Alternatives to macOS logo

Alternatives to macOS

Windows, iOS, Ubuntu, Windows 10, and Linux are the most popular alternatives and competitors to macOS.
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What is macOS and what are its top alternatives?

Desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows.
macOS is a tool in the Operating Systems category of a tech stack.

Top Alternatives to macOS

  • Windows
    Windows

    A series of personal computer operating systems produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows NT family of operating systems. ...

  • iOS
    iOS

    It is the operating system that presently powers many of the mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. It is designed to make your iPhone and iPad experience even faster, more responsive, and more delightful. ...

  • Ubuntu
    Ubuntu

    Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers. ...

  • Windows 10
    Windows 10

    It is the latest iteration of the Microsoft operating systems and has been optimized for home PC performance in a wide variety of applications from serious work to after-hours gaming. ...

  • Linux
    Linux

    A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance. ...

  • Mac OS X
    Mac OS X

    It brings new features inspired by its most powerful users, but designed for everyone. Stay better focused on your work in Dark Mode. Automatically organize files using Stacks. ...

  • Debian
    Debian

    Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software. ...

  • CentOS
    CentOS

    The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code. ...

macOS alternatives & related posts

Windows logo

Windows

927
705
2
A group of several graphical operating system families, all of which are developed by Microsoft
927
705
+ 1
2
PROS OF WINDOWS
  • 2
    Lovely
CONS OF WINDOWS
  • 2
    Proprietary
  • 1
    Not free to use

related Windows posts

Shared insights
on
UnityUnityElectronElectronmacOSmacOSWindowsWindows

We want to create a 3D web and desktop(Windows and macOS) application with a lot of functionalities. This is a 3D furniture customization application in which we give options to add, delete, scale, move, rotate objects. Something like a floor planner. We are also going to add AR and VR.

I am thinking about using Electron or Unity. Please recommend what should I choose for this purpose. Please consider that we have to develop for web and desktop (windows and mac) all platforms.

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William Miller

We are developing an AWS IoT app for large boats. The IoT devices have sensors all over the boat for engine oil pressure, position, water depth, fuel level, crew location, etc. When the boat has internet, we interact with AWS cloud using lambda and Amazon DynamoDB. When the boat is offshore, the captain and crew still need normal and emergency alerts and real-time sensor information. The crew might have an Android or IoS phone or a Windows or macOS PC to receive alerts and interact with sensors. We may use the AWS GreenGrasss edge computing solution and either MQTT or HTML for that function.

Question: We want to develop a cross-platform client to run on Windows, Mac, Android, IOS, and possibly Linux. We are primarily Python programmers, so PyQt or Kivy are options for us, but we have heard good things about React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, and others. We think an AWS Greengrass core on an RPI4 could communicate to the client with MQTT or a local webserver with a client web interface.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

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iOS logo

iOS

1.7K
1.4K
4
A mobile operating system by Apple
1.7K
1.4K
+ 1
4
PROS OF IOS
  • 2
    Integrated with other Apple products
  • 1
    Privacy
  • 1
    Apple
CONS OF IOS
    Be the first to leave a con

    related iOS posts

    Ubuntu logo

    Ubuntu

    70.9K
    52.7K
    458
    The leading OS for PC, tablet, phone and cloud
    70.9K
    52.7K
    + 1
    458
    PROS OF UBUNTU
    • 228
      Free to use
    • 96
      Easy setup for testing discord bot
    • 57
      Gateway Linux Distro
    • 53
      Simple interface
    • 8
      Don't need driver installation in most cases
    • 5
      Many active communities
    • 4
      Open Source
    • 3
      Easy to custom
    • 1
      Great OotB Linux Shell Experience
    • 1
      Many flavors/distros based on ubuntu
    • 1
      Software Availability
    • 1
      Lightweight container base OS
    CONS OF UBUNTU
    • 4
      Demanding system requirements
    • 3
      Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian
    • 1
      Systemd
    • 1
      Snapd installed by default

    related Ubuntu posts

    Tim Abbott
    Shared insights
    on
    DebianDebianUbuntuUbuntuFedoraFedora
    at

    We use Debian and its derivative Ubuntu because the apt ecosystem and toolchain for Debian packages is far superior to the yum-based system used by Fedora and RHEL. This is large part due to a huge amount of investment into tools like debhelper/dh over the years by the Debian community. I haven't dealt with RPM in the last couple years, but every experience I've had with RPM is that the RPM tools are slower, have less useful options, and it's more work to package software for them (and one makes more compromises in doing so).

    I think everyone has seen the better experience using Ubuntu in the shift of prevalence from RHEL to Ubuntu in what most new companies are deploying on their servers, and I expect that trend to continue as long as Red Hat is using the RPM system (and I don't really see them as having a path to migrate).

    The experience with Ubuntu and Debian stable releases is pretty similar: A solid release every 2 years that's supported for a few years. (While Ubuntu in theory releases every 6 months, their non-LTS releases are effectively betas: They're often unstable, only have 9 months of support, etc. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone not actively participating in Ubuntu the development community). Ubuntu has better integration of non-free drivers, which may be important if you have hardware that requires them. But it's also the case that most bugs I experience when using Ubuntu are Ubuntu-specific issues, especially on servers (in part because Ubuntu has a bunch of "cloud management" stuff pre-installed that is definitely a regression if you're not using Canonical's cloud management products).

    See more
    John Calandra
    Data Manager at The Garrett Group · | 8 upvotes · 206.9K views

    There is a question coming... I am using Oracle VirtualBox to spawn 3 Ubuntu Linux virtual machines (VM). VM1 is being used as a data lake - just a place to store flat files. VM2 hosts Apache NiFi. VM3 hosts PostgreSQL. I have built a NiFi pipeline that reads flat files on VM1 and then pipes the data over to and inserts it into the Postgresql database. I left this setup alone for a while, and then something hiccupped on VM3, and I had to rebuild it. Now I cannot make a remote connection to Postgresql on VM3. I was using pgAdmin3 on VM3, but it kept throwing errors - I found out it went end-of-life in 2018 and uninstalled it. pgAdmin4 is out, but for some reason, I cannot get the APT utility to find/install it. I am trying to figure out the pgAdmin4 install problem and looking for a good alternative for pgAdmin4 that I can use to diagnose the remote database connection problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

    See more
    Windows 10 logo

    Windows 10

    404
    368
    10
    The most secure Windows ever built
    404
    368
    + 1
    10
    PROS OF WINDOWS 10
    • 3
      On 4gb other applications less likely to run smoothly
    • 2
      The best developer tools for all devices
    • 1
      Slow
    • 1
      Best for Indonesian PC Users
    • 1
      Great is if you have 8b ram and a 128gb ssd minimum
    • 1
      Complies with JIS Standard
    • 1
      Editors choice. But not suitable on 4gb ram. Alth
    CONS OF WINDOWS 10
    • 2
      Worst OS to run on 2GB of RAM
    • 2
      Slow, slow and slow
    • 2
      Lags really much on low end devices
    • 1
      Acts posh
    • 1
      Can't fix bugs yourself

    related Windows 10 posts

    Justin Dorfman
    Open Source Program Manager at Reblaze · | 3 upvotes · 35.8K views

    I have been using macOS for 12 years. I can't imagine switching to another operating system since I have all of my hotkeys memorized. Windows 10 has made some drastic improvements like adding GNU Bash/Linux to win developers over from unix-like systems, I just don't feel it is there yet. Maybe I'll give it a shot next time I need a new laptop. 🤷‍♂️

    See more
    Linux logo

    Linux

    2.7K
    2.2K
    40
    A family of free and open source software operating systems based on the Linux kernel
    2.7K
    2.2K
    + 1
    40
    PROS OF LINUX
    • 16
      Open Source
    • 11
      Free
    • 8
      Reliability
    • 5
      Safe
    CONS OF LINUX
      Be the first to leave a con

      related Linux posts

      Rogério R. Alcântara
      Shared insights
      on
      macOSmacOSLinuxLinuxGitGitDockerDocker

      Personal Dotfiles management

      Given that they are all “configuration management” tools - meaning they are designed to deploy, configure and manage servers - what would be the simplest - and yet robust - solution to manage personal dotfiles - for n00bs.

      Ideally, I reckon, it should:

      • be containerized (Docker?)
      • be versionable (Git)
      • ensure idempotency
      • allow full automation (tests, CI/CD, etc.)
      • be fully recoverable (Linux/ macOS)
      • be easier to setup/manage (as much as possible)

      Does it make sense?

      See more
      John Calandra
      Data Manager at The Garrett Group · | 8 upvotes · 206.9K views

      There is a question coming... I am using Oracle VirtualBox to spawn 3 Ubuntu Linux virtual machines (VM). VM1 is being used as a data lake - just a place to store flat files. VM2 hosts Apache NiFi. VM3 hosts PostgreSQL. I have built a NiFi pipeline that reads flat files on VM1 and then pipes the data over to and inserts it into the Postgresql database. I left this setup alone for a while, and then something hiccupped on VM3, and I had to rebuild it. Now I cannot make a remote connection to Postgresql on VM3. I was using pgAdmin3 on VM3, but it kept throwing errors - I found out it went end-of-life in 2018 and uninstalled it. pgAdmin4 is out, but for some reason, I cannot get the APT utility to find/install it. I am trying to figure out the pgAdmin4 install problem and looking for a good alternative for pgAdmin4 that I can use to diagnose the remote database connection problem. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

      See more
      Mac OS X logo

      Mac OS X

      269
      184
      2
      A desktop operating system for Macintosh computers
      269
      184
      + 1
      2
      PROS OF MAC OS X
      • 1
        Stability
      • 1
        Elegant, Minimalist look
      CONS OF MAC OS X
      • 2
        Expensive if you don't want to break the EULA
      • 1
        Even less customization

      related Mac OS X posts

      Debian logo

      Debian

      14.1K
      10K
      147
      The Universal Operating System
      14.1K
      10K
      + 1
      147
      PROS OF DEBIAN
      • 52
        Massively supported
      • 47
        Stable
      • 18
        Reliable
      • 7
        Turnkey linux use it
      • 7
        Aptitude
      • 6
        Customizable
      • 6
        It is free
      • 4
        Works on all architectures
      CONS OF DEBIAN
      • 9
        Old versions of software
      • 2
        Can be difficult to set up on vanilla Debian

      related Debian posts

      Labinator Team

      At labinator.com, we use HTML5, CSS 3, Sass, Vanilla.JS and PHP when building our premium WordPress themes and plugins. When writing our codes, we use Sublime Text and Visual Studio Code depending on the project. We run Manjaro and Debian operating systems in our office. Manjaro is a great desktop operating system for all range of tasks while Debian is a solid choice for servers.

      WordPress became a very popular choice when it comes to content management systems and building websites. It is easy to learn and has a great community behind it. The high number of plugins as well that are available for WordPress allows any user to customize it depending on his/her needs.

      For development, HTML5 with Sass is our go-to choice when building our themes.

      Main Advantages Of Sass:

      • It's CSS syntax friendly
      • It offers variables
      • It uses a nested syntax
      • It includes mixins
      • Great community and online support.
      • Great documentation that is easy to read and follow.

      As for PHP, we always thrive to use PHP 7.3+. After the introduction of PHP 7, the WordPress development process became more stable and reliable than before. If you a developer considering PHP 7.3+ for your project, it would be good to note the following benefits.

      The Benefits Of Using PHP:

      • Open Source.
      • Highly Extendible.
      • Easy to learn and read.
      • Platform independent.
      • Compatible with APACHE.
      • Low development and maintenance cost.
      • Great community and support.
      • Detailed documentation that has everything you need!

      Why PHP 7.3+?

      • Flexible Heredoc & Nowdoc Syntaxes - Two key methods for defining strings within PHP. They also became easier to read and more reliable.
      • A good boost in performance speed which is extremely important when it comes to WordPress development.
      See more
      Tim Abbott
      Shared insights
      on
      DebianDebianUbuntuUbuntuFedoraFedora
      at

      We use Debian and its derivative Ubuntu because the apt ecosystem and toolchain for Debian packages is far superior to the yum-based system used by Fedora and RHEL. This is large part due to a huge amount of investment into tools like debhelper/dh over the years by the Debian community. I haven't dealt with RPM in the last couple years, but every experience I've had with RPM is that the RPM tools are slower, have less useful options, and it's more work to package software for them (and one makes more compromises in doing so).

      I think everyone has seen the better experience using Ubuntu in the shift of prevalence from RHEL to Ubuntu in what most new companies are deploying on their servers, and I expect that trend to continue as long as Red Hat is using the RPM system (and I don't really see them as having a path to migrate).

      The experience with Ubuntu and Debian stable releases is pretty similar: A solid release every 2 years that's supported for a few years. (While Ubuntu in theory releases every 6 months, their non-LTS releases are effectively betas: They're often unstable, only have 9 months of support, etc. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone not actively participating in Ubuntu the development community). Ubuntu has better integration of non-free drivers, which may be important if you have hardware that requires them. But it's also the case that most bugs I experience when using Ubuntu are Ubuntu-specific issues, especially on servers (in part because Ubuntu has a bunch of "cloud management" stuff pre-installed that is definitely a regression if you're not using Canonical's cloud management products).

      See more
      CentOS logo

      CentOS

      12.9K
      8.4K
      53
      The Community ENTerprise Operating System
      12.9K
      8.4K
      + 1
      53
      PROS OF CENTOS
      • 16
        Stable
      • 9
        Free to use
      • 9
        Reliable
      • 6
        Has epel packages
      • 6
        Good support
      • 5
        Great Community
      • 2
        I've moved from gentoo to centos
      CONS OF CENTOS
      • 1
        Yum is a horrible package manager

      related CentOS posts

      Marcel Kornegoor

      Since #ATComputing is a vendor independent Linux and open source specialist, we do not have a favorite Linux distribution. We mainly use Ubuntu , Centos Debian , Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora during our daily work. These are also the distributions we see most often used in our customers environments.

      For our #ci/cd training, we use an open source pipeline that is build around Visual Studio Code , Jenkins , VirtualBox , GitHub , Docker Kubernetes and Google Compute Engine.

      For #ServerConfigurationAndAutomation, we have embraced and contributed to Ansible mainly because it is not only flexible and powerful, but also straightforward and easier to learn than some other (open source) solutions. On the other hand: we are not affraid of Puppet Labs and Chef either.

      Currently, our most popular #programming #Language course is Python . The reason Python is so popular has to do with it's versatility, but also with its low complexity. This helps sysadmins to write scripts or simple programs to make their job less repetitive and automating things more fun. Python is also widely used to communicate with (REST) API's and for data analysis.

      See more
      Shared insights
      on
      UbuntuUbuntuOpenStackOpenStackCentOSCentOS
      at

      Hello guys

      I am confused between choosing CentOS7 or centos8 for OpenStack tripleo undercloud deployment. Which one should I use? There is another option to use OpenStack, Ubuntu, or MicroStack.

      We wanted to use this deployment to build our home cloud or private cloud infrastructure. I heard that centOS is always the best choice through a little research, but still not sure. As centos8 from Redhat is not supported for OpenStack tripleo deployments anymore, I had to upgrade to CentosStream.

      See more