The first computer I remember having as a kid was a Commodore.
The university I went to used macs, but when I got my first computer of my own, it ran windows. Maybe 10-15 years ago, when my last hp laptop failed, I looked into getting a mac again - and never looked back.
I've loved my mac. I still do. But I don't like the direction Apple is going. It feels like, now that they are popular, they've given up trying to make things for their users and are doing what they want to, no matter what. For instance, I don't like the latest trend for flat, grey & ugly - but what sent me looking for something else was that Apple ships that by default, and then shuts down every way that you used to be able to change things to suit yourself. I'm not a huge hard-core computer geek by any means, but I don't like being told I can't change anything any more either.
Everything's retina now. I don't want or need retina. Sure, it's nice, but it's also harder to fix yourself and worse for the environment. I don't want Apple to stop making them, but I am unhappy that there is no other option. I don't want to be forced to use the cloud or the App Store. (No, you're not yet - but it feels like it might not be too long before you are.) I decided to look for something else before I was.
I won't go back to Windows, so that pretty much left Linux. At least, if there are other OS options, I either don't know about them or they are far too esotoric for the likes of me. I can fiddle and tweak and I like learning new things, but I don't really want to run everything from the command line and compile my own kernal and whatever all else people do.
As for my dabblings in linux - I (very briefly) tried VMs of Mint Cinnamon, Mint KDE and Neon KDE before landing here at Maui. That's about it.
Chelle,
What you wrote is exactly what I mean as far as Apple is concerned. That was exactly the reason why I left Apple.
Greetings, Evert Sonneveld.
Well, i did suggest "in a new dedicated thread in "General Talk"", but anyway...
i'm a refugee from the Windows 3.1-3.11-95-NT4-2000-XP-7-10 world [~1990 - 2014]. I began exploring Linux tentatively in Dec 2013, having reached the tipping point of annoyance with Win7 Pro's need for me to reboot every 5.3 nanoseconds for it to install the latest 5,193.4 security updates, gahhh. The final straw though was the third major Win7 meltdown that crippled my Lappy for days & nights [with all the stress & hassle involved in fixing it]. Once i got it going again, i decided that it was finally time to explore this strange beastie, “Linux”, to learn what it was, & decide if it might be a viable replacement for Windows.
December 2013 - 2015: i began mucking about with Ubuntu, Xubuntu & Mint KDE VMs on my Win7 Lappy via Live ISOs, rapidly disliked the first two & rather liked Mint [16]. After decades of Windows straight-jackets, Linux felt free, flexible & fun. Converted Lappy to dual-boot of Win7 with Mint16KDE. Upgraded to Mint17KDE & felt increasingly "sad, constrained & oppressed" every time i needed to boot back into Win7 [mainly for Outlook 2010]. Bought my Tower mid-2015 [deliberately spec'd to be a nice toy/plaything for me, via a decent i7 cpu, 32 GB RAM, 250 GB primary SSD & secondary 2 TB hdd, & use /tmpf] to expand my Linux-learning [space for LOTS of Linux VMs, to explore various distros & DEs], & made it single-boot native Mint 17.3 KDE, with Win7 only on a VM [later upgraded to Win10]. Later i also converted Lappy to single-boot Mint 17.3 KDE. June 2016 managed to complete my migration fully to Linux by establishing my new Linux PIM paradigm to eliminate my Outlook 2010 dependence that had been the only anchor still to needing to run my Win10 VM.
Am soooo very happy no longer to use Win, but aware that coz of my decades with it vs only a few years with Linux, i am definitely a GUI-Girl not a Konsole-Kween. I'm sure that's a major reason i love KDE so much, together with that i like being able to make a plethora of fine-tuning adjustments to the UI that i find hard or impossible in other DEs. Regarding DEs, i have played with Ubuntu’s Unity [HATE it!], Ubuntu’s & Mint’s MATE [it feels too "tied-down & boxed-in" for my liking; GNOME2 is just too old-fashioned & boring for me], GNOME3 [utterly ghastly; a total workflow-killer], Mint Cinnamon [really dislike this; limited customisability], Xfce [via Mint & Linux Lite; second only after KDE i've decided i really like Xfce], & my "true love" KDE.
I love KDE for its extreme GUI-based configurability, with which i can massively improve my workflow efficiency [& enjoyment] via lots of the KWin Desktop Effects, multiple Activities, & as many Virtual Desktops as i like [currently actively using 9 VDs in each of my 3 Activities]. Also, Dolphin file browser is so much more sophisticated & flexible than ugh-fests like Nemo & Nautilus. Mint 17.3's KDE flavour had other nice touches over say Ubuntu's attempt [ie, Kubuntu], such as more thought gone into useful context-menu choices in Dolphin [strongly including its Root Actions submenu -- something i sorely miss in other distros & DEs].
From May - Sept 2016 i explored Plasma5 in multiple Tower VMs; Kubuntu [yuck; Plasma 5.5.5 unstable, unreliable & missing functions], Fedora KDE 24 [surprisingly pleasant, Plasma always up to date, but i don’t like its package management system (somehow i like the Debian/*buntu system better), & Dolphin still missing Root Actions], Mint 18 KDE [highly anticipated, but ultimately disappointing; i hate that they tied it to Kubuntu not Neon, so it's stuck on old Plasma 5.6.5 (even Mint 18.1 will still tie to Kubuntu), & also Dolphin still missing Root Actions], KDE Neon [very interesting, but too “bare-bones” for me], & Maui.
Within the past couple of months i've changed the OS on both my Tower & Lappy. My Lappy & Tower both had Mint x64 17.3 KDE 4.14.2. I chose to migrate my Lappy to Mint 18 Xfce, partly because [though i still love KDE generally speaking] i wanted a lighter resources burden on my Lappy [i5 cpu, 8 GB RAM], yet still have a flexible & eye-candy system. Hence Xfce+Compiz; it's not as good as KDE, but is vastly better than MATE & Cinnamon.
On Tower i opted to stick in the KDE family, but after thorough evaluation first in all those VMs, i chose to abandon Mint [i originally had expected to chose18 KDE, until i actually tried it & was disappointed] & moved to Maui. This was a direct rejection of Mint 18 KDE's unfortunate decision to tie themselves to Kubuntu instead of Neon, hence its Plasma is stuck at 5.6.5. Also Mint 18 KDE lost its valuable Dolphin Root Actions. In contrast, with Maui i have the same Ubuntu 16.04 base as Mint, but always the latest or briefly second-latest Plasma, + Root Actions. It's simply a better overall package, for my taste & needs. In the short time i've been with Maui, i am really impressed with it. I’m even now starting to contemplate maybe putting Maui also on Lappy [Xfce+Compiz is still really nice (sort of “KDE-Lite”), but its Network Manager has a persistent problem with WiFi frequently dying, & needing NM killed & restarted]. As my Tower does not have WiFi, sadly i cannot first evaluate Maui’s WiFi behaviour here before trying it on Lappy.
I agree completely with the posts above. Maui 2 is the most stable Plasma 5 distro I've tried. It's definitely a keeper.