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More Devs Now Use OS X Than Linux, Says Survey (9to5mac.com)
An anonymous reader writes from an article on 9to5Mac: Stack Overflow reports that more developers now use OS X than Linux as their primary OS, and that if the trend continues, fewer than half of all developers will be using Windows next year. The site says it carried out "the most comprehensive developer survey ever conducted," with more than 56,000 coders across 173 countries taking part.
The survey also mentioned more were still developing for Android than iOS -- 61.9% versus 47.5%. However, almost a third of developers are using Swift, which was also the second most loved language after Rust.
The survey also mentioned more were still developing for Android than iOS -- 61.9% versus 47.5%. However, almost a third of developers are using Swift, which was also the second most loved language after Rust.
For some definition of "developers" that is probably true. In this case, this is "people who use Stackoverflow and self-select in order to respond to survey questions". Their population is heavily biased towards web developers and JavaScript, and 70% are self-taught. So, the needs of most of those people are modest, and their choices tell you little about the quality of a platform. Many of them could probably develop on ChromeOS.
The summery says OS X which is for desktops and laptops IIRC. iOS is for iShiny.
The summary also says that it is developers that were surveyed. These are people who do not have to use the operating system for which they are developing. So... iOS is the reason that they use OS X.
I use a Macbook at work and a Dell with Antergos at home. My linux laptop has less problems working. Bluetooth has never worked and wifi drops constantly on the Mac to the point that I'm having to have the whole thing replaced, because changing the wifi card apparently voids the warranty unless you're a "Genius". The OS is okay but I pretty much only use it for Web browsing and the terminal, the two major portions of my job. The only OS I can't do my job fully with without a lot of add-ons? Windows.
Honestly though have you ever used linux? You sound like someone who heard about it once in the 90's when, to be fair, linux was not ready for prime time.
Hint: OSX runs is BSD based and runs a terminal.
mac hardware lets you run all three major OS's (osx + windows + linux) on a single piece of hardware.
also — you get all the commandline UNIX-y goodness + the ability to run Microsoft Word + the ability to run Adobe Photoshop right beside your terminal window.
and it never stops running for some arcane reason after a pkg update.
I doubt it, because both developers I know who own Macbooks have installed Linux on them.
or, OSX is the most useful implementation of Unix anywhere and at any time in history, from a users point of view.
As a developer I was raised on SunOS (before it became Solaris). Unix is in my genes. However, both as a developer and outside of work, I use computers for other things than 'vi' and 'make', or 'emacs' and 'ant' or whatever silly thing you could think of. I use it for my images, for editing 4K video from my camera etc. Since Linux on the Desktop is never going to happen, and actual usable applications for non-development on Linux is never going to happen, using an alternative Unix platform seems reasonable. OSX is what Linux could have been if Thorvalds had ever cared about user interfaces. He doesn't and never will, thereby relegating Linux to the dark basement.
Until OSX came along the best way to develop was using Windows on the workstation and having an automated build system on Linux somewhere. Why Windows? Because Windows beats Linux every single day for desktop usability. It's leaps and bounds ahead of what Linux dreams of in its most orgasm-inducing dreams. Don't believe me? Try some cross-platform stuff. Eclipse for example. I would rather use Eclipse on Windows while having a root canal rather than suffering actual editing on Linux
You'd have to be a real masochist today to chose a Linux desktop over an OSX desktop for a Unix development experience.
Except that the summary also says that more people develop for Android than for iOS.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
You'd have to be a real masochist today to chose a Linux desktop over an OSX desktop for a Unix development experience.
Never understood the OSX superiority complex. It's almost like you guys are overcompensating for something.
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Wow.. even with the glitches I experience from time to time in my Linux desktop it still doesn't quite match the cheese grater to the testicles I feel when I use OSX. Like seriously, force people to mouse to the top of the screen every time they want to use a menu function?? The 80's are embarrassed they never caught on.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The GP didn't say they weren't developers, just that they didn't do a good job representing developers as a whole. The claims is that more developers develop on something, the GP points out that it is really more of a particular subset. His opinion is also that the subset in question isn't likely very good.
It's not a "No true Scotsman," fallacy to say that a subgroup isn't representative of the whole group. For example if you said "All Scottish people are drunks, I mean just look at all of them in this bar," it would not be a fallacy for someone to say "You are in a bar, the people here do not represent all the people in Scotland, this is a small subgroup."
Further, something like a developer isn't just an arbitrary label. You aren't a developer just because you say you are any more than you are astronaut or a plumber or the like. Someone that fucks around with a tiny bit of JS coding a bit in their free time isn't a developer, just like someone who once changed the drain trap on their sink is a plumber. When you talk about professions, there is the idea that you do it, well, professionally.
OS X is the UNIX that large organizations support their employees using. And btw it's nothing like iOS.
I used Linux exclusively for about 12 years. I'm even named in the Linux kernel changelog, so you could say I've long been a fan of Linux. When sold my business and took a 9-5 job with a big organization, I was offered a choice - Windows or OS X. The corporate helpdesk, the active directory services, etc didn't do Linux. Knowing that OS X is UNIX (certified UNIX, POSIX, single UNIX), I chose OS X over Windows.
I don't buy Apple's mobile devices, and didn't much care for the iPad my boss handed me, but that's iOS. Time for me to try OS X.
I was surprised to find that for day-to-day use, OS X is almost exactly like Linux, on a quality machine, with few to no annoyances. It just works. I can download and compile all my favorite FOSS software the same way I always have - ./configure; make; make install. It's just like a well-polished Linux distribution, and it integrates seamlessly with the corporate network.
System administration is a little different, but I haven't needed to do much system administration on my Macs, they just work.
If you like Linux or BSD and you're in an organization that includes Windows desktops, Active Directory, etc, a Mac is a very good fit. Don't let any negative experience with iOS fool you, OS X on a Mac Pro is a powerful UNIX system, and the hardware is well made. (The hardware isn't anything magical, but it's well designed, solid construction, and good performance) .
Stack Overflow reports that more developers now use OS X than Linux as their primary OS, and that if the trend continues, fewer than half of all developers will be using Windows next year.
Someone care to enlighten me on the logic here? Where does Windows usage become involved in the OS X vs Linux equation. Or, if they're trying to say people are jumping ship from Win to OS X, why mention Linux at all? Either way, there's one too many OS's mentioned in TFS. Didn't read TFA, because TFS does not compute.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Except that the summary also says that more people develop for Android than for iOS.
Developing for Android does not mean that you don't use OS X. In fact, if you want to target both iOS and Android then the best solution is a Mac. Yes, you can't write for iOS on other platforms, but that will be a small minority.
I'm a developer. I own a Macbook. It's got a nice box. It brings up a bash shell. I can ssh. I don't need to install linux on it to be doing the same things the same way I would be doing on Linux if I wasn't already logged into a Linux box over the network.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
For the record, I have used Linux since 1993. I also used Minix back then on my home-grown BBS (you wouldn't know, you are too young). I had a short brush with Macs when I went to business school, but didn't own an OSX machine until I got a Macbook Pro a couple of years back. My personal web stuff is all on Linux on AWS. I am not an Apple fan boi by any stretch of the imagination.
So, what makes OSX infinitely more usable than Linux? Two things, usability and apps. There are no usable apps for regular stuff for Linux. Seriously. Show me an alternative to Photoshop, for example.
The sad reality is not that OSX folks have a superiority complex, they quite possibly do, the sad thing is that when you point out that OSX beats Linux on everything, Linux users are sooo insecure they have to lash out. Get over your self, get rid of Linux (on your desktop) and be happier.
If you develop for iOS then you will almost certainly (or must?) be using OSX to do so...
If you develop for Android you have a choice of platforms.
If you develop for both you might as well run OSX because the android tools run just as well on there, plus if you're employed as a developer you can justify an expensive mac over whatever bottom of the barrel junk you'd have got otherwise.
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I've had my Linux Mint box freeze sporadically. I thought it was the OS for the longest time but it happened a couple weeks after I did a clean wipe and reinstall.
Turned out it was a bad stick of memory. Replaced it and things have been golden.
Did the GP run a low level memory test lately?
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I really don't know what people mean when they say that OSX is more user friendly.
You should consider that a limitation of you ability to understand. Seriously.
this is much much less efficient and therefore less user friendly
And this is where your misunderstanding comes from. Here's a clue. User friendly: Allows me to easily digest the XAVC 4K footage from my camera, do basic color correction, cut away the junk, create a presentable end result. That's user friendly. Having multiple options for window managers, being exceedingly configurable to the point of me being able to make it fit my life perfectly when developing Java software - user-unfriendly for 99.999992% of the worlds population.
If you find more UI elements too distracting to do your work then it is pills you need, not a streamlined OS
I don't sit around masturbating to my own UI configuration every day. I do work that pays. For me to accomplish this I need to run applications that work. I design and develop software, which includes GUI components that are special made so I need a good vector graphics tool to assist in this. Also, I take pictures and make movies in my spare time, and I also use some of those skills when I develop GUI elements for my applications. In order to do that I need applications. A user friendly OS has those applications. Linux does not, and probably never will.
How do you get by without applications?
For the record, I have used Linux since 1993. I also used Minix back then on my home-grown BBS (you wouldn't know, you are too young).
I know what you mean, going beyond tuning a solaris kernel with MAXUSERS or ATT unix, Interactive, coding C with vi on a hp700/44 serial terminal. Pretty much everything is a step up from that.
I had a short brush with Macs when I went to business school, but didn't own an OSX machine until I got a Macbook Pro a couple of years back. My personal web stuff is all on Linux on AWS. I am not an Apple fan boi by any stretch of the imagination.
I beleive you. I always though that 68000 mac hardware was better than PCs. Apple made less hardware back then, but they used the same stuff that was on the servers so it was rock solid. I loved it.
So, what makes OSX infinitely more usable than Linux? Two things, usability and apps. There are no usable apps for regular stuff for Linux. Seriously. Show me an alternative to Photoshop, for example.
I can't show you an alternative to Photoshop, except GIMP, but I haven't used it for a production so I can't speak to usability, I'm told it's very powerful. What I can speak to is Audio production in Linux is hands down where the innovation is occurring. Sure, Mac maybe more usable, but that's a poweruser issue, not an innovation issue. My observations about many Apple applications is that they let you get to a level of good productivity real fast with a fantastic user experience at the expense of sheilding you from the power of the machine and making innovation less accessible. Sure that lets you be creative, but nothing out of the ordinary.
The usability paradigm in Linux attracts a different type of user. When I commit to an application I want to own the space and not be limited by the type of commercial imperatives that can alter my investment in learning, in that regard open source software is superior because sometimes the users also contribute to the code base. Obviously this does not exclude them from being a MAC user, that is the power of open source though.
I think people are too scared to explore because of what the constantly changing Windows environment did to them. Apples brilliance was taking people out of that paradigm, who can fault that move. However Apple also missed out on the significant advances in the Power PC CPU architecture, as IBM received a massive cash inflow of development from Microsoft *and* Sony, so they weren't that smart moving to intel. I'm certain Intel would have been aware of their strategic position though, when making that deal.
I'm curious about what languages you are developing in though, do you mind sharing?
The sad reality is not that OSX folks have a superiority complex, they quite possibly do, the sad thing is that when you point out that OSX beats Linux on everything, Linux users are sooo insecure they have to lash out. Get over your self, get rid of Linux (on your desktop) and be happier.
Wow, I would have said it was the other way around, I am just so damn comfortable in Linux that the UI is almost irrelevant. I have all the platforms in the house, including a powerbook for my wife. I thought that since Apple didn't have to pay for the use of an excellent O.S platform they could focus their effort on the UI - they did great job too, however I'm just not fond of how that UI context works, it's same reason I dumped Unity. Mac is more usable, but I feel limited, like the power of the machine is abstracted away from me. You're probably right but does my preference count? I don't care what others use, however is it ok for me to use Linux because I actually like the way it works and I'm happy with it? I am stupid for not using a MAC to code?
Please don't take offence, I'm not criticizing devs who use Macs either, I'm actually interested what I can learn about if there are things better than what I do. I'm not convinced that it is a
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