How would you feel if Apple brought the same philosophy of iOS to macOS (assuming you use mac)?
Can't install anything they don't pre-approve, either from DMG or Brew or whatever, only from the Mac App Store.
I don't know if it's just me and the people i work with, but we think the Mac App Store is fucking useless, to the point we actively go out of our way to download Xcode through other means.
I for one would not be happy with only being able to install apps through the Mac App Store, and I don't see why iOS should be treated any differently.
> How would you feel if Apple brought the same philosophy of iOS to macOS (assuming you use mac)?
I wouldn't be OK with that, and I've said so in other comments here (like when they announced the additional security features in macOS during this year's WWDC - which I appreciate, with concerns), but the iPhone/iPad/etc. are different classes of devices, and I'm fine with their restrictions. They make sense there.
I do prefer the Mac App Store to downloading from random websites or manual updates. How is it "fucking useless?"
Matters of convenience aside, see the Transmission BitTorrent client ransomware fiasco for a grave example.
If someone really really wants to circumvent the App Store on iOS, distribute it via TestFlight, or make the source code available and ask users to compile it on their own Macs.
> If someone really really wants to circumvent the App Store on iOS, distribute it via TestFlight, or make the source code available and ask users to compile it on their own Macs.
How many protesters in Hong Kong have a Mac to compile source code and even know how to compile something? TestFlight has a user limit. Can people install an app through TestFlight as easily as they can through the normal app store?
> the iPhone/iPad/etc. are different classes of devices
I suppose I just don't understand why, they seem just like computers with a different form factor.
"Fucking useless" might have been a bit too passionate, but it's happened multiple times with me and the people I work with that Xcode installed through the App Store updates itself but gets stuck in the update forcing a full re-download.
First time it happens ok it's just a bug, by the 3rd time I'd just given up on the App Store altogether.
> If someone really really wants to circumvent the App Store on iOS, distribute it via TestFlight, or make the source code available and ask users to compile it on their own Macs.
Those aren't really feasible though, external testing on Testflight requires a review (plus it might need the $99 developer fee to put it on Testflight?). And the source code route is the same issue, either pay $99 or reinstall the app every 7 days.
I suppose I just don't see the downside other than "Some people need to be protected from themselves" which I don't agree with in this case.
> Xcode installed through the App Store updates itself but gets stuck in the update forcing a full re-download.
That's a frustration that I share, regarding large downloads/updates on unreliable connections, but that doesn't make the App Store useless. I have received thousands of successful app updates over years and maybe <50 failures.
Can't install anything they don't pre-approve, either from DMG or Brew or whatever, only from the Mac App Store.
I don't know if it's just me and the people i work with, but we think the Mac App Store is fucking useless, to the point we actively go out of our way to download Xcode through other means.
I for one would not be happy with only being able to install apps through the Mac App Store, and I don't see why iOS should be treated any differently.