Does it have to be better for there to be a reason to exist? Far manager and MC are each primarily targeting different operating systems. Yes there are MC port for windows, and Far manager port for Linux, but there is certain amount polish, platform specific integration and edge case handling that's hard to achieve when creating crossplatform tool targeting the common funcitionality of all platforms. Targeting a specific platform and it's api allows including functionality that's unlikely to be found in generic cross platform tools even if basic feature list is similar.
Some examples of functionality that's unlikely to be included in MC (some if it might be from plugins, but my point remains):
* native context menu -> even though Far is made mostly around terminal based UI, i remember the native file explorer context menu being available. Can be sometimes useful for quickly accessing to tools that integrate with file explorer, but not surprisingly doesn't have direct Far integration or plugin.
* Conemu (terminal emulator) integration - less important now that Windows has a better first party terminal emulator. Provided tab integration and few other minor quality of life improvements.
* I remember there also being stuff like plugins for image preview which where only possible to targeting one specific platform and going outside the bounds of plain terminal API
Far manager also has a rich ecosystem of plugins. From what I know MC has no plugin system at all.
As pointed out in some other comments not all shortcuts work in terminal based Far manager Linux port and that full exprience requires wxwidgets backend.
None of this individually is something that would appear in high level feature list, or lack of which would be a deal breaker. But it contributes to overall feel of polish and efficiency which is quite important for a productivity tool like this. This is similar to why macOS users often prefer utilities natively targeting macOS. And if you don't care about little things, might as well use the default file explorer + terminal.
I used Far quite a bit when I was working as a Windows developer. For the last few years I have been on Linux both for work and at home, but I never got into habit of using MC. Hard to explain why it didn't felt right, maybe it was just muscle memory and laziness to relearn it. Maybe the different set of tools available on Windows and Linux steers me into using the operating system differently.
Comments
Does it have to be better for there to be a reason to exist? Far manager and MC are each primarily targeting different operating systems. Yes there are MC port for windows, and Far manager port for Linux, but there is certain amount polish, platform specific integration and edge case handling that's hard to achieve when creating crossplatform tool targeting the common funcitionality of all platforms. Targeting a specific platform and it's api allows including functionality that's unlikely to be found in generic cross platform tools even if basic feature list is similar.
Some examples of functionality that's unlikely to be included in MC (some if it might be from plugins, but my point remains): * native context menu -> even though Far is made mostly around terminal based UI, i remember the native file explorer context menu being available. Can be sometimes useful for quickly accessing to tools that integrate with file explorer, but not surprisingly doesn't have direct Far integration or plugin. * Conemu (terminal emulator) integration - less important now that Windows has a better first party terminal emulator. Provided tab integration and few other minor quality of life improvements. * I remember there also being stuff like plugins for image preview which where only possible to targeting one specific platform and going outside the bounds of plain terminal API
Far manager also has a rich ecosystem of plugins. From what I know MC has no plugin system at all.
As pointed out in some other comments not all shortcuts work in terminal based Far manager Linux port and that full exprience requires wxwidgets backend.
None of this individually is something that would appear in high level feature list, or lack of which would be a deal breaker. But it contributes to overall feel of polish and efficiency which is quite important for a productivity tool like this. This is similar to why macOS users often prefer utilities natively targeting macOS. And if you don't care about little things, might as well use the default file explorer + terminal.
I used Far quite a bit when I was working as a Windows developer. For the last few years I have been on Linux both for work and at home, but I never got into habit of using MC. Hard to explain why it didn't felt right, maybe it was just muscle memory and laziness to relearn it. Maybe the different set of tools available on Windows and Linux steers me into using the operating system differently.