First it was a setting in the preference panel, preventing you from installing non-MAS apps without disabling it.
Next it's the upcoming rootless OS X, System Integrity Protection: it's only a matter of time until the ability to install non-MAS apps is completely removed, buried, or hidden in Recovery mode (as the SIP setting is)
I suspect this will happen within the next one or two major versions of OS X.
And we have heard this for how long already? Doing so would basically be suicide for the Mac. First of all because a sizeable chunk of users are technical users. Secondly, a lot of software is not available in the Mac App store and likely will never be (I think Microsoft and Adobe would rather abandon OS X than giving 30% for each cloud subscription to Apple and being at the mercy of the MAS gatekeepers).
> First it was a setting in the preference panel, preventing you from installing non-MAS apps without disabling it.
Pretty sure the default is MAS + Signed Apps. This setting also doesn't actually stop you from installing a non-signed app. You just have to right click and select open to bypass the warning.
I actually keep this enabled so I know if an app isn't signed. So installing non-signed apps is a conscious decision.
> You just have to right click and select open to bypass the warning.
I think that you also need an admin password, which can be an issue for users who don't control their machines. (My work distributes Macs with users configured to be admins, but on Windows machines only allows standard users, so I assume that it's only a matter of time until they change policies and this bites me.)
I'm a little surprised by the downvote; I may have made a mistake, or it may be something peculiar about my configuration, but, when I try to run an application, even if I control-click to bypass the policy, I still have to enter my administrative password. Is this not the way it usually behaves? (As I say, it's a work computer, so perhaps they have some unusual security policy in place.)
And every single version, including minor version upgrades, this setting goes back to "MAS and identified developers," despite me explicitly setting to "Anywhere." If that isn't obnoxiously bad UI design (that I'm sure some idiot will defend), I don't know what is. I love the hardware, but the software is slowly turning to shit because of bugs (especially core bugs like not supporting many Bluetooth or RF mice/trackballs) and "features" like this. No two ways about it.
Did you remember that when you set it to "Anywhere" it gave you a little warning that if you didn't use the anywhere option for 30 days it would rever to "MAS and identified developers"?
It wasn't the norm in the past, but that has changed. For those whose memory goes back to the pre-X MacOS, there has been a decline in “respecting your user's decisions” and an increase in inconsistencies. Progress in some areas has definitely cost quality in others.
It hasn't happened to me, on any Mac that I use. 7 different OS installs (I develop for iOS and Mac professionally) something is wrong with your profile that you are restoring or something. That's not the standard MacOS behavior.
This setting in Preference Panel is opt-in, not opt-out. Default behaviour does not reject non-MAS apps. Most likely a security setting for companies or restricted environments.
I see the same tendency and I don't like it at all. It seems only a question of time until you will have to decide whether you want a computer or a Mac.
First it was a setting in the preference panel, preventing you from installing non-MAS apps without disabling it.
Next it's the upcoming rootless OS X, System Integrity Protection: it's only a matter of time until the ability to install non-MAS apps is completely removed, buried, or hidden in Recovery mode (as the SIP setting is)
I suspect this will happen within the next one or two major versions of OS X.