Elementary OS does look superficially Apple-like, but on closer inspection, there's no menu bar, which is a core element of the macOS UI. So actually it's more like iPadOS on the desktop: apps generally only have hamburger menus, which personally I do not like at all, and it's limited by its insistence on Flatpak apps for everything. You can of course open a console and use `apt` to install whatever you want, but then the desktop quickly becomes less coherent and harmonious.
It's a good distro and I like it. It's easy, it has good accessibility, and as you say, it looks great. But I tried daily-driving it for a short time and found it too limiting for me. Once I'd manually installed Firefox, Thunderbird, Chrome, VLC, LibreOffice, Ferdium, Panwriter, VirtualBox and my other everyday tools, I wasn't using a lot of the distro's own tools any more, and suddenly the ones I was (settings, file manager, app launcher) became limiting.
I used elementary the past and appreciated the visual design. It just never went far enough for me by not having global menus, application bundles, etc. I think given a little more time here this year Gershwin will catch up so to speak. Then we will have not only how it looks, how it is designed, how it operates, how it runs on nearly anything, cross platform support, etc.
I recently began porting Ladybird from QT to GNUstep and the results are a 20 minute build on low powered raspberry pi vs 3 hours using most of the same APIs from AppKit. I believe I can take the same code, and make it build on Windows. I suppose this is my elevator pitch as to why.
lproven|1 month ago
It's a good distro and I like it. It's easy, it has good accessibility, and as you say, it looks great. But I tried daily-driving it for a short time and found it too limiting for me. Once I'd manually installed Firefox, Thunderbird, Chrome, VLC, LibreOffice, Ferdium, Panwriter, VirtualBox and my other everyday tools, I wasn't using a lot of the distro's own tools any more, and suddenly the ones I was (settings, file manager, app launcher) became limiting.
probonopd|1 month ago
cosmic_cheese|1 month ago
Mac users looking to switch want the whole package: the aesthetics, the functionality, the design philosophy, and the holistic approach.
malco_2001|1 month ago
I recently began porting Ladybird from QT to GNUstep and the results are a 20 minute build on low powered raspberry pi vs 3 hours using most of the same APIs from AppKit. I believe I can take the same code, and make it build on Windows. I suppose this is my elevator pitch as to why.