheers and happy ubuntuing
Anonymous Coward August 30th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Wow, or maybe you’re a Mac fanboi with an attitude problem, guess which seems more likely to most people reading this.
Counter-points? This isn’t an argument, it’s about personal preference, use whatever OS you like.
Please stop trying to force your opinions on others. Megan didn’t ask for this blog post to be picked up on Digg/Reddit/whatever, she’s not trying to persuade you to switch, but listing the reasons why she personally prefers Ubuntu.
It’s arrogant in the extreme to assume this blog post was written to persuade you to switch; the way you feel the need to defend your choice reveals your assumption.
SJS August 30th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Wow, or maybe you’re a Mac fanboi with an attitude problem, guess which seems more likely to most people reading this.
Pot, kettle, black. Sheesh, when the first comment is to accuse another of being a “fanboi”, you (the reader) just *know* that the commenter’s brain was checked at the door.
Counter-points? This isn’t an argument, it’s about personal preference, use whatever OS you like.
When an author critiques something, and then asks for comments, it is a request for a discussion. Point and counter-point is perfectly okay — unless the author is looking for ego stroking and cries of “me too”, indicating a pretty pathetic person. Megan seems not to be pathetic, so /your/ criticism would seem to be misplaced.
Further, Megan’s article was phrased in an inflammatory way. “Macs can’t do X” is an assertion looking for a rebuttal; while “I can’t figure out how to make a Mac do X, so I’m giving up.” is an assertion that looks for enlightenment. The latter is not as likely to spur discussion, debate, or to otherwise get people emotionally involved — which is, frankly, NOT the desirable thing to do for a blog. Aggressive writing, on the other hand, draws people in, either for or against, which improves readership, increases traffic, etc. etc.
That being said . . .
My objections to OS X are not Megan’s objections, which show that this is a matter of opinion, taste, and preference. Paul’s counter-points are presumably valid, and since Megan is keeping her mac for the time being, she could use that information to better configure that system to her preferences. I don’t think Paul’s correct in his assessment that she hasn’t used the system long enough — more likely that she doesn’t have folks who know enough about OS X that she can consult with, or that she doesn’t bitch enough about the things on the system that bother her.
My primary objection to OS X that there is no clip in addition to the dock (Gnome doesn’t fix this, but WindowMaker does). I personally despise the structured-tree “file manager” paradigm, and I don’t mind the single-menu-bar since I now use a 24″ monitor instead of two smaller monitors, but I used to find that needlessly awkward. I am annoyed that the OS *lets* background applications steal the focus.
[Full disclosure: my primary machine is a SPARC Solaris box; my secondary machine is a Debian Linux box, my tertiary machine is an Apple OS X box. All of them have "features" that annoy me, and all of them have features I like. I would fight tooth and nail against any attempt to have me pick just one.]
Robert D. August 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Let’s face it: the GIMP is *never* enough.
Anon August 30th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I can’t understand if she loves Gnome so much why not just install Gnome in X11 on OS X and run that instead of force your office to buy you a new laptop because you refuse to give OS X a chance.
LAS August 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Gimp does plenty. Ubuntu is about freedom. Interface is great and intuitive. Apple is arrogant and ties you to the hardware. People often buy Apple to show off their riches. Apple can’t touch free Linux- Compiz 3D. Anyway .odf is the future. Linux runs the internet and more secure. Apple can’t match Linux kernel development.
joe August 31st, 2008 at 2:34 am
i’m an “expert” windows xp user and i live with a mac user. every time i have to use her machine (usually to help her with something) the mac ui makes me want to smash the damn thing. i don’t know how it possibly has a reputation as easier to learn or better UI. the thing is inconsistent, very limited, very dumbed-down. for example, you can’t even just use keyboard shortcuts to operate the menu. the network settings control panel is a mess. everything is big and bright and opaque – in a bad way.
i guess i just don’t “get it” because i could never use a mac on a regular basis. drives me crazy after just 5 minutes.
brandonheato August 31st, 2008 at 2:51 am
1 and 2 are easily solved by quicksilver/spotlight. Why would you need a location bar when u can navigate directly to ANY folder or ANY file directly. Complete with smart autocomplete. Likewise you wouldnt need docks littered all over your desktop workspace when u can launch any application with quicksilver or spotlight directly, likewise with smart auto completion. Application/windows switching can be done effectively and easily with expose/spaces/command-tab/command+`
You can turn on view hidden files as the default. A simple search on google will tell u the command to turn that on in just 3 steps. And past dates? Thats whats iCal is for in case u missed it.
I think you’re just not using it “right” way or “efficient” way…
Quicksilver is the main reason why i switched over to OS X from linux.
Terry August 31st, 2008 at 3:50 am
First of all nobody cares that you “switched” or why. In your quest for Blog page views you could have at least tried to look like you know what you are talking about. But you don’t.
Guney C. Gokoglu August 31st, 2008 at 5:31 am
Interesting post for me to read. I use linux for 3 years now and a few months ago i switch osx at work. I am still using gnu/linux @ home but i am planning to replace my laptop with a macbook.
After you point out the annoying things at osx i am starting to realize them. First of all TextMate is really cool like the rest of osx apps but i can do anything TextMate does with Gedit for FREE
I really have to think about switching a little more.
Victor Kane August 31st, 2008 at 5:56 am
I can open docx files in Open Office (Ubuntu Heron)
Megan August 31st, 2008 at 8:00 am
@SLS Thanks for your comments. I surely didn’t mean to phrase my comments in an inflammatory way. Mac OS just isn’t right for me – perhaps I should have been more clear about this.
This conversation has been kind of baffling for me because I really didn’t expect to get this much traffic. My blog has a small readership – until the last couple of days I’d get about 200-300 visits per day (the last two days were around 2,500!). When I posted this I was just thinking that I’d let my regular readers know what I was up to since I haven’t posted in awhile. They know me and hopefully would know how to interpret my comments.
However, it should have occurred to me that using Mac and Ubuntu in the same sentence might get some attention! I haven’t read the comments on Reddit or Digg but from what I hear some have been compaining that this article got so high up. I agree!
Speaking of Digg, apparently some of the readers there (including Terry, above, it seems) think that because the term SEO occurs on my site then I must be a digg spammer. Let’s not jump to conclusions now! Actually, I’d kind of prefer that my site wasn’t on there. I need to contact them and ask them to remove my photo from the post.
The thing that bothers me about Paul’s comments and a few others later on is that they assume that the way I prefer to use my OS is just wrong and that I must be inexperienced or stupid if I don’t like the way OSX works. I’ve been using it for 10 months now, that’s plenty long enough. I think some of the things he’s talking about are new in Leopard which I don’t have yet. It doesn’t matter though – there are many other problems I have with OSX that I didn’t go into in my post.
amarok August 31st, 2008 at 5:03 pm
No, Megan, Paul doesn’t imply that your usage of the OS is wrong. He implies that you never actually learned to use OSX, and I may agree with that. Anyway, if you don’t use OSX, I guess linux is a fine alternative. Cheaper,anyway. I have used linux a lot and I actually like it (ok.. I prefer OSX, yes, but there’s no point explaining or discussing that… at least not here).
As a window management, anyway, I always preferred KDE over Gnome.
Best regards.
Anon August 31st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
“I’ve been using it for 10 months now, that’s plenty long enough. I think some of the things he’s talking about are new in Leopard which I don’t have yet.”
You haven’t looked hard enough because the features he mentioned above are in Tiger too.
You ignored what I said about Gnome too. Why didn’t you just install it in X11?
Adam Kinder September 1st, 2008 at 12:02 am
Long time no comment! I like the new design btw, very “spring” like!
I haven’t used Ubuntu on the desktop, but I’m a complete Ubuntu fanboy when it comes to servers. I can literally setup a new box on our cluster in twenty minutes, and without any headaches.
sufehmi September 1st, 2008 at 3:06 am
Pretty much similar experience here.
If I buy another Mac, I’ll setup Ubuntu on it.
Also, Safari is causing loads of grief, avoid when possible.
Examples : switching to other tab at a sudden (sometimes at exact time when I was about to close another tab – Opt-W, oops there goes that other tab instead), crashes without remembering current open tabs, etc.
Megan September 1st, 2008 at 10:12 am
@Paul, Anon & amarok
I will double check some of these things tomorrow when I’m at work. I know I did look around for a path bar ages ago and didn’t find anything. I also remember watching some Leopard previews and being happy to see that there was a path bar in Finder. I know you can see the path in Tiger but I need to be able to type in to complete it.
Edit: Yes, I remember now. Early on I did find the path bar in Finder but realized that you can’t actually type a path into it (unless I’m missing something!) and thought "Oh, that’s not very useful" and turned it off again.
I see 3 view options in Finder – the icon/list view, the tree view (one frame), and that multi-column view which I really detest. I prefer either having a tree view in a side frame or Konquerer’s multiple views within the same window. I always end up with tons of finder windows open which is really annoying. At first I thought that accessing applications through the Finder was a good thing but now I find it annoying because it just means I end up with more windows open.
Because I work on websites I have to navigate deeply into folder structures and move files between servers. Being able to do this efficiently is very important to me. This is also why I need to be able to quickly turn on hidden files (ever hear of a little thing called .htaccess?).
Re: X11 – I tried running Open Office in X11 last fall and didn’t really like the way it worked. It feels awkward and I have my keyboard shortcuts in OSX set to use control instead of command which is switched in OO because it uses control (which is command for me. I suppose I could go through and change all those shortcuts but that’s quite a lot of work!). I also heard that someone is working on porting KDE apps to OSX which would be v. cool but the last time I checked it wasn’t ready yet.
The calendar will navigate from month to month if I uncheck a box in the pop-up and that’s one step too many for this task. But that’s a small problem in the grand scheme of things.
The lack of multiple panels and customization options is still a problem. I also can’t put the dock on either monitor, it has to stick to just one. And I still can’t get used to not having a window list on a panel.
As I said above, there are other reasons why OSX isn’t for me. I didn’t feel the need to articulate them all in my post. And so what? I could learn to use OSX more efficiently or upgrade to Leopard or I could use an OS that suits my working style better. The latter option seems best to me (although I still don’t think that OSX would ever suit my working style as well as Ubuntu/Gnome does). As I’ve said before, I think trying out different OS’s and choosing the best one for you is the most important thing.
@Adam K. – nice to hear from you again! I was wondering if you were still reading
Megan September 2nd, 2008 at 10:12 am
Okay, I’m at work now so I can check some of these things:
On 10.4, when you click on the calendar you first have to choose “Open Date & Time”, wait a few seconds for it to open, then uncheck the box to “Set date & time automatically”. Now you can use the arrows to navigate.
Don’t you find this attitude to be quite rude? I do.
So, no, it is not that I didn’t learn how to use it. Some of these comments also seem to be mis-interpreting what I’m asking for. Perhaps OSX users aren’t familiar with the customizations availble in Linux.
Duo September 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Open Office doesn’t need to be run in x11 either, you can either install the official version http://download.openoffice.org/other.html#en-US or Neo Office http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Freshmeat is your friend http://freshmeat.net/browse/839/ along with MacUpdate and VersionTracker. Your reasons for switching still seem more a lack of google fu then anything else, since pretty much all arguments for Ubuntu over OS X are null since OS X is already those things with the added benefits of all the Mac only software.
I’m guessing my post earlier wasn’t takedn due to not using a real email correct?
Anonymous Coward September 2nd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Wow, glad I checked back on this blog post. I see the Mactards have invaded.
Yeah, or maybe it doesn’t ‘just work’ the way she wants? You Mac fuckwits spend so much time in circular masturbation sessions over the perfection of your OS, that you completely fail to realize that it doesn’t cover every need. It doesn’t work the way everyone wants. And frankly, if someone likes a different OS, why can’t you lot just shut up and accept that (rhetorical question, nobody actually cares).
There are lots of articles about what a bunch of cunts you Mactards are, but not every Mac user is a ‘tard. I think the following comment from Slashdot sums it up very well:
I bring this up as the author of the quoted comment above clearly falls into the rabid fanboy category.
Wow, you should listen to yourself, if you can’t read this statement and realise what an arrogant twat you’ve turned into then I advise getting some psychological support. But don’t worry, admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery.
Also, I can think of one really great reason: all the self-affirming wankers screaming at someone who’s — correctly — pointed out things they find lacking in Mac OS. And who would want to be associated with pricks that send death threats to security researchers, or behave like these ‘tards? I’m with this guy, Apple fanboys are pretentious twats.
The final reason I can think of: maybe the user just doesn’t like your fucking OS. Screaming about it on their blog is going to do nothing but push them further away and make you look like an utter fucking zealot.
Wow, you Mactards are easier to troll than the Linux zealots on Linux hater’s blog.
Paul Chapel September 2nd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
A few things, Megan.
(1) Calendars
Seriously, your obsession with calendars is really strange. If you want to access an easy-to-use calendar, use the iCal calendar in the Dashboard. The default setting to open the Dashboard is F12. You can also access the Dashboard by clicking on that little round black icon in the dock, if you haven’t removed it.
(2) Too Many Finder Windows
You might want to go to the Preferences section of the Finder. There an option to “Always open folders in a new window,” which you no doubt have checked at some point. The Finder isn’t set up that way by default, so I’m puzzled why you would be upset with this option.
And if you want to type a path into something, why don’t you try Spotlight, that little icon at the upper right hand corner of your screen? It’s super fast. You might also want to try Quick Silver, as recommended by a few other Diggers.
(3) Open Office
Instead of trying to use Open Office, try NeoOffice (www.neooffice.org).
Neo Office is the official OS X fork for Open Office. You don’t need to install X11 to use it. Mac users also have the option of iWork, which is relatively cheap and Office for Mac, which is relatively expensive.
(4) On Me being Rude
If I am rude, it is because I take great offense to your suggestion that an operating system like OS X is somehow inferior to a bunch of distros that people refuse to use over a terrible OS like Windows, even though it’s free.
I also take great offense that the title of your submission to Digg seemed to suggest that you were an Mac user, when in fact you are a Linux user, who had been FORCED to use a Mac at your job. There is great difference in the perception of someone forced to use something and someone who uses something out of choice and decides it isn’t for them.
So you didn’t “switch.” You were never a Mac user in the first place. That is patently dishonest and a slap in the face of millions of Mac users.
And more to the point, if you go out of your way to get on the internet and dismiss something in such a casual and dishonest way, you should be prepared for a little criticism.
arvind September 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 am
I know where your edits got lost, some crash because ubuntu sucks
Morgan Grainger September 3rd, 2008 at 7:17 am
Since you indicate that you want to be able to type a path into the location bar, I thought I’d mention that pressing shift-command-G when in a Finder window will display a sheet into which you can type a new path.
Megan September 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am
@Anonymous Coward That’s enough with the attitude, okay? The only reason I left that up is because I thought it was not entirely uncalled for.
@Paul You’re interpreting this incorrectly:
Firstly, I did not submit this to digg (no matter how many times I say this I’m sure people won’t believe me! I’d prefer that it wasn’t on there actually, the comments haven’t been very constructive).
Secondly, this is my opinion, not a suggestion that Mac is somehow inferior (I have agreed that perhaps my wording wasn’t the best). Mac is a fine operating system for some people, it’s just not for me.
Thirdly, your interpretation of my title is just that – your interpretation. The first few paragraphs explain the context. Or are you referring to the title that was posted to digg?
When I started my job here I decided to give OSX a chance – I like trying new software and I believe that it important to make a conscious choice. I gave it a try, and it didn work for me. I should also mention that until last year I used Windows mostly (not entirely by choice) so that`s where many of my work habits come from.
Finally, this is a tiny little blog that gets very little traffic. If it occurred to me that a flood of digg users would show up I would have worded things much differently (or not posted it at all!). It was casual, yes, but dishonest, no.
@Morgan Thanks for the tip, I’ll try that out.
Paul Chapel September 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Megan,
I apologize if you were truly misrepresented on Digg, but I still take issue with the wording of your blog entry.
In the title you suggest that you “switched” to Ubuntu. Switchers are usually people who are satisfied users of a particular operating system, who by chance or choice, find something they like better in another operating system and as a result, make a change.
They usually have a deep understanding of their prior operating system before “switching.” Based on your complaints, it seems that you don’t even have an elementary understanding of Macs, so how is it that you can make such a broad, sweeping assessment of OS X?
You don’t express any sort of true insightfulness in your blog entry. For example, I used to be a Windows user, and can express a full range of technical issues that make OS X superior to Windows, including the use of Hot File Adaptive clustering, or the Core Audio stack, or the extensible firmware interface. Your dissatisfaction with OS X, on the other hand, seems to stem more from ignorance and dare I say, laziness at learning something different.
Anyway, no hard feelings. You have a right to your opinion, but I would hope you delve a little deeper into OS X before dismissing it outright. When I switched, it was close to six months before I actually “got it.”
Sincerely,
Paul
billywayne September 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
dragthing will settle all of your difficulties with the mac. as many panels as you want, doing whatever you want. dragthing.
gnarbucks September 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
“crap file management?” Are you kidding? Quicksilver is one of the only things OS X has going for it. It’s AMAZING! I’m using dmenu + dwm on the work dev system and it’s “nice” but Quicksilver + OS X is intelligent.
Megan September 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
@Paul – that’s better! Now I understand where you’re coming from a bit more. Sounds like we just have a difference of perspectives. The post wasn’t intended to be super insightful so I agree with you there!
Quicksilver sounds interesting but I’m not sure that it would help with my particular needs. Will give it a try if I feel like playing with the Mac again.
Hartmut September 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The move from one OS to an other one shall never be guided by minor annoyances as you describe. The differences between Mac and div. Linux-Distributions is far deeper and you should familiarize yourself first e.g. with the different ideas both have about the structure of the Kernel or which benefits and shortcomings the X-Server system has or the different shells in Linux are helpful and a pain-in-the-arse – etc. pp.
Such consideration should guide the decision in favour or against any OS.
Anon September 4th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I wasn’t referring to actually installing OSS apps in X11, I was referring to actually installing Gnome or KDE to run through X11 so that you can compile and run more OSS apps they will use Gnome or KDE as their enviornment. Which means you would also be running the file browser through X11 and get all of the features you wanted out of Gnome without having to install Linux in another partition, or purchasing a new machine just to run another OS.
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread51798.html
http://homepage.mac.com/rhwood/gnome/index.html
http://homepage.mac.com/rhwood/gnome/grab1.png
Chuck Monroe September 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
This is so sadly hilarious: you decided to use another operating system, as a matter of personal preference, and you find yourself on trial. It is surreal. I am sorry you had to go through this inquisition-type ordeal, but on the upside, it gave your blog more exposure
Yesterday, I decided to switch from spaghetti to lasagna for dinner; I hope this revelation won’t break the internet.
sufehmi September 19th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
“No tree structure”
I think you need to take a look at List View. Seriously, have you ever been in the View Menu? OS X has 4 different View modes: Icons, List, Columns and Cover Flow.
Seriously, have you ever used a File manager with tree-structure view – like Windows Explorer, or Gnome’s Nautilus ?
I’m typing this on my Mac while looking at the Finder’s List view.
sufehmi September 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
WTF? Everything in OS X is drag and drop. What’s complicated about that?
Read joe’s comments.
Unfortunately, in Mac, I always feel that I can’t work at my top speed. The UI always dragged me down.
And yes, I’m typing this on my Mac as well.
Megan September 19th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I was wondering that too – if they even knew what I was talking about. Yes, Finder has 4 view options (3 in Tiger), 2 of which are really annoying IMO. Nautilus has 2 and those are enough for me most of the time.
Torbjørn Lunde September 24th, 2008 at 6:30 am
If you are looking for a Photoshop alternative I think you should take a look at Pixel: http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/?page_id=12. It is a cross-plattform application. If you care about politics, it’s not a FOSS-app, but I would still consider it since it’s interface is lightyears ahead of GIMP. It’s not the best, but anyone who’ve used Photoshop should able to get used to it fairly quickly. It’s still in beta, so it might not be reliable enough yet, but I would give it a go.
I see someone mentioned Quicksilver. There is something called Gnome Do which does pretty much the same thing. (Not as mature and feature rich as QS though.) Have a look at it here: http://do.davebsd.com/
There times I’ve used Linux I’ve really liked Gedit(often reffered to as simply Text Editor) for editing HTML. I find it to be way better than any of the so called Dreamweaver alternatives such as NVU.
Here some articles for getting the most out of it:
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/gedit_powerful_underrated_text_editor_everybody
http://www.micahcarrick.com/09-29-2007/gedit-html-editor.html
As for fanboys: Fanboys – regardless of what brand/product/band/soccer-team/whatever – are annoying indeed.
I tried Linux but I had a bit too much trouble with instability, and also severe limitaions when trying to do espescially print, but also photo related stuff. However, it never stopped me from doing webdesign so I think you made a good choice… and it’s alot about preference anyway I guess.
There is a blog you might be interested in. It’s called “Linux for designers”, you could probably find some useful info there. http://my.opera.com/area42/blog/
I hope my comments where helpful.
Braden (meoblast001) September 28th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Actually, you can get Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, and Fireworks 8, as well Adobe Photoshop 7 (maybe even newer versions of those programs) to work in Ubuntu as long as you have the Windows EXE version and the package “wine” installed on Ubuntu
Josh February 24th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I’m considering a long term move to Ubuntu. I have a desktop running 8.10 now and a laptop with Leopard. I’d love to move to Ubuntu full time, but there are a few things keeping me tied to the Mac:
1. iTunes. I have a small ‘investment’ in iTunes video and have two iPhones. I can ditch the video, but the iTunes sync to the iPhone is essential. Perhaps VirtualBox dual boot with XP is an option.
2. Video Editing. This is annoying. On the mac its simple. On linux its impossible. I don’t do great things with Video, but would like to make a quick edit of my daughters.
3. Small things. Things like foxmarks (which I can’t get working), evernote, etc. don’t work or come late (if at all) to linux. I know the community pushes out apps quickly, but there’s always that one app that I would love to run.
Thoughts?
Ken February 25th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
The “Finder” is broken? No problem. I never use it anyways. Not the ones on Windows, Mac or Linux. All you ever need is the grep command! Come to think of it, you don’t really need Dreamweaver. If your hosting allows SSH, you can easily edit your files using that on the spot! You can also install vim if you want. Ubuntu comes with vim-lite, which sucks. Why vim? Because vim > all!
sudo apt-get install vim
If you need Dw for multiple file edits, you can do the same with the sed command.
And use Virtual Box for Mac and or Windows. =)
Have fun!
Peter March 11th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I’m so surprised. I thought nobody would say anything favorable about Linux usability over OS X in the context of usability.
Pablo July 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Saw the comment (way) above on Synergy. I just wanted to chime in that it ROCKS!!! I’m working on three machines simultaneously: ubuntu box, xp, and macos. I control all three thru my keyboard attached to the xp box in the middle. They even share the clipboard (text only). I’m even extra paranoid and run all synergy connections thru SSH.
What’s extra fun is running Virtualbox on the mac (since it has the most powerful cpu of the three) and run extra ubuntu and windows sessions therein. 
Patrick July 17th, 2009 at 10:05 am
I use Ubuntu, Xp, and Mac and of the three find the finder in Mac to be way ahead of anything on offer from Linux oe MS, I work in a creative profession and have to keep track of tens of thoudands of files, graphics, Audio, text and web. The Finder feature in Mac OSX is the most powerful I have ever used and the reason I will not be without a mac in my studio.
Floyd Johnson October 26th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
The funny thing is that I found this post by asking Google for “I’m a Mac I’m a Megan” (sans quotes).
Bassu Khan January 29th, 2010 at 8:14 am
Oh, and one thing more Mac sucks in, the 3D desktop and “real” workspaces, you can have in Ubuntu.
I’m a Linux freak and when a friend of mine recently insisted that I should have a Mac, I studied it a bit more but rightfully speaking of that I found I’m afraid of loosing my freedom and the ultimate power of command line.
allain May 6th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
I prefer Ubuntu too. I had an iBook G4, and was very happy with it until the hardware broke to soon. I freelance, so for me it was the price that did it: Cheaper hardware, free OS, and decent free programs. I’ll stick to Ubuntu, now that I’ve taken the time to learn it.
BTW
If you haven’t tried it, I recommend Inkscape for graphic design. Fun to use and smoother shapes.
Megan May 6th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Thanks for your comment, Allain! I love Inkscape
Carlos Gonzalez October 19th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
I google “Moving from mac to Ubuntu” and I came to this blog, I feel the same, and I am getting tired of Mac, I am a Mac User for almost 20 years and Apple is really pushing me away, they are control freaks, that makes things less compatible just to make more and more profit, there’s tons of stuff in Mac that I am getting more and more frustrated, I have tried Ubuntu and is great and it’s free, open, and fast!
Luca January 3rd, 2011 at 9:53 am
Yes ubuntu is nice but i think mac is nicer!