Windows is reasonably OK, but MacOS' window management has always been really terrible.
Just think through the many different iterations over the years of what the green button on the deco does, which still isn't working consistently, same as double-clicking the title bar. Not to mention that whatever the Maximize-alike is that you can set title bar double click too (the options being Zoom and Fill, buried in settings somewhere) is different from dragging the title bar against the top of the screen and chosing single tile. Which is different from Control-Clicking the green button. Maybe. It depends on the app.
What a mess.
Both of them miss (without add-ons) convenience niche features I cherish, such as the ability to pin arbitrary windows on-top, but at least the basics in Windows work alright and moreover predictably and reliabily. Window management in MacOS just feels neglected and broken.
There may be many other ways in which MacOS shines as a desktop OS, and certainly in terms of display server tech it has innovated by going compositing first, but the window manager is bizarrely bad.
There is at least one area where both macos and windows suck - handling window focus. MacOS is regularly having trouble with tracking focus across multiple monitors and multi-window apps, making it unusable with keyboard only. And Windows just loves to steal focus in the most inappropriate moments.
>> windows and macos cant even do proper window managing for a start
> Well they certainly manage them better than x11 and wayland.
X11 doesn't manage Windows. You'd know this if you used it, and if you've used it, you'd know why some consider the window management on Windows and MacOS very primitive.
> X11 doesn't manage Windows. You'd know this if you used it, and if you've used it, you'd know why some consider the window management on Windows and MacOS very primitive.
Sure. Windows and macos are also fallible. But there has never been a project that competes with these two brands that can boast a similar commitment to stability and usability.
I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows?
I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons.
If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive.
If you are very finnicky, there is nothing that comes close to X11 window managers when it comes to window management flexibility, innovation and power.
Windows allows you to launch applications from a menu or via search. You can switch between windows with a mouse or keyboard shortcuts. Windows can either be floating, arranged in pseudo-tiled layers, or full screen. KDE can pretty much do the same under Wayland. Ditto for Gnome under Wayland, albeit to a lesser degree. That covers the bases for most people.
X11 window managers were a mixed bag. While there were a few standouts, most of the variation was in the degree to which they could be configured and how they were configured. There may be fewer compositors for Wayland because of the difficulty in developing them, but the ones that do exist do standout.
> I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows?
I have
> I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons.
Neither have keybindings that make any sense. The other failures are secondary
> If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive.
Only for windows refugees that have never used Mac OSX
> If you are very finnicky, there is nothing that comes close to X11 window managers when it comes to window management flexibility, innovation and power.
Unless you want to copy and paste, or have consistent key bindings cross applications, or take screenshots. Sure
I can agree on Windows, but there is no such thing as "keybindings that don't make sense" on a proper Linux WM given that you can literally make up any keybindings you want. I mean this strictly from a window management perspective, yes applications running in those windows have often got their own idea of what good UX is, and this clashes. That's just a trade-off of Linux and to a lesser extent Windows not being complete walled gardens.
> that have never used Mac OSX
I have _used_ Mac OSX. It was and continues to be a confusing experience every time. I'm not saying that this would be the case if I bothered to learn it, but in all the times I have used it, I have failed to see any feature which would make me want to switch to it over i3 or which I feel like is missing in i3. Really it doesn't seem like there is any way of making it act remotely close to i3. Tiling as an option on top of whatever Mac OSX has is just as appealing to me as tiling on top of what Windows has.
> Unless you want to copy and paste, or have consistent key bindings cross applications, or take screenshots. Sure
I've never had copy and paste fail on Linux. The only issues I've had is with more modern applications not implementing the selection properly which is a feature you don't have on windows in the first place. No idea about Macs.
Screenshots have always and will continue to work (the way I want them to) because I can, as mentioned, bind any key to any action.
Windows is reasonably OK, but MacOS' window management has always been really terrible.
Just think through the many different iterations over the years of what the green button on the deco does, which still isn't working consistently, same as double-clicking the title bar. Not to mention that whatever the Maximize-alike is that you can set title bar double click too (the options being Zoom and Fill, buried in settings somewhere) is different from dragging the title bar against the top of the screen and chosing single tile. Which is different from Control-Clicking the green button. Maybe. It depends on the app.
What a mess.
Both of them miss (without add-ons) convenience niche features I cherish, such as the ability to pin arbitrary windows on-top, but at least the basics in Windows work alright and moreover predictably and reliabily. Window management in MacOS just feels neglected and broken.
There may be many other ways in which MacOS shines as a desktop OS, and certainly in terms of display server tech it has innovated by going compositing first, but the window manager is bizarrely bad.
> Windows is reasonably OK,
Doesn't windows conflate window and process? That should kick it to the bottom of the bin by default.
> There may be many other ways in which MacOS shines as a desktop OS
May I suggest examining why your keyboard has a "home" key
There is at least one area where both macos and windows suck - handling window focus. MacOS is regularly having trouble with tracking focus across multiple monitors and multi-window apps, making it unusable with keyboard only. And Windows just loves to steal focus in the most inappropriate moments.
> making it unusable with keyboard only
oh no
"Oh no" is what you'd say after getting yourself some nice RSI and discovering that your hands hurt due to mouse or trackpad usage.
>> windows and macos cant even do proper window managing for a start
> Well they certainly manage them better than x11 and wayland.
X11 doesn't manage Windows. You'd know this if you used it, and if you've used it, you'd know why some consider the window management on Windows and MacOS very primitive.
> X11 doesn't manage Windows. You'd know this if you used it, and if you've used it, you'd know why some consider the window management on Windows and MacOS very primitive.
Sure. Windows and macos are also fallible. But there has never been a project that competes with these two brands that can boast a similar commitment to stability and usability.
Also obviously fuck windows
I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows?
I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons.
If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive.
If you are very finnicky, there is nothing that comes close to X11 window managers when it comes to window management flexibility, innovation and power.
Windows allows you to launch applications from a menu or via search. You can switch between windows with a mouse or keyboard shortcuts. Windows can either be floating, arranged in pseudo-tiled layers, or full screen. KDE can pretty much do the same under Wayland. Ditto for Gnome under Wayland, albeit to a lesser degree. That covers the bases for most people.
X11 window managers were a mixed bag. While there were a few standouts, most of the variation was in the degree to which they could be configured and how they were configured. There may be fewer compositors for Wayland because of the difficulty in developing them, but the ones that do exist do standout.
> I don't use a Mac, but have you ever used Windows?
I have
> I mean, maybe you have, but if you are not fussy then at worst MacOS is quirky and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons.
Neither have keybindings that make any sense. The other failures are secondary
> If you pay a little bit of attention you will notice that on linux things seem more flexible and intuitive.
Only for windows refugees that have never used Mac OSX
> If you are very finnicky, there is nothing that comes close to X11 window managers when it comes to window management flexibility, innovation and power.
Unless you want to copy and paste, or have consistent key bindings cross applications, or take screenshots. Sure
> Neither have keybindings that make any sense.
I can agree on Windows, but there is no such thing as "keybindings that don't make sense" on a proper Linux WM given that you can literally make up any keybindings you want. I mean this strictly from a window management perspective, yes applications running in those windows have often got their own idea of what good UX is, and this clashes. That's just a trade-off of Linux and to a lesser extent Windows not being complete walled gardens.
> that have never used Mac OSX
I have _used_ Mac OSX. It was and continues to be a confusing experience every time. I'm not saying that this would be the case if I bothered to learn it, but in all the times I have used it, I have failed to see any feature which would make me want to switch to it over i3 or which I feel like is missing in i3. Really it doesn't seem like there is any way of making it act remotely close to i3. Tiling as an option on top of whatever Mac OSX has is just as appealing to me as tiling on top of what Windows has.
> Unless you want to copy and paste, or have consistent key bindings cross applications, or take screenshots. Sure
I've never had copy and paste fail on Linux. The only issues I've had is with more modern applications not implementing the selection properly which is a feature you don't have on windows in the first place. No idea about Macs.
Screenshots have always and will continue to work (the way I want them to) because I can, as mentioned, bind any key to any action.
> and Windows and Linux are identical and merely have different icons
At least on this we can agree, but windows never had to reboot the window server in my experience
I've definitely experienced parts of the windows UI crash. explorer.exe isnt just a file browser, half of the UI runs on top of it.