[danaris]

This idea that Apple has been plotting this whole time to turn the Mac into iOS, in terms of limiting the software you can run to their own App Store, is a tired meme that makes zero sense given what we've seen from Apple in the past...checks...19 years.

Like, seriously, do you think they need longer than that to do it if it's really what they plan?

If they were ever going to do it, it would've been when they switched to Apple Silicon chips, and...they didn't!

Perpetuating the idea does no one any favors. It's just pointless paranoia.

[AnthonyMouse]

They've been gradually making it harder to install third party software without their approval.

The Mac App Store hasn't existed for 19 years. Then they started displaying scary warnings for apps downloaded from the internet. Now they require code signing for third party apps. Meanwhile they not only obviously do it on iOS but are adamant that no one even attempt to do otherwise, even in the face of law requiring them to.

It's not paranoia when they're really out to get you.

[bigyabai]

> If they were ever going to do it, it would've been when they switched to Apple Silicon chips, and...they didn't!

They did, though;

- macOS lost support for eGPU and dGPU drivers

- OpenGL support was frozen to focus on Apple's mobile GPU API

- Apple promoted Mac Catalyst apps instead of pushing Mac-native ones

- The iOS and iPadOS App Stores became available on macOS alongside the native store

- The macOS design language was reworked to take cues from overly padded touch-first design

- iBoot became the hardware entrypoint, which Apple has authority over with OTA updates in macOS

- UEFI and ACPI went away, forcing devicetree drivers to be reverse engineered with zero documentation

Old Macs are just computers. None of these limitations apply to them because you can pick one up and install a normal OS if these concessions concern you. Apple Silicon was shipped in a way that deliberately prevented reverse-engineering and gives Apple the ability to revoke boot-time features if alternative OSes ever threaten them. They depreciated vast swathes of functionality that professionals relied on, and eventually depreciated the Mac Pro altogether. Their tentpole desktop products are a Mac Mini, a bigger Mac Mini, and the iMac. There's not any hardware left for real pros.

But you're still unconvinced, right?

Well, look at Apple's revenue breakdown. The Mac is not carrying much water, and it's a huge sinkhole of resources to constantly maintain and update the OS on a yearly update cadence. Conversely, the iPad is doing great, making almost as much money as the Mac does with vastly cheaper hardware (and bigger profit margins, too). If Apple could have their druthers, they'd start polishing the iPad experience, ship "Pro" hardware to entice developers and boundary pushers, slowly roll out support for HID and external display support, and eventually provide a sort of cloud service for building applications within the Apple ecosystem. Oh wait, I've just described things they've already done! https://developer.apple.com/xcode-cloud/

Apple has no obligation to their niche pros, anymore. They already cut them out and depreciated their rackmount and short-lived wheeled PC. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Apple is internally laser-focused on depreciating the Mac and macOS both, either with the Vision hardware or by promoting the iPad as a laptop replacement a-la Microsoft's Surface Pro.

[danaris]

> They did, though;

You cite a bunch of changes, but none of them are what people have actually been claiming for the past 19 that Apple will do: preventing us from installing arbitrary software on our Macs.

I still have my MacPorts installation, which works fine, and installs all kinds of command-line tools.

I can still write anything I want on my Mac, compile or interpret it, and run it.

I can still install whatever I want from outside the Mac App Store.

This is a classic example of goalpost-moving.