tshell

It's enough of an actual solution for Apple to have been using as all of their best-selling laptops' default setting since they switched to Retina in 2012.

My real-world experience with folks on Android is in two categories:

1. They're proud of the fact that they're not a "blue-bubble Apple sheep" and would find downloading Apple's messaging app as an admission of defeat.

2. They literally just do not care in any way whatsoever and just use whatever the default client is (e.g. grandparents).

I'm entirely willing to admit this may not be representative, however.

I understand that that perspective might be prevalent here on HN. But really, let's try to understand the target market of this theoretical iMessage Android client. It's specifically for folks who:

1. Are committed to only using Android phones (i.e. can't be convinced to get an iPhone).

2. Communicate (or are forced to communicate) over the default messaging experience with primarily iPhone users (remembering that the iMessage / SMS default is mostly just a U.S.-centric thing and cuts out most of the rest of the world).

3. Are willing and able to download a third-party messaging app to address this specific use-case.

Sure, they could do that. But once again, I must ask: How is making an SMS Android app in 2024 good for their business or valuable to their existing customer base?

I don't understand this line of thinking. Even if Apple were to build an iMessage client for Android, do you really believe that the average Android user would install it just to have conversations with those particular users? How would they even know that a user is on iMessage without it already being their default SMS app? Is Apple then really obligated to build an Android app that can facilitate base-level SMS conversations? How is that good for their business or valuable to their customer base?

This is the most accurate and in-depth article I've read which discusses the state of external monitors on the Mac. So many others get hung-up on the implementation details of high-DPI scaling that they miss the forest for the trees.

After nearly three years of working on a 4K 27" with the oft-maligned non-native scaling applied to resize elements to look like 2560x1440, the experience is absolutely fine and so much nicer than a native 1440p screen which I used to use. At ~$300 for my monitor instead of ~$1600 for the Apple-approved 218 PPI Studio Display, it's really hard to conjure up a reason to recommend people splurge on the "true Retina" experience. It's really a case of diminishing returns when you get much above ~150PPI at a normal viewing distance.

Microsoft would never say it, of course, but truly the best “alternative solution” is Jetbrains Rider. It’s head and shoulders above VS for Mac in every way. I learn more C# features through its recommendations than even reading Microsoft’s development docs.