The linked article clearly demonstrates that running apps without notarization on macOS is much more complicated than you describe it to be, to the point of it

The linked article clearly demonstrates that running apps without notarization on macOS is much more complicated than you describe it to be, to the point of it feeling insurmountable for less technical users. Perhaps you've configured your device in a way that gives you an easier execution path, or the app is employing a workaround to bypass Gatekeeper. It seems MacDown uses such a temporary workaround to make the process less painful for macOS users: https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown/issues/1106#issuecomment-562516086 https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown/issues/1106#issuecomme...