OSX also came from NextStep which came from the original BSD Unix. They used FreeBSD as well. OSX is also certified Unix starting from leopard. This year apple did not renew the certification, so later releases of macOS are not Unix, but Unix-like.

cept for the poor IT departments of the world that have to maintain this shit. "ye hold on the server is being bottleneck'd by liquid glass"

I haven’t used macOS since circa 2019, which was Big Sur or something. And it was good, more or so. Perhaps it got worse since then. Specifically the Liquid Ass fiasco, I can believe it’s been a disaster.

But in general, you need to invest into their ecosystem heavily to enjoy them properly. Say, an Apple keyboard, trackpad, display, headphones, iPhone, iPad, etc. The more you invested, the more enjoyable the experience. Also, you need to use it for years (if not decades) to truly get some ‘think different’ things. Otherwise they just feel stupid and unnecessary. (Some things still very stupid to me, yeah.)

I’m heavily invested, however, and I still prefer modern Linux. None of my Apple devices run macOS today, all of them are Arch Linux, Fedora, or even DietPi (an old MacBook used as a server).

In my opinion, Gnome wins as-is. If I’m to suggest a macOS or Linux system to an elder relative, I’d choose Gnome, not macOS. About a decade ago, I’d choose macOS, thinking it’s simpler.

My favourite thing with macOS that I use on all my Linux machines is cmd key for things like copy paste (all my keyboards are from Apple). So useful, especially in a terminal.