this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026

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Unpopular Opinion

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MacOS is the worst Operating System (self.unpopularopinion)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by masterspace to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

113 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It can't do the literal entire thing an operating system is supposed to do: manage applications and their resulting windows, in a sensible way.

I want to know what application is running.

Sure it's in the dock!

I want to find a specific application window.

Go fuck yourself right to hell.

Wait, the taskbar doesn't show the running windows, like it does on every other OS? It's at least discrete right?

It discretely takes up 1.5cm of the bottom of the screen at all times. It's so discrete it doesn't even need to use the corners.

Uh, alright, well that's all the system space you need right?

Yeah of course just that bottom inch or so .... And a top of screen system level menu bar to display what windows does in the bottom corners.

/sigh/ ok, fine, I just want to be able to full screen a window and still see what else is open.

Burn in hell and die.

I want to be able to easily switch left and right between open windows.

Go full screen or I will shoot you.

I want to move an open window into the other monitor.

You can't because you're full screen dumbass.

I want to let a window present a popup like they normally do.

You can't because youre full screen dumbass. Why would you be full screen?

I want an application like Slack to be able to popup and remove notifications when is appropriate.

Choose to have every single notification persists on screen until you manually remove it, or miss all your notifications.

Can't we trouble you for something in between, where we trust an application and let it manage them in a way that makes sense based on their context?

You can trouble me for something in between these cheeks, shit stain.

Like honestly, I fucking hate what an advertising and AI filled mess Windows is, but it can actually manage your windows and virtual desktops in a way that makes a modicum of sense.

It feels like a single Apple product manager decided that the way that they use their computer (a single application at a time, no windows to manage) is the only way anyone does, so who cares if we implement a nonsensical full screen paradigm, it makes one tiny niche edge case slightly simpler.

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[–] cuboc@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not only does it have terrible UX designed by the marketing department of Fischer Price, it treats you like a toddler as well.

[–] Matty_r@programming.dev 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is the thing that the Gnome devs are desperately trying to replicate.

[–] cuboc@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Agreed. I am not a big fan of Gnome either.

[–] blitzen 26 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Eh, I don’t know. Kinda feels like it’s more of a reflection on your ability to learn.

Does macOS need some windowing improvements? Undoubtedly. But my 12 year old kid and my senior citizen mom can use it just fine, I’m sure you can too.

macOS has the unique ability to be good for newbies and power users (thanks to its unix underpinnings,) but falls short for people who have just enough computer knowledge to be dangerous (such as yourself.)

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Unix underpinnings make it comfortable for developer work, but that does not necessarily make it good for power users.

MacOs is pretty locked down and basic which makes it a reasonable choice for someone that just needs a computer, but if you're the kinda person who wants to tinker with and change a bunch of stuff to make your computer work for you (i.e. a power user) you're gonna meet resistance.

[–] Limerance@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

macOS has tons of power user features built in. Automator, Service Menu, Shortcuts, Folder Actions, intelligent folders, and much more! Adding commands to the contextmenu, that then work across apps is super cool and easy to do for example.

In any app, I can select text and then use the service menu or context menu to run my own text transformation scripts (title case, replace, etc.). Only using built-in tools!

Also you can add or change keyboard shortcuts for every app, even if it doesn’t have them for some menu items. Do you want to not accidentally quit Firefox with cmd + q ? Change it to cmd + alt + q in System Settings.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The UX is only serviceable to power users if you own the computer. If it's corporate you're stuck with the defaults, which are years behind Linux and windows.

Not to mention Cmd is in a terrible spot compared to Ctrl on windows. Needing to use your thumb for Cmd + C vs using you're pinky to do Ctrl + C is also terrible in my opinion.

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[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 month ago (9 children)

Dude, everything in this you claim you can’t do on MacOS I already do on macOS just fine. You are saying it can’t be done because you don’t know how to do it.

Attack them for the enormous corner radius, Liquid Glass, spotlight changing the top result right before you click on it, etc. don’t bitch about problems that literally do not exist.

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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (9 children)

I don’t even know how to limit my Mac to get most of those complaints. What did you do to it? In particular the only reason the taskbar doesn’t show all my running windows is because there are so many. There’s got to be the first 30 or so though.

Nor do I know how to avoid some of them on my Windows box.

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[–] Engywuck@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is. Period.

[–] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For real. There's a huge fucking reason most computers in the world run windows and not macos (about 70% and 15% respectively). It's literally not an unpopular opinion, it's practically a hard fact.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago

There’s a huge fucking reason most computers in the world run windows and not macos

The fact that the cheapest Windows devices are like 100 euros and the cheapest MacOS devices like 1000 euros?

[–] remon@ani.social 14 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Upvote for an unpolular opinion.

But it's pretty clear that most of your PEBCAK

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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Exit button minimizes application.
Minimize button right next to exit button also minimizes application.
Clear all button for notifications doesn't actually clear all notifications.
Keyboard shortcuts for window snapping don't snap windows.
Necessary to install supplementary tools to accommodate basic functionality that other OSes have out of the box.
X code
No software support for DP MST so fuck you if want to run your own computer off a single wire dock.

At least the virtual desktops work pretty good.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Exit button minimizes application.

X closes the window, it doesn't minimize it. The application stays open until you explicitly quit it.

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago (20 children)

Staying open but hidden is what we call "minimize." "Explicitly quitting" is what should happen when you click the exit button.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 month ago

Minimize hides that specific window. The window still exists, it's still taking up memory, anything it's doing is still running.

Close closes the window, kills any tasks that window is running, but leaves the basic program still running so if you click on it again it's already ready to go, you don't have to fully reopen the program.

You have to decouple the concept of program from window.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

You’ve coupled the idea of window and application in your mind because that’s how Windows has worked for years. Mac has never worked like that. An application is separate from its windows and has ownership over them. An application can happily continue running with no open windows and still be useful (you control it with the menu bar at the top of the screen).

One of the most annoying things for me on Windows is when I close a Word file and want to open another one, if the one I closed is the last window then the entire program needs to restart which is very slow. On a Mac this never happens.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Having not touched a Mac in about twenty years, is there a visual indicator that the application is still running when there are no open windows? Steam, for example, displays an icon in the systray on Windows, or the equivalent on Linux DEs, to show that it's still running even though you closed the main window. Does MacOS have an equivalent system that all its apps hook into? If it does, then that's fine. But if it doesn't, then that's a serious problem.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, there’s a dot under its icon in the dock. If the application is in the foreground then you’ll see its name in the top left, the first menu in the menu bar to the right of the Apple menu.

It’s also the case that regular applications (as opposed to background processes) cannot be running without having an icon in the dock. Icons can be left in the dock for quick access to launch those applications. If an app is not left in the dock then running it will add it to the dock along with a dot underneath it, along with a bouncing animation to draw your attention to it being added to the dock. Quitting an application that’s not normally pinned to the dock will cause it to disappear from the dock.

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[–] cholesterol@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Staying open but hidden is what we call "minimize."

That isn't what happens. Minimizing means you can restore the current window as is. Closing a window and then clicking the application icon means a new window will be generated using whatever default settings you have.

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[–] Limerance@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

A Mac application can keep running without having an open window. That’s also why the menu bar is not attached to the window.

Minimize button, minimizes the window into the dock.

You can also hide an application, or hide all others, which is a very useful feature.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 10 points 1 month ago (7 children)

I have an almost 10-year-old MacBook Pro, and I gotta say - of all the tech I've ever owned, it's hands down the most hassle-free experience I've ever had. It might not be for power users, but for shitposting and watching YouTube videos it's been absolutely fantastic. It just works, and there's virtually never any issues with anything.

The only negative things I have to say about it have more to do with its age than it being a Mac.

I'm very intrigued by the Framework laptop, but I dunno - I might just get another Mac instead. Especially now that they've brought back the card reader, HDMI, and a proper keyboard.

[–] blitzen 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thanks to its Unix-underpinnings, I think a lot of power users find macOS a pretty solid tool. Of course, not for gaming.

I’m with you on looking at Framework, but I too ultimately went with a new MacBook. Whatever shortcomings the OS may have, the hardware is just too damn good. If you’re happy with your Intel MacBook, just wait until you are on Apple Silicon.

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[–] LuigiMaoFrance@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Concerning your window management troubles, have you tried Exposé/Mission Control at all? "Ctrl + Arrow Key Up/Down" will show all open windows, and all open windows from the currently used application respectively. On trackpads this is bound to a four finger swipe up/down.

To cycle between the active application's windows use "cmd + >" (add shift to cycle backwards), or alternatively you could right click an application's dock icon to view a list of all its open windows.

If you combine these with "cmd + tab" to cycle between active applications you can bring any window you are looking for to the front quick and efficiently, using only the keyboard or trackpad.

[–] masterspace 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yes, I use this all the time out of necessity but it's still hogwash.

Mission Control is ok for selecting windows on a a single desktop as long as you have less then 6 open, it starts falling apart after that, and for some reason, no matter what, it makes the icons for full screen apps so small it's impossible to tell which particular mostly white web page is which.
Ctrl + Arrow Key - switches between only true Full Screen applications, forcing you to use Full Screen, instead of just maximizing. Want to know which windows are coming up next in the list? Too bad, use mission control.
CMD + tab - switches between your last used applications, it does not switch between windows.

On Windows:

you have a taskbar at the bottom where all running windows are neatly tucked away under each application, each with a preview.
With Alt + Tab you go through a list of last used windows, not applications. With a three finger swipe left or right, you can switch between them with a single gesture. You can configure this list to be all windows, or just the ones on that monitor. Their previews are always a predictable and visible size.
you have virtual desktops where you can put your entire window arrangement across multiple monitors away, and start a completely fresh workspace for a different task.

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[–] Limerance@piefed.social 9 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I‘m a long time Mac user and have hated the full screen function since they introduced it. The + button used to zoom/maximize the window according to the size of its content, and it still remained resizable. You can alt + click the + to get the old behavior. There’s also a setting, where you get the old behavior by double clicking the window title bar.

The whole window management has become messy. It was pretty simple and powerful, but then they added more and more features every year, making it harder to use and less useful.

The full screen mode is just bad.

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[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 8 points 1 month ago

I have to use Mac for work and hate the window management. So much of it feels counterintuitive, especially anything with two instances running and switching.

[–] spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I fully agree. I feel like an old man yelling at clouds when I try to use an Apple anything. It might be a me problem, I'll admit, but I am so lost when trying to use someone else's iPhone. Not at all intuitive.

[–] phoenixz 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

macOS is an okay-ish OS as long as you don't step out of line. Do not want freedoms. Be a good child and obey.

It sucks, but at least it works.

Microsoft Windows can't even say that.

Fuck both osses, they both suck donkey balls, long love Linux!

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[–] djmikeale@feddit.dk 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'd argue window management is a small part of the overall MacOS experience, and yes I agree that it sucks. However, with BetterTouchTool configured sensibly and raycast set up, I really like it.

A few things I really like about macos:

you can download an app and just drag it into your apps folder. No installation required. You can also just use something like brew with --cask Param then you don't need to even download the app first
You can modify most settings programmatically
CMD + , always opens settings in all apps
The os (or hardware??) Is very energy efficient, I don't have to worry about running out of battery
I like the menu bar is always at the top of the screen, and when using the Search function under "help", it shows me where to find the correct menu item so I don't have to search again next time I need to find it

[–] masterspace 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

you can download an app and just drag it into your apps folder. No installation required. You can also just use something like brew with --cask Param then you don't need to even download the app first

Technically you can do that on Windows without even the application folder, if the app is written to be a portable app, then you can execute that file from anywhere. Admittedly not quite the same thing, but still possible.

You can modify most settings programmatically

I will say, it's easier to edit most setting programmatically on MacOS, if those settings exist in the first place. On Windows the programmatic way to edit some settings is truly ancient and arcane, but on the flip side, windows actually has settings for virtually everything. MacOS doesn't even have a way of letting you have your mouse and your trackpad scroll different directions.

[–] djmikeale@feddit.dk 3 points 1 month ago

That thing with reverse scrolling on mouse vs trackpad was bugging me so fucking much it's ridiculous. I had to download an app to handle this. So yes, completely agree on that point!

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

No offense to anyone, but to me MacOS feels like an operating system designed specifically for mentally deficient, disabled toddlers. So much 'time saving' in the background it's actively wasting my time.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 1 month ago

Tell me you've never used Windows ME without telling me you've never used Windows ME.

[–] ChetManly@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I have to use one for work. I hate it and its been 3 years now. I'd rather use it than windows though.

[–] oyo@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It was great up through MacOS 9.

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[–] tino@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)

meh, it's ok (use BetterSnapTool)

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