Are incorrect failure messages a standard feature of Mac OS

[iMac'd]

Maybe there is some insect (aka a bug) in my iMac and I'm not (and don't plan on ever being) familiar with the complexity of performing otherwise simple (think Windows) operations but that stated it seems clear that failure msgs. have no meaning - perhaps experience indicates that it indicates success but that isn't clearly always the case - although with the level of dysfunction which seems to be normal - how could one tell? The areas that this has apparently been confirmed in are Disk Mgt. but also elsewhere; perhaps this seems and is normal for those who only use Apple OS so I would be interested to hear from anyone who has transitioned from Windows to Mac and has found it to be other than grossly inferior in most respects.

 

[MajorFubar]

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has transitioned from Windows to Mac and has found it to be other than grossly inferior in most respects.

Musician here. I transitioned from Windows, eleven years ago.
Wouldn't go back if you paid me.
Well actually if you did pay me, I'd use the money to buy a Mac.

 

[iMac'd]

I presume they must have superior functionality in specialized areas; this week alone I had a flickering screen; checked YouTube and someone said that turning on Colour filters fixed it; I turned OFF the same and it fixed mine; Drafts via the mail app. became non-editable and couldn't be sent; I tried to download VLC media player; got failure msgs. but found it installed days later; tried to erase Linux partition; got failure msgs. and... next time I looked it was gone; ten or so attempts to delete a "time machine" recording finally worked; I don't know whether I happened upon whatever secret combination was req'd or whether something that didn't work prior worked - or whether it worked earlier but gave no indication of success i.e. it all seems like what would be expected of some no name brand with their own OS.

 

[MajorFubar]

Fair enough if it isn't working for you, get rid.
FWIW I haven't experienced any of those issues. But then again for starters I have have no inclination to add a Linux partition so I haven't had issues deleting one. Nor have I installed VLC. I don't need it. Mail works as intended, for me. As does Time Machine.

Million and one people (literally more) are happy using PCs every day, but for my specific uses, every day on a PC was a battle of my wits against an environment not optimised for my purposes.
Migrating to MacOS put a degree of pleasure back into my home recording that I hadn't experienced since I boxed away my Amiga in 1998.

I wouldn't ever go back.

 

[tmoerel]

Maybe there is some insect (aka a bug) in my iMac and I'm not (and don't plan on ever being) familiar with the complexity of performing otherwise simple (think Windows) operations but that stated it seems clear that failure msgs. have no meaning - perhaps experience indicates that it indicates success but that isn't clearly always the case - although with the level of dysfunction which seems to be normal - how could one tell? The areas that this has apparently been confirmed in are Disk Mgt. but also elsewhere; perhaps this seems and is normal for those who only use Apple OS so I would be interested to hear from anyone who has transitioned from Windows to Mac and has found it to be other than grossly inferior in most respects.

All the issues you have reported in all of your messages seem to have to do with a defective iMac or a dodgy Monterey install or both. So either get it fixed and learn how a mac works or stop moaning and go back to windows.

 

[iMac'd]

"Stop moaning" is excellent advice; these issues are "first world" problems; admittedly I find it interesting as to whether the Apple Corps. marketing machine has managed to sell a generally inferior product at high profit margins but with the endorsement of music/design tech. users for whom it is a superior device. The worst issues I've encountered haven't been mentioned in this thread and they are clearly failures on Apples part; I won't include them here because they were in "Notes" and have disappeared (or maybe they have just been hidden by some security element not mentioned in the manual). Anyway I bought an iMac to check out Apple OS; expecting it to be slightly inferior to Windows in operation but with better security; ("magic mouse" just stopped responding); I think it was PC Mag. that did a Mac vs Windows comparison and their score was 4 vs 15 out of 19 criterion. Whether some dodgy soldering or similar could produce regular "failure" msgs when the procedure has worked is also interesting but I will likely never know; certainly wouldn't spend time and money to get this looked into. 2015 iMac is a good looking device and with some perseverance can perform almost as well as a basic Windows laptop from that year.

 

[MajorFubar]

All the thousands of people using Macs every day for their work, do you think they're stubbornly putting up with what you feel is a bugged unstable inferior system just so they can say they're using a Mac, which is costing them time and money, or do you perhaps instead think the problems might be at your end, either as a result of faulty hardware or other causes mostly unique to your system?

Think about it. Take as long as you like.

 

[SalisburySam]

Maybe there is some insect (aka a bug) in my iMac

The symptoms you share lead me to think this is indeed the case.

and I'm not (and don't plan on ever being) familiar with the complexity of performing otherwise simple (think Windows) operations but that stated it seems clear that failure msgs. have no meaning - perhaps experience indicates that it indicates success but that isn't clearly always the case - although with the level of dysfunction which seems to be normal - how could one tell? The areas that this has apparently been confirmed in are Disk Mgt. but also elsewhere; perhaps this seems and is normal for those who only use Apple OS so I would be interested to hear from anyone who has transitioned from Windows to Mac and has found it to be other than grossly inferior in most respects.

This is atypical behavior indicating to me something is very much wrong with either the hardware, macOS install, or some other set of “things” on your iMac. Assuming you are still under warranty, let Apple make this right, and they will. If this is out of warranty, it still may be worthwhile have Apple repair.

For work, I used and needed both Windows PC’s and MacBookPro’s starting in 2008. I grew confident in using both, and still do so today now on Windows11 on a SurfaceBook3 and Monterey on my iMac of 2017 vintage. Both work well though I find myself using the iMac for just about everything except database work where MS-Access is my go to product for the quick & dirty.

You may not care for the iMac interface or differences from Windows and that’s certainly fair. But your iMac isn’t working properly for whatever reason and giving you an artificially bad taste unfortunately. If your PC is doing everything you need (want?) then you have no need for an iMac. If it isn’t, give yourself the chance to evaluate the iMac on one that works properly, seemingly not the one you have.

Good luck with this.