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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 difficu

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 ?
    - appstorelottery 3y ago
      I completely agree - free and easy digital signing would be excellent. Doubly so if there was a way that I could identify myself to the government and receive some kind of hash that could be verified by the OS maker without exposing my identity. This would be a way of protecting my privacy, while also empowering the OS maker to report to the government if something illegal is happening. Of course, I haven't thought this through - and it's reliant upon a government we can absolutely trust not to abuse this. Looking forward to seeing us evolve as a species though ;-)
glitchcrab 3y ago
The only reason Microsoft still have the old control panel is because they haven't gotten around to removing it entirely yet. The old UI has been slowly being killed off for years now. If you think that they're keeping it around to keep people happy then you're very much mistaken.
- appstorelottery 3y ago
  It's a shame really. I find the big software world so strange now, back in the day companies were really concerned with keeping their user base happy - I wonder why things have gotten to the point where this no longer seems to hold true. Is it because of a lack of alternatives? Or people are being trained to just accept it rather than pushing back?
  - sneed_chucker 3y ago
    Weak antitrust enforcement in decades prior allowed Microsoft to gain a near monopoly over desktop operating systems. Now that the monopoly is established, users don't need to be kept happy.

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 ?
  - appstorelottery 3y ago
    I completely agree - free and easy digital signing would be excellent. Doubly so if there was a way that I could identify myself to the government and receive some kind of hash that could be verified by the OS maker without exposing my identity. This would be a way of protecting my privacy, while also empowering the OS maker to report to the government if something illegal is happening. Of course, I haven't thought this through - and it's reliant upon a government we can absolutely trust not to abuse this. Looking forward to seeing us evolve as a species though ;-)

glitchcrab 3y ago

The only reason Microsoft still have the old control panel is because they haven't gotten around to removing it entirely yet. The old UI has been slowly being killed off for years now. If you think that they're keeping it around to keep people happy then you're very much mistaken.

appstorelottery 3y ago
It's a shame really. I find the big software world so strange now, back in the day companies were really concerned with keeping their user base happy - I wonder why things have gotten to the point where this no longer seems to hold true. Is it because of a lack of alternatives? Or people are being trained to just accept it rather than pushing back?
- sneed_chucker 3y ago
  Weak antitrust enforcement in decades prior allowed Microsoft to gain a near monopoly over desktop operating systems. Now that the monopoly is established, users don't need to be kept happy.