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[WW5F]

Why is ham radio so geared for Windows?  Macs are neglected and anyone knows that once you go Mac you never want to go back.

1.  Because most people use computers as a "tool" and just want it to work.
2.  Microsoft attempts to make it as easy as possible to use a computer as a tool.
3.  In order for Microsoft to do this, they do things that are questionable to the user's privacy.
4.  And Microsoft is a "for profit" business, so they also have some questionable business practices.

Life is too busy and complicated for most people to figure out how to break the shackles off from Microsoft.  So Microsoft continues to maintain a majority of captive customers.

Ham radio programmers know this, so they write software under Microsoft.

Gates beat Jobs to addicting the federal government.  So Gates won.

Real freedom is even tougher.  (Linux)

[NA4M]

First, choose the applications that best meet your needs.

Second, choose the operating system that best supports the applications you've chosen

Third, choose the hardware that best supports the applications and operating system you've chosen.

Holding my nose and descending into the operating system discussion, if Apple's desktop cost-benefit ratio is so good relative to its competition, why is it's market share of desktop computing so poor?

de AA6YQ

+1

Choose otherwise and the tail is wagging the dog.

de NA4M

[VE3WI]

Why is ham radio so geared for Windows?  ...

In my case the answer is simple, the software I use in the shack runs on Windows: N1MM+, ACLog, PowerSDR.  So the shack PC runs Windows.  I'm investigating alternatives and that status may change someday.

After I left the working world I had no need to run Windows apps (MS Office, SABA) at home so my general use PC is now running Linux Mint.  Mostly a painless transition.  I'm gradually getting up to speed & there is a lot of online help available (too much actually).

Also have a laptop running Mint and one running Win7 (which still works fine despite all the rumors of its demise).

Never really gave the Mac any consideration.  Too much of a closed shop for my liking.

73
Dave, VE3WI

[K7MEM]

Does Windows 11 even support such legacy hardware as COM and LPT ports?  I know 10 does, but having never used 11, I have no idea.

As AA6YQ said "yes". But note that, when I updated from W10 to W11, all of my Prolific USB to Serial Port converter cables no longer worked. Supposedly it is fixable, but I didn't want to bother with hunting up drivers. I realized that the ones I had were already 20 years old. So I just bought new FTDI base conversion cables. Other than that, all of the software that I used on W10, worked fine on W11. Nothing broke.

[AC7CW]

When the IBM PC was introduced a fellow worker of mine was developing Apple software. He was told to drop it and work on software for the PC. He indicated that was an industry-wide trend. People have been whining about it ever since and I don't care the least about it: gotta go with the flow...

MAC: Great hardware, little software to choose from
LINUX: Runs on krappy hardware, little software to choose from, sometimes WINE works

I don't feel that either of the above is a great choice if you want to get down to business. If you want to play "Linux, WINE, Emulator expert then go for it...

[W7XTV]

When the IBM PC was introduced a fellow worker of mine was developing Apple software. He was told to drop it and work on software for the PC. He indicated that was an industry-wide trend. People have been whining about it ever since and I don't care the least about it: gotta go with the flow...

That was in 1981.  The Apple II and the other 8-bit machines (Commodore, Atari) were never intended for corporate use.  It would be 3 years before the first Mac, and Linux was a decade away.  Unix hardware and software was expensive and proprietary, unsuitable for home and small business use.

MAC: Great hardware, little software to choose from
LINUX: Runs on krappy hardware, little software to choose from, sometimes WINE works

MAC:  Great hardware, but awful GUI.  Once crApple decides it's EOL, then there is no more support.  My 2012-vintage Mac has reached that reality.  It now runs either Slackware 15 or Mint 20.3 in VirtualBox.  Both work well in 4 Gb of RAM.

LINUX:  Runs better than Windows on most, if not all hardware.  Most mainstream software is cross-platform or there is a Linux equivalent to a Windows program.  WINE is OK, and granted, it doesn't work for all Windows software.  Ease of installation varies from "easier-than-Windows" (Mint, Ubuntu) to "you'd better know what you're doing before you do it" (Slackware, Debian, Gentoo).

I don't feel that either of the above is a great choice if you want to get down to business. If you want to play "Linux, WINE, Emulator expert then go for it...

We're not getting down to business.  We're talking about ham radio.  I've been running various Linux OSes (I hate the word "distributions") since 1998 while keeping Windows installed for work use, and exclusively since 2017 when I finally blew up Windows 10 Pro.  There is nothing related to Amateur Radio, or anything else for that matter, that I can't do in Linux.  Which platform you prefer is up to you, but Windows isn't the absolute necessity that it once was.

[WW5F]

Simplicity is the opinion of each computer user.

For VE3WI, the software he uses runs under windows.  So he uses windows for simplicity.

For K7MEM, the simple solution is to just buy new hardware when microsoft obsoletes any of his working hardware.  (And that's exactly what microsoft is trying to get its users to do!)

AC7CW just doesn't think Mac or Linux is a good choice.

I've never used Mac.  As a federal employee, I had to use windows.  Got very upset when windows 8 came out.  Got sick and tired of my choices being taken away from me, got nauseated over all the personal information that they were trying to get from me, and threw away my last windows 7 install disk about two years ago.

For me, simplicity is not having to continuously buy software, knowing what my OS is doing, having access to all of my  OS and not having to worry about drivers.  I do have to be careful about what printer I buy.  That's about it.

For me, simplicity is this:  if I can't figure out how to do it with Linux, I just won't do it.

[W7XTV]

Simplicity is the opinion of each computer user.

For VE3WI, the software he uses runs under windows.  So he uses windows for simplicity.

For K7MEM, the simple solution is to just buy new hardware when microsoft obsoletes any of his working hardware.  (And that's exactly what microsoft is trying to get its users to do!)

AC7CW just doesn't think Mac or Linux is a good choice.

We're all entitled to our opinions, and each of has our own needs.  Nothing at all wrong with that. 

As for me, I buy new hardware only when absolutely necessary.  I'm retired and on Social Security.  I can't afford to replace/upgrade computers whenever Micro$oft gets a wild hair where the sun don't shine.  I also no longer need Windows for my job, since I no longer have a job. 

My newest laptop, other than a couple of Raspberry Pi machines on the workbench, is a 2017 HP Envy that came with Windows 10 and now runs Mint 20.3.  It works far better with Mint than it did with Windows, even after I upgraded from 10 to 10 Pro.  That was my last version of Windows, and I will never use another one.

I've never used Mac.  As a federal employee, I had to use windows.  Got very upset when windows 8 came out.  Got sick and tired of my choices being taken away from me, got nauseated over all the personal information that they were trying to get from me, and threw away my last windows 7 install disk about two years ago.

crApple may be even worse than Micro$oft.  My sig-other was given a Mac almost a decade ago by her crApple-fanboy brother.  She hated it and gave it to me.  I hate it too, because of the OS, not the box itself.  I can't upgrade it because crApple declared that model EOL last year, although the hardware still works perfectly.  It's still good for testing different Linux-based OSes under VirtualBox, though.

For me, simplicity is not having to continuously buy software, knowing what my OS is doing, having access to all of my  OS and not having to worry about drivers.  I do have to be careful about what printer I buy.  That's about it.

I tend to stick with HP printers/scanners because they are all supported.  I have an old Brother laser printer that I never could get to work under either Linux Mint or MacOS.

For me, simplicity is this:  if I can't figure out how to do it with Linux, I just won't do it.

Agreed 100%.  Micro$oft jumped the shark when they absolutely failed to develop a usable mobile OS.  Android (Linux kernel-based, but not GNU) and crApple absolutely own that market, 50-50.  I really believe that some of that fallout has come to hurt Windows as well.  They'll have the majority OS (all versions combined) for quite some time, but they now have competition that they just can't deal with.

[AC1LC]

I took my old 2012 version Macbook, wiped the Mac OS off of it and installed Ubuntu Linux on it.  I run Winlink with Wine and my CPS for my Anytone radios through Virtualbox.  It's a bit cumbersome at times but it works.  I haven't found anything I need to do that the setup won't do for me.  As a backup I've got my new Macbook that's also set up to run Bootcamp so I can run any Windows program there but I just leave the old one on my radio desk instead of moving laptops around.

[K7MEM]

I remember quite well when Macs first came out. They were the small boxes with B&W screens. On one of the programs, we had about 6 or 7 of them in a group, for general use. They were fun to use, but that didn't last long. When that program was over, many of the software and hardware developers wanted them on their desk. But management said no. They were contracted with MS and didn't want to support two platforms.

Many of the engineering staff tried to force the issue over the years, but there was only one engineer that was allowed to have one on his desk. But there was a catch. He had to sign a release that made him responsible for the purchase and all maintenance. Eventually, he found a new position with another company that was more sympathetic to him.

Me, I had hundreds of Unix systems to manage at the time. So I didn't care one way or the other.

[W7XTV]

crApple may be even worse than Micro$oft.

 
Correction:  crApple IS worse than Micro$oft.  Not only could my Mac OS not be upgraded, but it couldn't be factory-defaulted to its original version 10.8, either.

My sig-other was given a Mac almost a decade ago by her crApple-fanboy brother.  She hated it and gave it to me.  I hate it too, because of the OS, not the box itself.  I can't upgrade it because crApple declared that model EOL last year, although the hardware still works perfectly.  It's still good for testing different Linux-based OSes under VirtualBox, though.

I finally found a way to install Linux Mint on my Mac -- one that crApple said can only be sent to the computer equivalent of the glue factory.  Despite it being almost a decade old, the hardware still works perfectly... with the right OS installed.  Current versions of MacOS are not possible.

It couldn't boot from a USB drive until I deleted my Sig-other's account, which had her brother's admin tentacles installed.  Once I did that, it detected my USB drive when I pressed the <Alt/Option> key while powering it up.  I was able to install Mint 20.3 and wiped all traces of Mac-ness from the hard drive.  The only partition I needed to keep was the Boot/UFI.

The only hardware issue I had was the Broadcom Wifi chip that was not supported (nothing unusual there, unfortunately).  Temporarily installing one of my Realtek USB Wifi modules fixed that problem.  Mint detected it as soon as I plugged it in.  After connecting to my Wifi, I was able to download the Broadcom driver, and it worked perfectly.  I now have a MacMint machine that works far better than it did running OS X.  I removed the Realtek module with no issues.

[N6YWU]

Why is ham radio so geared for Windows?

Ham radio isn't geared for Windows.  There are plenty of iOS, Linux, and Mac apps for radio.

But Ham radio is "stuck" on Windows because commercial software developers are either big or clueless.
The big developers are stuck on Windows because that's where the bulk of the customer base is.

The clueless developers are stuck on Windows because they haven't noticed that while the Mac customer base is small, the base of Mac developers is even smaller, and Mac users typically can afford to spend more on software.  Which means less competition and more profit per customer potential! Also, knowing Mac development easily leads into to iOS development, which is a multi-Billion dollar market, much bigger than for Android or consumer Linux.

No idea why so many ham radio software developers are so clueless.  Unless they are big outfits and need a big OS market share to make money.

[AA6YQ]

Why is ham radio so geared for Windows?

Ham radio isn't geared for Windows.  There are plenty of iOS, Linux, and Mac apps for radio.

But Ham radio is "stuck" on Windows because commercial software developers are either big or clueless.
The big developers are stuck on Windows because that's where the bulk of the customer base is.

The clueless developers are stuck on Windows because they haven't noticed that while the Mac customer base is small, the base of Mac developers is even smaller, and Mac users typically can afford to spend more on software.  Which means less competition and more profit per customer potential! Also, knowing Mac development easily leads into to iOS development, which is a multi-Billion dollar market, much bigger than for Android or consumer Linux.

No idea why so many ham radio software developers are so clueless.  Unless they are big outfits and need a big OS market share to make money.

For those of use who provide free software to the amateur radio community, the fact that the small MAC customer base might be willing to spend more on software is completely irrelevant.

de AA6YQ

[N6YWU]

For those of use who provide free software to the amateur radio community, the fact that the small MAC customer base might be willing to spend more on software is completely irrelevant.

And much of the free open source software works cross-platform, and can be built from GitHub repositories to run on either Raspberry Pi's or MacOS.  Not stuck on just Windows, if written properly.

[NA4M]

"....developers are stuck on Windows because that's where the bulk of the customer base is."

"...much of the free open source software works cross-platform, and can be built from GitHub repositories"

How many of the ham radio or everyday user customer base is gonna pull-down source code and build applications? 

Very very few.