My trajectory was win 3.11, then macos 7 & 8, then windows 98.... Windows 7 > macOS again as a dev > Linux when I finally got to pick my own software and IT wasn't what paid the bills.

Windows was always broken so you had to learn to fix shit

Mac never did quite what you needed so you had to work around stuff and try harder

... Next/Mac got me very literate with Unix

... Linux is just kinda what I know.

But Unix based macos really is an excellent os. It's just a shame its so locked to their hardware.

Jokes on you i started on system 7

I learned how to fix but never how a PC ran on windows. You just can't really dig into the innards and fixing it is 9/10 a reinstall.

In a previous relationship I gave my partner a small tour of the terminal application preinstalled in her Macbook. She had no idea it was even a thing in her computer. The list of commands used was ls, cd, and on a whim I was surprized to find Emacs was preinstalled as well. Her parents saw literally everything I did and still told her I hacked her computer. 🙄

A mac is the only non linux machine I'll willingly use if I didn't have the choice of linux

I think this is pretty reasonable and shouldn't be a hot take. IMO, what macOS does better is to provide a simple UI that protects less experienced users well enough from themselves while keeping developer tools accessible and close enough to standard Unix stuff. It's easy to get into but not too hard to move past the basics once you need to. In Windows, I often feel like the opposite is true. The UI is a complicated mess of three different UIs that doesn't even protect users all that well, and developer tools are often separate products with their own learning curve that are aggressively Windows-specific.

There was a fairy large era of macs that were way more open to customization then windows. Probably still true because Microsoft has gotten a lot more aggressive about locking down their os and the average gamer has no clue how to install mods if it isn't from the Steam workshop.

Tech “literacy” is one thing. Let’s also compare productivity between users.