But even during those times, you were still free to install/mod whatever you wanted on your computer, and even now it is (just barely) possible with Windows. Apple has always been far more controlling than Microsoft, although the latter is slowly moving in that direction too. Maybe this is finally a welcome change in direction, but I doubt it...
When it comes to permission dialogs Windows has always been worse IMO
A few days ago I downloaded a non-notarized app. The dialog that I saw baffled me and it took me a while to recall how to run a non-notarized app.
You have to right-click on it and clock on "open", something that should be equivalent to double-clicking, but isn't. That's harder than clicking a security box. Someone with no knowledge might never find out how to run these apps.
> Apple has always been far more controlling than Microsoft
Notarization came out with Catalina.
True. For the users, app installation wasn't a problem, until Internet Explorer came for Netscape.
The problem was mainly Microsoft having the majority of manufacturers like, Dell, IBM, HP, Compaq, Packard Bell, Hitachi, Toshiba having Windows pre-installed and threatening a rise in prices of their Windows license or even revoking their licenses if they sell PCs pre-installed with desktop OS competitors like Be Inc's BeOS. [0]
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20131109045719/http://www.intern...
How so? Both MacOS and Windows for years had a completely unhindered app installation process. Though it was much simpler on MacOS because you didn't need a custom installer, and you could easily move apps from one computer to another.
It’s completely reasonable to argue that this is no longer true, but it’s denial to say that it has always been this way.