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I don’t want to assume ages, so: there was a time way before the app store where installing an app on a mac was as easy as clicking download and extracting the
by joshspankit 5y ago
I don’t want to assume ages, so: there was a time way before the app store where installing an app on a mac was as easy as clicking download and extracting the “file” (it was actually a folder, just like current mac apps). Trying it out only needed a double-clicking on the resulting icon.
No install script, no pkg files, no hidden prefs, nothing.
Want to uninstall it? Drag it to trash.
It was only when Apple started to be affected by mac piracy that they started down the road of restricting everything and when they started making real money selling their own content on their own platform (music then movies through iTunes) they hit the friggin gas.
- varenc 5y agoThat’s still how I install 95% of Mac apps? (.dmg) I don’t think the Mac App Store is even that popular. Rarely is an app exclusively there, though times might be changing. About 5% of things come as .pkg installers but usually in a situation where it makes sense. Default macOS will still check for Apple’s seal of approval on software, but this is done by developers signing their distributed app.
- sneak 5y agoThere's lots of software that is only distributed in the App Store, which can't be used without an Apple ID (even for free apps), which requires giving Apple a phone number and email address (and the App Store app uploading your unchangeable device hardware serial number). Some apps, like Wireguard, can't even be installed outside of the App Store, because Apple won't sign the entitlements they need to run outside of it.
- tambourine_man 5y agoThat can still be the case with self contained app bundles. But the issue is discoverability and trust. Where do you get the app from? Is it safe? App Stores solve all this issues while, unfortunately, making some really useful apps almost impossible to exist.