[kwlug-disc] macOS and 3rd party apps

[Jason Eckert]

To those that peek under the hood, the last few releases of macOS have
clearly shown how Apple is rapidly moving macOS to be a device-like
operating system that parallels iOS. Since the introduction of APFS, most
of the OS is on an immutable volume. But it's done in a horribly complex
way that defies any semblance of the core Unix principles of simplicity (
https://eclecticlight.co/2020/09/16/boot-volume-layout/). And Homebrew (the
poorly-implemented open source package manager) is regarded like the
hackintosh community in the eyes of Apple, who wants complete control over
their whole ecosystem. It really is a shame - about 15 years ago, OS X was
a decent Unix that was fairly open. Nowadays, it just feels like iOS on a
PC that you can't modify.  The Apple M1 looks decent, but since Apple no
longer lets you run Linux on their hardware, I have no desire to ever buy
one.

On Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 9:45 PM Doug Moen <doug at moens.org> wrote:

> This isn't new behaviour, and MacOS has had telemetry for years. What
> seems to be new is that the latest MacOS is so locked down that you can no
> longer block telemetry. The /System folder is immutable and cannot be
> changed by the owner of the computer, it can only be changed by Apple
> during an OS update. Firewalls work by using a kernel API, but Apple
> telemetry and spy services bypass user installed firewalls so that you
> cannot block them.
>
> When I first heard about Apple Silicon, I wondered if Apple would use this
> as an excuse to further iOS-ify MacOS, so that Macs would cease to be
> general purpose computers under the control of their users. It seems this
> is what has happened, at least with respect to MacOS. But there may be
> technical details I am missing, this impression is just from reading
> opinionated blog posts.
>
> I'd consider buying an Apple Silicon laptop if I could wipe MacOS and
> install Linux. According to Linus Torvalds, the main barrier to this is
> that it will likely not be possible to write a GPU graphics driver for the
> new Macs due to a lack of technical information. That's a deal breaker for
> me. I've not heard anything to suggest that the hardware will be
> cryptographically locked to MacOS in a way that prevents Linux installs.
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2020, at 7:22 PM, Mikalai Birukou via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > In case you missed it (I did) there is new way Apply is treating its
> > users. Before starting 3rd party app, macOS talks to some server. Every
> > time, or often, instead of once, when app is installed!
> >
> >
> https://www.fsf.org/news/the-problems-with-apple-arent-just-outages-they-are-injustices
> >
> >
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/macos-leaks-application-usage-forces-apple-make-hard-decisions
> >
> >
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