You're right that the rise of Mac App Store-only APIs is more troubling. This is a "boil the frog slowly" trick. Today, you can run all the unapproved software

You're right that the rise of Mac App Store-only APIs is more troubling. This is a "boil the frog slowly" trick. Today, you can run all the unapproved software you want, but, someday, if Apple makes the APIs compelling enough, you won't want to. That being said, it isn't like the switch (and its parameters) and the development of Mac App Store-only APIs can't be trends that reinforce each other, of course.