A Look At The Changes & New Features Of GNOME 3.24

[liam]

Mac is the easiest OS, as long as you stick to the basics: docs, web, music & videos... Anything more than that, or if you try to step out of the Apple ecosystem (iPad, iPhone, AppleTV, iPod...) things start to get dire...
Also, have you tried Linux Mint (easy to use) or Elementary OS (MacOS clone IMO)?

You've touched on the exact problem i have with gnome (ultimately the problem occurs on all the DEs though kde might be a bit better due to the cohesion of qt). They use as a persona a pretty basic computer user (it's true they have multiple personas but if you follow bug reports, their blog posts and, in general, the discussions where problems arise about "how many users will make use of this feature" you'll see that they tend to fallback to a position of simplicity over functionality). That might be ok if gnome had the kind of really accessible power behind it that osx has (this is really the big advantage of assuming a single stack instead of aiming at a multiplatform target like most Linux DEs), but it doesnt. I think dbus could be coerced into exposing some of this functionality, but I've seen zero interest in even supporting this kind of functionality.

Among the "easy" things you can do is either script (using applescript or ruby) or simply record a series of input events which can then be added as a service to be run when certain conditions are met. There actually quite a lot of power underneath the sheen because of its nextstep roots.

https://www.howtogeek.com/209225/automator-101-how-to-automate-repetitive-tasks-on-your-mac/

I tried Mint a long while back, but i don't think I've tried elementary.

Of course i have all the interest in learning other environments, i'am a Linux user and distro hopper. But i value liberty. That's the core of Linux. And that's MacOS' krypntonite.

I didn't meant it in that way. Mac is no kids toy at all. It's BSD based and we get access to the Terminal (thank god!). But i wouldn't be too surprised if Apple removed access to the Terminal with an update...
But that's just it: i end up having to resort to the terminal to do stuff that i can easily do in the UIs of Linux or Windows...

I certainly understand the liberty argument, and that's not exactly something that can be answered. As i said, I've never bought any word product for myself, i don't see that changing soon.
Regarding liberty, my question would be what exactly would you like to change? If you want to run another DE, you can't really do that (tmk), but you can alter the desktop a tremendous amount. That's why i was really curious as to what exactly you feel it is missing.

[nomadewolf]

Regarding liberty, my question would be what exactly would you like to change? If you want to run another DE, you can't really do that (tmk), but you can alter the desktop a tremendous amount. That's why i was really curious as to what exactly you feel it is missing.

A decent explorer with access to folder tree, path indicator in the top, the basic stuff...
Being able to connect to every bluetooth device...
AppleID: it's nearly impossible to do anything without giving my credit card details... SERIOUSLY...

I can't give enough credit to the disk tool. It's just awesome. Every OS should have that!

There's more, but any of these things effectively keep me away from MacOS.
I don't think i ask for much...

[bpetty]

My biggest issue with Gnome is not Gnome... but GTK. Developing with Qt was such a better experience. I am going to be sad seeing Unity drop off...

[liam]

Or, in other words, "look, squirrel!".

If i understand you, it's not my intent to change the subject. You mentioned a feature that was unique to Linux (XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR), and as far as mac is concerned, doesn't have an analogue (though the result can be achieved by it's not one step). I, likewise, mentioned a feature of mac that doesn't exist in Linux (and similarly a default Linux install can have improved battery life but it's not worked effortless and it typically includes comprises). I thought it was an apt comparison.

Your claim is that it is "easier than linux". When by default the file manager doesn't provide a way to get to your home folder or most of the key subdirectories like the documents directory without going through root on the desktop, then no, it isn't easier. If your OS either doesn't have a set of APIs to provide a consistent place to put files or most applications don't respect it, then no it isn't easier. If you have to reconfigure practically every application individually to save files locally rather than on some random cloud service, then no it isn't easier.

I don't understand some of this.
"Home" is available under favorites, and its sign is the user's name. The icon signs look like a house.
The save location of files seems to be an issue, i agree.

You and and I have very different definitions of "easy". Your argument basically boils down "Os X is easier if you are willing to individually reconfigure every application to behave in a somewhat sane manner". Yes, I agree that Os X used to be easier than Linux. But after using the recent version, I can safely say that the default behavior on Linux is much easier to work with than the default behavior on the latest Os X, and it is easier to change that behavior if you want on Linux than it is on Os X.

If that's the impression you received then please understand that's not what i was trying to say.
Osx "just works" because it has pretty good defaults (works for most people), has best-in-class battery life, a vibrant developer ecosystem along with a Unix base, but, far more importantly, it has an excellent basis for system extension by third party developers (relative to GNOME, at least).

[liam]

A decent explorer with access to folder tree, path indicator in the top, the basic stuff...
Being able to connect to every bluetooth device...
AppleID: it's nearly impossible to do anything without giving my credit card details... SERIOUSLY...

I can't give enough credit to the disk tool. It's just awesome. Every OS should have that!

There's more, but any of these things effectively keep me away from MacOS.
I don't think i ask for much...

If i understand you, treeview is easy. Use the column view. With every selection from the leftmost column a new nested column is added.
I'm not sure what you mean by "connect to every bluetooth device". If you are having issues with it auto connecting with devices that have what been paired then you might have fitness a bug.
No idea about AppleID. Sorry
Glad you like their disk tool. It's pretty good, but I prefer the one in GNOME.... that might be because it wasn't actually "designed" by their "designers"