[astromd]

As a highly technical person that writes code, does media, and fixes high-level computer networks and essential systems, the last thing I want is to have to dig into mysterious config files and have to debug every little thing that goes wrong with installing a piece of software. I can give up a certain degree of control and customization in exchange for a stable operating system and desktop environment that lets me get my work done. This is why I use macOS for the desktop.

[noduerme]

This. If my entire workflow were codewriting, I'd be thrilled to go over to a Linux desktop and never look back. Unfortunately about 30% of my work is dependent on being able to work with assets in Adobe formats (including compiling and maintaining older Air apps). On top of that, one thing that "just works" on the Mac is peripheral setup. Audio interfaces, Wacom tablets, printers... plug and play. I'm not sure I could make every peripheral I use work under Ubuntu, but even researching it quickly turns into a days long quest on various vendors' message boards. On the other hand I am deeply, deeply angry about what Apple is doing, and I'm not going to buy any new Apple hardware unless they reverse course on this privacy violation. If I have to deal with all the headaches of Linux and keep an old Apple around just for compiling old stuff or recording music, so be it.

[edit] I'd like to add that my private devices have been exclusively on Mac since the Mac SE around 1992, my company is exclusively on Mac, my clients buy Macs for internal use because we write their internal apps for them, and overall I've been responsible for purchasing somewhere around 100 Macs. I know they don't care and have never cared about my opinion as a customer, but their interests aligned with mine. Now they appear not to.

[brundolf]

Even if my entire workflow were code writing, I'd want to focus on my own code and not on the code and configs underpinning my system

[kcplate]

Amen to this. I fell in love with the Mac in 2007 after literally hating the company for the prior 17 years due to a weird form of PTSD from having to make that chatty bastard AppleTalk behave on corporate networks.

I became a convert because it just worked. I didn’t need to constantly mess with it to keep it running well. So well that my 2008 MBP lasted until 2018 until the battery swelled and cracked the case. I’m now 3 years into a MBA and this will prob carry me through to retirement.

[plater]

Actually with a modern Ubuntu like 20.04 there are not many issues at all. With 14.04 and 16.04, yes, it could be a bit rough with some graphics issues with some Java based programs, drivers etc.

Comparing Ubuntu 20.04 with my wife's Macbook Air M1 I do not see any differences in ease of use.