> But why are we comparing vanilla macOS to an extreme customized Linux setup as if they’re the same thing?
Your assumption that these Linux setups are "extremely customized" is wrong. Personally, I hate configuring or customizing much at all. The appeal of Linux is that there are distros that come configured out-of-the-box pretty much as I like it, whereas MacOS and especially Windows requires configuration and constant upkeep and maintenance. (MacOS doesn't even come with a decent terminal, for starters.)
For me, my main problem with MacOS is that it's full of looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong animations that you can not disable or remove. Disabling animations (or setting them to be <10ms long) is one of the few configurations I like to do. But this is not even an option on Apple's operating systems. It's like running through molasses in a dream-- it's so damnedly and artificially slow.
Because there is no option to disable all animations. Despite the name, that doesn't disable all animations. (In fact, I couldn't even find an animation that does remove.)
One can not disable the animations on MacOS. I would very much like to be wrong. Please tell me I am wrong and how to disable animations, especially when swapping between desktops.
I'm surprised and happy a third party solution exists for this. It's a shame a Mac requires so much third-party software to get it to a usable state. But it's a good thing supply-chain attacks are a long solved problem, and Macs can not get malware.
(For posterity: I am being sarcastic, to highlight how Apple's UX stance increases users exposure to supply chain attacks. "Macs can not get malware" is a long-standing myth.)
Unfortunately the app comes with its own limitations and weird edge cases, many of which are pretty unintuitive. It would be much nicer to simply use the native experience and disable animations.
> disable animations, especially when swapping between desktops
When I first started using a mac for dev at my current job, I tried their virtual desktops implementation as a workaround for macOS's lack of alt-tab support. That desktop switching animation is so long it's honestly really funny, I just sat there for a minute switching around and laughing my ass off in disbelief at how slow it is. Unfortunately it does also make the feature completely unusable, so we're just stuck with one desktop and a gimped alt-tab. Just an absolute usability train wreck going on over at Apple.
Your assumption that these Linux setups are "extremely customized" is wrong. Personally, I hate configuring or customizing much at all. The appeal of Linux is that there are distros that come configured out-of-the-box pretty much as I like it, whereas MacOS and especially Windows requires configuration and constant upkeep and maintenance. (MacOS doesn't even come with a decent terminal, for starters.)
For me, my main problem with MacOS is that it's full of looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong animations that you can not disable or remove. Disabling animations (or setting them to be <10ms long) is one of the few configurations I like to do. But this is not even an option on Apple's operating systems. It's like running through molasses in a dream-- it's so damnedly and artificially slow.