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It's a pity Microsoft is taking this direction, it's almost like they are completely abandoning their old user base. I feel that they should be doing the opposi

It's a pity Microsoft is taking this direction, it's almost like they are completely abandoning their old user base. I feel that they should be doing the opposite of what Apple is doing - remove telemetry and ads, perhaps charge for a "developer" version of the OS, encourage independent software development and help with discovery (i.e. give away free code-signing keys)... I moved away from Windows as my desktop in 2002 and opted for Apple, and if MS changed their direction - at least for me as a developer - I would embrace "switching back". I'm completely sick of what Apple is doing, and yet aside from open source - where is the large-scale commercial competition that's screaming "we are the opposite of Apple."? I can only speak for myself, however I would be the hugest fanboy for Microsoft if they showed some leadership and actually gave me what I wanted... Microsoft built its business on developers - some people want to customise their UI - what is the compelling argument to marginalise this minority?

microtonal 3y ago
What is Apple doing? macOS doesn’t seem to have changed much in the last few versions, which is great, because it’s a mature OS. macOS had been completely uneventful for me the last few years and recovered well from the terrible Mojave/Catalina days with the slow overheating Intel MacBooks.
- appstorelottery 3y ago
  I suppose I'm talking about how they continue to lock-down the os, in combination with their App-store. For example, hooking into the kernel is now very difficult - apps like Little Snitch running on Sonoma have a much harder job. Apple has wholesale telemetry going on that nobody seems to talk about. Apple have very little commitment to backwards compatibility, which is something that Microsoft took very seriously. In terms of GUI, look at what Apple did with the settings menu - it's pretty horrible IMHO - however Microsoft still has the old Control Panel for users that have grown up with it. Distributing an app for OSX outside of the App Store is painful, no cert - the OS just won't run it, it requires diving into the settings menu and forcing it to run - in more extreme cases it requires command-line intervention to force it to run the application... so on and so on... It's just a trend that makes me unhappy as a developer. Contrast this with the "old" Apple in 2005/6, I could write a game, put it up for download as a DMG file - and even post it to Apple's website for help with promotion and discovery! There were plenty of 3rd party payment solutions available, Apple didn't take a 30% cut. What they were back in the day is actually helpful.
  - microtonal 3y ago
    Contrast this with the "old" Apple in 2005/6, I could write a game, put it up for download as a DMG file You still can? The binary has to be notarized, but Apple doesn’t take a cut, you can run your own store and sell a game. For example, hooking into the kernel is now very difficult - apps like Little Snitch running on Sonoma have a much harder job. For most people that’s a good thing. I had many family members that had all kinds of crap installed, including dubious kexts. If you are a more knowledgeable user, you can still disable most protections. Also, about little snitch specifically, obdev now sells are more user-friendly version in the App Store that uses the new user space filtering API. Every kext is a possible compromise with access to kernel space. It’s good that they are deprecating them in favor of user space drivers.
    - appstorelottery 3y ago
      > You still can? The binary has to be notarized, but Apple doesn’t take a cut, you can run your own store and sell a game. Yes, however the binary did not have to be signed back then - and I didn't need to pay apple for the privilege of writing software for their OS. > Also, about little snitch specifically, obdev now sells are more user-friendly version in the App Store that uses the new user space filtering API. And again, Apple takes their cut and more or less forced Obdev to go in that direction. I agree with you about dubious kexts - however it's just a trend I note - antivirus / third party software filled that hole in the past.
      - philistine 3y ago
        I’ll push back on that. Notarization is a great feature. The fact computing didn’t include it was what led to decades of malware stealing billions from people. Properly implemented, everyone could freely and easily notarize every single piece of code they need to run. Total freedom, with notarized code to give the leeway to the OS maker to remove code when it’s malware. The fact of the matter is that the OS makers are greedy AF, and don’t stop at requiring notarization. Windows could get rid of most of its malware issues if they allowed everyone to freely notarize, yet they try and ram the Windows Store down everyone’s throat with their locked down Windows attempts. Can’t let a feature get in the way of a play at even more rent-seeking, am I right ?

microtonal 3y ago

What is Apple doing? macOS doesn’t seem to have changed much in the last few versions, which is great, because it’s a mature OS. macOS had been completely uneventful for me the last few years and recovered well from the terrible Mojave/Catalina days with the slow overheating Intel MacBooks.

appstorelottery 3y ago
I suppose I'm talking about how they continue to lock-down the os, in combination with their App-store. For example, hooking into the kernel is now very difficult - apps like Little Snitch running on Sonoma have a much harder job. Apple has wholesale telemetry going on that nobody seems to talk about. Apple have very little commitment to backwards compatibility, which is something that Microsoft took very seriously. In terms of GUI, look at what Apple did with the settings menu - it's pretty horrible IMHO - however Microsoft still has the old Control Panel for users that have grown up with it. Distributing an app for OSX outside of the App Store is painful, no cert - the OS just won't run it, it requires diving into the settings menu and forcing it to run - in more extreme cases it requires command-line intervention to force it to run the application... so on and so on... It's just a trend that makes me unhappy as a developer. Contrast this with the "old" Apple in 2005/6, I could write a game, put it up for download as a DMG file - and even post it to Apple's website for help with promotion and discovery! There were plenty of 3rd party payment solutions available, Apple didn't take a 30% cut. What they were back in the day is actually helpful.
- microtonal 3y ago
  Contrast this with the "old" Apple in 2005/6, I could write a game, put it up for download as a DMG file You still can? The binary has to be notarized, but Apple doesn’t take a cut, you can run your own store and sell a game. For example, hooking into the kernel is now very difficult - apps like Little Snitch running on Sonoma have a much harder job. For most people that’s a good thing. I had many family members that had all kinds of crap installed, including dubious kexts. If you are a more knowledgeable user, you can still disable most protections. Also, about little snitch specifically, obdev now sells are more user-friendly version in the App Store that uses the new user space filtering API. Every kext is a possible compromise with access to kernel space. It’s good that they are deprecating them in favor of user space drivers.
  - appstorelottery 3y ago
    > You still can? The binary has to be notarized, but Apple doesn’t take a cut, you can run your own store and sell a game. Yes, however the binary did not have to be signed back then - and I didn't need to pay apple for the privilege of writing software for their OS. > Also, about little snitch specifically, obdev now sells are more user-friendly version in the App Store that uses the new user space filtering API. And again, Apple takes their cut and more or less forced Obdev to go in that direction. I agree with you about dubious kexts - however it's just a trend I note - antivirus / third party software filled that hole in the past.
    - philistine 3y ago
      I’ll push back on that. Notarization is a great feature. The fact computing didn’t include it was what led to decades of malware stealing billions from people. Properly implemented, everyone could freely and easily notarize every single piece of code they need to run. Total freedom, with notarized code to give the leeway to the OS maker to remove code when it’s malware. The fact of the matter is that the OS makers are greedy AF, and don’t stop at requiring notarization. Windows could get rid of most of its malware issues if they allowed everyone to freely notarize, yet they try and ram the Windows Store down everyone’s throat with their locked down Windows attempts. Can’t let a feature get in the way of a play at even more rent-seeking, am I right ?