In 1998 (97?) I installed Debian 2.0 for the first time, and I had been a Linux user, both at work and for personal purposes, up until 2013. I was so fed up (because I was older) with the hardware issues (external monitors, graphics, drivers) that I switched to Mac and never looked back.
Up until now. I dislike the UI, and I'm frustrated by having to wait 15 seconds every time I want to unlock the system after a break. It's starting to feel like old-time Linux all over again.
However the downside is I can't try some new app releases like Daft Music[1] because it has become to burdensome to maintain two different designs. Especially in SwiftUI.
[1] https://daftmusic.app
I don't know, but it seems to me like people are overreacting? Do y'all really care that much about how the desktop looks? It doesn't seem that different to me if I'm being honest. That's probably why they don't let me do frontend...
That said, I don't have much experience in that area on Linux or Windows anymore
As for the UI, meh -- I suppose it's personal taste. I could take it or leave it, but I wish they'd focus on substance over form, i.e., addressing bugs and fixing functionality (e.g., Mail's search remains useless, particularly compared to something like infoclick) instead of gratuitous appearance changes that no one asks for.
But form over substance seems the norm in our industry (see e.g., Windows 11)
Other than that, of course some things got slower, but overall it's an OK release. For example he new system settings were bad before, now they got a bit worse, but macOS 26 didn't introduce those changes.
If you're a Linux user, or were a Linux user, check the logs, close programs, uncheck login items 1 by 1, run "launchctl list", etc to identify the specific cause.
- check the logs. There may be an obvious hint there as to the cause
- quit all programs, menu bar items, launchd scripts, etc, and check whether the problem persists
- create a new user and see if that user has the problem, too