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The developer/user caste split is not unique to Apple. That's just how every computer has been used ever since we stopped booting (micro)computers straight into

The developer/user caste split is not unique to Apple. That's just how every computer has been used ever since we stopped booting (micro)computers straight into ROM BASIC. The moment you have people using software they did not develop, you create the opportunity for malware; and once you have malware you have OS vendors trying to lock it away from you. FWIW the biggest hoop an ordinary user would ever have to jump through on macOS is right-clicking an unsigned app bundle on first use to authorize it; which I've had to do on plenty of FOSS apps. This is not a problem, IMO - it is reasonable for the system to say "hey wait a second this app is new or different" and give you the opportunity to check twice before you jump. Code signing and notarization are things you only ever need to worry about if you want to distribute apps and not make your users right-click. Windows has similar problems with SmartScreen, except you can't even buy a code signing certificate to reliably make the problem go away, and Microsoft does an arguably better job at hiding the "no seriously this is just a FOSS app that hasn't jumped through all your hoops yet" option than macOS does.

WesolyKubeczek 5y ago
The problem with how Apple is treating FOSS apps is in that it’s using scary messages like „this could be a dangerous malware!” every time, all the time, if you want to distribute your software without paying Apple for what amounts to protection racket. Which leads to two outcomes: either you learn to right click everything and one day it’s going to be malware, too, or you „spctl --master-disable” and make the system turn a blind eye, and a drive-by zero-click kind of malware finds its way in. Or, if you are not really familiar with intricacies of software distribution in Apple’s ecosystem, there’s a third outcome: you believe Apple and for you, all FOSS is dangerous malware. Mind you, UAC nagging on Windows has the same problem, and sudo conditions you into just giving your computer password away left and right. I don’t know if a good solution exists, except maybe that you have to learn to not let your guard down in certain situations.

WesolyKubeczek 5y ago

The problem with how Apple is treating FOSS apps is in that it’s using scary messages like „this could be a dangerous malware!” every time, all the time, if you want to distribute your software without paying Apple for what amounts to protection racket. Which leads to two outcomes: either you learn to right click everything and one day it’s going to be malware, too, or you „spctl --master-disable” and make the system turn a blind eye, and a drive-by zero-click kind of malware finds its way in. Or, if you are not really familiar with intricacies of software distribution in Apple’s ecosystem, there’s a third outcome: you believe Apple and for you, all FOSS is dangerous malware. Mind you, UAC nagging on Windows has the same problem, and sudo conditions you into just giving your computer password away left and right. I don’t know if a good solution exists, except maybe that you have to learn to not let your guard down in certain situations.