For the past few days, for the first time, I’ve seriously tried MacOS and I became distinctly aware that anyone who calls Gnome similar to MacOS has never used MacOS.
If you’re just looking at screenshots, Gnome and MacOS do bear a resemblance. Gnome’s Dash looks similar to the Dock; Gnome’s app launcher looks similar to Launchpad; Gnome’s top panel looks similar to the menu bar.
But actually using each desktop, the UX, design philosophy, idealogy, and feel is miles apart. I think the four biggest differences are
- No menu bar
- Minimizing distractions, so no dock
- Interacting with windows is closer to Windows and KDE (fullscreening windows keeps them in same workspace, can interact with a window’s content without first clicking to focus it)
- Managing open apps is closer to Windows and KDE (apps actually close when you hit “x”, with few exceptions, only open apps and favorited apps are in the dash)
Yeah I guess it’s mostly in the aesthetics department.
I haven’t used MacOs much, but the fit and finish is comparable I guess, but not the way you’re using it.